- Joined
- May 11, 2003
- Messages
- 117
I started collecting in May of this year and my first and second wave of purchases were little sub micron sized slings. You could put my whole collection in a shoe box and still have room for the shoes. I keep my little collection in my basement where, even in the Chicago summers, stays pretty cool and dry. So, I ended up using what I call the “double boiler” method to keep them warm and moist – all the little sling vials are kept in a larger Tupperware box and the larger box is gently heated with an old electric blanket. Well that worked until recently. I have since purchased a few juv’s and the little slings I started out with are now getting fairly large. It was either locate a Tupperware trunk!! and keep on trucking or find another solution.
The “other solution” won out and I spent a few weekends building my own little tarantula room in an unused corner of my basement. It’s interior dimensions are 4’ x 8’ and there is room for plenty of shelves for the T’s and a little desk at one end for working and photographing. The walls and ceiling are fully insulated and caulked so the little ceramic heater I bought runs about 5 minutes an hour to keep the temp at a steady 76 degrees. There’s a desk light, two receptacles, switchable overhead light and switchable pair of 50 watt red spots so I can sneak up on my reclusive Cyriopagopus schioedtei on occasion. I did all the work myself so the only cost was materials which ran about $220, not including the heater, for your information if any one else if feeling a similar itch.
It’s a nice little place to sit and work and is now my domestic inner sanctum, completed just ahead of Jack Frost’s arrival.
The “other solution” won out and I spent a few weekends building my own little tarantula room in an unused corner of my basement. It’s interior dimensions are 4’ x 8’ and there is room for plenty of shelves for the T’s and a little desk at one end for working and photographing. The walls and ceiling are fully insulated and caulked so the little ceramic heater I bought runs about 5 minutes an hour to keep the temp at a steady 76 degrees. There’s a desk light, two receptacles, switchable overhead light and switchable pair of 50 watt red spots so I can sneak up on my reclusive Cyriopagopus schioedtei on occasion. I did all the work myself so the only cost was materials which ran about $220, not including the heater, for your information if any one else if feeling a similar itch.
It’s a nice little place to sit and work and is now my domestic inner sanctum, completed just ahead of Jack Frost’s arrival.
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