Just got a birdeater :D

[BobBarley]

Hmmm I can try to get it in a large critter keeper tomorrow. That has a see through bottom. Or I will snap a photo if he gets against the glass.

With all that said, good luck, and I hope it lives.

 

[WeightedAbyss75]

You are confusing two different people, @Scolopendra1989 was looking at the suspected LP. That's a T. stirmi the OP posted....looks a little rough, too. Have you been able to sex it?

That's what happens when you scan a thread for only a few minutes and rush to conclusions XD Hopefully @Rittdk01 , your stirmi does well. Love their look and size, I'm sure yours will be very happy

 

[cold blood]

It's supposed to be a female, but I'm not sure. It's eating really good for its first day in my possession. It is covered in dirt still from the shipping container. Super active so far as well

There are certain sellers, like the one mentioned, that are notorious for selling wrong species and mis-identifying sex.

I'm shocked that there was substrate in the shipping container with the spider, that's despicable. Lucky that thing's alive...I'd love to have seen how it was packed.

 

[Venom1080]

That's what happens when you scan a thread for only a few minutes and rush to conclusions XD Hopefully @Rittdk01 , your stirmi does well. Love their look and size, I'm sure yours will be very happy

thats why people shouldnt hijack threads. start your own next time please @Scolopendra1989 . it gets confusing.

 

[jhilde]

Thanks man, I thought the term 'birdeater' was specific to Theraphosa.

Heres an informative thread regarding the term birdeater.

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/bird-spider-definition.286066/

 

[Haksilence]

Ahhhh, birdeater One of the stupidest, most vague terms in the hobby

a. geniculata
n chromatus
lasiodora
therophosa
some avics
the list goes on and on of species that ive heard have "bird eater"in their name

 

[Rittdk01]

Here's the underside if anyone can sex.it from this

 

[Misty Day]

Can you get a straight shot instead on an angled one? I think I can see a slit but I'm not sure.

 

[BobBarley]

At that size the male should have a little triangular shape above the vent. A better picture would help, but it looks female.

 

[_scorpio_]

Looks like it had a rough journey! Good that its feeding straight away though.
Thats going to look a lot better than it does now after its next molt! Hope it gets there without too much trouble.

 

[Haksilence]

That enclosure needs work if you want the poor thing to survive. It's already in rough shape.
A) is that a sponge in the water dish? Get rid of it now.
B) I would have gone with almost twice as much substrate
C) that looks like a run of the mill reptile terrarium with a screen lid, if so the screen has to go ASAP. With a screen lid when the specimen climbs it can and will get it's claws stuck in the screen and you'll likely end up with a dead or 7 legged specimen. Also, with these screen lids they make it impossible to maintain any appreciable level of humidity, which this species REQUIRES.
D) looks very dry, on top of all the other things this species NEEDS high humidity and moisture. For now I'd sugest completely soaking half the enclosure and covering up at least half the screen lid with a plastic bag to keep some humidity in.

Good luck with your new friend, you are in for one hell of a ride, buy some nitrile/latex gloves and always wear long sleeves.

 

[Rittdk01]

Substrate is new and still very moist all the way down. I got a gauge that tells temp and humidity and they have been where they are supposed to be thus far.

 

[Rittdk01]

And I measured. Twice the substrate would have given the tarantula like an inch to the top I may add another brick of substrate and a bit of moss. The moss holds in moisture good, but molds easily. I watched a ton of videos am trying to follow one from a man that has had this breed for more than ten years. He told me this breed is much more durable than the blondi and that a lot of owners kill them focusing on moisture and temp, but don't focus on proper ventilation. He pours water directly on half the substrate and wraps towels around the terrarium at night to hold in heat.

 

[Haksilence]

Humidity meters are garbage, unless you spent 100$ on it I promise it's not accurate. You don't have to worry about moss molding. Just use long fiber sphagnum moss. A good technique when setting up an enclosure for a wet species is to line the bottom of the enclosure with a layer of moss first, then add substrate. This bottom layer of moss helps hold the moisture the best.

Don't follow information off of YouTube. These forums are THE world authority on tarantula keeping. There is more information and knowledge here than anywhere else in the world, basically if you didn't read it in these boards then don't believe it.

Yes stirmi is slightly more durable then blondi, but then again you have zero experience with any of them. The key to a happy healthy theraphosa is moisture. Just like any species you need ventilation as well, but because of your poor choice in terrarium cross ventilation is going to be impossible and maintaining humidity is going to be next to impossible.
What information and advise I gave you is to give you, as a total novice keeper taking in a challenging species, the best chances of having that specimen survive, and to salvage what you already have and make it workable.
Take it or leave it.

 

[Venom1080]

And I measured. Twice the substrate would have given the tarantula like an inch to the top I may add another brick of substrate and a bit of moss. The moss holds in moisture good, but molds easily. I watched a ton of videos am trying to follow one from a man that has had this breed for more than ten years. He told me this breed is much more durable than the blondi and that a lot of owners kill them focusing on moisture and temp, but don't focus on proper ventilation. He pours water directly on half the substrate and wraps towels around the terrarium at night to hold in heat.

he just means there should be more sub, he did say almost double.. moss would help for moisture. its species, not breed. 70-80 is fine for temps. towels around the cage? what? just keep temps at the mentioned temp level and you dont need that.

 

[cold blood]

Towels around the cage...that actually made me almost spit out my coffee. Just keep the room warm, if you need to wrap the enclosure its a good indictor that you aren't keeping the room warm enough....utilizing a blanket is actually a pretty useless idea...as a blanket holds heat, but only when there is heat to hold...when we use a blanket, its holding our body heat, if its wrapped in something not giving off heat, its just going to be the same temp.....ever notice that blankets are not just warm all by themselves...a cold blanket without something to add warmth, is just a cold blanket and has no means of adding heat its self.

Heat the room with a space heater, Theraposa don't like it cold, and with damp sub they require, cooler temps get even more dangerous.

The guy was right on a few things though, stirmi are a tad hardier, and pouring water on substrate is the way to go...some people want to use misters, but that only sends the hairs into the air, which is something every Theraposa owner wants to avoid as they have military grade hairs.

Most people that kill them buy them as beginners without the proper experience...so I would say its inexperience that kills more Theraposa than anything.

The acidity in moss is actually a mold preventative

Return those useless gauges, its as simple as keeping the sub damp...those gauges cause more trouble than they solve as their inaccuracies have people flooding enclosures in search of a magic number (there is no magic number, despite what care sheets would lead you to believe).

 

[Rittdk01]

I have a bedroom space heater keeping the room at the right temperature. I may convert a closet for this use so I don't have to heat a whole room.

 

[Rittdk01]

Okay I added a brick of substrate and put some of the moss in I had previously made up for my other t's. I cleared out a closet and got an aquarium stand for the big girl. I put the room heater in there facing away from the terrarium to keep the temp 79 at all times in her new "room"

 

[Rittdk01]

Overhead view

 

[Rittdk01]

Side view