# Planted Viv for Tapinauchenius Arboreal T



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

*Planted Viv for Tapinauchenius Arboreal T*

I have a concept in mind for a planted viv to house a _Tapinauchenius capreus_ tarantula. 

Google: _Tapinauchenius_

Members of this genus are interesting spiders. Most are around three inches long and are smaller than most other arboreal tarantulas. This lesser size should scale well with a smaller enclosure size and I intend to use a 12 X 12 X 18 Exo Terra enclosure for this project. It will have the same basic setup as my current 12 X 12 setup (below) with a few important differences.










The spider is already on its way from Pennsylvania through the post. I hope that it get here OK. I might have pictures to share pretty soon.


----------



## Sammie (Oct 12, 2009)

Tapinauchenius are really cool spiders, I've had _T. gigas_ and _T. violaceus_.
Looking forward to this build


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Sammie said:


> Tapinauchenius are really cool spiders, I've had _T. gigas_ and _T. violaceus_.
> Looking forward to this build


Yeah I've been intrgued with what I have read about them and they look cool too. I hope this spider will make it here alright through the post. Do you have any pictures of the individuals that you had?


----------



## B-NICE (Jul 15, 2011)

My son likes spiders and I want to do a 10g vert for him, but I have to do togs of research on them.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

B-NICE said:


> My son likes spiders and I want to do a 10g vert for him, but I have to do togs of research on them.


Most tarantulas aren't too demanding. You just have to set them up right with the right kind of enclosure and take some care with feeding. An _Avicularia_ sp. would be a good choice for a 10G vert. They are very pretty and mild-tempered.


----------



## hypostatic (Apr 25, 2011)

Wow that is a beautiful viv!


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

hypostatic said:


> Wow that is a beautiful viv!


Hey thanks so much. That viv above is probably too wet to keep a tarantula in it. I have instead a little group of _Phyllocrania paradoxica_ mantises housed in there.


----------



## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

I have tried to do naturalistic vivs for arboreals before (pokies and avics) and have found them a challenge for simple fact that they often become heavy webbers. I've had taps before as well and they are heavy webbers. Make sure that you regularly remove webbing that begins to suffocate plants.

That is a very nice viv by the way.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

varanoid said:


> I have tried to do naturalistic vivs for arboreals before (pokies and avics) and have found them a challenge for simple fact that they often become heavy webbers. I've had taps before as well and they are heavy webbers. Make sure that you regularly remove webbing that begins to suffocate plants.
> 
> That is a very nice viv by the way.


I'm just going to put it together and see how it goes. In the 37G where I have my _Avicularia metallica_ the bright light up in the front has discouraged her from webbing up the plants. If the _Tapinauchenius_ webs too much in here I'll keep the planting going and just set her up in another enclosure.

An important part of making this kind of thing work is to use an enclosure larger than what you would normally keep the tarantula in. This helps to disperse web and feces so that the T will get along better with the plants and the enclosure won't get so dirty.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

The spider got here this afternoon in great shape. It is really cool! I will try to post some pictures tomorrow.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Here are a couple of quick and crummy pictures of the T. capreus. It sure is cool. It has a real distintive appearance with short an velvety hairs on the abdomen and long front legs. It's super fast too.


----------



## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

Any chance of a video?


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

I'll try to get video at some point. This spider is not easy to handle like my avic is. It's real skittish and super fast. I'm just keeping it in this plastic tub enclosure until I can get the Exo Terra ready for it.


----------



## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

hydrophyte said:


> I'll try to get video at some point. This spider is not easy to handle like my avic is. It's real skittish and super fast. I'm just keeping it in this plastic tub enclosure until I can get the Exo Terra ready for it.


I forgot to warn you about how fast they are but looks like you already found out I had T. gigas and it was skittish, but not really aggressive, definately not handleable at all though.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

varanoid said:


> I forgot to warn you about how fast they are but looks like you already found out I had T. gigas and it was skittish, but not really aggressive, definately not handleable at all though.


Yeah, even when I just open the enclosure top it spooks and runs all over the place. I will have to set up the tank for easy maintenance.

Another thing I have noticed is that it seems fond of burrowing. It is hiding in a silk-lined hole in the coco bedding right now. This might not work so well with the Forest Floor setup. Maybe it will be OK if I add a tray with bedding to the enclosure. I never saw my avic (also an arboreal) ever try to burrow anywhere.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Here is a quick shot for an idea of how a manzanita feature might look planted with nothing but _Tillandsia_. These are just a few extra plants that I had on hand. I have an order with more _Tillandsia_ that inlcude a couple of the real small miniature species on the way. This feature isn't mine either; I built it for a customer. I have a slightly different manzanita design in mind for my setup.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Last night I got a box in the mail with eight or nine different _Tillandsia_. They are such cool little plants. I'm editing and uploading specimen pictures right now. Here is _T. aeranthos_ "Miniata".


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

I got a long and slender cork tube this evening at the pet store. I should be able to make a good hide for the tap with it. I want to mount it from the plastic plate at the top and then mount several manzanita branches around it. I think it will probably look good.


----------



## JoshsDragonz (Jun 30, 2012)

Can't wait to see how it turns out. 

-Josh


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

I'll try to work on it tomorrow. I need to get some Gorilla Glue. The cork tube has a longitudinal crack in it and I want to make it stronger.


----------



## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

hydrophyte said:


> Yeah, even when I just open the enclosure top it spooks and runs all over the place. I will have to set up the tank for easy maintenance.
> 
> Another thing I have noticed is that it seems fond of burrowing. It is hiding in a silk-lined hole in the coco bedding right now. This might not work so well with the Forest Floor setup. Maybe it will be OK if I add a tray with bedding to the enclosure. I never saw my avic (also an arboreal) ever try to burrow anywhere.


I've noticed that a lot of the supposed arboreal species will still burrow frequently. I noticed it with pokies, taps, psalmopoeus, and even avics. I have a theory that it has to do with humidity and security. Either way love watching them creep to the openings of their hides and slamming a cricket.

Look forward to seeing the finished viv and be sure to give updates in the future to show how it grows in and how the spider alters its environment.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Yeah this spider definitely seems more inclined to burrowing than my avic. I bet that in the wild they use spots like tree hollows and crevices under bark where there lots of moist rotten wood and other crud. The cork tube will reach from the top of the enclosure all the way to the bottom and I am going to put some coco bedding inside. 

I want to get a _P. irminia_ next!


----------



## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

hydrophyte said:


> Yeah this spider definitely seems more inclined to burrowing than my avic. I bet that in the wild they use spots like tree hollows and crevices under bark where there lots of moist rotten wood and other crud. The cork tube will reach from the top of the enclosure all the way to the bottom and I am going to put some coco bedding inside.
> 
> I want to get a _P. irminia_ next!


Irminia rock. Adult females are stunning in person. I had two and while a bit on the reclusive side compared to my Trinidad Chevrons they were definately more visible than my Panama Blonds. Definately a favorite Genus of mine though. Size, speed, and incredible variety of color for this genus from red to green and blacks and yellows. Awsome.


----------



## LizardLicker (Aug 17, 2012)

I love Taps...... I had a group of 5 for years. All of mine burrowed all of the time. I never could get one to take to the higher parts of their enclosures. They all built webby type hammocks with substrate mixed in. They were usually around the cork bark that I had in there. 

Nice photos.

ETA: I also had quite a few P. irmina. They also burrowed for me especially as slings.


----------



## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

LizardLicker said:


> I love Taps...... I had a group of 5 for years. All of mine burrowed all of the time. I never could get one to take to the higher parts of their enclosures. They all built webby type hammocks with substrate mixed in. They were usually around the cork bark that I had in there.
> 
> Nice photos.
> 
> ETA: I also had quite a few P. irmina. They also burrowed for me especially as slings.


Interesting. I've never heard of them being raised communally.


----------



## LizardLicker (Aug 17, 2012)

varanoid said:


> Interesting. I've never heard of them being raised communally.


They weren't .... They each had their own enclosures for both the taps and the irminias. 

I just bought them as a group of 5. Sorry about that.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

varanoid said:


> Irminia rock. Adult females are stunning in person. I had two and while a bit on the reclusive side compared to my Trinidad Chevrons they were definately more visible than my Panama Blonds. Definately a favorite Genus of mine though. Size, speed, and incredible variety of color for this genus from red to green and blacks and yellows. Awsome.


Yeah I might have to get a _Psalmopoeus_ soon if I can think of a new idea for a planted viv to go along with one. That is a good tip about the Trinidad chevrons. If you think those might be more active in the enclosure I should watch out for availability.



LizardLicker said:


> I love Taps...... I had a group of 5 for years. All of mine burrowed all of the time. I never could get one to take to the higher parts of their enclosures. They all built webby type hammocks with substrate mixed in. They were usually around the cork bark that I had in there.
> 
> Nice photos.
> 
> ETA: I also had quite a few P. irmina. They also burrowed for me especially as slings.


Did you see how they moved the substrate around? This female has wads of coco webbed up at the top of her enclosure. I hope that she will like this cork feature that I am making.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Here's the cork round that I am using for the hide/trunk feature. I built up a bunchof Gorilla Glue around the top opening so that I would have something harder to drive the stainless steel screws into. 










And here's the whole thing. I am considering sanding down the cork texture to make it more slender and with a texture more like the manzanita branches that I will also use. What do you think?


----------



## jacobi (Dec 15, 2010)

I like the texture of cork. You'd have to set the tank up to see whether the cork would look better sanded


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

Yeah maybe that's what I'll do. I also want to test another scrap of coark sanded to see what it looks like. A sanded finish might look kind of cool.


----------



## LizardLicker (Aug 17, 2012)

hydrophyte said:


> Yeah I might have to get a _Psalmopoeus_ soon if I can think of a new idea for a planted viv to go along with one. That is a good tip about the Trinidad chevrons. If you think those might be more active in the enclosure I should watch out for availability.
> 
> 
> 
> Did you see how they moved the substrate around? This female has wads of coco webbed up at the top of her enclosure. I hope that she will like this cork feature that I am making.


I don't remember seeing the taps do it specifically. However, every spider that I have witnessed excavating carried around clumps of dirt with their chelicerae. The ball it up with their front legs and palps and then grab it. Some of my larger spiders have moved crazy amounts of substrate each time this way.


----------



## hydrophyte (Jun 5, 2009)

LizardLicker said:


> I don't remember seeing the taps do it specifically. However, every spider that I have witnessed excavating carried around clumps of dirt with their chelicerae. The ball it up with their front legs and palps and then grab it. Some of my larger spiders have moved crazy amounts of substrate each time this way.


Yeah I suppose I have seen tarantulas do that before. I'll be interested to see what this tap does in this enclosure. Do you have any pictures of your spiders and enclosures anywhere?

I was just working on this thing again tonight. I used a coarse sandpaper to sand down the bark ridges on the cork tube. Only the deepest grooves of the bark fissures remain. It looks a lot better like this. I'll try to post pictures soon.


----------

