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37G Column Viv for Avicularia

16K views 107 replies 30 participants last post by  Asu1776 
#1 ·
37G Column Viv for Avicularia

This is a quick start on a journal thread for this viv setup that I have been working on for a little while now. I already have plants and most everything else in it.



My intention is to keep a single Avicularia sp. tarantula in here. Avicularia are South American/Caribbean arboreal spiders and among the most attractive of tarantulas. Here is a Wikipedia, Creative Commons picture of A. versicolor...



I was working on the setup some more tonight and got a quick picture here of the top rear panel with fan, knob handle, hygrometer and thermometer.



I am trying to source an adult or sub-adult spider to introduce to the tank. I haven't settled with any particular species, but that A. versicolor would be a nice one to use.
 
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#59 ·
Well the avic finally did some more webbing and built a web hammock up in the right rear corner of the enclosure. I think she must feel more comfortable there because I see here walking around the enclosure a lot less. Now I wish that I had gotten more pictures when she was more active, but I'm glad that she has settled down because I was worried about all of the falls that she took. She never hurt herself, but I watched her tumble from the top of the tank a couple of times.
 
#62 ·
I think that I want to change this to make a planting more like what I have in my 12 X 12 Exo, with pretty short terrestrial plants planted into the bottom and with epiphytes planted up around the top of the manzanita. I don't have a recent picture, but you can see below that some of the plants are pretty tall and reach up to the top of the enclosure. They have grown even more and now are covering a lot of the branches. They also cast a lot of shade and now the only part of the tank that is very well illuminated is the front, with the effect that the whole thing lacks visual depth and looks flat.



Here is a recent shot of the 12 X 12. To me this photo looks like a larger enclosure than the 37G. The shorter plants in the bottom and areas of bare manzanita branches create an effect of greater height.



For the 37G I want to just leave the small palms in the bottom and maybe add a few more short plants, then plant orchids and/or Tillandsia up around the top. It would be fun to look around for some more unusual orchids that will fit well in the space.
 
#64 ·
Yeah it's hard to keep any kind of snake with live plants.

I have seen a couple of nice planted vivs with green tree pythons.

I have wondered about trying a rough green snake with plants. I have heard that they are delicate, but CB specimens are usually more hardy.
 
#69 ·
http://www.ratsnakefoundation.org/i...atsnakes/79--oreocryptophis-porphyraceus-coxi
Coxi are pretty tiny! they can be pretty defensive but they are amazing as far as color and can be kept in pairs!

http://www.ratsnakefoundation.org/index.php/ratsnake-species/asian-ratsnakes/72-rhadinophis-prasinum
green bush is more on the advanced end but is also small!

http://www.ratsnakefoundation.org/i...akes/80-oreocryptophis-porphyraceus-vaillanti
another awesome more red snake.

ratsnakefoundation has a lot of snakes that you can look through, coxi and the mandarin rat snake are my two top pics, just because they are rare-ish but small in size, fairly common to see captive bred when you find them and even though they might get a little "long" they tend to be very thin and tiny. Same thing for the rhino rat, thin bodied but VERY long which changes the cage requirements!
 
#70 ·
Thanks for the links, Shimagoma! I love snakes, and it's always neat to find something new! My wife hates them, so she may be able to prevent me from getting one, but she can't stop me from lovin' em! :D

Devin, I'm ordering my orchids this weekend for my set up. I think it's so cool to have such a beautiful tank for such a relatively "fearsome" creature (to most people). In a way, it's a psychological twist on things! I happen to think that your avicularia is quite superb, though!
 
#72 ·
Here's an orchid that would probably be a good choice for this replanting project, Barkaria spectabilis. I used to have this one--this is my picture--and now I'm sorry that I sold it off. It's a pretty common species however and I should be able to find another one.



This orchid is a good size and shape. It grows laterally or semi-pendant and it has nice thick white orchid roots. The inflorescence is compact too.
 
#78 ·
Yesterday I scored my first new epiphyte for use in this tank, a nice specimen of Aerangis biloba for twenty bucks. It's a good-sized plants about 6" wide, but it has a growth habit and flowering habit that should fit well in this enclosure.

The foliage is really cool too. Each leaf has a pair of uneven lobes at the end and a dark reticulating vein pattern. At first glance I thought it was a small Platycerium fern.

I hope that it will do well in this viv. The care requirements sound more or less compatible. It is a shade plant, so I might mount it beneath a Tillandsia or other plant positioned higher on the manzanita branches.

(

(Wikimedia Commons image: File:Aerangis biloba.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
 
#81 ·
I am going to get back to replanting this thing pretty soon. Since she molted the avic has spent less of her time inside of her silk tube, so I will feel less bad about wrecking it. I will work fast and replace everything so she can build a new one if she wants to.
 
#93 ·
Do the roaches live in the viv on their own, or are they thrown in for feedings? It looks like prime roach habitat...
 
#85 ·
Well I removed the Panama hat plant, the Schismatoglottis and the philo and now you can see the manzanita a lot better. I also added five different Tillandsia and that Aerangis biloba orchid.



I removed the silk tube. The spider hasn't been using it much anymore and I think she built it mainly for molting. I am going to have to think some more about how to arrange these epiphytic plants to get a nice visual arrangement. I might add one or two more manzanita branches because there is too much empty space on the top right-hand side.

 
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