Getting a spider!!!

[texastailfeathers]

Hubby and I went to a reptile show today and fell in love with a spider. We're going back to pick her up tomorrow (unless she's sold or we change our mind...doubtful). She's a very pretty little 2-inch Chaco golden knee (Grammostola aureostriata). We both held her. Well, ok...hubby held her...I let the vendor put her on my hand and then I said "Get her...NOW PLEASE!" when she made it up to my elbow.

I've been reading about spiders for a few months now. I don't think I will be tempted to give her kisses or anything :grin01: , but at least I won't be afraid to feed her or clean her enclosure.

And yes, the very small number of bite reports on Arachnoboards did influence my decision. Only three, and none were serious.

Are we making a good decision? Do any of you T people have any special advice for us, or would you recommend a different species?

Of course I will post pics when she comes home.

 

[aztek]

Why does everyone like t's and not scorpions? uke01:

But advice(Since they're closely related)? They're easy to take care of as long as you keep the environment right.

Best time to see them is when you feed them.

 

[Rich in KY]

Just don't let your new spider get too close to your flea traps

 

[texastailfeathers]

Why does everyone like t's and not scorpions?

Because scorps are effing SCARY!!! :sidestep:

Just don't let your new spider get too close to your flea traps

Heh...no kidding...that would suck. But I wouldn't mind letting the spider have a go at those creepy wasp thingies.

 

[Rich in KY]

Well, pre-congrats on your possible purchase tomorrow!

 

[CaseyUndead]

Awesome! Beware, though... Tarantulas are just as addictive as reptiles are... I got my first T about two months ago, it was given to me by a guy who works at the pet shop here. And i just got my third, who arrived in the mail yesterday(and it's actually a G. Aureostriata, too)!

All the T keepers i've heard have nothing but good things to say about Chacos... They all seem to put them in their "good beginner Ts" and "handleable Ts" lists. I just got my Chaco yesterday(currently a 1" spiderling) and he/she is really easy to handle. Of course, all individuals are different.. But they're generally supposed to be easy to take care of and non-aggressive. Today when i checked on him, he'd made a neat burrow(it was really big for his size, too! must have worked all night on that thing!) They're supposed to get a little larger than some other Ts though(in the 7"-8" range). They're really pretty, too.

I think you'll be really happy with your new spider

 

[carolinacorn69]

Sounds good. I got my Mexican Red Leg a while back now. There he is on the left!
They are class!

 

[Nanci]

I let the vendor put her on my hand and then I said "Get her...NOW PLEASE!" when she made it up to my elbow.

You were supposed to say PINEAPPLE!!!!!

Congratulations- hope you get her!!

Nanci

 

[Plissken]

Cool! I adore spiders. I nearly bought a T a few weeks ago, but I reminded myself that I'm not really set up for one yet so I managed to walk away.

Hope we'll see pics!

 

[Jessicat]

=D
My advice is make their homes as cool looking as possible. Most of the time you will be seeing the cage and not the habitant. Also, live plants are awesome, but be prepared to replace them a few times.. both of my Ts have dug up the plants I put in their habitats. :grin01:
Give them plenty of space to dig.
Do NOT feed them meal worms. Tarantulas (at least mine) will not eat the meal worm fast enough. It will bury itself in substrate and eventually turn into a bunch of little tiny flies. This happened in one of my T enclosures and it took a LONG (ok long is an exaggeration) time and a lot of canned air for them to finally die off.

To give you a few ideas, here are my enclosures.

The grass in this viv is now dead. I'll be rebuilding it with just the wood. The grass died because the spider made a large burrow and in the process tore up the roots.

It was pretty while it lasted though!

This viv is still sucessful. It houses my Cobalt Blue H. lividum

This plant, however, is a replacement to another succulent that my Cobalt girl burrowed under.

My girl likes her home too much though. I never see her. It makes it that much more of a treat when she is out though. =P

My tarantulas are on par with my aquatic snail and pet rock as the easiest thing I've ever owned. Make sure to take some pictures of your new addition when you get her! Oh, it is a girl right? Make sure she's a she. Males have significantly shorter lifespans, their moult after maturity usually being their last.

 

[CALIVIK]

OMGosh girl I went into our local pet store & saw they had Tarantulas. Well I thought finally I will hold one & let the kids experience the feel so that they don't fear spiders. Well they had a Chilean Rose Hair. OMG she was beautiful. She brought her over to me & let me hold her & I fell head over hills. I sounded just like you! I wanted her! Like always not thinking what hubby would think. But on this one I did go home & tell hubby about her & that I really wanted her & went online & got educated..blahblahblah....but he really begged me not to get a spider he would squish it. So instead I brought home our corn. Man it was really hard not to get her. She did get a grt home. Also her little hairs made my daughter brk out. She has eczema & even a Tarantula broke her out. So now she has her own corn..hehe. Hubby hates the corns but is very thankful I decided against the T.

Congrats & can't wait to see pics!

Jessica~ love your set up..UGH you guys are making me want one again! Stop IT..lol My poor hubby all he wants is a puppy..

 

[texastailfeathers]

You were supposed to say PINEAPPLE!!!!!
Congratulations- hope you get her!!

Shoot, I forgot about "Pineapple". I'll say that next time. Hmm...actually..."Pineapple" might be a good name for a creepy hairy spider!!!

GiantBlueberry, thanks so much for those viv pics. Those are really cool setups! I am very good at killing plants, so I think I will have to pass on live ones...but other than that my setup is similar. Right now the spider is in a 5g aquarium with 3-4 inches of fir/peat mix. The half-log hide is in one corner and the water dish is on the other side of the enclosure. So far, the spider has been out roaming around most of the time. This morning I found it hanging upside down from the screen top. Part of the reason we got the Chaco was that I've heard they're more active and less shy than some of the other species. Hopefully that's true.

Oh, and when we went to pick it up yesterday we asked again about the sex and the breeder said he hadn't sexed it. He told us to save the shed so we can sex it that way.

How long does it take them to reach maturity anyway?

 

[texastailfeathers]

Awesome! Beware, though... Tarantulas are just as addictive as reptiles are...

Heh...so I've heard. My husband already has his eye on a blue femur.

 

[Nanci]

Now I want one just so I can have a viv like that! (Must be bringing out the gardener/landscaper in me!)

Pineapple _would_ be a perfect name!

Nanci

 

[waldo]

Congrats, chocos are great T's. I had one but it was male so I sent him out for breeding. They are little bulldozers so making a fancy cage for one is pointless, it will just remodel. Give it deep substrate, at least 5 inches, it may or may not make a burrow but it will dig like crazy. Keep the substrate dry, they don't like humidity at all but provide a shallow water dish big enough for it to fit half of its body into, I use mayonnaise jar lids.
A nice roomy hide you could use is a terra cotta flower pot layed on its side and partial buried.
T's are very addictive, I have 22 right now but would have over 50 if I hadn't have sold a bunch off earlier this yr. I currently have a breeding pair so hopfully will have babies in the future.

 

[hartsock]

Very nice...I just got my first two Ts...a G. Rosea (Rose Hair) and a P. Murinis (Usambara Orange Baboon Spider). The second one is not for a beginner, but I didn't know any better. Did some research, but never thought that there was such a vast difference. The Rosehair is pretty docile, but the Baboon is aggressive. So they got the names Venom (rosehair) and Carnage (Baboon). I love your set ups and I need to run out this evening and go past petstore and I am going to pick up a few more things to "upgrade" their vivs. Here's some pics:

I need to give them more dirt to borrow in and to adjust the whole set up in a wider tank. Think I'm getting the same brand cages just the bigger ones. I actually got these to get over the fear of spiders and it is working well...still won't hold them and if I ever do, it will be the rosehair and not the baboon. I found out why they are nicknamed "orange devils!" They are also old world Ts and their bite is alot worse then the rosehairs.

 

[CaseyUndead]

Do NOT feed them meal worms. Tarantulas (at least mine) will not eat the meal worm fast enough. It will bury itself in substrate and eventually turn into a bunch of little tiny flies. This happened in one of my T enclosures and it took a LONG (ok long is an exaggeration) time and a lot of canned air for them to finally die off.

Really? All of mine are fine with mealworms. My L. Parahybana jumps on them as soon as they hit the floor, but i guess all of them are going to have different responses to food.

Regular mealworms don't turn into flies, though.. they turn into beetles. And they're really easy for the really little s'lings, because all you have to do it crush the worm's head and put it in there.. then whenever the sling finds it he'll start munching.

 

[waldo]

My chaco was one of my shyest T's but they all have different personalities.

You might want to rethink the substrate you are using, pine can be bad for T's and if the pieces are sharp then he could get hurt if he tries to burrow, straight peat is fine. Also, is your substrate damp at all? usually a terrestrial will only climb like that if its uncomfortable and chacos don't like humidity. Watch his feet, they can get stuck in screen and pull legs off.

How big is he again? if he is 3+ inches then try to get a good, clear picture like this
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/gallery/showimage.php?i=5238&c=9 and I can try sexing it for you.

A male can mature in 5-7 yrs, a female can take 10 or more. Grammostola is a slow growing genus.

I recommend you join a good tarantula forum, they don't get any better then this.
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/

 

[texastailfeathers]

My chaco was one of my shyest T's but they all have different personalities.

You might want to rethink the substrate you are using, pine can be bad for T's and if the pieces are sharp then he could get hurt if he tries to burrow, straight peat is fine. Also, is your substrate damp at all? usually a terrestrial will only climb like that if its uncomfortable and chacos don't like humidity. Watch his feet, they can get stuck in screen and pull legs off.

How big is he again? if he is 3+ inches then try to get a good, clear picture like this and I can try sexing it for you.

A male can mature in 5-7 yrs, a female can take 10 or more. Grammostola is a slow growing genus.

I recommend you join a good tarantula forum, they don't get any better then this.

Thanks. I've been checking out ArachnoBoards for a while. You're right, it is a great forum.

The substrate looks, feels, and smells like dirt. It is very fine fir/sphnagnum mix. Three of the T breeders at the show were using it for their spiders, so I picked some up as well. I spread it out and let it dry overnight before filling the enclosure. There's no fogginess on the glass from it or anything. The screen top is entirely mesh, so any extra moisture should evaporate pretty quickly.

I've only seen the spider hang from the top a couple of times, so I guess he must have just been exploring. Now he spends more time under his half-log.

He's 2-3 inches. About a matchstick wide. The breeder probably would have sexed him if we'd pushed it, but he said the spider was just a little too small for a definite answer and he didn't have his magnifying glass. Blah.

I'll try to get a good pic. Hopefully he'll cooperate.

The breeder said a spider this size should get a handful (5-6??) of adult crickets 2-3 times a week. Does that sound right? Do you have to dust T food?

 

[waldo]

The substrate sounds good, I was worried it was like the reptile litter which has big chunks of pine.

T's usually wander a lot when introduced into a new cage, sounds like he is settled in now. A non moving T is a happy T.

At his size I would feed 1 cricket 2-3 times a week, any more is considered power feeding which is ok for a short amount of time but can be unhealthy in the long run. Don't dust his food, too much calcium is belived to cause brittle fangs which can break off. We see this problem in goliath bird eaters often, owners feed alot of mice and then the T molts with no fangs or stubs. You can gutload the crickets though.

A 5 gallon tank is really, really big for his size. If he has any trouble finding or catching his food then you could move him into a medium sized kritter keeper for awhile.

He might be kinda small to sex venterally but is plenty big enough to tell with the next molt.