Introduction

[PereSs]

Hi there,

My name is stephane, and i'm from belgium, for the past couple of months i've bein very curious about T's and started too watch video's about them on youtube, after watching more and more video's i've become a someone who was interested in having a T, now 3 days ago i bought my first T (Brachypelma smithi) now i setteld up the enclosure like the guy from the store told me exactly too do, and now i think i've got some issues and hope too find help here and get a lot of info that might help me in my road too make my T happy!

 

[Enn49]

Hello Stephane, welcome to the hobby . If you need advice on the enclosure post a photo of it and someone will be along to answer any questions you have.

 

[Whitelightning777]

What a nice looking T!! The set up looks good to me.

 

[Arachnoclown]

Welcome Stephane....Ive kept this exact breed for 35 years. I'll tell you what these fellows like. I keep mine on 4" of substrate...on the dry side. They don't like it wet. They need a hide so they can go inside and start a burrow. They don't dig much but like to hide in premolt. A larger water dish...mine drink alot. I keep the area around the dish slightly wet...

I overflow the dish once a week. You can add fake plants and stuff if you want...mine like to hide in them. I feed them once a week...yours could use one large prey item a week. Here's some pics of two sac mate females I have that are close to your Ts size.

 

[PereSs]

Thank you for the responds and the information about the smithi's , my enclosure is 20x20x20 the T is a bit smaller then the one's you posted i can't tell the exact lenght but i will post it when i can mesure it, i've bein told the day i buy'd the T she molted the day before the molt was still in the little enclosure when i bought it, so now she's mostly hiding.. the issue i got is that my enclosure is too humid.. every 30min 45min i need too swipe the humidity of the glass... i will mention that i bought a wave heather due too the cold weather out here for now.. so i dont know if its because of that or something else, here's a pic of the enclosure

 

[Arachnoclown]

Your substrate is too wet...you can dry it out by spreading it out on a baking sheet and drying it in a oven or putting some in a frying pan and drying it on the stove top.

 

[Whitelightning777]

Adding more ventilation holes may also be helpful.

I had a severe problem with overly moist substrate with my first tarantula because I got hold of some out of date caresheets.

Not only did I have to add extra ventilation holes, I had to set up a small USB fan to gently blow upon the side of the enclosure!! This increased cross ventilation and kept condensation away. In fact, the T would do a happy dance when the fan came on and would stand in front of the ventilation holes. Clearly, it wanted fresh air!!

Ts don't like bursts of air but a steady unchanging airflow doesn't seem to annoy them.

The reason I couldn't just redo the substrate was that my versicolor sling had already set up a web which she needed to eat.

The substrate eventually dried out and the T is thriving today. She went on to molt successfully quite a few times.

It all depends on whether removing the T is better then just providing more air. Whatever is the least stressful is best.

A full water dish is practically mandatory in my opinion.

 

[PereSs]

Thank you, this was a fast respond too my question about humidity in the enclosure, now because it's made of glass it would be hard for me too put another ventilation hole, but now that i'm thinking about it, doesn't the T need some little more humidity after molting? Till she will be able to eat? Now i dont know, when my substrate is humid could it go away after a couple of weeks or so? Or will it always stay like that? And what i noticed is that she webbed a little in front of her hide, like too close it off a little could this mean something? Or is this normal? Like she's lockin herself up... surely i'm very curious about the first time she is going to eat, cant wait for seeing that

 

[Whitelightning777]

It's thought to be best to raise humidity during premolt and to keep it up until completion.

If you have a glass enclosure and use a bonded safety screen lid, that should give you air exchange. If it's an acrylic lid with only a few holes, it might not breathe very well.

Blowing air gently across the top will still increase ventilation if needed.

If humidity in the room is normal to a bit low, that can help as well.

 

[Arachnoclown]

Internal moisture is more important ...this is a arid species. Just over flow a large water dish once a week and you'll be fine.

 

[PereSs]

Ok, Thanks guys!

I have some pictures of when the enclosure gets all humid and of the two ventilation holes that are on the upper glass en at the back of it, for now i'll be working on that too get that too much humidity out there, but only thing is if i have too get the substrate out of the enclosure too put it on baking sheet too warm it up a little in the oven, i surely do not want too disturb my T with al off that, well i do know if i will disturb it but it Il be a hell a lot of a mess =P so i think i'll try too get some air blowing in there and hoping it will get better =) as for info the humidity in the room is not that high so its more in the enclosure.

 

[Arachnoclown]

Just put her in a small transfer container for the day....she'll be a right. Then dry it out. Like this...

Ts don't like alot of air movement...its better to take her out for the day then work around her.

 

[PereSs]

Hello,

Well good news humidity is slowly starting too go away, just wondering now if my T has enough warmth with that substrate wave heater? Because its mostly hiding... not seeing it getting out of he's hide, because that heater is just next too it... it maybe can be normal because she molted not long ago and retaking her energie or such.. but wanted too be sure she was still alive so i took a pencil and just touched the butt area and moved so i was relieved for that.. but hopefully she is ok.. and hope i can soon feed her too see her strike for the first time

 

[Arachnoclown]

Anything between 68-75 degrees is good for these guys. Night time temps in the wild for this species gets down to the 40s...thats when they hunt. As long as they have a hide to burrow they should be fine...thats how they escape the element's.

 

[Arachnoclown]

It will hide for a while till it gets comfortable. I just bought a T yesterday and it's hunkering down and won't come out...it normal.

 

[Whitelightning777]

Hello,

Well good news humidity is slowly starting too go away, just wondering now if my T has enough warmth with that substrate wave heater? Because its mostly hiding... not seeing it getting out of he's hide, because that heater is just next too it... it maybe can be normal because she molted not long ago and retaking her energie or such.. but wanted too be sure she was still alive so i took a pencil and just touched the butt area and moved so i was relieved for that.. but hopefully she is ok.. and hope i can soon feed her too see her strike for the first time

As long as the heater is to the side above the substrate or straight above the T, you'll be fine. That's how mine are done. You must test for hot spots!! Touch your forehead and then the warmest area. If it's the same as you or warmer, is too hot.

Any heat source under the tarantula confuses it. When they overheat, they go down and dark. If it's underneath, they'll burn up because they will get as close as possible. All heat sources need to be above the substrate either high on the wall it overhead at least 6"-8" inches away from the lid. The idea is to heat the area around the cage instead of the cage itself. (Hot side cold side).

The source needs to be controlled by a variable voltage limiter because less is more, never just plugged into the wall.

It's actually logical. In nature, tarantulas face bright sun and fire, such as grass or forest fire. The logical and hard wired instincts are to move sideways and down.

If this seems like too much trouble, don't worry. Many do fine without it but breeders may well need to use it.

The benefits are duplicating a day night cycle, improving appetite and getting slings out of that dangerous young stage faster.

I have a digital spot thermometer that you point and it'll tell you exactly what the temp is at a given location. My Ts all gravitate towards 80 degrees and move away from anything else with one exception. My P straita prefers 83 exact degrees.

The hot side is to the top, cold side bottom where the hide is.

 

[PereSs]

Thanks for the info!


Well if you look closely its deep into its burrow and it did a little digging in there, now if you look too the left at the glass you'll see the substrate heater i think she's fine in there and sure the temperature is good too, hope she will get out soon.

 

[LC72uk]

Welcome to the Group Stephane............LC72UK

 

[PereSs]

Hi guys,


Good news she started too eat well didn't see how she really striked but i heard the crunches lol, i gave her 2 hoppers because i'm pretty sure she could use it after molting and not eating for more then a week but the second one i gave she didn't took it and because it was deep in her burrow i couldn't get it out, i hope its not that bad too leave it in there

 

[Arachnoclown]

She'll get it...