5 things I have learned in a week.

[Zaire]

1. Never rely on hot glue to secure corkbark to an acrylic box. Even if you use copious amounts in four different places, it doesn't hold. Got home last night to the corkbark in the waterdish and the avic hiding under her plant. Moved her to a holding container, drilled 2 new holes in the enclosure and one through the cork bark, and have it zip tied now.

2. I now know why I got laughed at a bit when I said avics can teleport. Avics cannot teleport. P. sazimai, however, can. Opened her RUB to change out the waterdish. Luckily, I moved it into a sealed bathroom before doing so. She skittered out of her hide, up the tongs, up my arm, and got about eye-level on the bathroom wall before I could blink. I got her in a catch cup and set up a medium exo-terra breeder box, and have moved her to it. Now there is plenty of space between the tongs and her when I have to do maintenance. A bit overkill on the space, and I will have to come up with something that has more depth for digging when she gets bigger, but I am assuming she is less likely to bolt again if there is more space for her to be away from the tongs when I am doing maintenance. I am very proud of myself for not flinching/flailing/reacting at all, but perhaps I simply didn't have time to.

3. Tarantulas can be cute. The B. smithy has burrowed under her corkbark and immediately retracts her legs whenever there is movement around the enclosure. I find this timidness adorable. I have no idea why.

4. Being fine around certain species of tarantula does not mean you will react well to others. Someone showed me their Bumba cobacla yesterday. Thought I was over my spider issues, with tarantulas at least, but this one caught me wrong. I had to leave the room.

5. Listen to people when they tell you this hobby is addictive. I have caught myself eye-ballling several other species already. I am going to have to put some rules in place or this could get out of hand. I am thinking 6 month minimum between purchases and no more than one species in each genus.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

. Never rely on hot glue to secure corkbark to an acrylic box. Even if you use copious amounts in four different places, it doesn't hold.

You need to sand/score the acrylic to give the glue something to grip onto.

Avics cannot teleport. P. sazimai, however, can.

They are surprisingly fast for a NW terrestrial species.

I find this timidness adorable.

I find my hamorii's crankiness adorable but I'm a weird bastard

Update: Still Evil.

• The Grym Reaper
• Aug 10, 2018
• 2
• brachypelma brachypelma hamorii brachypelma smithi hamorii mexican redknee tarantula threat threat pose threat posture

Answering the important questions.

My B. hamorii is still defective.

• The Grym Reaper
• Jul 23, 2017
• 8
• brachypelma brachypelma hamorii brachypelma smithi hamorii mexican redknee tarantula threat threat pose threat posture

She still thinks she's a P. cancerides.

 

[AnObeseHippo]

5. Listen to people when they tell you this hobby is addictive. I have caught myself eye-ballling several other species already. I am going to have to put some rules in place or this could get out of hand. I am thinking 6 month minimum between purchases and no more than one species in each genus.

No more than one of a genus? Pffft. No more than one M/F pair of each species

 

[PidderPeets]

1. Never rely on hot glue to secure corkbark to an acrylic box. Even if you use copious amounts in four different places, it doesn't hold. Got home last night to the corkbark in the waterdish and the avic hiding under her plant. Moved her to a holding container, drilled 2 new holes in the enclosure and one through the cork bark, and have it zip tied now.

That's why I put my cork bark at an angle and make sure it's firmly touching the ground

2. I now know why I got laughed at a bit when I said avics can teleport. Avics cannot teleport. P. sazimai, however, can.

Very true. Both of my P. sazimai are much faster than my Avic has ever been. My LP can be surprisingly fast in short bursts too, but she's still only 4". I imagine any speed will be gone once she's a big fatso adult

3. Tarantulas can be cute.

Tarantulas are always cute.

4. Being fine around certain species of tarantula does not mean you will react well to others. Someone showed me their Bumba cobacla yesterday. Thought I was over my spider issues, with tarantulas at least, but this one caught me wrong. I had to leave the room.

To be fair, they do kind of look more like true spiders than many other species. I'm sure you'll be able to get through your fears completely with time and commitment

5. Listen to people when they tell you this hobby is addictive. I have caught myself eye-ballling several other species already. I am going to have to put some rules in place or this could get out of hand. I am thinking 6 month minimum between purchases and no more than one species in each genus.

Or one of each species of each genus. All the different color morphs when applicable as well. And if there's notable sexual dimorphism.

 

[Ellenantula]

5 Things I've learned in years of T keeping:

1) Ts moult whenever they want to, not when I'm ready for them to moult

2) Damp-kept Ts require only this much damp substrate -- no a little more, no a little bit more, no, a little bit more -- NO --too much! Now there's mould everywhere (is that a mushroom in there???).

3) Most of your old friends will believe you've lost your mind when you adopt a few Ts; if you're lucky, there will be no intervention planned. But if a group of them plan a get-together and start giving you letters about how much they love you and how concerned they are... bolt for the door!

4) Fast Ts bolt into their burrows when you expect an escape; whereas slow NW Ts will make a break for it.

5) You will never retrieve an intact exo from an avic nor a GBB. It's a T law.

 

[Teal]

I am thinking no more than 6 months between purchases and I need all the species in each genus.

There ya go, fixed that last bit for you

 

[Zaire]

And thus, #5 has already been amended to *does not apply if a seller has 3+ beginner appropriate species you want at juvenile+ sizes.

 

[Venom1080]

Pretty sure all tarantulas (definitely all arboreals) can move way faster than you can react to. Some are alot more prone to doing so than others. Tell you from experience, Avicularia can "teleport".

 

[Razzledazzy]

I gotta say I agree on the Bumba cabocla point. For some reason they creep me out in a way no other tarantula seems too. I think it's cause they're not very fuzzy.