So, you want to keep a pet tarantula?

Lostkat · 26 Aug 2003 at 08:02

Originally posted by St0n3y
well the moult was fine and only took about 15mins...

15 MINS??? :eek:

That must be the quickest moult in history. She looks very pretty now

George - A good choice of T's, better get prepared for them and google for caresheets etc.

Lostkat · 26 Aug 2003 at 08:08

The Amateur Entomologist Society's Annual Exhibition 2003

Saturday 4th October

Kempton Park Racecourse, Stains road, Sunbury, Middx

Doors open at 11am to the public

DHR · 26 Aug 2003 at 08:31

Will have to plan ahead and try and get down to that

Would be pretty cool

Still haven't got piccies up of my three little monsters yet

Will have to remember this week!

Scarfacé · 26 Aug 2003 at 10:48

I'm just wondering, all the caresheets say to put a waterdish in and spray the cage.

If i'm not putting a waterdish in, how am I going to keep the humidity levels up, and how is the spider going to drink?

Surely spraying the sides isn't enough? And spraying the sides in such a small jar will be hard? and it will more than likely get the vericulite and the T wet?

Any tips on how to do this Lopez/LK?

Every day you say ?

The jars will be about 2cm away from the heatmat(recomended by LK

)

Thanks,

hsp70 · 26 Aug 2003 at 10:55

the slings can drink from droplets from the side of the tank when you mist it, my avics do that a lot.

spraying the side should be fine, for tanks so small, keeping a water dish isn't practical.

i actually keep my avics on the dry side and they don't have a problem.

Scarfacé · 26 Aug 2003 at 10:57

Originally posted by hsp70
the slings can drink from droplets from the side of the tank when you mist it, my avics do that a lot.

spraying the side should be fine, for tanks so small, keeping a water dish isn't practical.

i actually keep my avics on the dry side and they don't have a problem.

Great, thanks.

How often do you spray the sides? and what with? won't this still get the floor wet and cause mold?

hsp70 · 26 Aug 2003 at 11:23

i use one of those water sprayers gardeners use. with it i can go from fine mist to a water pistol like squit. very handy

usually i spray lightly once every 2 days. As for substrate, i have vermicullite with 2 of them so that won't mold. and my avic geroldi doesn't have any substrate at all at the moment, ( i had a mite problem with him) but his cage is big enough for a small dish of water

Scarfacé · 26 Aug 2003 at 11:38

Originally posted by hsp70
i use one of those water sprayers gardeners use. with it i can go from fine mist to a water pistol like squit. very handy

usually i spray lightly once every 2 days. As for substrate, i have vermicullite with 2 of them so that won't mold. and my avic geroldi doesn't have any substrate at all at the moment, ( i had a mite problem with him) but his cage is big enough for a small dish of water

That's great, all of mine will have Vermiculite too.

thanks.

Lopéz · 26 Aug 2003 at 13:54

Vermiculite is 99.9% sterile, and doesn't harbour mould. Just remember to remove uneaten prey

Scarfacé · 26 Aug 2003 at 14:11

Originally posted by Lopéz
Vermiculite is 99.9% sterile, and doesn't harbour mould. Just remember to remove uneaten prey

Great.

I'm all excited now.

How much should I fill the jar up to with the Vermulite btw? about an inch?

Thanks,

St0n3y · 26 Aug 2003 at 18:35

Got home from work today to find my Salmon Pink has been on the move and I was able to get a better skin moult comparison..

Can believe how much fatter her legs have become they are around twice the thickness now

Scarfacé · 26 Aug 2003 at 19:03

Originally posted by St0n3y

Wow, did all that colour come in one moult?

Nice T!

Scarfacé · 28 Aug 2003 at 09:18

Just recieved my three slings, they're tiny! about 1cm, I thought they'd be quite a bit bigger.

The vericolor is in too big a tank and i'll move him over to a jar like the other two later.

It's all perfect except the c.rose just went straight under the vermiculite and has vanished, when will he come back up?

I sprayed the sides of their tanks with water, when shall I pop in a cricket?

thanks,

Lopéz · 28 Aug 2003 at 09:39

Originally posted by George
Just recieved my three slings, they're tiny! about 1cm, I thought they'd be quite a bit bigger.

The vericolor is in too big a tank and i'll move him over to a jar like the other two later.

It's all perfect except the c.rose just went straight under the vermiculite and has vanished, when will he come back up?

I sprayed the sides of their tanks with water, when shall I pop in a cricket?

thanks,

Don't worry, the versicolor at least will grow pretty quickly. Make sure they can't get out of any small ventilation holes - spiderlings are good climbers and can squeeze through very very thin gaps!

Drop a crick each in for them this afternoon, take it out tonight if it hasn't been eaten and try again tomorrow

The Chile is just hiding, he'll eventually resurface so don't worry

Scarfacé · 28 Aug 2003 at 09:51

Originally posted by Lopéz
Don't worry, the versicolor at least will grow pretty quickly. Make sure they can't get out of any small ventilation holes - spiderlings are good climbers and can squeeze through very very thin gaps!

Drop a crick each in for them this afternoon, take it out tonight if it hasn't been eaten and try again tomorrow

The Chile is just hiding, he'll eventually resurface so don't worry

Great, thanks Lopez.

The versicolor and auratum moved around a bit, but is sticking to the sides of the base.

Christ they're all fast!

The Versicolor is by far my favourite to far, the b.auratum a close second and the chile rose is lacking, because I havn't seen much of him, only trying to catch him when I got him out the film pot. :/

I can see why you all keep them now, so much different to the ugly boring house spiders you so often see.

Thanks again, i'll report back later with pics or something, maybe build up courage and handle one, maybe with gloves.

SaBBz · 28 Aug 2003 at 10:01

Originally posted by George
The Versicolor is by far my favourite to far, the b.auratum a close second and the chile rose is lacking, because I havn't seen much of him, only trying to catch him when I got him out the film pot. :/

When the Auratum is a bit bigger you will see how beautiful it looks.

Here's a pic of mine before she moulted:

Scarfacé · 28 Aug 2003 at 10:12

Awww, that's nice Sabbz.

How long does it take for them to get to about 1.5inches?

When should I be expecting a moult from one of them? in the next few days?

thanks,

Scarfacé · 28 Aug 2003 at 13:03

Haha! classic! I love these things!

I've just stuck a cricket in each spiders home, and I got the a.versicolors tank, opened it up, and nudged the cricket in front of him, but he wasn't having it, so the cricket hopped away, and then I had one last try, I went to nudge the cricket, it jumped really far in the spiders direction, and *wham* the spider kind of jumped and grabbed it, and then poisioned it, kept sitting on it untill it stopped wriggling and then munched.

I'm amazed at how he did it, he's tiny, the cricket was about the same size as him, purely amazing.

The c.rose is still underground.

I've got names for two of them, c.rose=miguel and b.auratum=emilio, versicolors is undecided. Any suggestions?

thanks,

St0n3y · 28 Aug 2003 at 13:44

George: Did u get those 3 T's from the German dealer that Lopéz suggested?? As I'm thinking of getting a few more but want to try spiderlings this time as my others were adult or juvenile when I purchased them..

Also what was the service like and how long did they take to come through?

Scarfacé · 28 Aug 2003 at 13:51

Originally posted by St0n3y
George: Did u get those 3 T's from the German dealer that Lopéz suggested?? As I'm thinking of getting a few more but want to try spiderlings this time as my others were adult or juvenile when I purchased them..

Also what was the service like and how long did they take to come through?

Hi,

Yep, I did, his service was magnificent, prompt replies to my emails, very informative updates, great guy.

They only took 2 days to get here, which is great, all arived unharmed and alive.

btw, Miguel has come to the surface, yay!

I can't seem to see the cricket either, so I think he's eaten him. But Emilio is scared of his cricket, so if he hasn't eaten it by tonight, it's coming out and i'll try him again tomorrow.

I'm taking Lopez' tactic of powerfeeding also.

Thanks, this thread inspired me to get one (well three) of these amazing creatures, well done, especially to Lopez and Lostkat.