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Is LP sling in 12"12"12" too much?

attenboroughsbaby

New Member
Messages
1
Location
Memphis, TN
Hello all,

About a month ago, I received my 3/4" female LP sling from Backwater Reptiles. I am a bioactive hobbiest so I had a 12"x12"x12" Exo Terra fully decked out with the proper substrate, cleaning crew, plants, and wood bark/branches for my sling. The enclosure was fully established by the time the sling arrived.

Since day 2 of having her, I have not seen my T. I did a lot of research and figured she had made a burrow somewhere. When you have a lot going on in a viv, it can be hard to even find the burrow entrance. I have been offering waxworms on a regular basis due to their soft bodies, small size, unwillingness to bite or to burrow. I haven't seen them, and I feel like if they weren't being eaten, I would have a very obvious waxworm overload, but they all seem to disappear.

It has been 3-4 weeks, and I still have not found a molt. I even have a tiny motion-detection camera in the enclosure and still have had no luck getting footage of the sling. I am tempted to try to find her, but at the risk of harming my T if she is alive, and also with the downside of destroying my fully established bioactive.

Any advice?
 

Tarantulafeets

Well-Known Member
Messages
348
Location
Socal
Welcome to the hobby! A 12x 12x 12x would be kind of overkill, you can keep slings in just a small delicup with some coco fiber, as it would be easier to keep track of, feed and moniter. Even when adults you can keep them dry with one side moist, no need for bioactive, although it is possible. I also would suggest buying from a different seller next time, I heard of many horror stories from backwater reptiles of getting the wrong or dead t, or packages not arriving at all, but I don't have first hand experience, so I can't say much... but I hope for the best!

A little sneak peak of what your little lp will look like when it's all grown up ;)
20210225_203721.jpg
 

Arachnoclown

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6,382
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The Oregon rain forest
That would be the wrong enclosure for a adult or juvenile Lasiodora parahybana as well. The 12x12x12 makes for a better arboreal/semi arboreal enclosure. You can't get enough substrate in it to make it safe for a large bodied spider because of the door and ventilation height. I perfer the zoo med low profile terrestrial tanks. With only 2" of substrate a average sized 5"-6" spider can still touch the ground.

6" Grammostola porteri in a zoo med enclosure touching the top.
20210318_173832.jpg

7" Lasiodora parahybana with plenty of room in a zoo med enclosure.
20210321_132915.jpg

12x12x12 Arboreal setups
20200503_152214.jpg
20200503_152122.jpg
 

octanejunkie

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The 12x12x12 makes for a better arboreal/semi arboreal enclosure. You can't get enough substrate in it to make it safe for a large bodied spider because of the door and ventilation height.
Agreed, however, you could raise the level of the substrate above the bottom of the door by installing a "dam" behind the bottom front section of the tank to increase the height of the substrate; if you had to.
 

Arachnoclown

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The Oregon rain forest
Agreed, however, you could raise the level of the substrate above the bottom of the door by installing a "dam" behind the bottom front section of the tank to increase the height of the substrate; if you had to.
Tried this in the past. Theres many issues I found doing this. First off the ventilation didn't work anymore causing issues depending on how moist you kept it. If its a bioactive setup already its instantly going to fail. Secondly all the feeders had a cool place to hide...had a couple spiders try to squeeze between the dam and door. Finally, it just looks dumb. lol :D
 

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