So, you want to keep a pet tarantula?

Lostkat · 3 Jun 2003 at 12:40

I've 10 of the things, and one of my housemates doesn't even know about them (long story, she's a psycho and would cause problems)... that's just HOW unobtrusive they are

When I got my first T, I informed my parents rather than asking them. I'm 22 years old and quite capable of making my own decisions so I couldn't see why I should have to ask permission for something that won't even affect them. Luckily they were fine, but they couldn't really do much if they weren't. It's my room

They're actually all quite interested in my little collection anyway.

Clark Nova · 3 Jun 2003 at 12:45

Definitely, how often do you read about a Tarantula in the papers that has attacked somebody and has had to be put down? I know not as many people keep tham as do dogs but in all my years I'd still expect to have heard of one or two.

My mum always says to me "Simon, what if they escape in the night and lay eggs in your ear?" She says that with a completely serious look on her face too. "I think I'd know Mum", I say "because I'd have a spider on the side of my face for a couple of months guarding her egg sac!" The nutter.

Lopez, I seem to remember you like to powerfeed your Ts. Do you feed them every day or does it matter if I just feed my Indian ornamental a bit bigger crickets a few times a week?

Repo · 3 Jun 2003 at 20:47

Great set of piccies there Lopez & LK

Sorry to hear about the Greenbottle blue though, hope it makes it OK

Got home yesterday to find both my T's still alive (whew) & the B.Vagans looking "different". I finally got time to check the tank about 11pm last night & found that the little sod had moulted & is now much bigger & a fair bit faster in zooming around the tank

He actually looks like a B.Vagans now instead of an overgrown housespider - the red hairs on the rump are amazing

Lopéz · 3 Jun 2003 at 20:59

Originally posted by si_sleaf
Definitely, how often do you read about a Tarantula in the papers that has attacked somebody and has had to be put down? I know not as many people keep tham as do dogs but in all my years I'd still expect to have heard of one or two.

Very good point

My mum always says to me "Simon, what if they escape in the night and lay eggs in your ear?" She says that with a completely serious look on her face too. "I think I'd know Mum", I say "because I'd have a spider on the side of my face for a couple of months guarding her egg sac!" The nutter.

Click to expand...

Not to mention the Immaculate Conception your spider must have had to lay the eggs in the first place

Lopez, I seem to remember you like to powerfeed your Ts. Do you feed them every day or does it matter if I just feed my Indian ornamental a bit bigger crickets a few times a week?

Click to expand...

Either feed small crickets regularly, or big crickets less often. I've found t's will tackle stuff their own size, sometimes much bigger when they are young! Try it on some bigger crickets, but be ready to take the food back out if the spider appears to be afraid of its food.

Clark Nova · 3 Jun 2003 at 21:05

Either feed small crickets regularly, or big crickets less often. I've found t's will tackle stuff their own size, sometimes much bigger when they are young! Try it on some bigger crickets, but be ready to take the food back out if the spider appears to be afraid of its food.

I have been giving him some smaller ones but decided to let him have a go at something a bit bigger today. There is a picture over at Arachnopets of him but I will put it here too. Hope they don't mind a bit of remote linking....

Lopéz · 4 Jun 2003 at 16:34

I see from Arachnopets you are certainly feeding up that Curly! Pigs aren't they?

Clark Nova · 4 Jun 2003 at 17:10

Actually out of my four T's she's the one that doesn't seem to want to eat. She's eaten once since I got her from the BTS show the other weekend. Perhaps she's getting ready for a moult. w00t!

Lopéz · 5 Jun 2003 at 15:48

You can easily tell when a Curly Hair is premoult. Due to the fact that they kick hairs, the top of the abdomen forms a pinky-brown bald spot. A week or so before the moult, this will turn jet black, like someones coloured it in with a permanent marker. The darkening is caused by new urticating hairs forming under the old skin.

Took a couple more pics when I was feeding today.

First off, Pelé has hardened off nicely and is eating well after his moult. His legs have darkened to a deep flesh tone, with subtle bottle green hints, which are more prominent on the front legs. It's interesting to see he is getting greener slowly as time goes on.

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/MySpiders/Pele11

Mugabe has been rehoused into a smaller tank, like Idi, and seems to be settling well judging by the amount of web he's made. I still can't get over just how orange these things are.
Fantastic blue and green iridescent feet!

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/MySpiders/MugabeWeb12

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/MySpiders/Mugabe35

Punta is another one with a voracious appetite - He will think nothing of taking 2 or 3 cricks in one go. I've handled him a few times, but he has a tendancy to kick hairs and run rather quickly when startled. At least he isn't aggressive.
Check out the green colouring on the femur of each leg - I'd not noticed that until I got my own example - what a gorgeous spider, and they stay like this as adults too.

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/MySpiders/Punta02

Finally, photographing Bangkok, my Cobalt Blue, is seriously tricky, as he never ever ever comes to the surface. He is a merciless eater though. He'll let you prod him gently, playing dead for a few seconds before striking, and striking HARD. This T means business.
This is the best shot of him I can manage for now

http://www.vsupermarket.co.uk/~lopez/MySpiders/Bangkok01

Lostkat · 5 Jun 2003 at 17:45

Had a bit of a suprise moult today

I've been expecting Tamil (my pokie) to moult because she's not eaten for a week. However, yesterday I caught her noshing on a mealworm beetle so I figured that she was just full. Anyway, I looked in on her this morning and she was madly covering the floor in web. I jokingly said to Leon, 'oo errr, maybe she's about to moult'. Anyway I went out to post a letter and do a few things and got back a couple of hours later to find a freshly moulted pokie still usidown in her tank.

Anyway I waited for her to flip over and then fashioned some home-made forceps out of wire to get to her skin. To my suprise it all came out in one piece! It measures just under 3.5" in length. I've been trying to measure her because she's sat on the side of the tank at the moment and I think she's somewhere between 4-4.5" fully stretched... maybe more. ERK!! Her carapace has grown tonnes.

Here are those gorgeous striking yellow legs and iridescent feet

And this..... is the reason I wanted a pokie so badly. She's a complete stunner!! Rapidly becoming my number 1 T

Minxy · 5 Jun 2003 at 19:33

Looking lovely Kate. Can we have an update on Rio please? Haven't seen any pictures of her in ages.

DHR · 5 Jun 2003 at 23:28

Just some more questions lol! Can I have some pictures of your tanks and the size of the spiders in each? Also where abouts do you put your heatmats? I've been advised to put it vertically at the back of the tank so the tank gets the heat all over opposed to just the substrate.

Lostkat · 6 Jun 2003 at 02:15

Originally posted by DHR
Just some more questions lol! Can I have some pictures of your tanks and the size of the spiders in each? Also where abouts do you put your heatmats? I've been advised to put it vertically at the back of the tank so the tank gets the heat all over opposed to just the substrate.

Correct, heatmat goes behind all of the tanks.

I took a few pics of Various tanks and have added their approximate measurements;

Tachira. Approx 1.5" in length. Perfect tank size for him!

José. He's about 2" in length. This tank is quite big, but very shallow. I could put him in a smaller one if I wanted.

Sanchez. He's a bit hunched up atm but his fully-stretched length is about 2.5". Tank is perfect size for him, though I could get away with a bigger one, he'd probably dig more.

Hope that helps

I've also taken some lovely pics of Louis and some of Rio tonight as requested but will post them tomorrow as I'm too tired now!

DHR · 7 Jun 2003 at 01:23

Cheers for the pics, much appretiated, where abouts do you have your heatmats though? Also you couldn't let me know where the pet store you visted in manchester was when you were picking your first T? Going to make a shopping trip to manchester so it'd be cool to scout places out first.

Cheers

(P.S: This was posted before but apparently there has been a roll back because of a hard drive crash! Sorry about the re-post if anyone has seen this before!)

Lostkat · 7 Jun 2003 at 01:35

Heatmats go along the backs of the tanks.

The place is called Manchester Pets & Aquatics and is on the Stockport Road just as you're coming out of town towards Stockport. It's opposite the Apollo theatre and very easy to find.

I haven't bought any tarantulas from there because they only had salmon pink spiderlings when I went in, and I didn't want an adult T. Their prices are fair, but there were a couple of unhealthy specimens when I went in last, so make sure you pick on that looks nice and healthy if you decide to buy, and make sure it's female.

Also, DON'T let them talk you into buying a tarantula starters kit - the tank is WAY to large for a spiderling. All you need is a heatmat and a tank anyway. Anything else is unneccessary. Buy one of the smallest plastic petpals that they sell £2.40. Heatmats are on the wall on your left as you walk in the shop.

Directions on their website www.manchesterpetsandaquatics.com

DHR · 7 Jun 2003 at 11:33

Thanks for that. My idea was to get a spiderling and rear it in one of the smaller tanks. Then when its big make a nice little opportunistic retreat in an old fishtank i have

Need to get it out of the loft so i can get everyones opinion on size!

Think i'm going to get a six inch one like above, feed it up and transfer it to the fishtank.

Lostkat · 7 Jun 2003 at 12:01

Originally posted by DHR
Thanks for that. My idea was to get a spiderling and rear it in one of the smaller tanks. Then when its big make a nice little opportunistic retreat in an old fishtank i have. Need to get it out of the loft so i can get everyones opinion on size!

Sounds like a good plan. Last time I went to my local pet shop, they only had one or two spiderlings, but that was about 2 months ago because I've now started ordering crickets online, so they may actually have some others in stock now. I would go and check for you but it's a hell of a trek and I don't really need anything from there atm. Measure your fish tank and let us know how big it is,

My pics of Rio and Louis were deleted so here they are again.

Rio (Acanthoscurria geniculata): She's extremely fat at the moment, and I haven't fed her for about a week now. As she's grown, she's got a lot jumpier when I disturb her and will readily send up a flurry of urticating hairs. She's still handleable though when she feels like it.

Louis (Avicularia versicolor) moulted on Tuesday, and I took some pics of him the other day to show you how beautiful he's looking. He seems to get better-looking each time he moults. I really hope the trend coninues, he's gorgeous. He looks a bit skinny in these pics, but he finally decided he was hungry last night and had quite a big cricket, so he's bulked out a bit now.

The world's joint-greediest curly hair, José is looking very portly and also very premoult. His bald patch is jet black, so hopefully I'll be adding another moult to the collection in a few days.

And finally, Jezabel. She's fully hardened now and has started eating. She's beautiful. Such a change from the little house spider I started out with.

From this..

To this

I'm so pleased with her.

DHR · 7 Jun 2003 at 12:06

Nah wouldn't as (or hint!) for you to do that anyways. I didn't realise it was near the apollo, can find my way there no problem. I'm after Costa Rican Zebra tarantula, or the classic Mexican Red Knee, what breeds did they have as spiderlings when you were last there?

Update.. yep, decided on the Mexican

Its just getting one now, was very interested in the Brazilian White Knee Tarantulas easy exotics have got but was put off by the temprement. Just going to get bits and bobs of equiptment over the next few weeks, then once i'm moved out get the order but through.

Lostkat · 8 Jun 2003 at 20:29

Originally posted by DHR
Nah wouldn't as (or hint!) for you to do that anyways. I didn't realise it was near the apollo, can find my way there no problem. I'm after Costa Rican Zebra tarantula, or the classic Mexican Red Knee, what breeds did they have as spiderlings when you were last there?

Update.. yep, decided on the Mexican

Its just getting one now, was very interested in the Brazilian White Knee Tarantulas easy exotics have got but was put off by the temprement. Just going to get bits and bobs of equiptment over the next few weeks, then once i'm moved out get the order but through.

My Brazilian white knee is lovely

She gets a bit moody at times (don't they all), but she's generally a nice, holdable tarantula. A mexican red knee is a good choice though, and they are generally docile. As demonstrated several times in this thread though, don't take it as gospel. Some docile species turn out to be horrors and vice versa.

They didn't have smithi's in Manchester last time I looked, but there are loads for sale on the internet. It's worth considering buying one over the net. They're both cheaper and you're guaranteed to get what you asked for.

DHR · 8 Jun 2003 at 20:34

Originally posted by Lostkat
They didn't have smithi's in Manchester last time I looked, but there are loads for sale on the internet. It's worth considering buying one over the net. They're both cheaper and you're guaranteed to get what you asked for.

Do you think i should buy from a pet store dealing in them over the net, or a private dealer?

Nexus · 8 Jun 2003 at 20:42

I've got a B.Smithi spiderling, really tiny from a petshop for £6. However they sell ones that are about 1.5-2 inches for £80. You would be much better getting this breed online.