Hi!

[Hallows]

Newbie. I've wanted a T for a long time. Did lots of research for months and picked my first one up today! Decided on a Pink Toe

 

[Crax]

Great set up! No lights on top. Has a way to use the branches to get from top to bottom. Full water dish. Excellent job setting up the enclosure!

By the way, welcome! :3 I'm fairly new myself and I got a pretty warm welcome, thought I'd pass that on.

 

[Enn49]

Hello and welcome
We're a friendly, helpful bunch here so don't be afraid to ask any questions you might have.

 

[Hallows]

Great set up! No lights on top. Has a way to use the branches to get from top to bottom. Full water dish. Excellent job setting up the enclosure!

By the way, welcome! :3 I'm fairly new myself and I got a pretty warm welcome, thought I'd pass that on.

Thank you! I'm really excited. Im sure I'll have a million questions lol.

 

[Hallows]

Hello and welcome
We're a friendly, helpful bunch here so don't be afraid to ask any questions you might have.

Thank you!

 

[m0lsx]

Hello & welcome to the forum.

 

[Jess S]

Hi welcome to the forum and congrats on your pet. What species is it?

I'm really sorry, I love how you've made a good effort to get an arboreal set up with the branch and leaf cover, looks great, but I'm not fussed on the enclosure itself. It's a terrestrial enclosure, arboreal spiders need an enclosure that is taller than wide, so you can set up your branches and cork bark vertically and top them with leaf cover. They also need a lot of ventilation and the best way to do this is to have several rows of airholes on the sides and the lid.

If you bought this tarantula at a pet shop, and they recommended this enclosure, all I can say is pet shops are renowned for giving bad advice when it comes to T's.

I mean, it could work for now if that's all you've got, but you will need to think about rehousing it. If you plan to keep it in this one for any length of time melt some airholes around the sides, ensuring that they are no wider than the carapace or your critter will escape.

Personally I'd love to see either a cork bark tube or a cork bark flat buried into the substrate at the base (for stability) and if it's a flat, also tilted toward the enclosure wall. With leaf cover right on top. This will give it an excellent hiding place. But that's just my opinion of course!

They are lots of members on here who can post some examples of their setups, to give you some ideas.

 

[Hallows]

Hi welcome to the forum and congrats on your pet. What species is it?

I'm really sorry, I love how you've made a good effort to get an arboreal set up with the branch and leaf cover, looks great, but I'm not fussed on the enclosure itself. It's a terrestrial enclosure, arboreal spiders need an enclosure that is taller than wide, so you can set up your branches and cork bark vertically and top them with leaf cover. They also need a lot of ventilation and the best way to do this is to have several rows of airholes on the sides and the lid.

If you bought this tarantula at a pet shop, and they recommended this enclosure, all I can say is pet shops are renowned for giving bad advice when it comes to T's.

I mean, it could work for now if that's all you've got, but you will need to think about rehousing it. If you plan to keep it in this one for any length of time melt some airholes around the sides, ensuring that they are no wider than the carapace or your critter will escape.

Personally I'd love to see either a cork bark tube or a cork bark flat buried into the substrate at the base (for stability) and if it's a flat, also tilted toward the enclosure wall. With leaf cover right on top. This will give it an excellent hiding place. But that's just my opinion of course!

They are lots of members on here who can post some examples of their setups, to give you some ideas.

Thanks! I'm ordering a new setup for her from Jamie's. I was hoping this was enough to get her through for a few weeks. I know the cross ventilation is super important as well as a hide. I will try to mount the water dish up top if possible or see if she prefers to drink misted water droplets. They said she is an avicularia avicularia but I know a pet shop is the most reliable.
I do have a question. I know it's only day 2 so time will tell but since she has not put a toe on her substrate what's going to be the best way to feed her? I'm concerned if I pop a cricket in over night she wont come down to get it.
Thanks for all your suggestions!

 

[Jess S]

Thanks! I'm ordering a new setup for her from Jamie's. I was hoping this was enough to get her through for a few weeks. I know the cross ventilation is super important as well as a hide. I will try to mount the water dish up top if possible or see if she prefers to drink misted water droplets. They said she is an avicularia avicularia but I know a pet shop is the most reliable.
I do have a question. I know it's only day 2 so time will tell but since she has not put a toe on her substrate what's going to be the best way to feed her? I'm concerned if I pop a cricket in over night she wont come down to get it.
Thanks for all your suggestions!

That's great. Full disclosure, I don't keep Avics yet but because I will be getting one and I know they can be tricky to keep, I've put a lot of research into their needs, probably more than the tarantulas I actually do keep!

In answer to your question, Avics will drink from dishes or water dribbled on the sides of the enclosure or on their webs (I know it hasn't constructed one yet). You can do both to give it a couple of drinking options. If you mist just do a fine spray on one side, for a build up of a small handful of droplets, as the actual enclosure itself shouldn't become misted and humid.

Can't tell from your pic, but if your substrate is the blocks you add water too, it's probably still too damp for its liking. When it drys out, it'll come down to hunt.

If it is bone dry however - it will eventually come down to the substrate when it feels more secure in its new environment. I'd leave it another day and put a cricket in there overnight. It won't be in danger from the cricket because it can climb up if it's not hungry. If it doesn't take it remove it in the morning then try again after another couple days.

There's members on here who've kept Avics forever, so they can chime in to add to or correct any of that

 

[Hallows]

That's great. Full disclosure, I don't keep Avics yet but because I will be getting one and I know they can be tricky to keep, I've put a lot of research into their needs, probably more than the tarantulas I actually do keep!

In answer to your question, Avics will drink from dishes or water dribbled on the sides of the enclosure or on their webs (I know it hasn't constructed one yet). You can do both to give it a couple of drinking options. If you mist just do a fine spray on one side, for a build up of a small handful of droplets, as the actual enclosure itself shouldn't become misted and humid.

Can't tell from your pic, but if your substrate is the blocks you add water too, it's probably still too damp for its liking. When it drys out, it'll come down to hunt.

If it is bone dry however - it will eventually come down to the substrate when it feels more secure in its new environment. I'd leave it another day and put a cricket in there overnight. It won't be in danger from the cricket because it can climb up if it's not hungry. If it doesn't take it remove it in the morning then try again after another couple days.

There's members on here who've kept Avics forever, so they can chime in to add to or correct any of that

Awesome, thank you! It is loose Coconut fiber that I dampened....and got a bit carried away, new owner jitters. It is starting to dry out. She has moved from the open area and has been hiding in the leaves all day so I'm hoping that's a sign of her settling in. I hope it's not overly difficult to keep her. Everything I saw said these guys were good for beginners lol. Theres so much literature out there it's hard to tell.

 

[Jess S]

Awesome, thank you! It is loose Coconut fiber that I dampened....and got a bit carried away, new owner jitters. It is starting to dry out. She has moved from the open area and has been hiding in the leaves all day so I'm hoping that's a sign of her settling in. I hope it's not overly difficult to keep her. Everything I saw said these guys were good for beginners lol. Theres so much literature out there it's hard to tell.

They are good for beginners in that (with individual exceptions) they are generally fairly docile. But they are difficult to keep alive if the enclosure environment is wrong. They can't live in stuffy, humid enclosures. Although in the wild they live in pretty humid places, they live up the the trees where there is such good airflow, they don't suffer the humidity. People used to think they had to make their enclosures humid by spraying and it took a while for the hobby to realise why Avics were dying left, right and centre. Avics like it dry and cross ventilation is key to their survival.

The main things have been covered above earlier in the thread, and judging by the flair you've shown for decorating the first enclosure, I'm sure with a few tweaks the next one will be bang on the money!