Fall danger?

[DVirginiana]

I've been reading a lot of T caresheets (my local repticon is in a couple weeks, and I know of at least two vendors that should be selling T's there) and one thing that keeps coming up is fall danger. My rosea's enclosure is about as tall as her legspan, so she can hang out on the wall but she could never fall more than her own body length.

My question is how tall are your typical terrestrial enclosures, and how likely is a random fall? I'm not really interested in getting anything arboreal atm, but some of the species I've been looking at (G. pulchra, B. smithi, and G. pulchripes) are a bit more hefty than my rosea, so I'm thinking that extra size makes a fall even more risky...

 

[Tomoran]

I try to keep my terrestrials in enclosures no more than 1.5 x their leg span in height (I play it by eye). Falling does pose a risk for a tarantula, and all will do some climbing at some point, so its one of those better safe than sorry situations. And I agree that a more full-bodied T would be even more at risk from a fall.

I also have gotten out of the habit of keeping water dishes and hides in the corners or against the walls as it reduces the chance of the T falling and rupturing its abdomen on the hard edges. If the enclosure I want to use is too deep, I just add extra substrate until I get the depth I need.

 

[DVirginiana]

Yeah, I've seen some of the pre-made T enclosures (mine is just a sterlite container with ventilation holes drilled in the top) and my first thought is that my rosea would probably immediately climb to the top corner to hang out then somehow fall.

That's a good idea about moving the water dish. Mine loves to hang on the wall right above it.