update on the liphistius communal setup

[josh_r]

im not going to post pics of the other one yet. it looks like crap cause i experimented with a native club moss and it didnt do to well. i need to replant it before i post pics

 

[HaploFool]

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL SETUP! :clap:

You are an inspiration to me! I have four of these, two juvies and an adult female and a sub-adult male. This is something I need to try so I don't have to worry about the male molting mature and so on and so forth... I'll just let them go about their biz-naz! I am so excited to do something like this now, Thank you so much for posting this.

 

[lychas]

tanks for all your help josh, i'm looking forward to starting mine

 

[josh_r]

anyone who is wanting to make a naturalistic viv and has any questions for me, feel free to ask. ill try to help the best i can.

-josh

 

[lychas]

anyone who is wanting to make a naturalistic viv and has any questions for me, feel free to ask. ill try to help the best i can.

-josh

what lives in there?

 

[HKronos]

josh_r, you're a genius, those rank amongst the very best housing terrariums I've ever seen. I want everyone of my tropical cages to look like those.

 

[Skullptor]

Hi Josh. Very natural setup! I was wondering if you could introduce a predator for the woodlouse?

Dysdera crocata is probably out of the question. What about snails or slugs?

 

[smof]

lol, its cool man, i just wanted to sound like a palphead in return. i was actually laughing while typing that.

A palphead?? Hahaha, thanks for the nerdiest laugh I've had in ages.

And to stay on topic, that is an amazing setup! Good work

 

[HKronos]

Questions:

Specific soil?

Specific lighting?

Plant resources?

 

[josh_r]

Hi Josh. Very natural setup! I was wondering if you could introduce a predator for the woodlouse?

Dysdera crocata is probably out of the question. What about snails or slugs?

i would love to introduce something to keep the woodlice in check. dont know what though. as for snails, i dont have any, but slugs.... man, they are driving me crazy! they are eating my plants. i go in there and pick them out all the time.

i have 2 standard lamasi dart frogs in that big setup. lighting for the big one are 4' t8 6500k lights from home depot. the soil is peat. a false bottom is a MUST in a setup like this because of the moisture required to keep everything green. the false bottom basically keeps the soil out of the water that builds up on the bottom. once the water gets too high, i can sphon it out through a tube in the back of the tank.

 

[Scott C.]

....a false bottom is a MUST in a setup like this because of the moisture required to keep everything green. the false bottom basically keeps the soil out of the water that builds up on the bottom. once the water gets too high, i can sphon it out through a tube in the back of the tank.

Sweet. Answered before asking.... I was wondering how you were keeping such saturation with the apparent low depth of soil.

Looks great man... Thanks for sharing.

Cheers.

 

[josh_r]

what would you pay for a setup like this??? i may be willing to sell it for a good offer.

 

[proper_tea]

Personally I'd say with the spiders you could probably ask around $250, and sit on it until someone bit, or maybe come down to $200. It's a very cool set up... unique. How much of an investment do you have in it? If you bred the trapdoors yourself, and collected all the plants and such yourself, I would think that $200-250 would be a perfectly reasonable price for your labor and artistic vision. If you have a significant investment in it, you should probably try to get more.

It would also be a good piece for any breeder that does a lot of shows to have. What better way of selling trapdoors then out of a communal natural vivarium?

 

[josh_r]

well, i have 7 spiders in there at $25 a piece and the aquarium alone cost $150. it has a stand that was an extra $100. then theres all the time i put into making this thing. thats about it.

 

[Scourge]

That setup is amazing Josh!! I hope you'll share more pics with us soon!

 

[proper_tea]

I guess the real question is what is it worth to you. I know if I made that, I certainly wouldn't let it go at a loss... It would be the kind of thing that I would want to hold on to show off, but with a good enough offer I'd let go. If you've got $425 cash into it, then it would probably be reasonable to ask $600... I don't know if anyone will bite at that price though. It's sort of a specialized thing. But hey... shop it around and see.

You could do it for much cheeper. If you watch Craigslist, there's always large aquariums going for cheep... and there are other spiders that can be kept communally that you could probably breed fairly easily. What's impressive about your tank isn't so much the spiders, but the beauty of the set up. Getting moss to do well in a terrarium is impressive in itself (how long has it had to establish itself?).

Anyway, good luck.

 

[AzJohn]

Very cool Josh. What species are you housing. I've got a couple and you've given me some great ideas.

John

 

[josh_r]

there are liphistius in there. i dont mind a low ball price. that is not even all the money i put into it. the lighting alone was over $100 and then i built the hood.... the lumber and stuff cost money as well. i could see letting it go for $400

 

[venwu225]

can I ask what lighting you actually use? Power compacts? Halides?

thanks

 

[bhoeschcod]

Whoa thats sweet!