Looking for initial direction

[Toby_H]

Hey guys.

I've kept many fish, reptiles, amphibians, etc over several decades. Lately I've begun really enjoying building terrariums, paludariums, etc.

I've never had a particular affinity for spiders nor insects, but also have never been turned off by them. Over the last year my niece has begun keeping Ts and our many conversations has begun sparking an interest. I have an unexplained interest in blue animals (I spent a decade breeding Blue Jack Dempseys) and am thus most interested in poecilotheria metallica.

So... any input you have for someone experienced in related hobbies fresh to Ts, feel free to offer direction.

Also... any input you can offer in building planted arboreal T enclosures, please feel free to share.

Lastly... and somewhat specifically... I love the idea of putting together a larger, planted, poecilotheria metallica communal enclosure. I've watched a couple of YouTube videos and am off to look for more. If you have any links to people with this type of experience, please share.


FYI, I'm in no hurry and am fully prepared to do ample research well before making any purchases. I understand while the poecilotheria metallica has a typically docile nature, they also have a nasty bite. It's not something I am taking lightly. Any T I get will be in a display enclosure and not something I plan to handle. I also understand the metallicas will hide all of the time and rarely be seen, that's fine. This just makes their rare showings that much more appreciated.

I look forward for learning more, thanks in advance for your help!

 

[octanejunkie]

Nice project, albeit a bit ambitious for your first foray into T keeping, if you are not in a hurry you, and your spiders, may fare well.

Research bioactive enclosures and get that setup and running first. Pick a custodian species, like springtails or isopods, and watch that colony establish. Learn to be successful here first as this will be the basis for your enclosure, literally.

In the meantime, get started with a few Ts. I would recommend a new world terrestrial and an arboreal so you can acclimate yourself with the differences in both housing and husbandry for each. P metallica is a popular and colorful one, P. regalis will be cheaper to begin with.

If you do decide to bring in a whoard of arboreals, know that you can house them separately until you are ready to go communal, and when you do, introduce all individuals to the group enclosure at the same time. Everyone is new, no one has established "their dirt" yet, so to speak.

There is much info out there about communal setups, many warnings from folks that have never tried, and lots of info about failed ones. The key seems to be hotboxing them, meaning overpopulating the enclosure so they are in constant contact with each other. Some say they will tolerate each other, some say otherwise. There are no "naturally occurring" poecilotheria communities that have been documented found in the wild I have read about.

Some say eventually all communals fail, some say that attrition is inevitable, others have experienced one fat spider at the end of the exercise. Whether natural selection, or otherwise, the consensus is to overfeed communal setups, or at least feed often to ensure all individuals get to eat; and always offer more than one food item per individual animal. Some individuals are greedy and will grab more than one food item. This is natural T behavior, even when kept individually.

I stagger feeding my Monocentropus balfouri communal setups, meaning I feed batches of feeders two days in a row in hopes that the Ts that are full from the first day don't go after the food items again on day 2, allowing the ones that didn't eat on day one get second chance.

Anyhow, do your research, start your projects (enclosure and custodians), and T keeping in general, and start threads to document and track your progress/ask questions.

Looking forward to seeing your results!

 

[octanejunkie]

Welcome to the forum, and the hobby