Thoughts on Exotics Lair's enclosures?

[Zoopy]

I know this is probably a bit of a controversial topic because Exotics Lair is controversial. My personal opinion of him is that he's grossly negligent (one-handed husbandry because he won't be a head-mounted camera or something) in a lot of the videos he makes and his tarantulas are often the ones who suffer for it. But that's a topic for another day.

I've always really liked the look of his enclosures and I've been wondering what people think of them. I'm talking specifically about he uses (what seems to be) building foam to create natural-looking enclosures and natural hollows/burrows for the spiders. This results in being able to offer less substrate, but maybe that's not the end of the world because there's a much lesser fall risk and the terrestrial spiders probably don't have as great a need to burrow if they have "natural" burrows to live in.

I recently greatly reduced my tarantula collection and I now only have 7 "big" tarantulas and I've been thinking that a nice idea for a new project might be to "upgrade" the enclosures for all of them. They're currently all in 30x30x30cm cubes (same size as exotics lair) and I'd like to have custom enclosures made that offer them all 35x35cm floor space just so they have that little bit of extra space. I'd really like to offer them really good enclosures in which they'll be really happy and I feel like doing something similar to what Exotics Lair does might achieve that. Meaning enclosure walls made out of styrofoam or building foam and styled to look natural and then decorated inside with plants and the like. What do folks here think about the idea?

 

[Enn49]

It may look good to us humans but I find most Ts enjoy designing and building their own homes.
I give mine the bare essentials:-
1/ Substrate for them to dig in, I use coco fibre.
2/ A piece of cork bark for a hide although most of mine tend to prefer to sit on top of them.
3/ A piece of plastic plant for something to web to.
4/ The requisite water bowl.

Crickets and/or Ts will scrat away at polystyrene (Styrofoam). I had an adult T who had a polystyrene backing in her viv that got chewed away at at the top allowing her to get behind the backing where sadly she tried to moult, got stuck and died so I don't even use those backings anymore.

 

[m0lsx]

I had an adult T who had a polystyrene backing in her viv that got chewed away at at the top allowing her to get behind the backing where sadly she tried to moult, got stuck and died so I don't even use those backings anymore.

I also always remove polystyrene backings from any T I buy with an enclosure that includes them. I have also removed cork backings too. Personally, I would rather have the floor space & use free standing cork for height.

 

[x_raphael_xx]

I also always remove polystyrene backings from any T I buy with an enclosure that includes them. I have also removed cork backings too. Personally, I would rather have the floor space & use free standing cork for height.

My big hamorii female has taken great delight in ripping down the polystyrene backing in her enclosure. I will be removing all backings in the future.

 

[m0lsx]

I'm talking specifically about he uses (what seems to be) building foam to create natural-looking enclosures and natural hollows/burrows for the spiders. This results in being able to offer less substrate, but maybe that's not the end of the world because there's a much lesser fall risk and the terrestrial spiders probably don't have as great a need to burrow if they have "natural" burrows to live in.

Just an afterthought. But do you mean that expanding foam you buy in cans? If so, I have needed to use expanding foam on a few jobs recently & it's horrible stuff.

The chemicals used to cause the expansion of the foam are, isocyanate & polyol resin. The % of polyol resin effects how soft or hard the foam is & seems to be fairly harmless. But the other, Isocyanate, is a chemical that I would certainly not want my T's coming into contact with. It has a number of health implications, one is that exposure to it, causes some people to develop an allergy to it.

I have no idea how isocyanate would affect a T. But would not to find out from personal experience via my T's or second hand, from anyone elses.

 

[x_raphael_xx]

Just an afterthought. But do you mean that expanding foam you buy in cans? If so, I have needed to use expanding foam on a few jobs recently & it's horrible stuff.

The chemicals used to cause the expansion of the foam are, isocyanate & polyol resin. The % of polyol resin effects how soft or hard the foam is & seems to be fairly harmless. But the other, Isocyanate, is a chemical that I would certainly not want my T's coming into contact with. It has a number of health implications, one is that exposure to it, causes some people to develop an allergy to it.

I have no idea how isocyanate would affect a T. But would not to find out from personal experience via my T's or second hand, from anyone elses.

Petco at The Dark Den uses something similar, I'm not sure what the brand is, but the one he uses is safe.
He always airs out a bit as well before introducing a T

 

[Lawrence b]

I used that expanding foam on a Dart frog tank that I once done .I acquired some stuff from B&Q if I remember rightly ,its the sort that does not have mould inhibiter in it . Stuck some cork bark in it to give it a natural look painted it with acrylic paint .Then sealed the edges with aquarium sealant and boat varnished over the lot to seal all in and make it water proof .Lasted along time 10 years about if my memory right. .You have to wait for the expanding foam to cure and make sure you do it in well ventilated place .