So, you want to keep a pet tarantula?

Lopéz · 19 Sep 2003 at 18:43

Ladies and gentlemen, we have Blue Fangs!
My Dutch E. cyanognathus arrived safely today - a sub-adult female, and a sling each for me and Kate. Also, 2 Poecilotheria fasciata spiderlings at a bargain £2 each!

Enough talk, here's the sub-adult

(Don't try this at home, she ran up my arm of her own accord, E cyanognathus are generally defensive)

Lopéz · 19 Sep 2003 at 18:44

And the spiderlings

Repo · 20 Sep 2003 at 01:05

Originally posted by Lopéz

That is EXACTLY how mine looks at the moment

I've got him/her on slightly moist peat with a few small pieces of cork bark at the moment. Seems happy enough.

DHR · 20 Sep 2003 at 18:31

They look amazing already!!!!!!! Can't believe the change between the spiderlings and the mature species!!!

Nexus · 20 Sep 2003 at 18:46

I'm moving back to Uni tommorow, but Im going back into Halls, where pets obviously aren't allowed. I have two larger spiders in proper tanks, and two tiny spiderlings in vials.

What do you guys think I should do:

(A) Take them back up with me tommorow, don't make them secret, but don't declare to all that I have them either.

(B) Take them up, but keep them hidden and don't tell anyone.

(C) Leave them at home for a few weeks, test the waters to see if the people in my halls would object to them.

My worry is that there might be someone who has a deep fear of spiders and may report me.

Malt_Vinegar · 20 Sep 2003 at 19:01

My house mates were a bit funny about my mantis when it was first about, but they soon got used to it.

I had fish in my room too, and the halls people never noticed or said anything

I even had the mantis delivered to the uni, it had a "live insects. KEEP WARM" written on the side of it!

The woman even put it beside the radiator for me!! I just said it was for an experiment

Nexus · 20 Sep 2003 at 19:04

ROFL! Yeah, I was a bit dubious about ordering in crickets too, least I can pick them up locally.

I didn't have a problem with my housemates in the house I was staying in, but they were friends Ive had for the last two years. I knew there were plenty of people with fish in my first year, but I suppose Im just paranoid that there might be someone very vocal who would go as far as to report it.

Lopéz · 21 Sep 2003 at 16:07

Ah well, looks like my freebie Curly Hair (Miguel) won't be with us for much longer.
He just shed out into a mature male - long legs, small chelicerae, scrawny body, tibial apophyses and palpal bulbs.

So hopefully he'll be sent off to roger his way around the country.

What a scrawny beast!

Note the palpal bulps for seminal insertion
ALL male spiders have these

And the tibial spurs - not all species have these.

Oh and while I think of it, here's a slightly better E.cyanognathus pic:

DHR · 22 Sep 2003 at 19:25

Still haveing wall climbing problems. The Substrate is pretty (if not ALL) dry. Don't know what to do now. Everyone of them has enough shelter, they're clean, any more ideas? I can even post some pictures (if i can rob my web cam from my gf back later).

Repo · 24 Sep 2003 at 19:10

My two free Curlyhairs arrived this morning

Fed them with micro sized cricks already. These slings are tiny

Also bought some large cricks and gave one to Frida who so far has been eating only mealworms and refusing cricks. Must have been a settling in thing as she grabbed the crick and munched straight away

DHR · 25 Sep 2003 at 08:47

My curly hair is just getting ready to mould (tbh i'm expecting it to be done by the time i get home tonight). It'll be around 1.5" in legspan after this moult so i'm thinking its a good time to introduce a water dish. What do you think? I was thinking of using a bottle top of a coke bottle or something, what do you guys use?

Repo · 25 Sep 2003 at 13:34

Used to use coke bottle tops but all they did was fill it with peat. Now I just spray. None of my T's have water dishes at the moment, even my adult and sub-adult, and all are happy

DHR · 25 Sep 2003 at 16:58

Originally posted by Repo
Used to use coke bottle tops but all they did was fill it with peat. Now I just spray. None of my T's have water dishes at the moment, even my adult and sub-adult, and all are happy

Its exactly the problem i was having!! It kept getting filled up with peat!

Lostkat · 27 Sep 2003 at 17:32

Originally posted by DHR
Its exactly the problem i was having!! It kept getting filled up with peat!

My slings always used to do that, so I don't bother with small water bowls anymore. Jez, Rio and Sanchez seem to have grown out of the habit now though.

Anyway, I went into my local pet shop for crickets the other day. The delivery hadn't arrived yet, so I had a chat with the woman behind the counter who was trying to sell some kid a small Lasiodora difficilis. She knows nothing about T's, so she asked for my help. It was his first tarantula, so I recommended that he got something more docile, and showed him a sub adult Chile rose. Anyway, after speaking to him for a bit and recommending he googled for care sheets, he left with his new T in a cricket tub.

I'd ordered some nice big clear tanks for Rio, Jez and Sanchez because they've grown out of their petpals. Unfortunately they hadn't arrived in this week's delivery, but the bloke in the shop said I could have 3 of his 2nd hand tanks for free, so I was very pleased. Went home, cleaned them up and today I moved my T's in.

I've landscaped all of their substrate, but it doesn't show on the pics. They all have nice big spaces under the cork bark to shelter, and I bought some sphagnum moss a few weeks ago which I've draped over the bark, in all the crevices, to make it look a little more natural. Overall, I'm very pleased with their set-ups.

Jez

Rio

Rio moulted last week. She's now over 5" in legspan, but still has A LOT of growing left to do.

Sanchez

Sanchez also moulted this week after 3 months with no moult. He didn't grow as much as expected and went from 3.5" to about 4". I thought he'd grow far faster than this.

Finally, I took this pic this morning after having accidentally dropped 3 sub adult crickets in José's tank at once. I think he might be premoult... he didn't even flinch!

DHR · 29 Sep 2003 at 08:34

Originally posted by Lostkat
The delivery hadn't arrived yet, so I had a chat with the woman behind the counter who was trying to sell some kid a small Lasiodora difficilis. She knows nothing about T's, so she asked for my help.

Short old'ish woman with glasses and grey hair?? Think i know who you're on about, met her a few weeks back, really friendly isn't she!! She spent about an hour and a half looking through a delivery for me cause i was desperate for micro crickets at the time. Really helpfull.

Clark Nova · 29 Sep 2003 at 10:05

MY P regalis, Jerry, decided to moult last night. I had seen it coming because he is very sluggish and slow just before he moults and crickets don't bother him at all. He flipped over in his web last night but that was about 1.30am and I just didn't have the energy to stay up and watch. Anyway, I wish I could get a photo to show you but where he has webbed up is very difficult to ge a good photo

I'm astonsihed though with just how much he has grown since I got him as a spiderling, he is now almost as big as some of the spiders that I bought as adults :cool:

DHR · 29 Sep 2003 at 16:06

I've been seriously thinking of getting a Avicularia versicolor spiderling i've seen for sale beause the 3 i currently have are all ground dwelling spiders, plus the Avicularia versicolor are absolutly STUNNING both as spiderlings and adults. How different is it to keeping a normal ground dwelling spiders?

Also while i'm here, one of my spiderlings decieded to bury itself in its own burrow last night! There is just a moulnd of soil blocking up the entrance. Any reason for this or has it just done it for the sake of it

Lostkat · 29 Sep 2003 at 17:07

Originally posted by DHR
Short old'ish woman with glasses and grey hair?? Think i know who you're on about, met her a few weeks back, really friendly isn't she!! She spent about an hour and a half looking through a delivery for me cause i was desperate for micro crickets at the time. Really helpfull.

No, I'm not in Manchester any more mate. This is my local petshop in Leics... unless you go there? It's a bit far to go for cricks

Originally posted by DHR
I've been seriously thinking of getting a Avicularia versicolor spiderling i've seen for sale beause the 3 i currently have are all ground dwelling spiders, plus the Avicularia versicolor are absolutly STUNNING both as spiderlings and adults. How different is it to keeping a normal ground dwelling spiders?

Well you've been keeping T's for a little while now, so I would say you'd have no probs with an arboreal. You just need to give them a different set up. A tall container with a scattering of peat and a piece of cork bark propped up one side is sufficient. Avics also need a slightly higher humidity than your current T's, BUT you also need to give them very good ventilation. I find that substituting the container lid for a pair of tights stretched across and held in place by an elastic band provides them with adequate ventilation. Other than that, it's just plain sailing really

Also while i'm here, one of my spiderlings decieded to bury itself in its own burrow last night! There is just a moulnd of soil blocking up the entrance. Any reason for this or has it just done it for the sake of it

Is it pre-moult? Some T's seal their burrows when they're about to moult. Other than that, perhaps it just wanted some privacy

DHR · 29 Sep 2003 at 17:18

Originally posted by Lostkat
Is it pre-moult? Some T's seal their burrows when they're about to moult. Other than that, perhaps it just wanted some privacy

Yeh thats the only thing i could think it would be, pre-moult. Presumebly if it needs food it will come out so no worries.

Anyone fancy have a big msn, yahoo or irc chat tonight?? Msn would be cool with webcams of your spiders

If so contact me on [email protected] via msn.

Repo · 29 Sep 2003 at 23:19

Originally posted by DHR
I've been seriously thinking of getting a Avicularia versicolor spiderling i've seen for sale beause the 3 i currently have are all ground dwelling spiders, plus the Avicularia versicolor are absolutly STUNNING both as spiderlings and adults. How different is it to keeping a normal ground dwelling spiders?

My A.Avic (similar colours) is one of my favorites - wonderful colours & very docile

Originally posted by DHR
Also while i'm here, one of my spiderlings decieded to bury itself in its own burrow last night! There is just a moulnd of soil blocking up the entrance. Any reason for this or has it just done it for the sake of it

My Tigerrump does this everytime before moulting - only one that does but I always know when it's going to when it does this