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G. Pulchra and interesting enclosure differences

Andee

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44
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California
So I have four G. Pulchra now. All between about 2-4 inches. They all are kept similarly except the 2 inches have smaller enclosures. Things I have noticed compared to what I have been told. I have started keeping my G. Pulchra like I keep my forest scorps. High humidity (slightly lower than the scorps don't worry, I don't go about 75%), with good air exchange, a misting once a day minimum, "naturalistic" enclosure. Which means 6 inches of moist Coco fiber, a terra cotta pot for a hide, plastic plants in specific places I think make kind of an place to hide in and some that block the entrance of the pot for some privacy if needed, a water bottle lid for water source, and a flat rock or cork bark for an extra burrowing hide. All my T's are kept on my scorp and T shelf, where I have a gradient heat mat under the shelf they are on giving them 2 inches of surface inbetween them. Gradient goes from 70-80 degrees in temp, and I give them a light cycle in the form of a 50 watt basking bulb that is turned off in a 8 hour cycle. They have seemed to have what I have been told is a more natural cycle. All of them burrow during the day in very specific burrows they have made in different areas for each T per enclosure. The girls seem to like being under the pots while the boys seemed to both like the flat rocks or cork bark area lol. Anyway once the light has been turned off for about an hour or a bit more they come out for a while and wander, if they are hungry they will definitely be "hunting" and I usually drop something in that night. This means I have been feeding around once a week to once every other week depending on the size of feeder they had the week before and depending on how active the T has been. No one is showing signs of being super hungry but none have that super super fat, gonna explode if I move wrong look. They have the slightly brawny look compared to things like arboreals since the are definitely a terrestrial species. But they seem to be happy. I assume if I don't see them a lot they are doing well.
 

Whitelightning777

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Awesome setup.

I give you props for replicating the natural cycle. That species isn't a jungle spider, doesn't need that much humidity. If you are using a gauge, not much more then 60% according to my research.

Full disclosure, I don't own that one. Look at the climate in its native region.

Grammostollas are thought to be hardy, practically bulletproof by many people.

Most of my spiders appreciate having a variety of food, typically crickets roaches, crickets, mealworms and other grubs (super wax horn worms etc)

As a treat, try the occasional Earth worm. I think this boosts growth and the spiders seem to like it.
 
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Andee

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3 Year Member
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California
Hey Whitelightning I just double checked urugrays humidity and you are right will adjust in the coming week, I just have to let the enclosures dry out and mist less. Likely will need more of a once every three days misting. Especially since right now I am going to be hitting spring/summer times and their humidity should be going down naturally. Since I won't be cooling them to breed anytime soon XD, so many years of growing ahead lol, I will be trying to adjust the humidity on a more seasonal basis for both my area and a kind of combined thing of what would be more normal for a sub-tropical grassland species.

I definitely agree any insectivores, whether arachnid or not will appreciate a varied diet whether they can survive without or not I don't think is a question lol. My babies are currently getting dubias, super worms, some super worm pulses when I have too many which omg a favorite obviously but gotta keep a careful limit on the intake of those, I will have silkworms soon, and plan to have several more species of feeders that are also tarantula friendly specifically. I have another species of roach but aroboreal species would honestly be the only ones I would feed them to. The species is an excellent climbing species and annoyingly good burrowers. I am about to rehouse Necco and Espresso (my two younger pulchra) tomorrow I have finally settled on their next upgrade and decided what is ok.
 

Whitelightning777

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Safe warm spiders 1.jpg
Safe warm lamp 1.jpg
If you're set up for a hot side cold side cage heating with a screen top, simply block off the middle of the screen leaving about a 1"-2" gap on both the hot and cold side. Convection will kick in and your cage will be dry in no time!!

I had a crappy caresheet with my C versicolor when I got her. Due to wetting the substrate, I had to set up a small USB fan to blow gently on the side of the enclosure. While spiders don't like bursts of air, they adapt to a steady unchanging stream of air easily.

You don't need massive air exchange, just enough to keep up with evaporation. The ventilation holes barely allow any air to pass, but that's all you need, just no total stagnation.

50 watts is pretty powerful for lighting. It is essential that no area where the spiders are is to hot to touch by hand and the bulbs should be a minimum distance of 8" away. Maybe try a 25 watt bulb. With heat, less is more. What can happen is that they get entangled in the screen in a hot spot and get burned or panic thrash and lose limbs etc.

Unlike a scorp, they can walk on walls and ceilings so these areas need to be made critter safe. When they are heated from below or upside down, they can go towards excessive heat instead of away from it because of an instinctive response saying to hot = go down.

Chances are that you figured that out but it never hurts to ask!!

I use the idiot proof method. I put one hand on my forehead and feel the entire interior wherever the spider could possibly go irregardless of if they ever have gone there before. If it's got them my head or even worse burns to the touch, it's too darn hot.

Just don't mention this to certain types who get fanatical against this type of configuration, eg Miss Moxie etc. They are entitled to their opinion of course so it's best not to upset them.

This is my setting. It's not pretty but it's safe and effective. The way I do mine is that if no surface is the hot to touch, it's safe.

Sorry to talk your ear off.
 
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Andee

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3 Year Member
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44
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California
My basking light is weirdly set up, it's about 6" above my g. Pulchra but not directly over them so they get more indirect heat from it and indirect light. The uth, only takes up about half at most the side of their enclosure. Because I am used to dealing with uths and belly heat needing reptiles I always provide at least half the enclosure with no heat in any form. I also have it set on a thermostat that is connect to a power bar. I am insanely careful with over heating. Their personal peak temps within their enclosures are 75 degrees currently, when I hit summer here it will probably increase to 78 at most and the thermostat will turn things off far before that. We just get insanely warm here lol. I do a regular temp check of their enclosures with my digital thermometer and from what I understand 75 is good as a peak temp during mid day?
 

Whitelightning777

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That sounds good. I keep mine at about 80 as an average with about 75 on the cold side and 83 on the hot side for my scorp and Klugi. The rest are at 80 it close to it. My P striata likes here at about 82 to 83. I just heat the right rear corner of her cage to that. She'll walk away from anywhere hotter. Most of the rest of mine gravitate to the 80 degree zone with a high degree of precision.

I found out something interesting. When I pointed my digital thermometer at my L Klugi, get abdomen and carapace registered as 76 degrees even though she was exactly in the 80 degree area of the cage. The thing is that the spider had to be a certain size for that to work reliably.

Have you put your hand on the roof of the enclosure directly under the lamp yet? You don't want a hot spot that is hotter then your forehead. (One hand on forehead, other on roof of enclosure under lamp)
 

Andee

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California
I know usually in Cali where I am we get heat waves regularly through put summer that can have me running around actually turning off any electrical things in the room cause any added heat will make it unbearable and adding blue ice packs on top of enclosures to allow a cooling affect. So I am always hesitant to allow the peak to get too hot lol. I have dealt more with deaths from over heating than too cold. It's weird. Do you think I should increase the peak temp right now?
 

Whitelightning777

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Only if you can stop it from maxing out. Does the room have any sort of air conditioning? Even a window mounted unit can be wonderful!! In many cases, you can install a window unit yourself and make monthly payments on it.

The fluctuations are the threat of course. That's gotta be tamed!!

If your health is being affected, I'd do that. In the summer if heat gets in to that extent in the daytime, you could probably just shut the whole thing down and let the natural day/night cycle occur. That would be closer to nature.

Due to the fact that my ex girlfriend had fibromyalgia and still lives there, my place is constantly heated & cooled to between 68 to 70 degrees. I don't mind the chill that much but it's clearly not tropical.
 
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Andee

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California
I don't have an A.C. we don't usually get warm enough for long enough in central Cali. However I often add fans into the room and I have a cross breeze from Windows and when adding a ice pack on top or misting mildly with cooler water the breeze going over the top of the enclosures usually keeps it right around 78-80 as long as I watch it. I am home most of the time because of the way I work so it makes taking care of them easy. I don't have a traditional job
 

Whitelightning777

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That's good but with my luck it would be that one day per year that I'm out of town when the heat wave hits.

The thing with the AC is that if you seldom use it, it'll have almost no effect on your power bill. I wouldn't have the patience to mess around with fans and ice.

In my opinion, you have to lock down those fluctuations hard. They aren't really good for your own health either, even if the animals didn't care.

Personally, I kinda like the cold, couldn't stand the temp swings!!
 

Dave Jay

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I agree with the above, I live in South Australia and we have a few heatwaves each year where the temp is between 37 and 44c for days on end, I have never lost scorpions during the heat, but where we are it can go from 37c to 12c overnight when the heatwave ends, THAT is when I suddenly lose scorps that have shown no signs of distress during the heat. Sudden fluctuations are the killer, not the actual temperature itself imo.
 
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