So, you want to keep a pet tarantula?

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I'm still looking to find someone that has either some Chile Rose or Mexican Red Knee spiderlings for sale. It would be really nice to go see the BTS show, but unfortunatly I've been commited to doing something else on that Sunday for a long time. Plus I've got a huge piece of coursework to hand in at uni the next day :( argh
 
Arrived safely

My spider has arrived safely. Pinochet is currently sitting in the corner settling in. I am now going to go to one of the pet stores in town and get him a nice plant or a piece of log to climb. All I got sent from the store was a small container 12"x10"x8" a red lamp that fits in the top, some substrate, water dish and spider with one cricket. I won't buy any more food today as he probably won't eat anyway.

Also, it's not a spiderling. Appears to be around the size of a 50p so a juvenile?

He he, this cricket appears to be looking for a way out. He just walked over to the spider, felt it with his antennae and absolutely legged it to the other corner. Have to say though I don't blame him!
 
Re: Arrived safely

Originally posted by si_sleaf
My spider has arrived safely. Pinochet is currently sitting in the corner settling in. I am now going to go to one of the pet stores in town and get him a nice plant or a piece of log to climb. All I got sent from the store was a small container 12"x10"x8" a red lamp that fits in the top, some substrate, water dish and spider with one cricket. I won't buy any more food today as he probably won't eat anyway.

Also, it's not a spiderling. Appears to be around the size of a 50p so a juvenile?

He he, this cricket appears to be looking for a way out. He just walked over to the spider, felt it with his antennae and absolutely legged it to the other corner. Have to say though I don't blame him!
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50p size is still spiderling - when he starts looking like a "real" tarantula (see the difference between Maz and Miguel for example - Maz is still a spiderling, Miguel is now a juvenile)

A note about the red lamp.

1) Keep a very very close eye on humidity levels - I used a flourescent lamp for a while and noticed it was drying the tank out and "baking" crickets left in the tank during the day - so not very good for the tarantula

2) If you decide to change it, swap it for a heat mat, which can be placed behind or underneath the tank

3) If you keep it, make sure there is plenty of water available for the spider along with a very good hidey-hole, like a big plant and large slab of bark to hide under. Also make sure the spider can't touch the lamp at all - Chile rose slings are very good climbers and you don't want Pinochet getting grilled!
 
Agreed with Leon about the lamp, I've heard bad things about these. I'd definitely advise getting a heatmat.

Another thing is that a 12"x10"x8" tank is WAY WAY WAY too big for a spiderling the size of a 50p. They only need tiny tanks at that size (twice their legspan by three times their legspan). By having your spiderling in a tank that large he will not only have trouble finding his crickets, but be very stressed. Leon had to move Maz (about 1.5" long) from the 6" long tank he'd put him in, back into the margarine tub he received him in because he was overstressed in such a big habitat.

I keep Jezzie in a 6" x 3" x 5" tank when she was that small, which was still a little big but she managed to cope. Initially I put her in a tank about 8" long and it was far to big for her. The smallest petpals only cost £2.50, so I'd get yourself down your local petshop and buy one pronto.

Also, the water dish might be a little too large. Replace it with something like a cola bottle top (smaller than your spiderling's) legspan. Otherwise she may drown in it.
 
You say that a spiderling or small spider can be very stressed in a big tank; I was wondering if this something to do with Tarantulas being captive bred? As in the wild spiderlings don't have a tank but an entire world to get stressed in.
 
Virginia Cheeseman just replied to my e-mail and hopes to have some Mexican Red Knee and Chile Rose spiderlings in soon. She however doesn't recommend that I get a spiderling as my first tarantula!
 
Originally posted by Nexus
You say that a spiderling or small spider can be very stressed in a big tank; I was wondering if this something to do with Tarantulas being captive bred? As in the wild spiderlings don't have a tank but an entire world to get stressed in.
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In the wild they rarely move within a few feet from their burrow and spend all day long either hid in a burrow or under a log :)
 
Originally posted by Nexus
Virginia Cheeseman just replied to my e-mail and hopes to have some Mexican Red Knee and Chile Rose spiderlings in soon. She however doesn't recommend that I get a spiderling as my first tarantula!
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Hmmmm, it depends how big the spiderlings actually are. If you get one around the size of a 50p you should have no probs! Just check what size they are before you buy. Remember, she's a dealer, so she stands to make more money from you if she can persuade you to buy a juvenile. I'm sure that's not what she's doing, but check the size of the spiderling first anyway. :)
 
Ha ha! Done one better. Came home and read that post and have transferred the beast to a smaller paddock. Pinochet is now in a 3"x3"x4" perspex case that I happened to have and has a lid from a bottle for a drinking vessel. Had a bit of a scare when misting the bigger tank earlier as he ran up the side and was on the outside in a blink! Luckily I had a glass nearby and manged to put it over the top and put him back. :D I thought it wise to put him in the fridge for 10 minutes while I prepared his new lair and it worked like a charm. He let me lift him up on the edge of a postcard and pop him in.:cool:

But, crikey he can run! :eek:
 
becareful with the fridge. too long and you may kill your sling. Especially since he's so small right now.

tbh i don't think it's needed as it's quite risky for him, if you are scared of him bolting then maybe do your husbandry stuff in a large surface like a cleared table so you have plenty of oppurtunity to catch him if he bolts again.

did you know why he bolted btw? did he get wet when you misted? if it was, just be careful not to get him when you mist your tank.

hope you both of you have a good time in each others company :)



now, on my front, my metallica escaped again last night !!!! this time i know it defintely wasn't because i left the door open. (probably not the last time too). I've noticed that in these petpals that i have. there is one circular hole where probably you can put an airline through if it was kept for something aquatic and he must have been escaping through there. But it was such a small hole i didn't think that he could squeeze through. this little guy is like houdini ! i've learnt now that if his abdomen can fit through then the whole sling can. it was a bit of a scare as i think he learnt his lesson last time and i couldnt find him after looking high and low. But after a few hours in my room i saw him climibing up a wall :D cheeky thing isn't going to get away ever again (until the next time he proves me wrong probably :D)
 
No don't worry he wasn't in the fridge for long, only a few minutes really. I know it's not a good idea to put any cold blooded creatures in the cold as they cannot reguate they body temperature like we can and they just go to the big web in the sky.

Here it comes. I wanted a Chile rose not "chilly" rose, boom boom!

Anyway, it could have been while I was misting so that was probably what happened to upset him. All further feeding and misting etc will take place in the bath tub (with the plug in of course) so he can't get out. I presume tarantulas are the same as our normal house spiders and can't climb the sides?

Ooh, I love this tarantula game. I think I want a Mexican red knee to go with him now, I've got the bug! Bad pun alert, take cover:p
 
Originally posted by si_sleaf
I presume tarantulas are the same as our normal house spiders and can't climb the sides?
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Unfortunately for you, all theraphosid tarantulas have "sticky pads" on each foot, so they can run up pretty much anything - working in the bath just gives you a better chance to catch him if he escapes - don't worry, as Chile roses get bigger they tend to slow down :)
 
hsp70, unfortunately tarantulas don't have a long enough memory span to allow them to 'learn their lesson'. As long as he can get out, he will continue to escape. I put a pair of tights over the lid of Jez's when she was quite small, just in case she could fit through the holes.

Here's a pic, though the tights are there this time to prevent ants from getting in. Our uni house has quite a bad ant problem near summer, and I am on the ground floor so I get the brunt of it. A If an ant colony gets into a tarantula's tank, they will overpower and kill it and I really don't want to take that risk. So all my T's now have their lids encased in tights :)

tights.JPG
 
Wahey!

Went to bed last night after transferring Pinochet to his smaller home and put his cricket in there with him. Got up this morning and the cricket is no longer of this world, Pinochet must have eaten him. And he seems to have spun a bit of web around the top of his plantpot and taken some stuff up there. I will see if I can post a pic of Pinochet later for you. Am I correct that I have to host it on a site of my own?
 
I have a Tarantula!!! :D :D :D

I'd pretty much given up on that pet shop being open, but I had to move my car this afternoon and I thought F-it, might as well go over right now. Glad I did, as inside the shop was huge full of all kinds of reptiles and stuff. They had a Starburst Baboon, some tree dwelling ones (cant remember the name) a whole load of Chile Rose spiderlings and a juvenile Mexican Redknee (which they wanted £80 for including the tank).

So I took one of the Chile Rose spiderlings, the biggest size one they had. I'd estimate that she is bigger than a 5p, but not as big as a 10p.

Right now she is living in a ventilated small tub that is about 10cm long by 4 cm wide. I need to get a water bowl in there pretty quick. As she and the container is so small, what is good for a water bowl? Is the end of a bottle top filled with water good enough? And I imagine I need to put some kind of thing for her to hide in as its pretty bare right now.
 
Great news Nexus. How much were they selling those Chile roses for can I ask? My pet store had spiderlings for £8 and a fairly bg one for £22.

I have a bottle top in with my Pinochet and he also has a little plant pot that he hides behind. He seems pretty happy in there:)
 
I'm not 100% sure, it must be pretty close to about £8 though, as I brought some crickets and stuff too. I think the crickets are great! I love how they all freeze when you pick the box up.

I better go buy a bottle of drink or something then, cause I'm out of bottle tops. I'm not sure what to use as a little hideaway though.
 
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