One square foot of Peruvian Amazonia - tarantula build

This took an extra week because I ended up unhappy with the all-acrylic lid and figured it'd be a million times easier to get everything right the first time. I wound up removing the acrylic and cutting a smaller piece to sit under the grow light, then used the lid off a cheap storage bin to cover the other half so I could drill ventilation holes. The air feels a lot less stagnant and humidity was sitting around 55-60% which seems just about perfect.

With everything ready to go I put on nitrile gloves and managed to corral Typhon, who was absolutely infuriated, into a catch cup and from there into her new home, where she sat menacing me with her behind for another hour or so:

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...507_150230.jpg

She cautiously emerged to look around before going into hiding:
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...507_152529.jpg

It's very cool to see her in there with real plants, and the grow light really makes her colors pop. Now to figure out how to carefully clean up all this kicked hair without getting any on me!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by plateOfFlan

... Now to figure out how to carefully clean up all this kicked hair without getting any on me!

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Can't help you there- what a unique pet-problem. Good job on her home though- :gj:

Oh, I realized I never added this - I got Typhon almost exactly a year ago, this build was kind of her one-year present. She's been here the longest of any of the my Ts except the B klaasi, who I have no photos of because she's always under ground.

Anyway this is her baby pic from a year ago, when she was only 3/4" across:
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...428_155013.jpg

First meal in the new setup? This calls for a happy dance.

https://i.imgur.com/U8I05gA.mp4

She really seems to enjoy hanging out on the bromeliads - I can picture the bigger arboreal species lurking around them in the wild and snatching up frogs or other animals that come to drink

Now that everything's set up, I don't really do much to maintain it - just mist a few times a week and occasionally douse the substrate if it seems dry. The isopods are reproducing, but even the adults are too tiny to really photograph. The plants also seem super happy - one of the bromeliads is getting ready to flower:
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../flowering.jpg

The marcgravia wasn't doing well at first, but it was expensive so I didn't want to give up and toss it - I dropped the cuttings on the floor of the enclosure and figured they'd either root and grow back or be eaten by the cleanup crew. Taking pictures is difficult now that Typhon has settled in and rushes to defend her territory from encroaching hands, but you can see the vine growing back just behind her here:
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...marcgravia.jpg

She also seems very content:
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../5/0/cutie.jpg

I want to thank you for this informative and interesting thread. It makes me want to go out and get one myself, and I'm scared of spiders.

Thanks for the kind words - if you do wind up looking at one, the vast majority aren't nearly this complicated, most of mine are just in critter creepers with substrate and water dish and seem to live happily like that.
All of the tarantula sites / chats I hang out in also have a few people who don't own tarantulas but are getting over fear of them and they say that hearing keepers talk fondly about their pets makes spiders seem less scary to them. So I am always happy to gush about how cute they are :D

really nice build! i really regret not picking up that species when i had the chance - they’re v beautiful and seem like a delight ☺️

I keep meaning to make an informative post about the clean up crew and how they're doing, but for now here's a picture from today to compare to March 30th last year:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/BVhPxMX.png

Since then, the bromeliads have flowered and are making pups (that's why they look kind of yellow and crummy there, the mother plant starts dying back):
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/Lxu4S91.png

The snake ferns and marcgravia are doing so well I've been selling extra cuttings of both and bromeliad pups on craigslist. The ferns at the bottom are volunteers that appeared I assume because I didn't do due diligence on sterilizing the sheet moss etc, but I'm a fan of them.
The orchid also bloomed:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/ynSYbIs.png
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/JC36OYg.png

Typhon showed a lot of interest in the orchid flowers, maybe because of the smell which was kind of weird and musty. I guess this species is pollinated by flies and is usually not recommended for indoor keeping because it smells weird!

She was also looking extra adorable today:
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/85Z8nVI.png

That's an awesome home for a fine looking critter- you did a really nice job with those plants. :gj: