So, you want to keep a pet tarantula?

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Originally posted by Nexus
They had a couple of juvenile Chilean Roses' a Venezuelan Sun Tiger and a Thailand Black; the guy opened up the container containing the Thai Black, not a nice spider at all, agressive little thing.
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Funny, cos the Eurobugs guy I saw opened up his Thai Black for me & all it did was sit there! Just goes to show how much temprements differ I guess.


Nice to see your new addition Nexus :)

Moulting pics are pretty good too LK :)


Here's slightly better piccy of Houdini sat in a water droplet (!) on the side of his/her jar. The peat is very moist so why it's decided to perch there I've no idea.

houdini2.jpg


The white lines show where it's dug it's burrow :)
 
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Repo. Houdini's a Chile rose, right?

They hate wet or damp substrate :)

Might explain his side-dwelling nature ;)
 
Originally posted by Lopéz
Repo. Houdini's a Chile rose, right?

They hate wet or damp substrate :)

Might explain his side-dwelling nature ;)
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He's a B Vagans; that's the dampest it's been though... maybe a bit of drying out is needed :p


/wanders off to find hair dryer....


EDIT:
That photo makes it look like the peat is very damp; but it's just a combination of the low res of the camera & the blackness of the peat. It's barely moist to the finger end if you prod it.
 
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I'm pretty sure Shiva must be getting close to moulting now. I dropped a cricket in just now, for the first time she killed it but then just left it alone.
 
Sanchez is hardening off nicely now :) She's not ready to eat but she's looking absolutely gorgeous! I was getting a bit concerned about her squashing herself into the corner of the tank, so I fetched her out and did a little landscaping. I've had to flatten her all substrate so that she can sit on it without having to bend into funny positions. Hopefully she'll be happier with that... until she starts digging again :)

Sanchez41.jpg
 
There is a Chile Rose on ITV right now on This Morning, they are doing a story on phobias. Bizzarley enough the woman on the show has a fear of birds!
 
I've ordered a Brachypelma boehmei (Mexican Fireleg) from Virginia Cheeseman. It should arrive on Thursday morning and she says the ones she has are currently about 5cms, which hopefully means I can keep it in something slightly bigger than my current 1cm spiderlings.
 
Dinosaur Nutrition is temporarily closed for business.

Details of our return will be posted here as information becomes available.

Thank you to all our customers.
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:confused: anyone know what happened... I got my first box of mealworms from there & was going to use them as my regular supplier :(


I was considering popping down to the pet shop again and getting one of the Pinktoes he had; they were about 3-4cm & £20 - is that a reasonable price?
 
£20 is very reasonable! Are they Avicularia avicularia (the whole avic genus are called 'pinktoes' you see :) )

http://www.uk.globallivefood.com/ - for your live food. I've had excellent service off them :)

Nexus - 5cms is a good size. It will be nice for you to have a decent-sized spiderling :) She should also have most of her adult colours. Good choice.
 
Originally posted by Lostkat
£20 is very reasonable! Are they Avicularia avicularia (the whole avic genus are called 'pinktoes' you see :) )

http://www.uk.globallivefood.com/ - for your live food. I've had excellent service off them :)
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It was pure black with pink feet :)

I nearly got one instead of Houdini but thought that £2.50 was a better price for an experiment instead of £20! Plus I wanted a sling not a juvenile.


Thanks for the food link LK :)
 
They are operated by the same company who runs easyexotics, so it should be the same speedy delivery.

Is it possible to pick up some fertilizer free vermiculite in stores such as B & Q or Focus Do It All?
 
Originally posted by Repo
It was pure black with pink feet :)

I nearly got one instead of Houdini but thought that £2.50 was a better price for an experiment instead of £20! Plus I wanted a sling not a juvenile.


Thanks for the food link LK :)
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Probably an avic avic then, but just ask to make sure! A lot of Avics look very similar as juvenilles so it's not very reliable to identify them by appearence alone.


Nexus - Vermiculite should be fertiliser free anyway. It's a sterile potting medium used when propegating young plants. Best to just double check on the back though. I got mine from the local garden centre. Me and Leon both use pure peat as the substrate now as it is better for digging in and looks loads nicer. You have to make sure that it's 100% pure peat/compost with no added gumph before you buy though.
 
Nexus:
B boehmei is my absolute favourite Brachypelma - have you googled for adult pics? They are supremely gorgeous tarantulas.

Repo:
I've used http://www.uk.globallivefood.com/ before, and they are indeed a subsidary of Easy Exotics. Fast delivery and the crickets are good.
£20 is about going rate for a sub-adult Avicularia avicularia - adults are jet black with pink toes, in the light you can see blue and green iridescence all over them.
They are also docile (but the walk fast, and have an unnerving habit of jumping) and pretty easy to look after - tall tank, not much substrate, a sterilised log to build a web from, and keep them well ventilated with good humidity :)

Nexus:
Most pet places or garden centres will sell various grades of vermiculite, it's 99.999% sterile and inorganic :)
 
I agree, they look stunning when they reach maturity

raul4.jpg


I think peat does look a lot nicer, and its what my spiderlings are on at the momment, I guess thats just a case of checking the bag to make sure its totally pure.
 
Just got my whiteknee and pinktoe, both are TINY, especially the whiteknee! I can see tiny light patches on the whiteknee's legs :D I see what you mean about the pinktoe being opposite colours to what it ends up like Lopez! :)

Do u recommend keeping them in the polystyrene cups because im not sure how ventilated they would be. Are fruit flies better than micro crickets for them?

Thanks a lot :)
 
SaBBz:
You can keep slings in basically ANYTHING - just punch plenty of small holes in the lid for ventilation. An overly large container will stress them out.

Here's Pele's tank - this is easily big enough for him until he's moulted another couple of times.

PeleTank01


WRT fruit flies, I've never tried them, but they are a total painin the arse by all accounts. I give mine small cricks (the smallest size) with the back legs disabled.

Popped down to my local T shop today to find he's had some interesting new stock.

A gorgeous gorgeous adult male Avicularia avicularia - photos's cannot do these spiders justice, they really are pretty in the flesh.
This male was big and leggy, probably almost 6" which is large for a pink toe. He was also very nippy - when we opened the tank he was up the guy's arm and across his shoulders in a flash - getting the thing back in its tank was pretty tricky.
I'm very pleased to report that the adults do the exact same "silly walk" as the babies - all waving legs everywhere :D A very gentle and pretty tarantula

The other T of interest was an adult male Theraphosa blondi (Goliath)
If you've never seen a Goliath before, they are certainly impressive. This male was considered "small" at around 8.5 inches..... :eek:
Everything about them is super-sized. The base of each leg is as thick as your little finger.

I never fancied one before, but having seen this one, and with the show coming up.....hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
 
Thanks again for the help Lopez.

Named the pinktoe Incy (gfs choice ;))
and the whiteknee is Gonzalez, because he moves stupidly quick :)
 
Originally posted by DirtyMinx
Another to add to the wish list them heh!

Got any piccys of a Goliath?
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Although not instantly attractive, T blondi's are certainly a handsome species.

Adults range from dark brown (almost black) to a deep cinammon colour. Some have reddish flecking or striping on the knees, and a thick coating of red/brown hairs.
To me they always look a bit beaten up, battle scarred :D

http://www.donsroom.co.uk/~lopez/Theraphosablondi01

To give you an idea of scale, here's someone holding an average sized (8-9") T blondi

http://www.donsroom.co.uk/~lopez/Theraphosablondi02

Please note this is NOT recommended - T blondi is a large and aggressive tarantula capable of inflicting a serious mechanical wound.
They also posess the itchiest urticating hairs known to man ;)

http://www.donsroom.co.uk/~lopez/Theraphosablondi03
 
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