Housing questions for the experts. (Angelarachnid?)

Okay, I have seen several posts over the last little while mentioning that alot of us are probably not housing our spiders correctly. I'm starting this post in the hopes that the experts out there will come and give some advice and opinions to us newer hobbyists.

One post attributed sudden tarantula deaths with possible poor housing, yet most of us house the way we have learned off of most web sites. Tank/jar/kritter keeper, peat moss or some other like substrate, hide, water dish, climbing branches/cork bark/bamboo for arboreals, deep substrate for burrowers. I know that is very general but probably the way most of us do it.

These posts I have seen did not elaborate in any way on the correct or different way that they house their own tarantulas. So I am hoping that this thread could start a discussion on alternate ways of housing.

Ray (Angelarachnid), I know that some of the posts I read were written by you, so I would love to hear some input here. Pictures would be most welcome!

While certainly not an expert, I think one of the most successful ways of housing obligate burrowing species (which was discussed at ArachnoCon) is the fossorial tank. Guy Tansley has an excellent page about it here.

There was also discussion regarding flooding the tank once or twice per year (mentioned by Martin H. at ArachnoCon), which I know has been discussed on other threads here. He mentioned making sure there were holes along the bottom of the tank for this purpose (draining).

Becca

Thanks Becca, I had forgotten about that link.

This is not an easy question to answer as it depends on Genera and then species.

I will start a reply to this tommorow

Ray

Thanks Ray, I look forward to it.

Lorgakor.
I'm certainly not an expert like Ray or any other people professionally studying tarantulas (I'm a professional lawyer), but maybe this also would be interesting to You partly reagrding this question:
http://www.the-t-store.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=5943
At least I think You will find some food for thoughts...
And i ready to duscuss it as well

M.F.Bagaturov said:

Lorgakor.
I'm certainly not an expert like Ray or any other people professionally studying tarantulas (I'm a professional lawyer), but maybe this also would be interesting to You partly reagrding this question:
http://www.the-t-store.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=5943
At least I think You will find some food for thoughts...
And i ready to duscuss it as well

Click to expand...

There is not much more i can add after reading this link (not sure how i missed that one).

Starting with climatic data, the heating and lighting will need tobe adjusted acordingly, that is why i recomend the use of thermostic controled cabinets.

A thermostat (stat) controls the temperature for you instead of trying to remeber when to swith the heating source back on again in hot weather.

A few years back i bought a very cheap female C. enydris cookie (i think the scientific name has now changed), and placed her in a viv, with lightbulb as heating and a mat as nightine drop.....................cut a long story short i forgot i had unplugged the heatmat during a hot spell.............i found her dead but very fat. when i disected her to find out why she had died i found 14 almost full term young inside her (which were now also dead), ever since then i have used stats on all my cabinets and never trusted my memory to swith stuff back on.

Stats save lives.

As this is a very difficult thread to answer in one go i would suggest (over afew days) thet people interested ask about specific genera, now some stuff like pet rocks sorry Brachypelma i am the last person to ask, but i would suggest you ask Marie on the Tarantuals store about Brachys, most of the rest i can help to some degree with so lets start from here.

Ray

M.F.Bagaturov said:

an expert like Ray

Click to expand...

I am NOT an Exspert, an EX is a "has been" and a Spert (spurt) is a "drip under preasure". Quote my grandfather.

And to get really techinical (just an excuse to pass on some technical stuff i have learned) you can (in the UK under legal purposes) only be classed as an exspert if you have a dergree (or equivalent qualification) AND are a member of the Royal Collage of Exsperts (just a bit of trivia), well that is what i heard on the local radio station a few years back.

I am only experianced (and with time many other people will be experianced), and if i can i am willing to share what i have learned with other people.

Ray

Ray, as I know You not a first year, You're not only experienced, but also very "humble" man.
Going to say that I just tell that I get some decent part of my knowledge from You, analyzing Your experience and what You're share with other people.
As for expert, whatever You want to interpret this word we will know that You're not the only one and I beleieve we have a many other "experts" also in theraphosidae world of hobby but they seems so not very interesting to educate other people and likes to feel their rank themselves (I think many people understand what did i mean here - sure, we used to leartn from Gallon, Volker, Martin and some other our "older brothers"...).

But this thread shows us as well that what is concerning the real knowledge we can see nobody seems to does interesting in taking part of discussion, so, I'm not that person who denounce em really...
I feel something the same trying to tell people what is what but seems so also very little of em is interested.
I believe that this is some real thing to "separate a man from the boy", and only time will tell...

Hey Mikhail

I think I understand what you mean here, but I assure you that a great many of us pay particular attention when you, Ray and other experts post. Certainly some of the 'Big Names' don't post as much as they could, but when you chaps do - chaps like me learn..big time!:clap:

i cant agree more:worship:

Sorry I've taken so long to reply to this thread, I had a busy weekend!

Mikhail, thank you for posting that link, I am in the process of reading through it, and will comment when I have finished. So far it is a very interesting read.

Ray, thank you for the info about the thermostat. I have only been keeping spiders for a year and a half now, and I haven't used any special thermostats or anything yet. In the winter I plugged in a small oil heater to keep them warm, and unplugged it when the weather gets warmer. So far all of my spiders are thriving and I have not had a single death. (other than mature males and shipping injuries. Knock on wood! ) I am wondering if the extra measures in temperature control are more of use when wanting to season and breed, or is it important for the everyday health and well being of the spiders? Also how big of a role do you believe that humidity plays? I mist and give water dishes, but beyond that haven't done much.

Also, the places people live must have an effect on the way they must care for their spiders. Living on the west coast of British Columbia, the humidity here is usually fairly high, so mold can easily appear with over-wetting. Well, in my house at least. All of my cages are very well ventilated so that is not a factor. Any thoughts on locality and differing care?

As for specific species, here are a few that I would like to ask about.

Cyriopagopus
Poecilotheria
Avicularia