So, you want to keep a pet tarantula?

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Hmm, i'm a bit worried about emilio (my b.auratum), he is scared of crickets (runs away from them).

And he just stays right at the side and down a bit, not moving, he's slow to react to me poking him with a paint brush.

So do I have a dying vegatarian Tarantula or what? :/

Miguel (c.rose) just goes straight under the vermiculite as soon as I open the lid and put paintbrush in.

Laurel (a.versicolor) is the only one being good, well kind of, he lives at the top of his home, and when he webs up, it's destroyed by me opening the lid up. grr. :)

Just sprayed their jars, is this recommended to do every day or every other day?
 
There could be a few reasons why your b.auratum is not feeding, could be about to moult or could be a little stressed after its big trip from Germany. It my just be not hungry, some T's have huge appetites some don’t..

I contacted Sven yesterday and have decided on the following T's

Brachypelma smithi, CB 05/03, 5€ (for a friend)
Brachypelma auratum, CB 07/03, 7€
Lasiodora (Vitalius) cristatus, CB 03/03, 3€
Poecilotheria ornata, CB 06/03, 6€
Psalmopoeus cambridgei, CB 06/03, 4€

Works out about £20 Inc P&P :)

Should hopefully see them next week...
 
Originally posted by George
Hmm, i'm a bit worried about emilio (my b.auratum), he is scared of crickets (runs away from them).

And he just stays right at the side and down a bit, not moving, he's slow to react to me poking him with a paint brush.

So do I have a dying vegatarian Tarantula or what? :/

Miguel (c.rose) just goes straight under the vermiculite as soon as I open the lid and put paintbrush in.

Laurel (a.versicolor) is the only one being good, well kind of, he lives at the top of his home, and when he webs up, it's destroyed by me opening the lid up. grr. :)

Just sprayed their jars, is this recommended to do every day or every other day?
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Hey, give him a break. Your T's only arrived yesterday and force-feeding them crickets and poking them every 5 mins with a paintbrush won't do them any good at all. I try not to disturb mine at all, only when taking the lid off to feed them. By poking them about you only serve to annoy them and perhaps even damage them.

A very important point to always remember is that if your T doesn't want to eat, it won't. You can't force feed them and no amount of stressing about it will make them eat. Like St0n3y says, he might be premoult, stressed or even just not hungry. The only thing you can do is remove the cricket after a few hours and try again in the morning. I strongly advise not to leave the cricket in for more than a few hours when you first get your T's because you've no idea when they are going to moult, and if they do moult whilst a cricket is in their tank it will almost certainly feast on your poor defenseless little sling :(

You don't need to spray your T's every day. I'd say every other day at the very most and make sure the substrate is never wet (they don't like it). People really do push the humidity issue far too much. Have you looked at the care sheets at their natural environment yet? You might find that the B. auratum is a desert/scrubland species... how often does it rain in the desert? They really don't need as much spraying as you think. So, if you haven't already done so, google for caresheets.
 
Hurrah! This week I have had two moults from my troop. My Usambara (Also known as OBT) Terry moulted. She is only a spiderling so this it the second mould in as many months. She has gone from about 1/2" to 1" in one moult, the difference is incredible. I am going to be moving her off micro crickets and on to small crickets because I reckon she can handle them easily now:D

I also got a moult from one of my bigger T's. Tom, my Brachypelma smithi (mexican red knee) has moulted and confirmed my suspicion that Tom is actually a Tina :) She doesn't seem to have grown a huge amount but her colours are now really superb. She is pushing 5" easily I reckon now. I'll have to get a ruler out for that one. I'll post some pictures later for you to see, watch this space as they say:cool:
 
Peat?

Hey, can someone tell me where I can get peat? what exactly am I looking for? is it a peat based compost?

A store and a place online where I can purchase it would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
 
Re: Peat?

Originally posted by George
Hey, can someone tell me where I can get peat? what exactly am I looking for? is it a peat based compost?

A store and a place online where I can purchase it would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
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Peat is just that - peat. It comes in big bags at the garden centre, about 3 or 4 quid a sack.
 
Ok, so here are a couple of pictures of my Brachypelma smithi. I am pretty sure that it is a female, if somebody a bit more experienced could tell me if I am right I'd be very grateful.

Here is the exuvium:

Tom%20skin.jpg


And here is Tom (should that be Tina?), check out the fresh bright colours:

Tom%20in%20tank.jpg


:cool: :cool:
 
Nice spiders, no were near as hard to look after as mine though, at least you can actually keep track of yours!..

I mean look @ mine:

red_spider_02.jpg

I took this of a little money spider a few weeks back, I decided to keep him as a pet, but I've since lost him :'(

Don't think he's moulted though, coming soon I think :).

Just sharing my pet fred with you guys :).
 
My b.auratum hasn't eaten since he got here, and this morning he's put his legs under him and is not moving, what ever I do he won't move, there's no web under him or anything.

Is he dead or about to moult or what???
 
Originally posted by Lostkat
If his legs are curled right up and tucked underneath him, he's dead :(
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:(

He's dead. :(

I don't understand, I havn't even opened his lid for two days, i've been spraying his jar every 2 days like you said. He's been running away from crickets since I got him, hasn't eaten a thing since I got him.

Why the hell did he die? :(
 
Originally posted by George
:(

He's dead. :(

I don't understand, I havn't even opened his lid for two days, i've been spraying his jar every 2 days like you said. He's been running away from crickets since I got him, hasn't eaten a thing since I got him.

Why the hell did he die? :(
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Countless reasons, some avoidable, some unavoidable. I doubt highly that he starved to death though. T's can go for weeks with no food, even the tiny ones. My A. purpurea ran away from crickets when I first got him so I had to kill them and mash them up for him. He's alright now though.

Try not to beat yourself up about it, sometimes T's just die... like Leon's Guarico the other day. Just came home to a dead spider, no suicide note, no suspicious circumstances... he was a lovely healthy tarantula :(
 
Originally posted by George
:(

He's dead. :(

I don't understand, I havn't even opened his lid for two days, i've been spraying his jar every 2 days like you said. He's been running away from crickets since I got him, hasn't eaten a thing since I got him.

Why the hell did he die? :(
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Happens sometimes mate, you just have to move on and not beat yourself up over it. It's just one of the bad parts about keeping an exotic pet.

Tarantulas lay huge amounts of eggs to compensate for a big rate of attrition in the wild. Obviously, with captive breeding, the weak ones don't get picked off so easily - so a lot of "runts" stay alive longer than they would in the wild.
Once a T is past 3inches or so you're out of the danger zone and they tend not to drop dead any more.

Emial Sven and explain the situation, he might offer you a replacement out of goodwill - he might not. It's worth asking anyway :)
 
Re: Peat?

Originally posted by George
Hey, can someone tell me where I can get peat? what exactly am I looking for? is it a peat based compost?

A store and a place online where I can purchase it would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Click to expand...
For peat I use grow bags from B&Q costs about £1.30 but you get loads and I also advise drying it out first as it comes very damp (takes normally 2 - 3 days in a warm dry room)

Also I'm sorry to hear about your b.auratum... :(
 
I'm back (again!) still no connection at home though so i'm writing from work!

Just to let you all know i've actually set up a livejournal.com tarantula community. This can be found at the following url....

http://www.livejournal.com/community/tarantula_lair

Figured it could be a cool place to archive some of your pictures like a diary, so yes, please join :-)

DHR


EDIT: Is anyone traveling to the Invert show on the 6th? Was wondering if i could hitch a ride :D :rolleyes: :D
 
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Originally posted by DHR
I'm back (again!) still no connection at home though so i'm writing from work!

Just to let you all know i've actually set up a livejournal.com tarantula community. This can be found at the following url....

http://www.livejournal.com/community/tarantula_lair

Figured it could be a cool place to archive some of your pictures like a diary, so yes, please join :-)

DHR


EDIT: Is anyone traveling to the Invert show on the 6th? Was wondering if i could hitch a ride :D :rolleyes: :D
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Which invert show is that? The one near Lincoln? I thought it was on the 7th?
 
Originally posted by si_sleaf
Which invert show is that? The one near Lincoln? I thought it was on the 7th?
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Not sure about the show details, but your smithi moult pics only just started working for me - looks like a girl to me!

The bit you are looking for is the dark semi-circular "flap" between the first set of book lungs (the white patches)
This is only present in the female :)
 
Wow..

I've had a Chile Rose for just over ten years now... people say they are one of the easy ones to handle...

Well the are always the bad ones... mine is just that :( it will attack (or defend its self) at any slight disturbance and in all the time I've had her I've never gone near with bare flesh! until tonight..

I was gob smacked..

rose.jpg


A full 10 mins without any trouble, i think this old dog is mellowing out in her old age and about time too...
 
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St0n3y, that's a lovely spider. I find my Chile rose is not so much aggressive as very nervous, she always seems pretty jumpy. Comparing her to my Curly, who doesn't even budge when you pick her up, she seems pretty "twitchy".

How big is your Chile rose, by the way? Congrats on the handling, too. My Curly and my Chile rose are the only ones I ever handle.
 
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