Consistent enclosures for a tarantula room?

[Jenniferinfl]

So, spouse doesn't want me to use a hodge podge of found and made containers this time in the T room. Obviously, for silly vanity reasons because found and made enclosures are often better anyways. The exception will be sling enclosures, but, they'll be going into a curio style cabinet. ( I'm still hunting down just the right cabinet, but, it'll be wood and glass and I'll use a hole saw to put some ventilation into the curio itself. I'm just holding out for one that's not super nice looking so I don't have to feel bad about cutting up an antique)

But, that means I better start buying adult enclosures now since I have a few fast growing slings and don't want the sticker shock of having to buy a bunch of adult enclosures at once. There can be a couple oddball tanks for ridiculous outliers, but, otherwise looking for some consistency.

Can I get away with just using 5.5 gallon or 10 gallon tanks for most adult tarantulas and then maybe these for arboreals?

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/zilla-front-opening-terrarium-12-l-x-12-w-x-15-h-3163243

If you don't want to click, it's the Zilla front opening that also opens on the top and is 12"X12"X15"H. Will this be a good choice for most arboreals or am I going to wish I'd gone with larger?

 

[octanejunkie]

Look at herpcult, they make terrestrial and arboreal orientation enclosures that stack well and work great for medium sized tarantula species.

 

[Mygalomorphic]

So far, I am really liking the Reptizoo sliding top enclosures you can find online. The sliding top locks into place and the mesh is wide enough that T's can't get their feet stuck in it. They also have a small feeding hole on the lid that you can flip open to toss prey in without sliding the top open. They seem to come as either flat packed and you put it together or as one piece. I had no issues with the flat pack and it went together easily and looks good. For arboreals I am doing front opening enclosures.

I have quite a few acrylic enclosures and they are very nice but they get so scratched up and "foggy" that they look pretty bad and they acrylic warps if you are keeping moisture dependent species.

 

[Jenniferinfl]

So far, I am really liking the Reptizoo sliding top enclosures you can find online. The sliding top locks into place and the mesh is wide enough that T's can't get their feet stuck in it. They also have a small feeding hole on the lid that you can flip open to toss prey in without sliding the top open. They seem to come as either flat packed and you put it together or as one piece. I had no issues with the flat pack and it went together easily and looks good. For arboreals I am doing front opening enclosures.

I have quite a few acrylic enclosures and they are very nice but they get so scratched up and "foggy" that they look pretty bad and they acrylic warps if you are keeping moisture dependent species.

I like that when you order acrylic shipped to you, you are a lot more likely to get them intact. My entire Petco Zilla order came in destroyed yesterday because they just used a couple rumpled sheets of paper to ship glass enclosures. I spent the day driving to three different stores exchanging for the 1 or 2 they had in each store. No choice though, because they won't let you online order for local pickup if they just have one, it just says 'low stock' and the in store price is $20 more than the online price. So annoying. Honestly though, I'm infuriated that 5 Zilla enclosures went to the landfill because the Petco employees didn't feel like using $2 worth of bubble pads.

BUT, I also kinda hate acrylic enclosures for exactly the reasons you mentioned. In the early 2000's acrylic fish tanks were suddenly a big deal and I spent WAY too much money on one. In just one year it looked like trash. Now, that was partly my fault for not understanding just how easily it would scratch, but, when I realized early on that it was getting scratched up, I immediately changed what I was doing and followed the specifications. Didn't matter- got worse and worse until it looked worse than a 40+ year old glass aquarium that's only been filled with hard water.. lol Bit of an exaggeration, but, I definitely regretted that purchase.

I like the initial visibility of acrylic, the ease of shipping it and the reduced weight. Unfortunately, the advantages stop about there. I have glass enclosures that still look great 15 years later. Anything acrylic I had left from last time was all warped and yellowed.