Bucking the trend on enclosure size?

[LauraMI]

Not to start a fight or come off as rebellious, but is it really necessary to put T's in such small enclosures? What is the recommendation: 2 1/2 times their leg-span?
I get it makes it easier for them to feed, but these babies don't have cups in Nature, right? They're only going to go as far as their teeny territory or their burrow's entrance anyway. Of course, 1 in a 100 survives to adulthood too...

 

[novakdesigns]

Other than two of my current Ts that are in smallish tanks (larger than the legspan rule but small in comparison to previous tanks ive had) ive always used larger tanks and my Ts have never had trouble finding their food or anything

 

[Sabeth]

The recommended cage dimensions according to The Tarantula Keeper's Guide are that the width should be twice the T's leg span, and the length about twice the width. The reason Ts don't require a big cage is because in the wild, with the exception of mature males, they don't wander too far from their burrows. That isn't to say you couldn't go bigger---you definitely can, although you don't want babies getting "lost".