Hides for T's

MissssSnape

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 13, 2006
Messages
40
I have just gotten my second T. A B. smithi and I gave her a nice KC but i didn't have a hide available that soon. My G.rosea has a nice terracotta tube hide and I have been on the look out for a coconut. So I gave my B.smithi a PVC Tube and has been inside it ever since. When she goes after the crickets she quickly grabs them and drags them back to the tube.

What kind of hides do you use?
and
Should I buy a new hide or should I let the Tube stay in?
 

kenspidey

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 25, 2006
Messages
100
Well i use one of those half logs for my rosea and a terracotta pot for my seemani. PVC tube is fine really as long as its big enough for the T. The only reason you might want to change it is to make it look better because white pvc pipe isnt the best looking thing around. Good luck with your smithi
 

Mina

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 4, 2005
Messages
2,136
We use wooden tunnels, the ones that look like half a log, coconut huts, plastic containers cut in half, toilet paper tubes, pretty much whatever is handy when I need a hide for someone. All of my T's that have enough space to have one, have a hide offered, even if they don't use it.
 

Sevenrats

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 4, 2006
Messages
301
I've had a rosea and a A. seemani for a long time and each has a ceramic coffee mug as a hide. They are brown rough finisih handmade things that someone gave me. I half buried them at a little angle and piled the substrate in front so that the mug is empty inside. The A. seemani loves it and lives in there. The rosea only hide if she gets startled. Most of the time she is sitting on top of her hide.

My new OBT I originally gave a half a coconut with a little door cut in the side. Bad idea. She moved in and I never saw her. Sooooo.... I evicted a very angry OBT from the coconut and on Becca's suggestion made a little cave/tent out of some cork bark and made it so I could see in on three sides. She happily moved right in on the first night and webbed it up and created her own little parlor and I can still see her. The neat thing is she renovates her webbing all the time.
 

MindUtopia

Arachnoking
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Messages
2,041
I use mostly plastic flower pots. I found a florist who will sell me a bunch that are just laying around in his back room for a couple bucks (of course, he was a little creeped out when I told him what they were for!). They are easy to cut in half, in my opinion, easier than trying to crack the ceramic ones in half. And they are cheap. I've also got a few cork bark hides, but I think I prefer plastic, less risk of mold. Though I think PVC pipe should work okay too for a B. smithi since they tend to not dig too much and are often out in the open.
 

MissssSnape

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 13, 2006
Messages
40
I put the pipe against the glass and covered it with substrate so I can still look in but I don't see the nasty gray pipe. I also put some subtrate in the entrance. She hides against the glass looking through the glass and when she's eating you can see it so well. Problem is she leaves some legs at the end. I'm not sure how to get those out yet
 

Fille

Arachnopeon
Joined
Dec 29, 2005
Messages
38
Coconuts are so tasty. Mmmm, sweet sweet coconuts. Besides the fact they taste absolutely fabulous, they also make great hides for any small to medium sized T. Eating coconuts gives me an excuse to buy more T's, because throwing away the shells would be a waste of good hides. Buying more T's gives me an excuse to eat more coconuts, because I'm in need of some hides. Life can be great if you like both.:D
 

angelarachnid

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 25, 2004
Messages
384
The best hide for a spider is a good 15 inches of substrate and let her build her own hide{D

Ray
 

pureabsolutevoid

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
Oct 19, 2005
Messages
144
angelarachnid said:
The best hide for a spider is a good 15 inches of substrate and let her build her own hide{D

Ray
I love this quote. :)

But I always like to put a peice of cork bark curl in there, I get them at the local pet store, and T's always love them, and they look super natural!
 

tima

Arachnoknight
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Messages
193
I use clay or plastic flowerpots for my larger Ts. For my Brachy. slings, I use the little electrical conduit PVC elbows (45 degrees or 90 degrees). They love these...they go in, and keep burrowing at the end, some for a couple of inches....this blocks the entrance to the burrow, but it's fun to watch them burrowing along the glass.
 

Lorgakor

Arachnomom
Staff member
Joined
Sep 9, 2004
Messages
2,369

MissssSnape

Arachnopeon
Joined
Feb 13, 2006
Messages
40
WOW great pics. I just love how you T blondi is sitting underneath it and looking out like "What are you doing here GET OUT!"

I need more substrate since my B smithi is climbing the wals and I think it's a to big of a fall when she does.
 

YouLosePayUp

Arachnoangel
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Messages
843
If you have the tools and are willing to put a little time in you can double your money. Buy a schwackload of claypots from a dollar store "dollarama" in Ontario ;) and then use a die grinder with a cutoff wheel to split them in two. They sit much nicer on the substrate and you have twice as many for the same price. Also if its a burrowing species they can go deeper than the bottom half of the pot.

On a final note I will warn you it has a pretty nasty smell to it but worth it in the end I believe
 
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Cirith Ungol

Ministry of Fluffy Bunnies
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 22, 2004
Messages
3,886
I basically have all of the above:
- 1in pvc pipe for 3 scorps
- halved plastic flowerpots for the juvie T's
- halved plastic flowerpots for grown up T's
- pieces of wood that stand at an angle
- just plain substatrate for the diggers (they know what to do anyway)
- a hide made out of small hardish sheets/blocks of peat which I leaned onto eachother
- cork bark hides
- coconut hides
- a terracotta hide that's formed like a burrow which I dug in with the opening above the surface and the elongated cavity below the surface, with its back to the wall so I can see in at any time
- another terracotta hide wich is more open and which just sits in the tank

But the nicest one I have for my snakes: a hollow half log I fished out of a lake, its open on both sides and a shape that slightly reminds of an S... yummy! :) and the snake currently inhabiting it loves it! It only sticks its head out every now and then, other than that it's under there all the time.

I will absolutely go hunt more such hollow logs next summer but I bet they're pretty rare. But it don't matter, I have lots of time, the lake is big and they are absolutely worth it :)
 
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