Do you find it's better to keep smaller spiders, in smaller enclosures?

[ryanm7277]

like it makes them happier/better adjusted if they don't have too much space? like it makes them feel better and more secure?

 

[Tarantulafeets]

Yes, and it also makes knowing where the spider is easier. It also increases the chance of a prey item running into the spider.

 

[ryanm7277]

Granted I’m not suggesting an enclosure that is to small…am just wondering if too big is worse than too small, if that makes sense?

 

[Blackdog]

3 times their size wide for the enclosure is a good rule of thumb

 

[ryanm7277]

So that means if the dls of the spider is 5 inches the enclosure should be 15”?

 

[Blackdog]

So that means if the dls of the spider is 5 inches the enclosure should be 15”?

Like 10 gallon aquarium on its side would be 20" wide 10" tall and 15" deep. For a Terrestrial spider. Arboreal would need it 20" tall

 

[meridannight]

I have the complete opposite experience. I have never kept my spiderlings in as small enclosures as is usually recommended, and a couple of them I've put into outright huge enclosures by most keepers' standards.

I have absolutely not once had an issue feeding my spiderlings, they always find their food, even pre-killed. Nor have they become impossible for me to find in the 'swathe' of space that are the large enclosures I keep them in. I have found that they like to roam their enclosures quite a bit, even as small spiderlings.

This goes against what most keepers do, and I'm fine with that. It is my belief that a young developing animal needs to grow up in a rich and stimulating environment, not a sterile constricted space (I'm not trying to say the way I grow my tarantulas is better or others' methods worse, I'm doing it differently, that's all I'm saying). My animals seem happy, as much as is possible for a human being to qualify a spiders' mental state like that; they hunt, they roam, they rest, they eat, they make a home and seem to enjoy their environment. That's all I care about.

 

[ryanm7277]

I have the complete opposite experience. I have never kept my spiderlings in as small enclosures as is usually recommended, and a couple of them I've put into outright huge enclosures by most keepers' standards.

I have absolutely not once had an issue feeding my spiderlings, they always find their food, even pre-killed. Nor have they become impossible for me to find in the 'swathe' of space that are the large enclosures I keep them in. I have found that they like to roam their enclosures quite a bit, even as small spiderlings.

This goes against what most keepers do, and I'm fine with that. It is my belief that a young developing animal needs to grow up in a rich and stimulating environment, not a sterile constricted space (I'm not trying to say the way I grow my tarantulas is better or others' methods worse, I'm doing it differently, that's all I'm saying). My animals seem happy, as much as is possible for a human being to qualify a spiders' mental state like that; they hunt, they roam, they rest, they eat, they make a home and seem to enjoy their environment. That's all I care about.

I like the idea of that, but one of my slings, I keep finding him hulled up in the smallest tightest places, like he is trying to get info a hole or something, but he hasn’t dig a burrow. That’s why I asked. Other like my Brachypelma Klassi he runs all around his enclosure. Up on the walls, the ceiling, he took all the dirt from the back of his hide, almost like he wants to see everything, then my Hamori goes to the top of his hide but if I try to open the enclosure he farts into his hole under his hide. I love how they are all different and just want to give ‘em whatever they need to flourish.