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(Re)Housing Dilemma

Tortoise Tom

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1,034
Location
Southern CA
I need you guys to persuade me one way or the other. Make a case for one way or the other. I'll explain…

When I got my first three batches of incoming new slings, I figured I'd house them all in deli cups. I've used these cups successfully before, had them on hand, and they are cheap. Like this:
IMG_5689.JPG

I hate the deli cups because:
  1. In the 16oz ones, there is not a lot of room at the top once you add some substrate. When the lid comes off for feeding and maintenance, the sling is right there.
  2. The lids are difficult to get off without really jostling the whole thing around and shaking up the little tarantula's whole world. I try to do it carefully and easily, but it still makes the spiders bolt and dart around.
  3. When trying to get the darn lid off smoothly, you have to squeeze the sides of the cup, which really messes with their burrows and moves the substrate inside the cup.
  4. They aren't as clear as I'd like. I want to see my fantastic little arachnids.
Having listed all those complaints, the spiders don't seem to mind them and are doing well. All of my little G. pulchra have molted once or twice in them, and the A. geniculata and N. chromatus are molting and getting large in them too.

I've found and purchased the AMAC plastic enclosures. I love them! They fix all the problems listed above and they work perfectly. My latest batch of incoming spiders all went into them:
IMG_5991 copy.JPG


So my question to you guys is: Do I go ahead and re-house them all into the AMAC enclosures, or leave them alone where they are in the deli cups? If they are doing fine in the deli cups, is it worth it to move them around? I think they will do better in the AMAC boxes in the long run, but is it okay to move them again, when they've finally settled in to the routine and are doing well. I did re-house all the arboreals, on the right here in this pic, but that's because I couldn't see into those vials well at all and the vials were too small for a water bowl. I kept misting, but I didn't want the substrate to be too wet all the time. The arboreals are all doing fine.
 
Last edited:

Dave Jay

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1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
1,079
Location
Mt Barker South Australia
I need you guys to persuade me one way or the other. Make a case for one way or the other. I'll explain…

When I got my first three batches of incoming new slings, I figured I'd house them all in deli cups. I've used these cups successfully before, had them on hand, and they are cheap. Like this:
View attachment 30814
I hate the deli cups because:
  1. In the 16oz ones, there is not a lot of room at the top once you add some substrate. When the lid comes of for feeding and maintenance, the sling is right there.
  2. The lids are difficult to get off without really jostling the whole thing around and shaking up the little tarantula's whole world. I try to do it carefully and easily, but it still makes the spiders bolt and dart around.
  3. When trying to get the darn lid off smoothly, you have to squeeze the sides of the cup, which really messes with their burrows and moves the substrate inside the cup.
  4. They aren't as clear as I'd like. I want to see my fantastic little arachnids.
Having listed all those complaints, the spiders don't seem to mind them and are doing well. All of my little G. pulchra have molted once or twice in them, and the A. geniculata and N. chromatus are molting and getting large in them too.

I've found and purchased the AMAC plastic enclosures. I love them! They fix all the problems listed above and they work perfectly. My latest batch of incoming spiders all went into them:
View attachment 30815

So my question to you guys is: Do I go ahead and re-house them all into the AMAC enclosures, or leave them alone where they are in the deli cups? If they are doing fine in the deli cups, is it worth it to move them around? I think they will do better in the AMAC boxes in the long run, but is it okay to move them again, when they've finally settled in to the routine ad are doing well. I did re-house all the arboreals, on the right here in this pic, but that's because I couldn't see into those vials well at all and the vials were too small for a water bowl. I kept misting, but I didn't want the substrate to be too wet all the time. The arboreals are all doing fine.
Personally I'm very fond of making up "blanks" whenever I have substrate mixed and am making up enclosures. That is adding substrate and basic decor to any spare enclosures I have on hand so new additions can be housed quickly and because having the exact same substrate mix in a set of enclosures makes it easy to judge moisture content by eye just going on colour.
So I would make up the enclosures then while feeding I would judge how easily each sling could be moved on a case by case basis, ie how much stress would be involved for you and the sling. Some seem to make themselves at home more than others.
I too don't like salad tubs and such, it has never appealed to me, so much so that when I started keeping scorpions I took out an advance on my pay to buy 35 self cleaning aquariums while the local cheap import store had them for $10ea so that I would have uniform enclosures.
 

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