What Can I Keep in Here?

Spepper · May 16, 2014

https://www.flickr.com/photos/114543195@N07/14014866519/https://www.flickr.com/people/114543195@N07/

I picked this up at a thrift store today and was curious what I could put this to good use with. My first impulse was to use it for breeding crickets as feeders, but then I noticed that the holes on the sides were way too big for that. So any suggestions on something that isn't a feeder? I know I'm instantly going to get a bunch of tarantula suggestions, but those aren't really ideal because my family isn't too keen on that and I honestly don't know how I'd react if I was to be bitten. I do love true spiders and just about anything else though that is reasonably not dangerous. Also, something that I could possibly find would be great. I live on the West Coast of the U.S. Otherwise, cheap-ish inverts I'm open to.

It's about a foot long and 5 3/4" at the highest point of the lid, and 6 1/2" wide.

Spepper · May 17, 2014

Bumping it on up.

Hmmm. Well if you guys don't have any awesome suggestions I might just have to figure it out on my own then.

The Snark · May 17, 2014

I'd rule out sloths, capybara, wombats and dingos. That is an awesome looking keeper. A real head scratcher as to what would best be complimented by it. Could you narrow the field by your preferences as arachs, inverts, bones or rocket propelled?

Spepper · May 17, 2014

Probably arachnids would be of most interest to me, but I have three large wild-caught darkling beetles that I was also considering rehoming into this in the case of nothing better. An invert in any case.

The Snark · May 17, 2014

With the nice clear walls it would be a shame to cover part of them up with substrate. Should try to take advantage of the visibility. A webber would only occupy one small area so a mobile hunting type would be more interesting. Salticids, Lycos, sparassids, crabs, lynxes, etc, all depending on the amount of maintenance you want to do. None of these pose a health risk.

If a patrol arach is your interest, take into account their preferred habitat. Jumpers don't care where they go. Plastic walls are fine by them. Other end of spectrum, lynx types demand certain foliage. Crabs can be similar to jumpers, lycos can't climb very well, and sparassids will be slightly challenged by the access port on the top though opening the whole top will often end up in a round up rodeo.

Spepper · May 17, 2014

The holes in the sides are too big to keep a Salticid contained. I've been interested for a while in a large wolf spider or Sparassid of some kind though. The biggest wolves I have around here are just over an inch long, counting the legs starting at the tips of the back legs and ending at the tips of the front legs. So they're not that huge, and might be able to escape if they somehow reached the holes. Wouldn't it be a bit short for a Sparassid though? Haha, I see you edited the post. Hmmm. I don't think my family would be too appreciative of giant spider from another place dashing around the house, so maybe that wouldn't be the best idea there. LOL I know wolves are nice because they can't really climb, and some of them are really beautiful. Not to mention fun to feed.

The Snark · May 17, 2014

How wide are the vents on the sides? Many jumpers get too porky to do the escape artist gig through small slots. Lycos are cool and do lots of bizarre stuff. A little substrate and you can end up with a morass of strange webs as it landscapes it's hunting grounds. Sparassid keeping is a bit refined as it usually entails not having EEEEW! STOMP IT! homo erectus about. But if they are all archno-fanatics the antics of an escaped heteropoda and their catching attempts can be hilarious. The larger crabs are fascinating - the massive body builder front end muscling it's way around the place with the itty bitty frail granny back legs trying to put on a good show.

Spepper · May 17, 2014

My family wouldn't dare stomp any of my critters, but neither would they help me catch an escaped Sparassid. LOL They don't exactly appreciate my spiders, but they do like that at least they know where they are.

The vents on the sides are between 2/16ths and 4/16ths inch wide. Do the larger wolf spiders require substrate to make a burrow, or would a little substrate to give them something comfortable to walk on and some hides suffice? And what about Sparassids? For some reason I'm under the impression that their care is more like jumpers, although they'd probably appreciate a propped-up piece of bark to rest on. I'm not particularly attracted to large crab spiders though, probably because of their crazy body preportions, no offense to people that love them for the same reason.

Quelaag · Jun 2, 2014

I used to have a keeper like that, I kept two hermit crabs. I was a kid and my mom didn't like the idea of tarantulas so crabs are a good choice for that situation. They're easy and you can hold them without fear of major injury. Only thing that sucks about these is the display isn't great.

Chriscent · Jun 14, 2014

That is a hermit crab enclosure. It is designed to cover the bottom with aquarium rock and some water. Then toss in some shells for their butts and some things for them to climb on. Crabs are funny to watch too, so a good pet. And they sell an infinite number of painted shells for them to hide/house in.

Acro · Jun 30, 2014

Hermit crabs are tree crabs, they need height to climb. That is certainly not a good enclosure for hermit crabs.
I would suggest keeping the darkling beetles in there.
Either way, good luck!

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