New owner asking help

[MrSpikx]

Hey everyone!

I am new to this hobby and i just wanted to check if everything is alright

Yesterday i bought an Aphonopelma seemanni from a good petstore who knew what they where doing. They gave me plenty of info without me asking any.

I keep her on moist coco fiber and moss. I ordered some cork bark for hiding and some other things (decoration). When i got her her abdemen was a bit small for my liking and she was walking around looking for food. I fed her and she took it right away. Today i fed her 2 times but i'll be feeding her 2 times a week from now.
I have a heat mat on the back of the enclosure (winter in Belgium). The substrate is 5 cm deep.

Is a waterdish needed?
Any tips?

I want the best for my new pet

Greetings,
MrSpikx

 

[Mr. P]

Welcome and congrats. First let me say that yes you do need a water dish.
Second, in one of your photos your enclosue looks awefully wet. Let it dry out as that much moisture with a heat pad in that type of enclosure and you are asking for rapid mold growth. Those aquarium tank type enclosures do not allow a lot of air flow unless you set it up just right. Keep the enclosure dry and overflow the waterdish once a week or so.
I would also recommend more substrate at least 4-5 inches (10-12 cm).

 

[ilovebrachys]

Welcome follow @Mr. P advice-it does look very wet in there-if possible change the substrate to very dry coco fibre if possible as all that moisture will cause problems such as mould ,mite etc

 

[MrSpikx]

Welcome and congrats. First let me say that yes you do need a water dish.
Second, in one of your photos your enclosue looks awefully wet. Let it dry out as that much moisture with a heat pad in that type of enclosure and you are asking for rapid mold growth. Those aquarium tank type enclosures do not allow a lot of air flow unless you set it up just right. Keep the enclosure dry and overflow the waterdish once a week or so.
I would also recommend more substrate at least 4-5 inches (10-12 cm).

I'll do that. But where do i keep my T when i let i dry? I need to make more subtrate from bricks so there will be a 2 day drying time and do you have any tips on catching her?

 

[PanzoN88]

Another thing you could do is create some separation between the heat mat and the enclosure, because if the tarantula presses itself up against the side of the enclosure where the heat mat is, the tarantula could fry itself if it comes in contact with a hot spot.

 

[MrSpikx]

Another thing you could do is create some separation between the heat mat and the enclosure, because if the tarantula presses itself up against the side of the enclosure where the heat mat is, the tarantula could fry itself if it comes in contact with a hot spot.

The heat mat is bearly warm enough to warm the glass of the enclosure. I can even cool the mat down if i place my hand on it.

 

[Arachnoclown]

Welcome A water dish is a must...dont you get thirsty???

Your substrate is way too wet...seemanni do like the occasional flooding of the substrate. Just let it dry out for a while until it looks like mine then flood one half the enclosure again.

 

[Dave Jay]

I think only the last photo shows the true moisture level of the substrate, the others show condensation because it is warm inside the enclosure and cold in the room and make it look wetter than what it actually is. To me in the last photo the substrate just looks like freshly hydrated coco peat, too moist yes, but then it often is when the enclosure is newly set up.

I would look to ventilation, going by the amount of condensation it seems that more is needed, fix that and the substrate will dry out quickly with no need to do anything more than wait.

For a reference, I find using 1.7 litres of water for one brick of coco peat gives me the perfect amount of moisture to compact the substrate when setting up, then I let it dry from there.

 

[Dave Jay]

Although, if it is indeed too wet, expand some more coco peat and dry it in the oven at a low temperature, a piece of foil is the best way of avoiding left over fat or detergent from baking pans being soaked up by the drying peat. Then remove the moss and add a dry layer of peat over the wet stuff, it will soon even out the moisture. If possible, replace the moss with dry stuff too.
Hopefully you can keep the spider at one end while you work in the other otherwise you'll have to catch her but just adding a dry layer will much quicker than replacing the whole lot.