2 weeks into owning Ts. I keep trying to improve their enclosures but they are miserable.

Ok so two weeks ago at a convention there was an exotic reptile/arachnid booth. And they were selling rose hair tarantulas for $20 with an enclosure and water dish with a bit of eco earth in it. I've wanted a tarantula for years so I googled this species and read the care sheet stickied here and decided to buy it.

She came in a little shoe boxed sized clear plastic container with a vented lid, I put a little log in it for her. At first she just sat in the corner with a few legs on the glass looking out, not moving for like days.

Then she decided that the log and the tiny area right next to the log were her spots. And she would never go anywhere else. And she was happy. Mostly.

My concern was that the lid to her enclosure snaps shut tightly on 6 sides and wasn't far above her so whenever I oened it to feed her or change her water it would spook her.

my other concern is one night my girlfriend and I decided to let her out she called on my hand a bit and explored a little bit on the couch then when I put her back in she furiously wanted to get out again. she crawled off of her log out of the enclosure back on to my hand and then just sat there. I had to force her back into the enclosure and when I got the lid on for hours she wandered around to each corner trying to get out I felt really bad.

so I decided if she ever got real NC like that again but she probably should have a bigger enclosure. I thought about getting a large breeder been from Exo Terra but the one I brought home was defective. when I returned it to the same local pet store but their one other location, they didn't have that particular model but they sold me something similar that was a little bit bigger but less money.

so now she's in some kind of reptile keeper I have a decent amount of substrate so that if she were to fall she shouldn't hurt herself and enough room for her to wander plus her log and her water dish.

but she's clinging to the side of the wall now. I didn't think the substrate was too damp but it might still be because that's my only thought about what the problem might be I laid down a sheet of plastic that came with the bin so that she could stand on it, and for one night she did. but now she's clinging to the side again.

I just want the poor girl to be happy and it seems like I should have just left her in the smaller simpler enclosure for a while. I have a small size Kritter keeper as well but I have no substrate left at the moment as what I had left I used filling up her new home. that's why I'm also assuming that it still might just be too wet. if that's the issue how do I dry it out?
Any ideas? Her old home cracked and the critter keeper is smaller than that was.

Here's a picture of her old home, and her new with her behavior.

Green is it the new enclosure I don't know why the pictures are coming in upside down

Hard to tell if it's damp from the pictures of the enclosures but I'd suggest just letting her chill and settle down. Probably a bit annoyed from all the moving and such. I think you may be over thinking why she's doing what she's doing a bit as well . It's okay I did the same before, had to force myself to just chill a little and not over think why my spider was being a spider.

I'll let someone with a bit more experience chime in!

They can take months to fully settle in to their new homes. Just leave them alone.

You have to understand that moving/rehousing tarantulas is very stressful for them and each time you move them, they have to get used to things all over again. Climbing the sides is a very common thing for recently rehoused tarantulas to do. Other than the moist sub I see, which is probably bothering her a bit, the enclosure looks fine. All of what you describe is completely normal behavior-aside from the fact that you lucked out with a calm rosie, which cheers you lucky duck. Just let that sub dry, let her alone and she'll eventually calm down. In the future if you need to rehouse her for whatever reason, take some of her dry webbed up dirt along (I like to put it inside their new hide)-it seems to really help them settle in.

She is probably just trying to get away from the 49ers hat, Go hawks lol. Nah in all seriousness. This enclosure is more then enough space for her. To me it looks like your coco fiber is too moist. Rosie and other grammastola and brachy T don't like damp soil. Stop spraying the substrate. If anything, just over flow the water dish a little every two weeks.

The substrate is moist because It's newly made from brick, and was made in her enclosure, because I'm a moron. The top most layer was mostly the dry stuff mixed in with very little water though and Dr or dry substrate put on top... not enough guess.
Will this dry out?

And yes she's super chill and she's taken a TON of crap from me with this re housing. She takes some serious prods with the paintbrush and tongs to corral her. But she's mostly just skittish and chicken about that so I don't like to startle her. But she has no problem and won't flinch with your hand near her for water dish changing or anything and she didn't mind handling as long as you let her sit.

So it makes me worry to see her upset.... I like her lol and I want her to stay this calm. I want to call her friendly and say that she's liking me but I know better. but I figure there must be some sort of learning going on in there right some sort of associative behavior and I figure the less I upset her the last chance there is of her finally flipping out one day like I've heard they can. Who knows. Again 2 weeks.

Here's better pictures

Hey when my substrate was wet we dried it out in the microwave and oven (edit : derp not stove lol). We both chose different methods to test but they seemed to give the same results in the same time frame /shrug. 4 minute bursts, stir, 4 minute bursts, stir etcetc. Or 200c in the oven spread across tinfoil on a tray until dry seemed to work. Just something to keep in mind for the future, I'm not saying move and dry again lol .

Also I don't think she needs that piece of plastic on the ground in the enclosure.

What is the sheet of plastic on the floor of the enclosure for?
Honestly as soon as the substrate is dry. I would almost bet you she will not be on the walls so much.
My B. smithi does go to corners and do a little climbing, I keep my substrate mostly dry for her, expect when I over fill her battle cap every two weeks or so.
She digs a hole and puts the cap down there, I just over flow it a bit, the water soaks in, and if she is thirsty she will walk over and drink. Sometimes she wont even go near it.

I would not worry to much about them. They will make it there own once they are left alone.

Good Luck,

KJM

The plastic was because I was concerned that the substrate was wet. I just removed it, it was there to keep her off the Damn walls lol
She stayed on it all night. Then moved back to the wall. I wish she'd find her log.

Anyways I'm just leaving her and the enclosure be I guess until it's all good?

gobey said:

I'm just leaving her and the enclosure be I guess until it's all good?

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Thats about it, unless you want to stress her out, moving her to a container until you can microwave? or oven, the coco fiber like someone else said.
I would just leave her alone, it will dry, and she will come down.

2 weeks is not enough time to be stressing about that stuff. When it settles in and the substrate dries I'm sure all will be well. I like to buy the bagged eco earth for my tarantulas so they never have to deal with wet substrate. It may be more expensive than the bricks of it but it stays clean for so long that it doesn't really matter to me.

I definitely don't want to do anything that will stress her out any more than she is right now.

gobey said:

I definitely don't want to do anything that will stress her out any more than she is right now.

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Good idea she'll be fine! Update in a few weeks and let us know how she's going. Best of luck.

Congrats on your T! I'd dry the sub and leave her alone. You could also remove, dry, and replace the sub from the side she's not on if you're reluctant to move her again. Also, her behavior may change once she settles in so watch your fingers.

gobey said:

I definitely don't want to do anything that will stress her out any more than she is right now.

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Perfect, then do absolutely nothing...zero, zip, nada. The sub will dry in a short time, especially considering the excessive ventilation the enclosure has. Drying it will mean moving it YET AGAIN....don't do that. Don't let it out, or handle it...if you must, wait till its acclimated. This could be days or it could be months depending on the individual t. It was suggested to overflow the dish, this is a horrible idea for this species, they like it dry...bone dry. They despise moisture and its addition will shut the t down, cause it to climb and almost always put it into fasting mode (often for weeks or months after it dries). I am very careful even when I fill the dish to make sure it doesn't even splash a little. If it doesn't eat for a long while, don't worry either, its just their way (its their superpower according to one AB member...lol)

In time it will settle in, its not a big deal and its not suffering or in bad shape...looks quite good, as does the enclosure, the sub just needs to dry out a bit and she needs to get used to her new home. Once they start to lay a little webbing, they also start to get a little more comfortable.

I'll give an example of a grammy in a new home....my G. pulchripes. When I got her and housed her, she was on the glass, very often right in the corner tucked in tightly. I left her and after a couple weeks, she started to lay a little webbing and started doing some construction work. Since it acclimated it hasn't gone on the walls until the weeks just before its last molt. Now that it molted, its back to normal in its underground lair. Rosies don't tend to dig as much, if at all, but the acclimation period and actions are still very similar. You're doing fine, you just need to worry a WHOLE lot less, cause there really isn't any issue.

Welcome to the wonderful world of t's!

RyTheTGuy said:

Thats about it, unless you want to stress her out, moving her to a container until you can microwave? or oven, the coco fiber like someone else said.
I would just leave her alone, it will dry, and she will come down.

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I figured that's still a factor too and I'm probably over thinking this. I just want them to be happy!

I have had a pinktoe for a little over a week now too and I unfortunately have had to move that thing about twice as well. It's an A. Avic from what I can tell. no idea what gender it is. I went in buying one tarantula for $20 thinking that that would be cool and that would be it. Here I am 2 weeks later with two of them after spending $150 total.

anyways the pink toe is about 3 inches and it was being kept at a PetSmart in a cricket keeper so I knew I had to save it. it was very active and ate well but I was keeping it in a small critter keeper with what was probably an inch of substrate and not very much vertical room although there was some bark for it to climb up.

the spider is very docile and curious and let me handle it the first night. but when I went to dig out some of the substrate and give it more verticality in that little enclosure it got very nervous and pooped on me. so there was stressing it out number 1. I was able to make the little keeper more vertical as well as making the bark more vertical, and added a fake plant for hiding.

but the spider stopped moving after this and began sitting near the bottom of the container with its face down in the dirt.

I decided that at the end of the day this critter keeper was too small to keep that species in any way and I went out and got a much larger keeper that was much taller. I setup this keeper much more suitable for an Avic to be put in. lots of climbing room 2 large pieces of bark And wood for it to climb up, And two big fake plants for hiding. upon placing the spider in there (not before it pooped again, stress out #2) the spider again climbs to the bottom of the cage with his face in the dirt.

luckily the next day when I woke up the spider was back up high on the wall with its legs extended (it scrunches up when It's scared, and It's scared a lot). but for the past two days it has been acting more like the rose hair and has been sitting in one spot not moving.

so again my plan for these spiders is to just kind of set and let them settle. they both last ate on Wednesday I'm figuring maybe next weekend try and feed them again?

is this normal for the pinktoe as well?

is that a good cage setup for the pink toe?

and lastly any advice on these particular species for a new T owner? I'm not going into this completely blind. For the past two weeks I've been doing nothing but reading care sheets online, perusing this forum, reading tons of websites, watching tons of YouTube videos, and I bought the tarantula keepers guide although it's a 1998 edition. but by far the best experiences I've had were talking to the people who have actually handled and interacted with these animals. The manager of one of the local specialty aquarium and terrarium shops has kept and bred tarantulas so I had a long talk with him about the Rose hairs.

so my favorite way to really gather the most Intel is to talk with people who have kept these animals. I want to make a few mistakes from here on out as possible and have an awesome experience with my hopefully docile tarantulas.

Thanks!

The problem with that enclosure for the Avic is he could web up the lid a little. So you'd be breaking the webbing when opening up the enclosure. Not saying anything for sure, he could make a hide somewhere completely different. My plan for my Avics when they grow up is put a 5g on it's side so it's taller as they like the space . Once he makes his little web hide he'll be nice and happy I'm sure. Just needs to settle.

I'd like to point out I'm new as well. Enjoy your tarantulas, they're awesome creatures!

Hmmm good to know. My issue is right now is plastic critter keepers or tubs are easier to store in my room than glass tanks. I know the Avic. Is going to be harder to care for than the rose hair, but I kind of wanted that. After learning the rose hair was like a decoration you get to feed sometimes I wanted something a bit more interesting. And thought I'd get another one at some point. There was an OBT at one store but I have no interest in paying $60 for a spider that hates me. Then I couldn't believe I saw something other than a rose hair at the petsmart and had to buy it. The pinktoe was $25. Worth it already.
I'm just hoping these enclosures are good for a long while if not for their lives. Although I regret getting the rose hair enclosure instead of getting the one I originally wanted without all the side venting that obstructs the view. The cover is noisy too which defeats one of the purposes of me rehousing her in a bigger enclosure because it still spooks her when I take the cover off.

Hopefully the pinktoe makes its web below the cover.

To avoid the snap of the top opening and closing I do a couple things. First I file down the little pieces of plastic that form the latch so that it makes less noise and takes less effort to open. I also keep a brass weight on the top just in case...never had an issue and it spooks the t's a lot less.