So, you want to keep a pet tarantula?

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Originally posted by Lopéz
[B
Just got that email - and thought "sod it" - I've ordered a large Solifugid (that's a Camel Spider to most people)

I know they don't live for very long - as these are adults they probably only have a month or so to live, but I want the opportunity to photograph one :) [/B]

Hah, any ideas how you're going to house the feisty beast? Apart from laying down 6 inches of sand in your living room of course ;)

Look forward to seeing the pics :D

-- Jon
 
Good luck Leon - I guess its dry sand and a lot of heat...

I hear those little guys are REALLY hard to keep and most die with in a few weeks...

My cobalt moulted the other day, caught it at one of the entrances to its burrow the other night..

H.lividum_1.jpg
 
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New Arrival

Well I popped into my local petshop which turned out to be a real bad idea.

I'm now the proud owner of a Heteroscodra masculata (Togo Starbust Baboon)

I think it's a female and the markings are amazing.

Now I beleive that these can be angry little devils. Does anyone else have one or had one?
 
Re: New Arrival

Originally posted by azrael357
Well I popped into my local petshop which turned out to be a real bad idea.

I'm now the proud owner of a Heteroscodra masculata (Togo Starbust Baboon)

I think it's a female and the markings are amazing.

Now I beleive that these can be angry little devils. Does anyone else have one or had one?

I've got a het mac, and she's extremely shy. I keep her in a semi arboreal set-up and seldom see her out and about, apart from in the dead of night. I've never seen a threat pose or any form of aggressive behaviour from her, but having said that, I'm not one to go provoking my T's and poking at them with sticks anyway.

In short, a very nervous, but extremely beautiful species :) You will not regret buying her.
 
Advice

As the H Maculata is my first Arboreal there's a few questions I'd like to ask.

Once the T was put in the tank, it has gone up to one of the upper corners and stayed there. I've placed a length of bark in the tank but it's not gone near it.

With my B Boehmei and L Parahybana they are both terristrial T's so feeding them is easy enough as the crickets eventually wander into them.
What happens with arboreals? Do they come down looking for food?

I've also placed a water dish at the bottom of the tank. Will the T use it or does it get it's water mainly from misting?

Lastly, what is the best position to put the heat mat?
 
1) Don't worry about feeding, she'll find her crickets just find. They go hunting for them :cool: It will also start webbing its bark etc. once it's settled in more. Just leave it be and don't disturb it too much.

2) No water dish is required. My arboreals all drink off the sides of their tanks when I mist. I have no water bowls in any of my arboreal set-ups. They're hard to get to and don't really do anything.

3) Best position for the heat mat is behind the tank. So the back of the tank will be warm, and the front will be the cooler.

Let me know if you need any more info :)
 
It's Pets Pantry on Prescott road. Just before you get to the Old Swan.

They've just had a new batch of spiders and stuff including
T Bloni
B Smithi
Whip Scorpion
Preying Mantis' THe green ones, I don't know their proper names.

There's a lot of Tarantulas but as soon as I saw the H Maculata I didn't want to see any more.

There's another place on Stanley road by Bootle but the spiders are not in very good condition. Some where dead in their containers when I was last in there.

Do you know of anywhere in Liverpool I could get a Female P Regalis?
 
Wow!

I don't believe it. My L Parahybana moulted twice last month and it's now darkening for another moult.

I'm going through tanks like there's no tomorrow.

Lostkat, you were spot on. I noticed this morning that the cricket I left in the tank with the H Maculata had disappeared overnight.

I popped another one in earlier tonight and I came in to check it out to find the cricket in the clutches of the T half eaten.

I'm not sure how much to mist the tank and how often. Could you please advise.

Cheers
 
Hi azrael

Humidity should be about 70-75 for this species, but personally I don't really go by the numbers, since I have no humidity guages (the ones you can buy aren't accurate anyway). I used to spray the enclosure about twice a week. There shouldn't be any lasting condensation on the sides of the tank, but I make sure the substrate doesn't dry out (it shouldn't be too damp though).

I've started soaking the substrate now, about once a week. Since the spider is arboreal, it won't matter too much that the substrate is fairly damp. You need to watch out for mould and mites though if you choose to do this.

Right, regarding this P. regalis you're looking for. Are you going to the BTS show on 16th May?? If so, I would recommend that you don't look for a P. regalis (or indeed anything else) until that time. You can pick adult fems up for around £15-£20, and get sub-adults for a tenner which is an absolute bargain! If you're not going to the show, I'd be more than willing to pick on up for you and post her. I also reckon there'll be quite a few P. regalis slings there. You might want to go for 4-5 slings rather than an adult, so then you'll be guaranteed a female, and you might even get a male, which you can loan out for breeding. Pokes grow like weeds, so you won't get bored/frustrated waiting around for it to grow :) It's certainly worth considering anyway, because you'll be paying at least £60 for an adult female P. regalis at a pet shop. My local had one for £90!!
 
After having none of my Tarantulas do nothing for 9 months, my adult female Green Bottle Blue molted on Saturday night. She had built a fairly big cocoon thing about a month ago and was not very active at all.

Will she probably stay inside this cocoon until she is hardened? As there seems to be no way of getting her old skin out and I don't want to disturb her.
 
My baby GBB moulted yesterday :)

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What a mess of legs!

There really is nothing much you can do if the T decides to camp it's shed skin, usually they will put it out with the trash after a couple of days.. ;)

-- Jon
 
Well the other thing I noticed when I lifted the lid off her enclosure was that my hand was itching quite quickly after. I've never seen my GBB kick hairs like my Bohemei does, but I assume that maybe she layed down a load of hairs on her web coccon before moulting or something.
 
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