Chilean Rose enclosure?

[April0684]

I have looked around the forum and read the article entitled "All about the oddity: The Chilean Rose Hair". I learned quite a bit from it but the one thing I didn't see was the mention of what size enclosure one would need. Is a 10 gallon too big for it? I have read it doesn't need a whole lot of space and the risk of it falling if it were to climb the sides. Would a critter keeper be better for it and if so what size, the large one?

I know they need the Eco Earth substrate, a hide, and a water dish in their enclosure as well. Am I missing anything else?

 

[MassExodus]

Nope, you got it right. You could use a large critter keeper or a 5 or10 gallon, whichever you prefer. Just fill the ten gallon with enough substrate so the spider doesn't fall too far if it's climbing the walls. I'm assuming we're talking about an adult spider. For a sling or juvie you would use a much smaller enclosure. Hope this helped.

 

[April0684]

Thanks MassExodus! I would be purchasing mine from a pet store. I'm thinking they maybe considered juvies?

 

[MassExodus]

Thanks MassExodus! I would be purchasing mine from a pet store. I'm thinking they maybe considered juvies?

From a pet store it will most likely be a wild caught, mature adult. Most likely

 

[April0684]

Thanks for that correction!

 

[SpiderDad61]

I have looked around the forum and read the article entitled "All about the oddity: The Chilean Rose Hair". I learned quite a bit from it but the one thing I didn't see was the mention of what size enclosure one would need. Is a 10 gallon too big for it? I have read it doesn't need a whole lot of space and the risk of it falling if it were to climb the sides. Would a critter keeper be better for it and if so what size, the large one?

I know they need the Eco Earth substrate, a hide, and a water dish in their enclosure as well. Am I missing anything else?

I have rose in a glass 10 gal aquarium with mesh lid. I have a 2" cardboard border around the mesh edge tho, so it can't climb and get hooks stuck which happened at first. They like it real, real dry. Do a water dish, a hide, and DRY substrate. Keep the water full, but don't ever spray or wet the substrate. They hate it. Some say a 10 gal is too much for "a pet rock" like the Rose but it was my first, and she is special so I wanna keep her in something nice
Also, at first it WILL climb, because it's frightened and somewhere new, so keep the substrate high. It WILL fall, and you don't want it dying from a fall of inches.

 

[April0684]

I'm thinking I will go with the 10 gallon as well. The 2" cardboard border is a great idea! How many inches of substrate do you have in your 10 gallon?

 

[MassExodus]

I'm thinking I will go with the 10 gallon as well. The 2" cardboard border is a great idea! How many inches of substrate do you have in your 10 gallon?

You'll have to put five or six inches of substrate to make it "safe" from a fall. In a ten gallon tank that's about a bag and a half of eco earth, if you buy the smaller bags. It's a lot of dirt and will make your tank kind of heavy. I sometimes end up putting less than I should because I run out of substrate, which is probably not a good idea, but not many of mine are climbers, and I come back later and top it off, just in case. I think top soil would be the cheaper alternative, I just haven't tried it yet. Many of the people here seem to use topsoil, coco peat and vermiculite mixed together, with some sphagnum moss. I need to try a cheaper mixture like that..I'm just lazy

 

[SpiderDad61]

I'm thinking I will go with the 10 gallon as well. The 2" cardboard border is a great idea! How many inches of substrate do you have in your 10 gallon?

I have 5" of substrate so there's no far fall, just in case. I cut a piece of cardboard the size of the inner part of the mesh lid, then cou a border around the inside of it about 2". I taped it onto the inner part of the lid and I never had a "hooking" problem