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<blockquote data-quote="Dave Jay" data-source="post: 142495" data-attributes="member: 27677"><p>I can understand not wanting to disturb it, or you, having to catch it and/or risk an escape but when feasible you will want to add more substrate. I don't have Arachnoclowns decades of experience with Tarantulas, but I do have decades of experience keeping other animals. I do know that the amount you have is not enough to provide stability for the microenvironment (temp/moisture etc) or for the decor. A deep substrate acts as a heat and moisture store and a burrow in deep substrate will provide both moisture and humidity gradients for the animal. </p><p>A curved piece of bark buried in the substrate at an angle or standing is perfect for a lot of animals, particularly if they aren't obligate burrowers. They can dig out the substrate, following the bark down until they find the level of humidity and/or temperature that suits them, the substrate around them acts as insulation too.</p><p>Also, where the type for the species was found doesn't matter too much, incorrect husbandry information has often been spread through various animal keeping hobbies just because a specimen was found in a certain habitat or situation.</p><p>In the tarantula hobby the keeping of some aboreal species in a high humidity environment because they come from rainforests is one relevant example, once it was realised that the humidity is not high in the treetops the problems with keeping them largely disappeared.</p><p>I could site many cases regarding Australian animals, particularly our desert species, most stay away from the heat in burrows that barely fluctuate in temperature from summer to winter yet are still kept at high temperatures because the habitat is listed as "Central Australia" when they are better kept at 20 to 25c.</p><p>I have a species of tarantula (Phlogius sp. pq113) that looks similar to the one in question and is reported as being semi-aboreal in some publications because the type specimen was found above ground. This is not seen to be the case by hobbyist experts, some said they act like obligate burrowers some said at best they might be deemed opportunistic burrowers. The general thought is that the area they are found in often floods at the time of year they were found, in which case they leave their burrow and make a home off the ground, hence the semi-aboreal listing.</p><p>I set my enclosures up much like you have, only with much more substrate. I provided some higher anchor points in the form of plants and stood curved hides against the back walls, backfilled to halfway between the substrate surface and the top of the hide as Arachnoclown suggests. The 3 slings all behaved differently, one has a burrow with little surface webbing, one lives in the hide, having dug down to the surface or slightly below, the other has webbed to the top of the enclosure but also burrowed to the very bottom of the enclosure.</p><p>So you just can't be sure of an animals preferences because of the holotype listed somewhere, it's best to provide enough substrate for burrowing and shelter above ground, they are individuals after all.</p><p></p><p>Personally I would listen to Arachnoclown on all matters tarantula, he has more experience than most keepers you'll come across online or elsewhere, including scientists publishing papers.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dave Jay, post: 142495, member: 27677"] I can understand not wanting to disturb it, or you, having to catch it and/or risk an escape but when feasible you will want to add more substrate. I don't have Arachnoclowns decades of experience with Tarantulas, but I do have decades of experience keeping other animals. I do know that the amount you have is not enough to provide stability for the microenvironment (temp/moisture etc) or for the decor. A deep substrate acts as a heat and moisture store and a burrow in deep substrate will provide both moisture and humidity gradients for the animal. A curved piece of bark buried in the substrate at an angle or standing is perfect for a lot of animals, particularly if they aren't obligate burrowers. They can dig out the substrate, following the bark down until they find the level of humidity and/or temperature that suits them, the substrate around them acts as insulation too. Also, where the type for the species was found doesn't matter too much, incorrect husbandry information has often been spread through various animal keeping hobbies just because a specimen was found in a certain habitat or situation. In the tarantula hobby the keeping of some aboreal species in a high humidity environment because they come from rainforests is one relevant example, once it was realised that the humidity is not high in the treetops the problems with keeping them largely disappeared. I could site many cases regarding Australian animals, particularly our desert species, most stay away from the heat in burrows that barely fluctuate in temperature from summer to winter yet are still kept at high temperatures because the habitat is listed as "Central Australia" when they are better kept at 20 to 25c. I have a species of tarantula (Phlogius sp. pq113) that looks similar to the one in question and is reported as being semi-aboreal in some publications because the type specimen was found above ground. This is not seen to be the case by hobbyist experts, some said they act like obligate burrowers some said at best they might be deemed opportunistic burrowers. The general thought is that the area they are found in often floods at the time of year they were found, in which case they leave their burrow and make a home off the ground, hence the semi-aboreal listing. I set my enclosures up much like you have, only with much more substrate. I provided some higher anchor points in the form of plants and stood curved hides against the back walls, backfilled to halfway between the substrate surface and the top of the hide as Arachnoclown suggests. The 3 slings all behaved differently, one has a burrow with little surface webbing, one lives in the hide, having dug down to the surface or slightly below, the other has webbed to the top of the enclosure but also burrowed to the very bottom of the enclosure. So you just can't be sure of an animals preferences because of the holotype listed somewhere, it's best to provide enough substrate for burrowing and shelter above ground, they are individuals after all. Personally I would listen to Arachnoclown on all matters tarantula, he has more experience than most keepers you'll come across online or elsewhere, including scientists publishing papers. [/QUOTE]
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