Theraphosi Blondi enclosure

[Charlotte1]

My son has a juvenile Goliath bird eater. She's in a plastic container right now with side holes drilled for ventilation and a small amount of substrate for burrowing. The plan is the move her (eventually) into a 40 gallon glass typical aquarium style enclosure. If I'd had any knowledge about how difficult it would be to maintain humidity and heat I would have had him get something different but it is what it is. If we put a deep enough substrate in will this work with humidity? Is it doable to keep her in such a large enclosure? Just looking for input in general. Thanks so much!

 

[m0lsx]

Ignore the word humidity. Think husbandry, not a % figure that needs to be achieved on it's own. My blondi's & stirmis, have no thermometers or humidity meters in their enclosures & do perfectly well.

If the room is warm enough for you, then the enclosure will be warm enough for them. With substrate keep it moist & I try to also use a larger than normal water dish too. I also use sphagnum moss in the enclosure. And I do not mist other than to moisten dry leaves for my springtails, or to moisten live plants, sphagnum moss etc.

Putting enclosure humidity meters beside my home weather station which also measures indoor temperature & humidity, I have found large-ish discrepancies between meters when it comes to humidity. Some days there is almost no difference. Under 5%. But other days it can be 10%, or slightly more. Currently, I have two enclosure meters sitting beside my weather station & I have 3 different readings differing by 4% with humidity & 3 degrees in temperature.

None of these meters are built up to a standard. They are simply cheap gauges & as a result give a reasonable & rough idea of what they are reading. They do not give a temperature or a % of humidity to chase. So you can stop worrying, my stirmi's gets no more care or attention than my Brachypelmas or any of my other T's & they all do fine.

 

[menavodi]

I have an 18 gal. tote. Not hard to keep it ok for Theraphosa. I spray mine once a week. The plants grow good...

 

[menavodi]

Here you might see how high my soil is...
You will not see the spider very often. They stay in their hole...

 

[Charlotte1]

Here you might see how high my soil is...
You will not see the spider very often. They stay in their hole...
View attachment 54114

Thank you so much! The pictures help a lot!!

 

[liquidfluidity]

My Theraphosa Apophysis enclosure. A 5.5 gallon over half full of sub at one end and a little less at the other. They do grow fast so plan on a few rehouses. Just don't go too big too fast. I'm a believer in deep substrate when it come to moisture dependent species. There is a learning curve to stay away from mold but good ventilation is key. Deep sub is just easier to maintain moisture.

 

[menavodi]

Looks very good @liquidfluidity

 

[liquidfluidity]

Looks very good @liquidfluidity

Thank you so much! Please disregard the screen top....on my list of upgrades. Kind of dragging my feet waiting to see how big it is after this molt.

 

[menavodi]

Thank you so much! Please disregard the screen top....on my list of upgrades. Kind of dragging my feet waiting to see how big it is after this molt.

I have screen on the sides and on top. Mine never wanders up there. The screen on the sides is doubled up in case she starts chewing on there...

 

[liquidfluidity]

My concern is more directed to getting hung up. Don't really want to lose a leg or worse....

 

[Oursapoil]

My concern is more directed to getting hung up. Don't really want to lose a leg or worse....

Been there already, here is my blondi. 2-3 inches clear tape around the age will do the trick to stop her from climbing.

 

[Oursapoil]

Here is Terra (our blondi) yesterday.
She is housed in a 24x18x12 exo-terra enclosure.