OW substrate depth?

bscheidt1020

Arachnoknight
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What is the consensus on giving OW(non-Haplopelma or Pelinobius) terrestrials an inch or three of substrate and a hide nestled into it as opposed to 6-8 inches of substrate for burrowing? I am curious about the genera Chilobrachys and Ceratogyrus but other input would be helpful. My OBT is in a setup with a hide and minimal substrate but I know they can be an oddball or cross between arboreal, terrestrial, and fossorial in their tendencies. Mine seems to be doing great but I am curious if I could provide this to other species with equal success. The enclosure is about 6-7 inches tall with a curved cork bark for her to hide under. She has it webbed up and sits at the mouth of the bark/webbing or back up in her web tube....
 

Arachnomaniac19

Arachnolord
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I keep my Ceratogyrus with 3" and Chilobrachys fimbriatus with the same amount. Generally, keep Chilobrachys like Haplopelmas. Mine just doesn't burrow very much.
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
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I would provide 6-8 inches and see what happens, if it doesn't burrow then you just have a giant cushion to break its falls and keep humidity up.
 

bscheidt1020

Arachnoknight
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I was planning on putting my next OW terrestrial in a deep setup to see if it used it to burrow and maybe adding an artificial hide to see what it chose. Maybe base future practice off if that....
 

gobey

Arachnoknight
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I was planning on putting my next OW terrestrial in a deep setup to see if it used it to burrow and maybe adding an artificial hide to see what it chose. Maybe base future practice off if that....
Good idea... I'm getting a few tomorrow... 2 terrestrial. Ceratogyrus.

They'll only be 2~2.5"

But I've got 2 different enclosures... One with maybe 2.5" substrate... One with more like 5~6"

Have an arboreal coming too... 2~4" substrate in parts... Lots of cork bark lining the cage. OW arboreals kind of almost burrow too sometimes... I'm curious to see what each T will do.
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
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Good idea... I'm getting a few tomorrow... 2 terrestrial. Ceratogyrus.

They'll only be 2~2.5"

But I've got 2 different enclosures... One with maybe 2.5" substrate... One with more like 5~6"

Have an arboreal coming too... 2~4" substrate in parts... Lots of cork bark lining the cage. OW arboreals kind of almost burrow too sometimes... I'm curious to see what each T will do.
I have an O.sp Blue, they are supposed to be arboreal but it acts like the rest of the genus and likes to live in a hole instead.
 

gobey

Arachnoknight
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I have an O.sp Blue, they are supposed to be arboreal but it acts like the rest of the genus and likes to live in a hole instead.
My pokies have holes... But they're made in the shagnum moss. Not substrate.

I have an H. mac on the way too. We'll see what she does for hiding.

Also idk if you saw my answer in the other thread but my OBT is on shallow sub with a hide too.

A little dug out rock cave hide... About 2 to 2.5 inches of substrate.

She's 4.5"

Got her that size in September.

She finally settled into using the hide... Hanging half out... Not really webbing much...

Now she's made an impenetrable dirt fortress around the hide and is never seen.
 

Angel Minkov

Arachnobaron
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Aug 3, 2014
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I give my slings 1" substrate, mu juvies around 3" and for the large spiders I fill the substrate until its safe. Depends on the cage, really. It could range anywhere from 3 to 5.
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
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My pokies have holes... But they're made in the shagnum moss. Not substrate.

I have an H. mac on the way too. We'll see what she does for hiding.

Also idk if you saw my answer in the other thread but my OBT is on shallow sub with a hide too.

A little dug out rock cave hide... About 2 to 2.5 inches of substrate.

She's 4.5"

Got her that size in September.

She finally settled into using the hide... Hanging half out... Not really webbing much...

Now she's made an impenetrable dirt fortress around the hide and is never seen.
My spider in question has a similar set up, about 2-3 inches of sub with a cork slab put at an angle as I expected it to be an arboreal, but it has dug instead.
 

bscheidt1020

Arachnoknight
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I have some tubs I like to use and they have two that have the same footprint but with different heights so I try to use the shallow ones for saving space and the taller ones for arboreals or burrowers. My OBT is in a shallow one and is doing well with the 6 inch height but I would start using the 12 inch height ones like my H. Hainanum is in for all my OWs if it did not work out. I am gonna try a taller enclosure with deep substrate and a hide and see what is chosen...is it safe to say I can keep Ceratogyrus or Chilobrachys the same as I do my OBT? By the way I got a dremel tool yesterday and a diamond cutting blade and now I have some sweet half flower pots and some with a hole I chipped and filed into the bottom to be flipped over and used for arboreals!!! I digress.
 

gobey

Arachnoknight
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Ack!!! Horned baboons!!!

Sorry I've just wanted one for so long and the darlingi finally came out and was sitting right in the open... With his little hat. :)

Anyways he found and went right to his hide... Curved cork bark with a dug out section of sub underneath...

Dry substrate...

He looks 2" The ad said 2.5" But whatever.

He has probably 3 to 3.5" of substrate too. And he's in an enclosure that's actually much too big... I'm going to have to watch to see he eats... Or Buy 2 new enclosures as the marshalli needs a better one than it's in too someday soon.

The marshalli is in an enclosure not too small. But could be a bit bigger. Dry sub. 2~3" deepest. Dry substrate. Rock cave hide also dug out.

But it could have a better lid.... Better ventilation too. And it's foggy lol.

Anyways I'll see what they do. The marshalli is still in the vial... Hasn't come out yet.
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
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I have some tubs I like to use and they have two that have the same footprint but with different heights so I try to use the shallow ones for saving space and the taller ones for arboreals or burrowers. My OBT is in a shallow one and is doing well with the 6 inch height but I would start using the 12 inch height ones like my H. Hainanum is in for all my OWs if it did not work out. I am gonna try a taller enclosure with deep substrate and a hide and see what is chosen...is it safe to say I can keep Ceratogyrus or Chilobrachys the same as I do my OBT? By the way I got a dremel tool yesterday and a diamond cutting blade and now I have some sweet half flower pots and some with a hole I chipped and filed into the bottom to be flipped over and used for arboreals!!! I digress.
I personally would give them deep sub, the chilos especially as they seem more feisty that the ceratogyrus. I have an adult female C.darlingi and she came in a shallow container with a hide. She seems fine in it but it can make maintenance a little hard as she can either hide in a corner or run out of the container. I'm going to upgrade her to a deep cage with a lot of sub just to make my life easier, I may not see her often but I won't have to fight to keep her in her cage.
 

bscheidt1020

Arachnoknight
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I personally would give them deep sub, the chilos especially as they seem more feisty that the ceratogyrus. I have an adult female C.darlingi and she came in a shallow container with a hide. She seems fine in it but it can make maintenance a little hard as she can either hide in a corner or run out of the container. I'm going to upgrade her to a deep cage with a lot of sub just to make my life easier, I may not see her often but I won't have to fight to keep her in her cage.


Escapes was one of my major concerns with the shallow cage but my OBT retreats to it's hide, not out of the container. Then again, I think my older OBT is strangely well behaved for the species. I will have to get some OW terrestrials to try different setups with but I think I am going for some NW terrestrials and a couple of Poecilotheria next.
 

gobey

Arachnoknight
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Escapes was one of my major concerns with the shallow cage but my OBT retreats to it's hide, not out of the container. Then again, I think my older OBT is strangely well behaved for the species. I will have to get some OW terrestrials to try different setups with but I think I am going for some NW terrestrials and a couple of Poecilotheria next.
My OBT is very calm... Has never threatened me. Always just hid in her hide... Before she took to that hide she'd just chill by the enclosure lid while I did any maintenance with the long tongs.... Unnerving... But she just stayed put.

But I know any day she could flip a switch and go postal or prison break.

Until then my porteri thinks it's an OBT. She just needs to exercise more because she doesn't have that agility. But she has the attitude.

I did a lot of maintainence on a friends MM OBT too. It had a very large personal space issue.
 

bscheidt1020

Arachnoknight
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My OBT is very calm... Has never threatened me. Always just hid in her hide... Before she took to that hide she'd just chill by the enclosure lid while I did any maintenance with the long tongs.... Unnerving... But she just stayed put.

But I know any day she could flip a switch and go postal or prison break.

Until then my porteri thinks it's an OBT. She just needs to exercise more because she doesn't have that agility. But she has the attitude.

I did a lot of maintainence on a friends MM OBT too. It had a very large personal space issue.
I know it is not up to me but I would prefer threat poses and biting at tongs or brushes rather than the old touch and run like hell that mine have shown when i have rehoused them. I always think it is funny to watch my older one calmly turn around and walk back into her hide when i disturb her enclosure....just seems so anti climactic when i hear stories of them running fangs first into the side of an enclosure upon a keeper's approach! I believe mine is trying to dispel myths about her species. Probably a sociology major....
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
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I know it is not up to me but I would prefer threat poses and biting at tongs or brushes rather than the old touch and run like hell that mine have shown when i have rehoused them. I always think it is funny to watch my older one calmly turn around and walk back into her hide when i disturb her enclosure....just seems so anti climactic when i hear stories of them running fangs first into the side of an enclosure upon a keeper's approach! I believe mine is trying to dispel myths about her species. Probably a sociology major....
That is fine, my P.metallica was content to fill the role of OBT in my collection. Before her recent molt she would bite and threat pose at the side of the container if you got too close; mainly if my boyfriend was in the room, she would flip out.
 

gobey

Arachnoknight
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Darlingi dug a hole in it's hide.

We'll see if I ever see it again lol.

Marshalli was making a hide out of the shipping vial... I had to unwrap it this morning and get it out.

Now we'll see what it does.
 

bscheidt1020

Arachnoknight
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That is fine, my P.metallica was content to fill the role of OBT in my collection. Before her recent molt she would bite and threat pose at the side of the container if you got too close; mainly if my boyfriend was in the room, she would flip out.
Holy crap your spider had a personal beef with your boyfriend?! That's a mean spider!!!!
 

awiec

Arachnoprince
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Holy crap your spider had a personal beef with your boyfriend?! That's a mean spider!!!!
Well technically it's his spider, I just care for it, honestly all the spiders he has picked out have been very defensive.
 

gobey

Arachnoknight
Joined
Jun 20, 2014
Messages
290
Both my new Ceratogyrus have.... Not used their substrate depth at all to do anything so far. They are also ignoring their hides.

The darlingi actually did not dig a hole.

I found it had made a dugout in a large clump of moss by the water dish.

The marshalli... Has also covered himself up under a moss patch...

Go figure.
 
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