Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi
I recintly got a rose hair tarantula and was woundering if it is possible for its "home" to be too big? right now it is in a 50gal short reptile tank with a locking screen lid I filled it about 3-4 inches deep with peat moss and made her a little borrow from a wooden half circle thing they sell at the pet shop and covered it with dirt. and put in a small water dish in that is shallow .She has tons of room but is that ok ? most pictures i see on the internet people have alot smaller setups is there a reason? also is there any other things that is ok to put in the habitat like plants (live or fake)? and maby some logs or something to make it look more then a tank full of dirt lol ?

Thanks for your help

Any decor you want to put in is fine. But the tank really is way too big. Honestly a 10 gallon is too big for a G. rosea, but they are cheap so many people use them.

Part of the reason it is too big, is that they rarely stray too far from their burrow. So most of your tank space will be wasted. Also when you feed, if the T doesn't get the cricket right away, then the cricket could be lost and the T will never find it. Small tanks keep predator and prey nearby.
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KJ Vezino
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Missouri Tarantula Enthusiasts Group

I can't disagree with thevez2 here. But it all depends on the kind of pet owner you are.

Alot of people use small containers because they can't stick to one tarrantula so having a bunch of super big containers would definatly be a problem.

Now again if you have more than one tarrantula, you don't want to have to stay close to eatch one of them everytime you feed it just to make sure the cricket doesn't go and hide in a corner to die without feeding your T.

If you're like me though and you only have one tarrantula, i think you can use whatever size of container you like.

I keep my T. in a 10 gallons container and yes most of the time i have to stay close when i give it a cricket and i have to guide the cricket with my fingers towards the T. otherwise he will simply go and lose himself somewhere and my T. will remain hungry. Now of course i don't mind doing that since my T. is a very gentle one and he will never attack my fingers. He won't even touch the cricket if my fingers are close to it and i like my T. alot especialy for that reason. So all i'm doing is guiding the cricket towards the T. and when the crick is getting close enough i remove my hand from the container and my T. snaps it.

If my tarrantula ignores the cricket, i remove it and try again the next day.

So in other words, no your T. does not need all that space but it cannot affect it in a negative way eighter. So unless you are planing on keeping more than one T. You can keep using this big container . Just make sure your pet gets the food you're giving it .

i wish you and your T. some good luck

have a nice day

Krawll