Bromeliad setups for Avicularia metallica

[Charlotte Tupman]

Having read in several sources that various Avicularia have been found living in/on bromeliads and similar plants in the wild, I've prepared bromeliad setups for two A. metallica subadults that will be arriving tomorrow (can't wait! ). I've kept the potting soil underneath and around the plants, then placed Eco-earth everywhere else and on top of the potting soil, and have added a little sphagnum moss round and about to hold moisture. Each enclosure also has a waterdish and a couple of wood pieces to provide something more solid to climb and web on. Any comments or suggestions for improvements would be very welcome (including thoughts from anyone who thinks that this might be a really bad idea!).

Here are a couple of pics - floor placement and lighting are just for the purposes of taking photos:

[Peter Roach]

Well it all looks very pretty, if it does the job only time will tell.

Every Avic that I've ever kept has ALWAYS webbed the highest point of its enclosure, usually in the corner.
I cant see anywhere for the Avic to web except on the Bromeliad, which isnt going to do the plant any favours if it is covered in dense webbing.

More importantly what type and how much ventilation has the enclosure got, as almost all problems relating to Avics is to do with the lack of ventilation.

[Charlotte Tupman]

Thanks very much for your reply, Peter. The photos are a bit dark and don't really show that there are also two pieces of wood in each enclosure in case the Avics want to use something more sturdy than the plant for webbing. In each case the wood is the same height or slightly taller than the plant. But thanks for pointing out that they tend to web right at the top - I'll have to keep a close eye on how the plants fare if they web all over them.

The enclosures are Exo Terra 30x30x30 and they have very good ventilation at the top (mesh over the whole lid) so hopefully there shouldn't be problems with that, though again I will be watching out for possible signs of too much moisture in the enclosures.

[Charlotte Tupman]

They've arrived safely and are now in their enclosures. Here's a pic of the (unconfirmed) male, who went right to the top of the enclosure (as Peter suggested he would!) shortly after the photo was taken:

[Lee Furness]

*whistles* my biggest Avic made its tube web behind a piece of upright cork strip and has been in there - right at the very bottom for almost a year now - I guess I had to get the avic that would be an awkward so-and-so In it's first home it did web up near the top, but ever since being re-homed after a moult it's stayed at the lowest point in the tank. It's also a bit of a stroppy thing...

[Simon Brown]

out of my 20 Avics I have 5 that have webbed at the very bottom of the tubs 8 that have webbed at the very top near the opening and the rest have all made tube webs inside the vertical cork bark given

[Marko Sajovic]

I put my female A.purpurea in identical tank several years ago. Bromelia in the middle of the tank and come wood at the back. Over time the T has totally webbed the tank. She created middle floor in the tank, completly splitting it horizontaly, she totally webbed the bromelia and all the wooden pieces. She also created tube on the far left corner, from top to botom of the tank. She lives in that tube and hunts on the 'middle' floor. There is no acces to the botom of enclosure. Everyone that sees the tank in impressed with the amount of webbing. Of course the bromelia had died and dried out long ago, but the T lives happy in that tank.

This was the tank soon after I moved her in:


And this is how it looks today: