So, you want to keep a pet tarantula?

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:eek: :eek: :eek:

just read thru the first 8/9 pages of this forum for about an hour and realised there was... *36*!!! pages!

yan816: u mentioned something about a video of a tarantula eating a fully grown mouse? can u post the link pls? :D

ps - lopez, those pics on page35 are AWSOME! n1 dude :cool:
 
So I'd get your spider into something nice and small.
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I don't understand why the T would have a problem in a bigger tank. In the wild they are not bothered with the space they have.

Can anyone shed some light on this?
 
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Originally posted by azrael357
I don't understand why the T would have a problem in a bigger tank. In the wild they are not bothered with the space they have.

Can anyone shed some light on this?
Click to expand...
In the wild they construct deep burrows or live in encloised spaces between tree branches.
We cannot replicate this in captivity, so we need to create an enclosed space for them, which they treat as the entirety of the burrow.
 
Originally posted by Lopéz
In the wild they construct deep burrows or live in encloised spaces between tree branches.
We cannot replicate this in captivity, so we need to create an enclosed space for them, which they treat as the entirety of the burrow.
Click to expand...

In the same respect, if the spider didn't like its too large tank, surely it could just keep to one side of it. I don't see how not being able to catch prey could be a problem in a large tank either. The spider has to find its prey in a potentially far larger space in the wild. I.e. the prey has to more or less come to the spider..?
 
Originally posted by Bungee
In the same respect, if the spider didn't like its too large tank, surely it could just keep to one side of it. I don't see how not being able to catch prey could be a problem in a large tank either. The spider has to find its prey in a potentially far larger space in the wild. I.e. the prey has to more or less come to the spider..?
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My mate keeps his B smithy in a large tank. The spider is just under 2 inches in size, and happily hunts, and stomps about the tank :) He has a piece of bark that he sits on, like a throne, as soon as food goes in, he kills it, eats it in plane sight, takes the carcass under the log, then goes and sits back on top again :D

The tank is about 1.5 feet long, 1 foot deep, and 1.5 tall :p
 
In the same respect, if the spider didn't like its too large tank, surely it could just keep to one side of it. I don't see how not being able to catch prey could be a problem in a large tank either. The spider has to find its prey in a potentially far larger space in the wild. I.e. the prey has to more or less come to the spider..?
Click to expand...

I've more than seen this effect of stress in practise now... Since moving my T to the smallest tank I have she is out and about all the time instead of just being hidden under the flowerpot the whole time.

In the wild the T would expect food to come to it, in a tree or whatever some insect would just wonder into it. Remember they can go without food for huge periods of time and we spoil them in captivity. If its not in a great position and food doesn't come to it, it dies. Its natural selection, thats why the egg sac has so many spiderlings.
 
Too big or too small,

spider.jpg


spider1.jpg


spider2.jpg


Chilean Rose about 8 years old. Bought when i was 15 :)

WS
 
Originally posted by Bungee
In the same respect, if the spider didn't like its too large tank, surely it could just keep to one side of it. I don't see how not being able to catch prey could be a problem in a large tank either. The spider has to find its prey in a potentially far larger space in the wild. I.e. the prey has to more or less come to the spider..?
Click to expand...
The spider generally just huddles in the corner hunched up, and won't burrow or web properly. If it thinks the whole tank is just a burrow, it will be far more likely to wander about and explore - I've noticed this with all of my tarantulas - moving Mugabe to a small tank is the best thing I ever did, now he has filled the ENTIRE tank with web, and spends his time stomping around the various tunnels.
 
So as I'm using a a tank 18 by 12 by 10 and my spider is only small at the moment.
Could I get around this by putting a larger piece of bark in for it to hide under?
 
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Originally posted by Well Splattered
Too big or too small,


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That's just about perfect mate The cork bark provides additional shelter.
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Thank you :) She has been living in that case for five years, so i must be doing something right :cool:

Tank only mists when i spray it. You can just about see the huge vent at the back in the first picture. No central heating in this house so she loves it. Not too dry.

WS
 
Originally posted by azrael357
So as I'm using a a tank 18 by 12 by 10 and my spider is only small at the moment.
Could I get around this by putting a larger piece of bark in for it to hide under?
Click to expand...
A nice arch of bark like Well Splattered has would give the T a lot more security.
Personally, I'd reduce the tank a fair old bit. It's up to you at the end of the day - if she seems happy in the big tank then fine :)

Anyway, I forgot to post a few new pics this morning.

As some of you will have read, Roger the gay male Chile Rose has been totally reluctant to mate with Pepper, normally freezing or running away.
Well, today I decided to throw him back into the arena on the off-chance, and lo and behold he went for it!

PepperMating05


PepperMating06


PepperMating07


I'm going to attempt a repeat pairing later this week, and then hopefully in a couple of months she will come up with an eggsac!
 
Got a bit more news too.

I decided to replace Carabobo, my Greenbottle Blue who died from the results of a bad moult.
I wanted another GBB ideally, but there aren't many on the market, so I decided to feed my fetish for Asian tarantulas instead.

It's not often I buy adult or sub-adult spiders, but the price was right for this one:

Haplopelmalongipedum01


As yet unnamed, this nasty piece of work is a Haplopelma sp. "longipedum"
Formerly known as Cyriopagopus paganus, they are awaiting official reclassification.
It's big, (5" and still has lots of growing to do) black, and has a mean streak the length of the great wall of China.
Luckily it was very very stressed and cold from postage, and I had no bother moving it into a new tank. After a couple of hours warming up the attitude appeared - I filled up the water bowl nearly an hour ago and this sucker is still in full threat pose.

I've wanted one of these evil suckers for ages, hopefully this one will turn out to be female so she can be bred. :)
 
Many years ago when i first purchased my Chilean rose it spun an egg ball.

It layered its fine thread from the side of the glass tank over the floor and onto a cork piece. Previously she completly went off her food. This was about 3 months after purchasing her from the shop.

Took about 3 days before i came home from work and found this flat thick web rolled into a ball. Having just purchased the T, I was just learning on how spiders mated and stored semen. I left the ball in the tank as a) i wanted to see what would happen and b) she wouldnt leave it alone.

after about a 6 weeks i decided i really need to change the cork and bark. The ball had become bedraggled and split and it took a piece of card to seperate them. Guessing that she hadnt mated, either that or there is now a large population of chilen roses T's occupying the local landfill site.

Best of luck with the mateing

WS
 
LOL, Roger finally did some rogering :p



Late last night I saw my ultra-secretive Tigerrump actually come out of his/her burrow... who said these were good display species :rolleyes:

Anyways, had a quick peer in this morning to find ye olde skine poking out from his/her burrow. Blackie finally moults; hopefully this will mean a return to eating as she/he hasn't eaten anything in about 3 weeks.


Meanwhile Frida (A.Seemani) is mega docile & is always out - she sits on her cork bark all day & all night or roams about a bit - but always quite slowly. She lets crickets wander over and under her :) & hasn't eaten anything at all yet - but she doesn't seem too bothered about... well anything really :) I might even try and hold her soon.


And finally Houdini (B.Vagans) after moulting not long ago is back to eating like a pig - 1 large cricket & 3 small mealworms in two days ;)
 
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