So, you want to keep a pet tarantula?

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Just wondering

I should hopefully be getting my new tarantula tomorrow, a Psalmopoeus cambridgei. I have got a nice big sweet jar for the girl as she is about 4"+ at the moment. I need a piece of bark to put in there for her to climb around on. Can you use any bark? I know you can't use pine anywhere near tarantulas as it is toxic to them. My Pokie, Jerry, has a small piece of bark from a tree in the local park which he seems to like, he has webbed it up, webbed some substrate up around the sides and never seems to come off it. Can I just use a piece of the same bark for my P.cambridgei? I scrubbed Jerry's piece thoroughly and then microwaved it for a few minutes so I'm sure it's clean enough. Any reason not to do the same again does anyone know?
 
Re: Just wondering

Originally posted by si_sleaf
I should hopefully be getting my new tarantula tomorrow, a Psalmopoeus cambridgei. I have got a nice big sweet jar for the girl as she is about 4"+ at the moment. I need a piece of bark to put in there for her to climb around on. Can you use any bark? I know you can't use pine anywhere near tarantulas as it is toxic to them. My Pokie, Jerry, has a small piece of bark from a tree in the local park which he seems to like, he has webbed it up, webbed some substrate up around the sides and never seems to come off it. Can I just use a piece of the same bark for my P.cambridgei? I scrubbed Jerry's piece thoroughly and then microwaved it for a few minutes so I'm sure it's clean enough. Any reason not to do the same again does anyone know?
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Yeah, any old bark will do after a good scrubbing and a spell in the microwave. Cork bark is preferred (the stuff you get in pet shops) because it resists mould very very well.

Where are you getting the Chevron from? 4" is a really nice size.
They like a bit of substrate and a tall container, many will build webs up near the lid, but some will construct a messy web/burrow near the floor - they seem to vary from spider to spider.
A sweet jar is ideal, either cut the centre of the lid out and replace it with gauze of some sort (or tights!) or punchplenty of ventilation holes.
 
lopez what's that yellow number you are wearing ? ;) :D :p

i've acquired a new t too ! this one wasn't intentional though, it's a good old chile rose. I saw it in advertised in a local ads paper and thought i'd have a look.

The owner didn't really know much about t's and kept it in a huge box in the living room with a few newspaper as a bedding and no shelter. The good thing was she had a shallow water dish, but the cage was kept warm by a rather bright low wattage light bulb on 24/7, defintely not suitable. So i bought her home although she was on the expensive side but she's very timid and docile and defintely a good purchase :)
 
How often do B.Vagans moult?

After stuffing his face like mental; he's now killed the last two crickets I gave him & made them into a cricket/peat ball; he's also gone quite dark... but he only moulted about 2-3 weeks ago :confused:
 
Repo, considering the size of the spider, it may well be ready to moult again.

Pele, my baby Pink toe, has moulted twice in 3 weeks, Maz moults once a month, as does Guarico the Venezuelan suntiger.

And the "yellow number" is my RS Owners Club Fleece :p
 
Thanks for that Lopez; I shall watch out :D

Now for an update on Blackie (Costa Rican Tiger rump). Originally I put him into a coffee jar laid on it's side. As he's supposed to be a terrestrial/burrowing species I had it filled with about 2" depth of peat at one end shallowing out about 1/2" at the lid end. He spent almost all of the time sat in the lid & didn't burrow at all, so I assumed he wasn't happy with the set-up.

Having read somewhere that some do have arboreal tendencies I put the jar on it's end with about 2" of peat & a chunk of wood up the middle. He spent a few days in the lid & then seemed to settle in some & do a fair bit of webbing all up the jar… then he (re)discovered the peat & has made a fantastic burrow. His arboreal tendencies went completely out of the window after that & he completely ignored the wood so I've taken it out so there's no chance of accidents.

He did more digging in one day then Houdini has done in all the time I've had him, amazing speed of work!. He's made a complete enclosure under the peat, complete with a mound which reaches about 2" up the jar above the level of the rest of the peat. In doing so he has also completely sealed himself off from outside world… so now I have one T digging like mad under the earth & one lonely cricket hopping about on the surface O_o


In altering Blackie's home I had to decant him into something else. He was just in the neck of the coffee jar at the time & so I prodded him with a pair of tweezers. He tagged the tweezers at warp speed, if it had been my fingers in the jar, there would have been no way I could have moved out of the way fast enough to not get tagged! This chap is mega-fast & quite aggressive; there's no way I'll be handling this one it seems!
 
Repo, just a quick note to say that I got your cheque :) Thank you SO much for the chocolates, it's a lovely gesture and really appreciated. Glad you're getting on well with your tiger rump :)
 
I'll take your advice on the Purpea and give it a miss. I wouldn't mind something like an Avic Avic or a Versicolour.

Lopez, did you have any luck with trying to construct your own aquarium? I'm thinking off building something myself as I may well be back in Halls for my final year at uni, and as weren't not supposed to keep pets I wanted to put my Tarantulas into something that can hold all three (currently) in one sort of container.

I was thinking of building something that has three seperate compartments to it, fairly smallish, as none of my Tarantulas are going to be anywhere near huge anytime soon. Obviously I want to be able to open one part of the compartment without the other Tarantulas then becoming free.
 
Originally posted by Lostkat
Repo, just a quick note to say that I got your cheque :) Thank you SO much for the chocolates, it's a lovely gesture and really appreciated. Glad you're getting on well with your tiger rump :)
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No problem, just a little something for your help and patience :)
 
Has anyone here actually joined the BTS yet? Was thinking of becoming a member, was wondering what the benifits are actually like though (due to bening broke it wouldn't be the best way to spend my money lol).

Cheers peeps.
 
Originally posted by si_sleaf
I have ordered it from Teresa Jones, she advertises on brum-tarantulas in the forum under the name of "spiderwoman".
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I had a quick look at her list & emailed her about a female Costa Rican Zebra Knee; this was the reply:

hi, it is about five inches, age unknown and are selling it for approx. £15-£20 + postage and packaging]
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Is that a good price?

Apparently they are fairly docile & 5" is the biggest they get; so this could be any age at all...
 
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Teresa Jones is a member on many spider forums, she's also a BTS member IIRC - so you should be safe buying from her. People are just generally crap at sending out inverts on time :rolleyes: This is something you might notice with time.

Repo - ask her if it is male or female - if it's a male it has a year or so to live, if it is a female then it should have a good 10-15 years left in it depending how long it's been at this size. Ask her if it's captive bred (generally healthier and you know it's age)
Costa Rican Zebra Knee = Aphonopelma seemanni, right?
If so then it's a really nice looking T.

Price is about right if it's a female.

Nexus, haven't tried making one myself yet, but I do have a glass tank divided properly into 4, would be easy to make one, I'll take some pics later on.
 
How much would you say for Mexican Red Knee's? I've been looking around and the cheapest i can find is £20 for a spiderling.

EDIT : May have just sourced one for 5 Euros :D
 
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Originally posted by DHR
How much would you say for Mexican Red Knee's? I've been looking around and the cheapest i can find is £20 for a spiderling.

EDIT : May have just sourced one for 5 Euros :D
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£20 for a spiderling, i.e. a 1-2cm legspan (that's all it will be) is a bit much. However these are popular species, so breeders can get away with charging more for them. I'd check the size of the one you've found for 5 euros, it's very likely to be about 1cm... in which case you'll probably be keeping it in nothing larger than a milk bottle top :p
 
Originally posted by DHR
Has anyone here actually joined the BTS yet? Was thinking of becoming a member, was wondering what the benifits are actually like though (due to bening broke it wouldn't be the best way to spend my money lol).

Cheers peeps.
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I'm a member of the BTS. Your money gets you 4 journals per year plus access to the members area of the website. I am glad I joined because I enjoy reading the journal, but you don't get any benefits as such :)
 
Originally posted by Lostkat
£20 for a spiderling, i.e. a 1-2cm legspan (that's all it will be) is a bit much. However these are popular species, so breeders can get away with charging more for them. I'd check the size of the one you've found for 5 euros, it's very likely to be about 1cm... in which case you'll probably be keeping it in nothing larger than a milk bottle top :p
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What do you feed them idealy when they're so tiny? I've asked the keeper to hold it for a bit longer whilst i'm sorting things out so with any luck it'll be bigger by then.
 
Originally posted by DHR
What do you feed them idealy when they're so tiny? I've asked the keeper to hold it for a bit longer whilst i'm sorting things out so with any luck it'll be bigger by then.
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Generally just small crickets, they should be big enough to accept them fine.
 
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