Welcome to another tank tutorial ! This is a very basic tank customisation job, designed as a reference for beginners looking to setup a tank for either a growing spiderling, as in my case, or as a new home for any small-ish terrestrial spider, normally found on the forest floor in its native country.

 

You will need the following:

Right - let's start at the beginning - an empty tank. Why is this one perfect?

 

Lots of reasons - these might include:

 

 

3. Into your mixing bowl place enough peat moss to easily fill half your tank, and then add a proportionally smaller amount of vermiculite. The mix in the photo is 80 / 20 peat moss / vermiculite.

 

4. Mix together by hand, adding tap water a small amount at a time until the mix clumps nicely in your hand, but is not too wet - you are aiming for very slightly damp, but holds together well. This is especially important for digging spiders. 

 

 

 

5. When you have mixed the substrate to your liking, transfer enough of it to fill about a third to a half of the tank into the base, and tamp down firmly, but not too much. Make sure that if your spider is at any risk of falling, then you'll need a higher level of substrate to minimise the risk of injury from such a fall. The spider that will live in this tank I know well, and have observed it climbing from pretty much birth, and have never seen fall, even when walking upside down on wet plastic, so no need to build it up too much here.

 

 

Then get your other tank contents ready...

 

6. Place a small piece of your bark at one end of the tank, and start to form a burrow at the other by scraping a hollow out of the substrate.

 

7.  When you have scooped out a little, and smoothed down the surface, pop in whatever you are using for the roof of the burrow - in this case I have a section of sauce pot, scrupulously washed, but half a flowerpot or similar will be fine - we are only preventing the roof caving in, not doing a marvel of interior design.

 

8. Place the water bowl, but don't fill it yet, and then arrange any other bits of cork bark so that the spider has lots of reference points about the tank, and a variety of surfaces to sit on, and navigate by.

 

 

Here is my tank, with everything in... I have added a thinner layer of additional substrate which I haven't packed down so hard - this topsoil helps fill any gaps around the cork bark, minimizing the amount of spaces that crickets have to hide.
 
9. Now is the time to start heat & humidity testing. Fill the water bowl. I will be using a wall mounted heat pad, so no need to affix one to the side of my tank, but you might want to with yours. I recommend magnetic tape, or black electrical insulation tape to attach the pad to the outside of your tank, and you will want to place the pad on a side wall, and definitely not underneath (spiders try to burrow away from heat).

 

10. Insert a digital thermometer / hygrometer into the tank, and leave for a couple of days, monitoring temperature and humidity. Always err on the side of too dry / too much airflow, as this is less dangerous for the spider than too much humidity, and not enough airflow, which can quickly lead to death in more fragile species. You can increase humidity by closing off air vents at the top of the tank, with clear perspex sheeting taped in place from the outside over some of the venting area, or add a larger water bowl to generate more.

 

11. When your tank is tweaked so that the temps and humidity are just right, it is time to introduce your spider to its new home. Here is Fluffy, my 7th instar Lasiodorides striatus, as she walks into this very tank for the first time...

 

 

And that's your terrestrial sling tank ready for action !

 

Once the spider has moved in, monitor it often to see if it likes the substrate, climbs a lot, falls etc, and make adjustments if necessary.

 

A happy spider might take a few days to find the burrow, and take it over, and will initially explore everywhere, but should settle down, and start webbing of some description after a not too long. If all is well, and the spider spends most of its time sitting comfortably, with all its legs evenly spread out on the substrate, then you may take it that it likes its home, and is generally happy with the conditions you have provided. Complete its joy by feeding it, which will tell it that food DOES arrive in this new place, and should be the final factor in your spider beginning to feel like its new tank is indeed home.