GBB Enclosure *puts on flame retardant suit*

Alright, so I rigged up the enclosure for the C cyaneopubescens 1" juve who's arriving Thursday (Name: The Luggage). It's an 11" critter keeper... overkill right now, but she can grow into it. It's a pretty minimalist enclosure; I don't usually get super fancy.

Substrate is coco coir. Cork bark flat is partially buried, and I left a little space underneath of it for hiding if The Luggage sees fit. Yes, there are pebbles in the waterdish because I hate fishing out drowned crickets. My main concern is that I think the waterdish is a bit too big. I had a smaller one, but it was a lot deeper. I got this one instead, but I think it's too wide. I may just ditch them and do a soda lid, even though I find them ugly. I dunno.

I know housing discussions can get hot, so flamesuit is on. Have at it...

(Sorry for the cellphone pics; I was too lazy to dig out the Good Camera.)

Blueandbluer said:

Alright, so I rigged up the enclosure for the C cyaneopubescens 1" juve who's arriving Thursday (Name: The Luggage). It's an 11" critter keeper... overkill right now, but she can grow into it. It's a pretty minimalist enclosure; I don't usually get super fancy.

Substrate is coco coir. Cork bark flat is partially buried, and I left a little space underneath of it for hiding if The Luggage sees fit. Yes, there are pebbles in the waterdish because I hate fishing out drowned crickets. My main concern is that I think the waterdish is a bit too big. I had a smaller one, but it was a lot deeper. I got this one instead, but I think it's too wide. I may just ditch them and do a soda lid, even though I find them ugly. I dunno.

I know housing discussions can get hot, so flamesuit is on. Have at it...

(Sorry for the cellphone pics; I was too lazy to dig out the Good Camera.)
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Just playing devils advocate here bc it's all personal tweeking at this point

How many inches is the water dish across? Hinealy I don't see a 1" having any issues but not that big of a deal using something smaller until it grows bigger. Personally I would use larger rocks for keeping crickets alive. That many small ones will make cleaning it just that more difficult.
As to the coco fiber. Personally I only use it as an addition to either top soil or jungle mix for the sole purpose of water retention when a species needs more humidity. (Now keep in mind it's usually pretty humid where I live anyways)
For the hide, it's up to you but I made more of a lean too for mine and he just webbed up the corner and was more visible.

Lol honestly for a 1"er you'll have less trouble just getting a smaller KK for $8

Looks good to me. Familiar even....

hmmmm....


Edit- Skipping moisture advice #poec. On second glance, that might be a tad large for a 1". You want your spider to find it's food and water source pretty easily....a small enclosure makes raising most slings near dummy proof IMO. You can play with the humidity, physically move it easier, etc. It's just so much safer. "OMG where is it? where is it?" <---lesson learned
Don't be in a rush to make a larger enclosure, its a common folly.

how big is your GBB? Because if it is only 2.5 in then it little too big, but it ok. like you say it will grow into it.

KK's shouldn't be used until spiders reach or at least near the 2" mark. A 1" spider is ripe for escape in a KK. Get a 16oz deli cup and house it in there for a couple molts before dropping it into that KK. Water dish isn't an issue, a 1" t will not drown, even in that big dish.

I just got my GBB Thursday and my research said the substrate has to be super dry cuz they are extremely sensitive to humidity?
so we baked our coconut bedding to dry it completely before adding the little fella.
so IF my research is correct you MAYBE have too damp of substrate. if and maybe.

god61021 said:

I just got my GBB Thursday and my research said the substrate has to be super dry cuz they are extremely sensitive to humidity?
so we baked our coconut bedding to dry it completely before adding the little fella.
so IF my research is correct you MAYBE have too damp of substrate. if and maybe.

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They do like dry, but I don't think that means BONE dry, necessarily. However, one of the reasons I already set it up even though The Luggage isn't due to arrive until Thursday is to give the substrate a chance to dry out a bit.

Folks, what do you think of the depth? I know most GBBs don't burrow much but I wanted to make sure the substrate was deep enough to give it the option.

cold blood said:

KK's shouldn't be used until spiders reach or at least near the 2" mark. A 1" spider is ripe for escape in a KK. Get a 16oz deli cup and house it in there for a couple molts before dropping it into that KK. Water dish isn't an issue, a 1" t will not drown, even in that big dish.

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+1
1" is a pretty small size, a sling more than juvie, imo. I would worry about escapes through the vents, (although some sellers will surprise you with a bigger sling than advertised). Personally, the dish and rocks look like a lot of trouble to keep clean, many here use souffle' cups instead (they come in 1 oz sizes on up until they reach (alleged) deli cup status). And if your GBB should accidently bite that dish -- well, I like things in the enclosures that won't break fangs. Or, with terrestrials, won't break the T if it should fall. But I am an over-thinker.
Coco substrate is fine, not like it will kill a T, but many here just use plain soil (no additives, organic manures or chemicals added) but coco is fine. I have like a lifetime supply of the coco stuff, so I use coco too, but only because I didn't know better before I ordered so much of it.

Good luck -- I am excited for you! You do realize you are obligated to post pix when you receive your sling, yes?:biggrin:

Smaller enclosure! It's hard to keep track of a tiny spider and depending on the individual you'll have problems knowing it's habits eating ect. Smaller!

cold blood said:

KK's shouldn't be used until spiders reach or at least near the 2" mark. A 1" spider is ripe for escape in a KK. Get a 16oz deli cup and house it in there for a couple molts before dropping it into that KK. Water dish isn't an issue, a 1" t will not drown, even in that big dish.

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+1 on the potential for escapes through the vents.my brother in law had a 1.25 inch sling escape from a kk. If u decide to use the kk stretch a piece of stocking or something over the top and then snap the top onto the tank. That will allow for air flow but will prevent escapes.

Ellenantula said:

+1
1" is a pretty small size, a sling more than juvie, imo. I would worry about escapes through the vents, (although some sellers will surprise you with a bigger sling than advertised). Personally, the dish and rocks look like a lot of trouble to keep clean, many here use souffle' cups instead (they come in 1 oz sizes on up until they reach (alleged) deli cup status). And if your GBB should accidently bite that dish -- well, I like things in the enclosures that won't break fangs. Or, with terrestrials, won't break the T if it should fall. But I am an over-thinker.
Coco substrate is fine, not like it will kill a T, but many here just use plain soil (no additives, organic manures or chemicals added) but coco is fine. I have like a lifetime supply of the coco stuff, so I use coco too, but only because I didn't know better before I ordered so much of it.

Good luck -- I am excited for you! You do realize you are obligated to post pix when you receive your sling, yes?:biggrin:

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Alright, I'm rethinking the KK a little, though I never had trouble with even smaller bugs in them. But I'd be a fool to ignore so many people saying the same thing. I'll have to think about it. I can say I HATE and DESPISE delicups. I know a lot of other people love them. I don't like how flimsy they feel and the fact that I have to have to lid completely off to do anything in the container, like feeding and cleaning. And, there's the story I told in another thread, how when attempting to recapture an escapee one time, I wound up crushing its legs in the lid crease. It just gave me a bad taste in my mouth about using delicups for live animals.

As for the pics, this is my first spiderbaby in like, 15 years. I'm going to take SO MANY PICTURES, trust. :laugh:

---------- Post added 03-21-2015 at 08:46 PM ----------

ratluvr76 said:

+1 on the potential for escapes through the vents.my brother in law had a 1.25 inch sling escape from a kk. If u decide to use the kk stretch a piece of stocking or something over the top and then snap the top onto the tank. That will allow for air flow but will prevent escapes.

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The stocking is an interesting idea. I wouldn't want anything that would impact the visibility from the sides, though. Maybe secured with a band? Hm. Would have to ponder this.

I seem to the lone voice for this, but I burn a hole and put a cork in it, so I can drop in something without opening whole lid.
Others have argued Ts will push the cork out and escape, but I do a pretty tight compression fitting. For a sling, only a small hole with small cork would work -- for my larger juvie enclosures, I have a hole the size of a wine cork.
YMMV, but I like not having to open a whole lid too.
(I may need to don my flame retardant attire now for this suggestion -- lol)

Interesting idea. Where do you get your smaller corks?

Blueandbluer said:

Interesting idea. Where do you get your smaller corks?

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eBay! I bought a bag of mixed sizes (from mini to small) and just use whichever seems to fit best/tightest. I guess it's considered a craft item, not sure. I bought them originally for some small glass bottles I had, not for Ts.
eBay rules!
Sheeesh, I would love to share my banking statement with you guys -- paypal, paypal, phone bill, paypal, paypal, paypal, paypal, grocery store, paypal. lol

Okay, so I'm going to be the weirdo here. The primary concern that I would have with a KK that size for a 1-2" sling would be the possibility of escape through the vents. The amount of floor space wouldn't be terribly concerning to me. I tend to give more space to my tarantulas than is strictly necessary. To solve concerns about food and water, I just let them settle in and then move the water close to their retreat. I also drop prey near the spider so that I don't have to stand and wait to see if they're going to grab it if I'm in more of a hurry. If the prey is right in front of the tarantula and it doesn't make a move toward it in the first few minutes, it's probably not interested.

I have a GBB right now that is in a more arboreal type enclosure. I wanted to see what it would do with the space after seeing pictures and reading posts here that show them to have semi arboreal tendencies. I gave my little one (just molted to 2" DLS) an enclosure with about four inches of topsoil for substrate (bone dry), a piece of bark leaned across a stick to create a hide on the ground with a small starter burrow underneath, and a bunch of fake plants to various heights. The enclosure is significantly larger than it needs to be for the tarantula's size at this moment. For water I am using a cap from a 1 liter soda bottle that matches the colors in the plants (for aesthetic purposes) without any pebbles or stones. I spend plenty enough time washing water bowls without washing stones too, but that's just me.

This particular tarantula started webbing at the burrow and worked it's way up the enclosure, creating a multiple level maze of web tunnels. When I feed it, I toss the prey next to the opening in the web tube nearest to the spider, which it is generally poking it's front legs out of if it's hungry. I drip a little water onto the webbing near it once or twice a week as well, just in case it hasn't made it's way down to the dish. The enclosure that I used is a teddy bear shaped plastic container that previously held a couple pounds of animal cookies. My son and niece won't touch an animal cookie with a stick right now after eating them for a month straight so I could have the jar. Another thing that is working well for me as an enclosure for slings is a plastic dried Parmesan cheese container.

This is my current GBB enclosure.

Blueandbluer said:

I'll have to think about it. I can say I HATE and DESPISE delicups. I know a lot of other people love them. I don't like how flimsy they feel and the fact that I have to have to lid completely off to do anything in the container, like feeding and cleaning. And, there's the story I told in another thread, how when attempting to recapture an escapee one time, I wound up crushing its legs in the lid crease.

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You do NOT have to take the entire lid off a deli cup, the lids are quite pliable, that's part of the benefit they give the keeper. Now we're not talking those little ones that you might put catsup in at fast food, but a 16 oz deli, like you would get Chinese food in. They offer excellent visibility and pliable lids. I've never pinched a t in a lid, just be careful and it shouldn't be an issue.

My take on the stocking, if you need to use something like that, its not a proper enclosure, period.

Blueandbluer said:

They do like dry, but I don't think that means BONE dry, necessarily.

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For juvies and adults it does in fact mean bone dry.

god61021 said:

I just got my GBB Thursday and my research said the substrate has to be super dry cuz they are extremely sensitive to humidity?
so we baked our coconut bedding to dry it completely before adding the little fella.
so IF my research is correct you MAYBE have too damp of substrate. if and maybe.

Click to expand...

While adults and juvies require bone dry, slings (of all species) require some measure of moisture in theor enclosure as they have not developed the waxy layer that protects them from dehydrating.

Wow, Sana, that's a very interesting enclosure. I love how the spider webbed straight up. How do you keep it clean, though? I would worry about boluses falling to the ground and rotting, or crix getting to the bottom where I couldnt' fish them out.

What kind of lid does it have, a screwtop?

Sana said:

Okay, so I'm going to be the weirdo here.

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Aren't you the weirdo everywhere you go Sana? hehe:smile:

You are right, this species especially (because of its legendary webbing capabilities), will deal with larger areas better, I'd even say a little extra room would be beneficial.

---------- Post added 03-21-2015 at 08:44 PM ----------

Blueandbluer said:

I would worry about boluses falling to the ground and rotting,

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There's not much left in a bolus to really rot, its cleaning the poo or retrieving dead prey that would be a pain. I like the enclosure, but I wouldn't use it because of the screw top and the bottlenecking of the top...both just make the little things more difficult than they need to be.

Heck yes I am CB!:tongue:

The enclosure lid is a screw top, which I have come to love. A tarantula isn't going to be pushing that off to escape. If I need to put the lid in place quickly to prevent escape, I just set it gently in place and don't screw it down until I'm sure that there aren't any spider limbs in danger. S/he has webbed almost exclusively on one side of the enclosure and has helpfully left me enough space that I don't generally have trouble getting underneath the web with my tongs to do maintenance. Ninety percent of the time I don't even have to get under the webbing, since I drop prey near the tarantula. The web snags crickets and wax worms pretty efficiently and slows them down enough that they don't usually make it from where they were dropped before they are dinner. I think that in the last few months I have only had one cricket that I had to fish out from the bottom of the enclosure. This particular GBB also has the helpful habit of piling it's boluses and yuck outside one of the many entrances to the web tube that is about halfway down the enclosure, which makes them pretty easy to find and remove. Plus side with this species is that they web so prolifically in my experience that small amounts of damage to their web are negligible and repaired within a day.

cold blood said:

You do NOT have to take the entire lid off a deli cup, the lids are quite pliable, that's part of the benefit they give the keeper. Now we're not talking those little ones that you might put catsup in at fast food, but a 16 oz deli, like you would get Chinese food in. They offer excellent visibility and pliable lids. I've never pinched a t in a lid, just be careful and it shouldn't be an issue.

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Do you mean like one of these? http://www.relevedesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/large-take-out-container.jpg

For juvies and adults it does in fact mean bone dry.

While adults and juvies require bone dry, slings (of all species) require some measure of moisture in theor enclosure as they have not developed the waxy layer that protects them from dehydrating.

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Well, at 1" it's basically still a sling, so I won't stress too much over it.