Hi guys, I got this awesome piece of wrangled wood from the weekend expo. I am using it to rehouse some of my growing T's. On a previous thread, I was cautioned to use less decorations and I have found this to be sound advise. Some of my T's will dig it up and move stuff around, making the carefully planned layout look like the morning after a wild party.

So I have gone for the minimalistic look, with part of this nice wood, cut and shaped to form a nice hide, big enough to last the spider a long time. This enclosure will be housing my G. pulchra and has deep substrate and a resin water bowl, which I also got at the expo, care of the pink tarantula ladies. This piece has a large hollow, nice front door and even a window to the right. :laugh: The hollow extends to both sides of the enclosure, so if she doesn't close it up, I will be able to see inside her room. :blush:

Any comments, critique or advise is welcome. I still have a big piece with nice hollows left over and will be using them in a few more enclosures. I will update them as they're built.

That is a nice find.

Deon wrote: ... Any comments, critique or advise is welcome. ...

The wood seems just fine. It's the cage that I have serious issues with! Tall cages are death to terrestrial tarantulas. While they can climb glass, they do so with great peril. And even a short fall can kill them. So, we've devised a rule of thumb that every tarantula keeping enthusiast either stretches or violates. But, you've been warned.

FOR TERRESTRIAL TARANTULAS
1) For babies (see Growing Your Own for definitions), the clear inside height (CIH), defined as the clear space from the top of the substrate to the top of the cage, should not exceed 3 times their DLS (defined below).

2) For spiderlings and larger tarantulas, the CIH should not exceed 1.5 times the tarantula's DLS.

3) For the very old, the obese, and the giants among tarantulas (e.g., T. blondi, L. parahybana) the CIH should not exceed the actual DLS of the tarantula.

FOR ARBOREAL TARANTULAS

There is no practical limit to the height beyond your capabilities as a keeper. The arboreal tarantulas have evolved anatomical characteristics and behavioral patterns to prevent them from falling, or allow them limited control during a fall, or protect them at the sudden stop at the end of a fall.

_________________________________________

DLS = The linear distance between the tip of one front leg to the tip of the rear leg on the opposite side when the tarantula is in a normal, resting position. Yes, it's very inaccurate. Yes, it's very unfair. But, we're not competing for gold medals or a new car. We're just trying to figure out how big your spider is.

"Mine's bigger than yours is! Neener, neener, neeee-ner!"



:happy:

Thanks Stan, I heeded your previous warning in this regard with the L.klugi sling that I housed in a tall enclosure. In that enclosure I added a lot more peat and he dug down and opened up a nice big burrow, from where he now hunts. This tank houses a bigger G.pulchra that fits the measurements you stated, being less than 3 times his body lenth from the top to the floor. It is quite a fast spider and can be seen streaking across the enclosure floor. It is still re-arranging the interior of the hollow, so I will wait and see what the final result is.

So I cut and shaped the piece left after the first part used. Will show when they're in ne enclosures.

This is the next piece added to the new tank. My big curly will be transferred here soon. She is dug down and closed up in her old tank, probably pre-molt, so I don't want to disturb her at the moment. It's minimal again, no clutter and visibility improved. Peat floor to allow some digging and resin water bowl.