Australian Tarantulas

[Dave Jay]

I've been reading this forum every waking hour for a few weeks, watching videos, reading blogs etc.
On Wednesday (5.17 Sunday here atm btw) I receive my first Tarantulas, all OW of course.
For 5 years or so I've been successfully (mostly) keeping scorps.
I've watched so many "how to" videos regarding tarantulas I've entered some kind of fugue.

 

[Tia B]

I've been reading this forum every waking hour for a few weeks, watching videos, reading blogs etc.
On Wednesday (5.17 Sunday here atm btw) I receive my first Tarantulas, all OW of course.
For 5 years or so I've been successfully (mostly) keeping scorps.
I've watched so many "how to" videos I've entered some kind of fugue.

What species did you choose?

 

[Dave Jay]

My question is "What are your tips?"
Mostly while searching i find " just set it up like you would American bumfucus,not much help.
How many of you actually have relevant advice about keeping Australian Tarantula?

 

[Dave Jay]

What species did you choose?

Sorry, Selenotypus plumipes, and 5 phlogius 'stents' , maybe 6 selenotypus sp 2, I'm not sure,
I thought I'd just ease into spider keeping huh?
But it's happening,money has been paid, now I'm panicking.

 

[Dave Jay]

What species did you choose?

Sorry mate, typing on a phone is like pulling teath for me, I can't keep up

 

[EulersK]

My question is "What are your tips?"
Mostly while searching i find " just set it up like you would American bumfucus,not much help.
How many of you actually have relevant advice about keeping Australian Tarantula?

Well, it'd be a little more helpful had you gathered relevant experience first. But what's done is done.

For all of them, offer inches of substrate for burrowing as well as webbing anchor points. All Australian species I've kept have utilized both. They all do fine on mostly dry substrate, with the monthly "rainfall" to slightly soak the enclosure. If they're slings, keep it perpetually moist (not wet). Adults can dry out, as I said before.

Australian tarantulas are very flighty. Be prepared for a hell of a fight when rehousing them, and always have a catch cup ready when you open the enclosure. My Australian species are by far the most likely to randomly bolt out of an enclosure.

 

[Tia B]

I'm not really familiar with Australian species, but maybe these threads/pages will help you:
Phlogius sp. " stents"
https://tarantulaforum.com/threads/info-and-advice-on-my-new-phlogius-sp-stents-birdeater.307/
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/phlogius-crassipes-vs-phlogius-sp-stents.225242/

I'll try to find some for the other species too.

 

[Dave Jay]

Why I'm not sure is a couple of weeks ago I wanted to buy 6 selenotypus sp 2, and 5 'stents' but they weren't available, in the meantime I ordered a plumipes. Last night I got a message "everything you want is available, its $150 plus postage"
The stents were priced $20 - $30 depending on size, now I'm not sure; if they're $20 each that's $100 for 5 and $50 for the sp 2 or if its $30 each for the stents. Either way I'm committed. I'll wait and see. It's such a small community here that they all know each other. Which means that while I don't know him personally, he's not likely to risk his reputation treating me like a bunny.

 

[Dave Jay]

And, thanks for

Well, it'd be a little more helpful had you gathered relevant experience first. But what's done is done.

For all of them, offer inches of substrate for burrowing as well as webbing anchor points. All Australian species I've kept have utilized both. They all do fine on mostly dry substrate, with the monthly "rainfall" to slightly soak the enclosure. If they're slings, keep it perpetually moist (not wet). Adults can dry out, as I said before.

Australian tarantulas are very flighty. Be prepared for a hell of a fight when rehousing them, and always have a catch cup ready when you open the enclosure. My Australian species are by far the most likely to randomly bolt out of an enclosure.

Thanks! This forum does need a decent thread on aussie tarantulas,I've been reading,searching, reading again, searching again.

 

[Dave Jay]

People are saying a drier substrate, surely a false bottom system would be best? So I can have dry on top and the spider can dig it's burrow until it finds the moisture/humidity it needs?

 

[EulersK]

People are saying a drier substrate, surely a false bottom system would be best? So I can have dry on top and the spider can dig it's burrow until it finds the moisture/humidity it needs?

Nah, no need for all of that. I just keep mine predominantly dry. Just a water dish, with that monthly "rain" I spoke about before. They seem to show their hunting behavior during that time.

 

[Dennis Nedry]

Phlogius are pretty hardy, they can deal with drought and torrential rain so I'd recommend deep, only slightly moist substrate with anchor points because they web a lot. Selenotypus are an arid species but there's a debate on whether or not they should be kept dry or very slightly moist

 

[Dave Jay]

EulersK, I realise I didn't mention that I live in Australia, the only way to gain experience is to keep these species. We can't start with NW and move onto OW.

 

[EulersK]

EulersK, I realise I didn't mention that I live in Australia, the only way to gain experience is to keep these species. We can't start with NW and move onto OW.

Oh, well that makes way more sense. I thought you just had a death wish.

 

[z32upgrader]

I have a young female "stents" and I do as EulersK does. Mostly dry with a water dish and room to burrow. She dug some tunnels but now just sits out on the surface all the time. She's not flighty at all though. She goes with "I'm not a spider; I'm a rock" when I open the lid.

 

[Dave Jay]

I'm not really familiar with Australian species, but maybe these threads/pages will help you:
Phlogius sp. " stents"
https://tarantulaforum.com/threads/info-and-advice-on-my-new-phlogius-sp-stents-birdeater.307/
http://arachnoboards.com/threads/phlogius-crassipes-vs-phlogius-sp-stents.225242/

I'll try to find some for the other species too.

Thanks for that!

 

[Dave Jay]

These are the tanks I have available atm, they are 5"(12.7 cm)x5"x10"(25.4cm)h , I do have the next size down, but the spiders will all be between 1 and 1.5" leg span. Will these be ok? The holes in the lids are fairly large though, 0.394"(1cm ). All bar 2 of the lids have ridgid stainless steel mesh glued to the outside of the lid already. Being on the outside very little is accessible from the tank, I have read about mesh being a problem, but I dont know what else I could use to cover them and allow ventilation. Feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Dave Jay]

Tips:

• Mix sand in with your coco peat , they live in very sandy soil 70/30 mix.
• Sphagnum moss only has benefits for this species.
• Keep soil moist but not drenched.
• This species is an opportunistic burrower, they will embrace hides but will also make their own burrows.
• Don't let the temps get too low, they seem to have a weakness to cold temperatures rather than hot.
• Find out what locality of P.crassipes you have, is it a Kuttabul, Eunice, type form??

Facts:

• This is an old world species, they pack a nasty bite for humans and are certainly not afraid to bite, once they bite they hang on like pit bulls so be very careful if you're not sure how you would react to a bite.
• This is the most important fact, Australian species venom are like dynamite to dogs, they have a 100% kill rate on dogs regardless if it's a Chihuahua or a Great Dane... if you own dogs and keep this species your enclosure must be 100% escape proof.
• This is a very simple species to keep, they can pretty much live in very wet and dry conditions, they don't suffer from molt problems like Theraphosas, they don't get into wrestling matches when it comes to breeding like other species and this species rarely eats the male.

I didn't find this in my searches earlier, but it came up as a similar thread at the end of this one, so I thought I'd repeat this post in this thread for future reference for others

 

[Dave Jay]

I've got them all this far, peat/sand mix about 60/40, compacted.
Now I'm wondering about anchor points. I have driftwood twigs that have been soaked and dried (I have plenty on hand, I use it in fish tanks, and I've found it is resistant to moult in my scorpion setups ) or small plastic aquarium plants, or small rocks. Most sling enclosures I've seen researching are just a tub with substrate and sometimes a water dish,so Im thinking maybe keep it minimal? Maybe just a plastic plant whole or in pieces?
Anything added will be partially buried for stability obviously, which is why I haven't finished off the substrate yet.

 

[Dave Jay]

Join me as I head down the spiders hole!