Exo Terra Nano

[Rs50matt]

so I've heard a lot of people talking about these and what they do with them but I find it abit confusing.
Mine just arrived , I got the 8x8x8. Im going to use it to house my B Vagans and was wondering if I need to do anything to it?

I've heard a lot of people say they replace the mesh on top and also add cross ventilation. But for a c versi. As my vagans doesn't really climb I don't see the mesh being an issue but I'd rather see what others say

 

[Tortoise Tom]

I also have a few of these enclosure now. In the past I had both G. pulchra and G. pulchripes pull this type of metal screen apart in a smaller lower cage (Not a Nano). If they don't hang out up at the top and its not easily reached, and they have cover and shelter down low, I doubt it will be a problem. I have a juvie G. iheringi in my Nano wide right now and it has never gone up to the top or touched the screen.

So to answer your question, the screen top could be a problem in some cases, but probably won't be a problem in most cases. Definitely something to keep an eye on. It took a couple of weeks for my large Grammostola to get through their screens, and they never got the hole big enough to escape, but they eventually would have. Escape will not happen over night and you will see a problem coming and have time to deal it, if it ever happens.

 

[Rs50matt]

Tbh the enclosure my vagans is in atm doesn't give him a chance to climb so I can't garentee it won't but I would think not
What about cross ventilation? Is it that important for a brachy or grammostola?

 

[Enn49]

Tbh the enclosure my vagans is in atm doesn't give him a chance to climb so I can't garentee it won't but I would think not
What about cross ventilation? Is it that important for a brachy or grammostola?

ExoTerras do have vents below the doors so there is sufficient cross ventilation for both species.

 

[Mr. P]

I have the nano talls and I remove the screens and replace with drilled acrylic as I keep my Avics in them which are arboreals. Replacing the screen for terrestrials isn't neccessary if they don't climb on the screen and if you don't need to keep the humidity up.

 

[Tortoise Tom]

Tbh the enclosure my vagans is in atm doesn't give him a chance to climb so I can't garentee it won't but I would think not
What about cross ventilation? Is it that important for a brachy or grammostola?

I've been a casual tarantula hobbyist since the early 90s. I've never been all that involved or studied much. The cross ventilation thing is a relatively new concept and seems mostly oriented towards arboreals from what I've seen. I've raised a about a dozen Grammostola and Brachypelma over that time and a few others that I'm probably forgetting. Never lost a one, and never had cross ventilation in any of my previous enclosures over that time. All of my enclosures were vented from the tops and in most cases, I covered most of the tops to try to make some moderate humidity in my extremely dry climate here.

I think the venting at the bottoms of the Nano, coupled with the screen tops would count as cross-ventilation too.

 

[Rs50matt]

I have the nano talls and I remove the screens and replace with drilled acrylic as I keep my Avics in them which are arboreals. Replacing the screen for terrestrials isn't neccessary if they don't climb on the screen and if you don't need to keep the humidity up.

Yea when I get my c versi I will get cross ventilation sorted so it's more natural to where they live. But I guess for my brachy I don't need to do anything. I won't be moving it straight away so I have some time to sort it out

 

[Rs50matt]

Cheers for the advice. I'll leave it as is (they look nice) and I'll get it set up and move it when ready.

 

[Metalman2004]

I tend to steer away from mesh with terrestrials and leave it with arboreals. I’ve seen most of my terrestrials climb, but they are much more clumsy at it so when they get up on the mesh they have trouble figuring out how to get back off of it. The arboreal are good climbers and I haven’t seen any of them even begin to get stuck on a screen.

 

[Arachnoclown]

This is a 8x8x8 nano

 

[Tortoise Tom]

Here is mine:

And a beauty shot for fun:

 

[Whitelightning777]

Here's my Versicolor, suspect male Charles, just chilling out.

He likes the upper left rear corner for whatever reason. There's enough room inside for me to comfortably stick my cellphone camera right up next to him.

 

[Rs50matt]

So to bring this up as I knew it was disgusted somewhere before on something I posted. So I recently posted that I now have a nhandu chromatus and now I'm finding the mesh on the top of the exo Terras an issue. As she's been rehoused now she is a little restless. Therefore climbing the sides and the mesh of the enclosure. I've had to assist 3 times so far where she got stuck , I'm removing it and replacing it with acrylic tomorrow. But I'm half expecting to wake up in the morning and she's hanging by her leg again. Hopefully She's ok

 

[Mr. P]

Here are what my Exo Terra Nano's look like when I replace the screens.

 

[Rs50matt]

Here are what my Exo Terra Nano's look like when I replace the screens.

View attachment 31816

That's similar to what I'll be doing. What did you stick it with? I've ordered aquarium safe silicone. Hopefully that will hold it

 

[Phil]

just to throw something into the mix here, I normally stay away from exo terra, mainly as I think they are over priced and when you have a large collection, simply not sustainable. Plastic containers also allow for much better cross ventilation (even though exos do have a vent at the front). For the exos that I do have the mesh has either been replaced with acrylic or in some instances, cling film* wrapped around the lid so that claws cannot get caught.

* cling film being a more temporary fix rather than a long-term solution. But effective none the less.

 

[Rs50matt]

just to throw something into the mix here, I normally stay away from exo terra, mainly as I think they are over priced and when you have a large collection, simply not sustainable. Plastic containers also allow for much better cross ventilation (even though exos do have a vent at the front). For the exos that I do have the mesh has either been replaced with acrylic or in some instances, cling film* wrapped around the lid so that claws cannot get caught.

* cling film being a more temporary fix rather than a long-term solution. But effective none the less.

For now I only have a small collection. As it grows and I gain more experience I imagine I'll find a more suitable enclosure at a better price.

The mesh is being replaced today thou. Last thing I want to do is come back to a dead T or even unnecessary stress one out for what is a cheap fix and easily avoidable.

 

[Quelícero]

Interesting discussion. Never heard about replacing the screen in exoterras. I personally like exoterra. Biggest part of my collection is in this type of enclosures. good ventilation allows me to swich the spiders as needed when they grow, or I have new acquisitions.
It's true that sometimes they get stocked but never had a fatal fall so far, only once with a P. Murinus but was a fall from the side wall. The important thing is not to have stones or hard things on the ground.
I also have a huge A. Geniculata which likes to climb up and bite the screen. Never had a scape either.
But this is just an opinion.
Here's a picture of mines.

 

[Nunua]

EDIT: I'm not a scientist on this field of study, but this is how I have understood it after reading several articles about spider feet.

The reason why some hobbyists replace the mesh with acrylic when having terrestrials in ExoTerra is because their claws can get stuck on the mesh.
Yes, terrestrials are not the agile climbers of the tarantula group but that does not mean that they're not able to do that (duh..)

One of the keys in this is the different type of tarsal claws and scopulate claw tufts between arboreal and terrestrial species. Why are they different - Well, that's evolution for you. Arboreals are climbers, so the scopulate pads are relatively big to create a larger area for Van der Waals forces while the terrestrial have scopulate pads that are more suitable for grabbing the prey and help on the ground.

When the tarantula moves, also their scopulate hair and tarsal claws move depending on the species. Van der Waals forces keep the terrestrial tarantula on the side of the enclosure but when they get to the mesh, the anatomy and movement of tarsal claws create a great risk of getting stuck. For example my N. incei gold is a great example of a small tarantula who gets extremely easily stuck to the mesh - The species is very agile but the anatomy is what causes the problem. After the claws get stuck to the mesh, there is a huge risk that the tarantula fails to keep its other legs on the mesh due the decreased Van der Waals forces compared to the acrylic / glass and falls.

As we all know, falling can be fatal to the tarantulas and while the terrestrials have heavier build, they usually don't handle impacts very well. But in this case, with having claws of one foot stuck in the mesh, it's relatively likely that the tarantula won't fall straight away to the ground but dangles from the mesh with this one leg. It goes without saying that this can be extremely dangerous to the tarantula. There are cases where the dangling has severely damaged the leg - or even caused it to rip off.

With arboreals the risk is minimal due the anatomy of their scopulate pads and tarsal claws (and their overall lighter build compared to the terrestrials), and therefore the mesh replacement is not necessary.

 

[Enn49]

The reason why some hobbyists replace the mesh with acrylic when having terrestrials in them is because their claws can get stuck on the mesh.
Yes, terrestrials are not the agile climbers of the tarantula group but that does not mean that they're not able to do that (duh..)

One of the keys in this is the different type of tarsal claws and scopulate claw tufts between arboreal and terrestrial species. Why are they different - Well, that's evolution for you. Arboreals are climbers, so the scopulate pads are relatively big to create a larger area for Van der Waals forces while the terrestrial have scopulate pads that are more suitable for grabbing the prey and help on the ground.

When the tarantula moves, also their scopulate hair and tarsal claws move depending on the species. Van der Waals forces keep the terrestrial tarantula on the side of the enclosure but when they get to the mesh, the anatomy and movement of tarsal claws create a great risk of getting stuck. For example my N. incei gold is a great example of a small tarantula who gets extremely easily stuck to the mesh - The species is very agile but the anatomy is what causes the problem. After the claws get stuck to the mesh, there is a huge risk that the tarantula fails to keep its other legs on the mesh due the decreased Van der Waals forces compared to the acrylic / glass and falls.

As we all know, falling can be fatal to the tarantulas and while the terrestrials have heavier build, they usually don't handle impacts very well. But in this case, with having claws of one feet stuck in the mesh, it's relatively likely that the tarantula won't fall straight away to the ground but dangles from the mesh with this one leg. It goes without saying that this can be extremely dangerous to the tarantula. There are cases where the dangling has severely damaged the leg - or even caused it to rip off.

With arboreals the risk is minimal due the anatomy of their scopulate pads and tarsal claws (and their overall lighter build compared to the terrestrials), and therefore the mesh replacement is not necessary.

That make so much sense, thanks you for such a clear explanation.