Hello people, I'm Michael and new to the board (as a poster, long-time sporadic reader). My introductory post is here: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/sho...uce-Yourself&p=2330060&viewfull=1#post2330060
Now to my question. I want to get my first tarantula as soon as I move to an apartment that allows arachnids. It's still months away, maybe even a year, but I like planning. I want to make a terrarium that is both a suitable enclosure and beautiful to look at. I want it to be as faithful a re-creation of my tarantula's natural habitat as possible, using only local plants, and trying to come up with a good substrate solution.
I am planning on getting a Brachypelma boehmei, because the region I would like to try to re-create is the scrublands of Mexico, like parts of the Sonoran desert. This is sort of what I am going for, except with less rocks, no spiky succulents and more flowers, to represent a slightly more humid part of the desert: http://www.frogforum.net/attachment...ium-558087_10100376559688299_1584928647_n.jpg
Because I want this to be a display piece as much as a good enclosure for my tarantula, I want to ask this: why do so many people say that tarantulas dislike large enclosures? Surely if it was a really big problem they would have died out millions of years ago, since there are no walls in nature. I understand that my tarantula will most likely make a burrow and never venture far from, but is there any proven disadvantage for the tarantula to have lots of space?
I was thinking about a tank 90x40x40 cm (35.4" x 15.7" x 15.7"), since that would allow me to place plants in a pleasing manner, have plenty of open space for some succulents (aloe, echeveria and agave), flowers (rattlesnake weed, sand pygmy weed and scorpionweed), deadwood and a few patches of desert grass. The substrate would be 7-8" deep.
Now to my question. I want to get my first tarantula as soon as I move to an apartment that allows arachnids. It's still months away, maybe even a year, but I like planning. I want to make a terrarium that is both a suitable enclosure and beautiful to look at. I want it to be as faithful a re-creation of my tarantula's natural habitat as possible, using only local plants, and trying to come up with a good substrate solution.
I am planning on getting a Brachypelma boehmei, because the region I would like to try to re-create is the scrublands of Mexico, like parts of the Sonoran desert. This is sort of what I am going for, except with less rocks, no spiky succulents and more flowers, to represent a slightly more humid part of the desert: http://www.frogforum.net/attachment...ium-558087_10100376559688299_1584928647_n.jpg
Because I want this to be a display piece as much as a good enclosure for my tarantula, I want to ask this: why do so many people say that tarantulas dislike large enclosures? Surely if it was a really big problem they would have died out millions of years ago, since there are no walls in nature. I understand that my tarantula will most likely make a burrow and never venture far from, but is there any proven disadvantage for the tarantula to have lots of space?
I was thinking about a tank 90x40x40 cm (35.4" x 15.7" x 15.7"), since that would allow me to place plants in a pleasing manner, have plenty of open space for some succulents (aloe, echeveria and agave), flowers (rattlesnake weed, sand pygmy weed and scorpionweed), deadwood and a few patches of desert grass. The substrate would be 7-8" deep.