Well my GBB molted and......

[Trey]

Well my GBB molted lastnight and I want to do a naturalistic setup for her and change her substrate. Does anyone have any ideas on what type of plants I can put in there ? Also how long should I wait until I can move her?

 

[Scorp guy]

I've always found the plants at petco to be good, the one sin the reptile section (live, too ) and i'd wait at least 7 days to move him/her.

Congrats on the molt, too

 

[Mushroom Spore]

How big is the GBB? It might be a couple weeks--when she's strong enough to eat again, she's strong enough to be moved.

If you're using live plants, you can't use anything that requires more than the BAREST amount of water, and even that might be too much. This species cannot handle a moist environment, it's gotta be bone dry.

 

[Trey]

Ok thanks. I measured her molt and it's about 5 1/2. Would you stay away from live plants due to them needing it to be so dry? I just want to make her setup REALLY nice looking and something to draw attention. Any ideas?

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Ok thanks. I measured her molt and it's about 5 1/2. Would you stay away from live plants due to them needing it to be so dry? I just want to make her setup REALLY nice looking and something to draw attention. Any ideas?

If it's that big, I'd wait 2-3 weeks and then toss in a cricket to be sure.

And yes, it really does need to be that dry. If you want to decorate (just not overmuch, because then the crickets hide and die and never get eaten), I'd look for a really good quality fake plant or two. However, I guess it doesn't really matter what the plant looks like because GBBs turn everything into a featureless mass of webbing anyway.

Mine has a big piece of cork bark buried at an angle in the peat moss, so that there's a cave under it with the side of the enclosure as the other wall. It is no longer identifiable as a piece of wood, it looks like a big lump of dirt and spider silk.

 

[Hedrus]

There are some amazing terrarium pics in the tarantula enclosures that are desert themes. No plants in them but they are amazing looking. I know at least 2 of them were for GBBs. They used lots of rocks and twigs. The GBBs webbed all over the twigs to make them look awesome. I want to do a setup like that for mine.

Maybe a potted plant might work so that it can have wet soil but the rest of the tank doesn't. You can kind of bury it and then cover the lid with dried moss. Thats an option. I think as long as you don't make all the substrate wet/moist the T will be fine. Plus if the plant dies all you have to do is pull out the whole pot. I've seen pics of setups like that. Planted terrariums are my new thing I want to get into as well. When doing this we just need to make a setup that fits what the Ts natural habitat is like. Tropical bad for desert species... Its pretty common sense and a few minutes of research online. Good luck.

 

[Trey]

Thanks alot....I guess I can do a tropical setup for my blondi when she finally molts. I love it when mu GBB webs the whole tank over. I can't wait til she regains her strength and starts webbing again

 

[M.F.Bagaturov]

Hello!
Look how they live in nature and modify Your enclosure
http://www.spidercity.ch/allgemeinesuebervogelspinnen/ausgesuchtearten/chromatopelma/index.html