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Re-housed our B.Smithi today.
Basically because;
1. She had chewed through some of the metal gauze at the top of the tank that was for ventilation (that comes affixed to the tank when you buy it). Metal spikey bits probably not too safe and plus she'd eventually make it out.
2. The tank opened from the front and that's really annoying.
3. Because the tank opened at the front by sliding upwards, there wasnt too much space to put substrate below the door line so burrowing was limited.
4. Giant crack on the floor of the tank caused I think by a heat mat clicking on in winter. Glass must have been very cold.
After shelling out a bit on some extra substrate and a new tank though, she's now got a nice big tank. It's approximately the same floor area of the old one, a bit bigger. But it's *much* deeper which is great cos it's meant that I can fill it about half full with substrate for her to dig in (which she has tried to do a lot of lately).
The substrate now is mostly coco fibre with a thin top layer of moss. Got a big half log sort of thing too which I've managed to bury mostly into the substrate and should provide a much more suitable hide than the old plant pot which she kinda outgrew when she moulted (somehow).
Anyway, whole setup looks really cool now and very spidery.
I also tried her on brown crickets today (before I moved her) just to keep her on her toes. I havent tried her on these before and I hear that some spiders wont eat them. What I learned from the experience was that brown crickets are twice as fast as blacks. But they aren't twice as fast as a hungry B.Smithi ^_^
I might stick to browns now as they seem to stink less, they arent as loud, and they going to make her actually work for her food.
Anyway, just thought I'd update you all with what I've been up to today.
Basically because;
1. She had chewed through some of the metal gauze at the top of the tank that was for ventilation (that comes affixed to the tank when you buy it). Metal spikey bits probably not too safe and plus she'd eventually make it out.
2. The tank opened from the front and that's really annoying.
3. Because the tank opened at the front by sliding upwards, there wasnt too much space to put substrate below the door line so burrowing was limited.
4. Giant crack on the floor of the tank caused I think by a heat mat clicking on in winter. Glass must have been very cold.
After shelling out a bit on some extra substrate and a new tank though, she's now got a nice big tank. It's approximately the same floor area of the old one, a bit bigger. But it's *much* deeper which is great cos it's meant that I can fill it about half full with substrate for her to dig in (which she has tried to do a lot of lately).
The substrate now is mostly coco fibre with a thin top layer of moss. Got a big half log sort of thing too which I've managed to bury mostly into the substrate and should provide a much more suitable hide than the old plant pot which she kinda outgrew when she moulted (somehow).
Anyway, whole setup looks really cool now and very spidery.
I also tried her on brown crickets today (before I moved her) just to keep her on her toes. I havent tried her on these before and I hear that some spiders wont eat them. What I learned from the experience was that brown crickets are twice as fast as blacks. But they aren't twice as fast as a hungry B.Smithi ^_^
I might stick to browns now as they seem to stink less, they arent as loud, and they going to make her actually work for her food.
Anyway, just thought I'd update you all with what I've been up to today.
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