Excellent Viewing/Feeding or a Facefull of an OW T ?

So I've seen a lot of people do this style of setup, specifically orient a cork tube towards the opening of the tank, RobC this guy, my local breeder etc etc, see here, and what a GORGEOUS Lv too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdbWXHUDJW8

Now the advantage is it serves as an easy way to feed and observe your T. You open the container, and you don't need to intrude into their space w/long tongs to feed them.

However, I wonder if it serves as a "great" way for the T to launch right out onto you etc etc., not a good thing if it's an OW species like a Poki.

Initially, I thought about making a similar setup, but with the cork tube turned to the left or right, and pushed towards the back.

I'd be really curious to hear from OW arboreal owners on this one. Poec or anyone else for that matter who have used this style etc.


Unrelated to my question, but a video from the same person, demonstrating why I always drill holes for ventilation as opposed to his method

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTyP0xxk0HI

My adult female P subfusca is in something similar to this. Her tube is much deeper, though so it takes some effort to see her, it also wouldn't be terribly easy or her to get me just because of the way I feed her when I do. It's deep enough and she's burrowed enough out at the bottom of it that even when the doors are open she's secure and can stay hidden. I only see her when she wants me to. I'll get a picture when I get a chance.

It's been my experience, to date, that once an animal is situated in its home, its general reaction to interference is to retreat. Many of my arboreals are set up similarly with the corkround openings facing the door. Most have conveniently webbed over said openings to suit their own purposes which is to keep me out. LOL

"I only see [them] when [they] want me to." That says it all.

Personally, I've never been a friend of orienting the exit towards the opening of the cage. For one, while it's nice to be able to check easily on them, it's also taking away from their need of secrecy and being left undisturbed in my opinion. A good example on this is famous "Phaedra": She has a corkbark as a retreat, yes. However, I've oriented it towards the rear left corner of the tank, giving her maximum privacy and guaranteeing she won't be disturbed whenever I turn on the light for example. I'm not able to judge it, but it might very well be why this T is seldomly showing any hectic / skittish / teleporting movement at all - except for feeding time. On the same note, I will agree that such setup has some downsides as well. You can't see the T at any given time -you- check on it, unless it decides to show up and you have to keep on your toes when working in the cage due to the fact that you can't see the T while doing so.

And that's exactly what I aim for: To give them the opportunity to decide for themself and so far, she has repayed me with the treat of showing up plenty usually. Despite her species being secretive.

On the other hand, "Moriko", my P. cambridgei has a couple hides in her cage: One being a corkbark-slab in the rear right corner leaned against the back of the cage which she used until her last molt. The other is a corkbark-tube that is actually oriented towards the opening of the cage. And she shows me exactly how much she thinks of me when I have to open that cage to do maintenance. It's gotten to the point where I'm going to re-do her cage slightly upcoming weeked to prevent causing that said distubance to her. A 7" T being seriously annoyed each time you have to do maintenance is something I'd like to prevent. It's not that I can't deal with her, it's that I feel bad for causing that disturbance to her because it really is unnessary if I'd just setup her retreats like I did for "Phaedra".

Attached examples of the T's cages:

"Phaedra" is housed in this


"Moriko" in this (instead of the piece of corkbark in the left front, there's a corkbark tube angled towards the opening of the cage)

Thanks for the input people. It's still something I'm thinking about regarding orientation. Hopefully some more people will comment.