should i rehouse my tarantula

[Larry Shone]

oops,looks like we really hijacked chris's thread!

[Adam Smith]

Ray G made some good points on the 'natural set up', there is no way of people being able to replicate a natural habitat without having it natural. If I used natural I have worded my points wrong, I like to see a large tank with a nice species but my main arguments were on the space adequacy of the keeper.Being if someone keeps just one tarantula they can have the biggest tank with artificial (or real if size and spot light, etc are there) plants and various depths of substrate but with the majority of keepers keeping some by the hundreds particularly breeding then small plastic tubs are the better option for both in some ways. Easier to feed them all and make sure they find the insect. As well as we are talking natural and wild many taranutlas in the wild struggle to make it to adult through predators, ecological problems, habitat destruction by man and many other problems they face in the open.
My personal use is most of my species are kept in the plastic pet pals or platic storage boxes. would like to house a couple adults in the glass vivariums but in all as far as slings and juveniles, which was the main point on the topic they are more benefit to small plastic deli cups and plastic tubs.

[chris lock]

no not at all, was kinda thinking that but the comments are really fascinating!!!!!

[Adam Smith]

you got a good discussion going always a good thing and always good to hear people from each side of the debate.

[Nicola Dolby]

Tank setup

The answer to the housing question really is in two parts. Firstly what is ok for the spider (can it move, humidity, water etc.) and secondly what is ok for the owner (do you keep it in a container or a full blown tank with plants and everything else?). I have to say that I profer the latter purely because of how it looks to me, but as long as the spider is healthy, fed and watered it doesn't really matter. The only problem I have found with glass tanks is that my pets (and that's what they are, lets face it) are kept in a room with a south-facing window. There is nowhere to move them to so I have to keep the curtains closed a lot as the tanks are glass and I don't want toasted spiders from the sunlight! As for rarely seeing my spiders, the only one who isn't roaming about at least once a day is my lividium, and she usually appears two or three times a week. At the end of the day it is a case of whatever you profer. As long as the spider is fed, watered, can move and has a humid enough climate.

[Larry Shone]

Well, my 4 Ts are all babies and so are all in individual plastic containers,tucked away out of the sunlight, next to the PC monitor and modem for warmth. The chile rose is out constantly on the prowl, the Psalmo often hangs off the sides or lid, disappearing into its burrow if i so much as move the container. The albop is very small with higher humidity, and hides under the section off an eggbox. The Yamia, well, all i see of him is a tube web which is rather cool and natural looking, if you know what I mean. Must find some small flies etc for them to feed on.

[Kenny carson]

I'm new here so hi all.
Love the forum.

Dont worry about experimenting with tank sizes or setups.

I have found that I ended up keeping my T's in plastic tanks larger than the recomended. As long as their requirements are met and they can find their food its all down to preference. Once I get to the stage where my collection becomes so big that I have to keep T's in the bare minimum recomended tank sizes, maximizing space, I will go no further, hey but thats me. I will have to resist the powerfull erge to buy just one more tarantula lol.

I have gone through periods of designing tanks to be more naturalistic but ended up back to basics to aid in tank cleaning.

When I first became interested in tarantulas I was always confused how the tank sizes recomended by so many sources would be suitable considering how they live in the wild?

When you consider that many tarantulas may not venture more than 10 inches from their burrow who knows what difference tank sizes make above the minimum? What about the consideration of burrow length and chamber sizes? for some. A tarantula burrow in the wild may be several feet in length depending on the tarantual in question and their individual size, security, heat humidity needs? Add that to the 10 inches or so lol. I do have tarantulas that have never moved more than 10 inches in their life so their housing needs have been quite simple. I have found that I end up tailoring some setups to suit the profuse diggers by giving them deeper substrates, elongated burrows and chambers to adopt as their own. Not for every T but the ones who use them seem fine and goes some way to giving them a more naturalistic environment if that is at all possible? in my heated spare room. lol

Its a shame I have to learn from my tarantulas in such a limited way. I would love to observe them in their natural habitat. To gain knowlege from these facinating creatures we know so little about yet are often so readilly available would be amazing.

[lee smith]

i keep mine in 4" square storage tubs untill they look about 2" legspan then i put them into 10 litre tanks (great value £5 each from wilko's), i currently have 2 in the 10 litre tanks, my B.albopilosum (2" LS) and my P.murinus (1 1/2" LS) and they are quite comfortable. i would nove to do more natural setups but it would make maintenance a bit more tricky for me (im still scared of spiders, but i love my T's), my B.albopilosum has a hide which is a hampster cave and my P.murinus lives in a toilet roll tube.