My first T (Euathlus sp. red) - is getting a sling a really bad idea?

[Veribug]

Hey all!

I've recently obtained a Damon diadema who is doing very well. But I've encountered a slight problem... as it's my only pet that feeds off crickets I realise I am slightly overrun with the little bugs.
That might not be seen as a bad thing. I've got them set up well and they're happy and currently most of them will probably just live out their days in the tank they're in.
I considered getting another pet to help put the crickets... "to good use" (of course I'd love to keep another pet also). Looked around (I'm in the UK by the way) and Euathlus sp. red seems like a lovely starter tarantula.
Can't find many (any?) juveniles for sale right now but I've found slings 1cm in length for sale.

I've never had tarantulas before, and before my D. diadema, I've only kept Indian sticks and Extatosoma tiaratum sticks. Would it be a big mistake for me to try and raise a sling?

Don't worry if the answer is yes. I'm happy to wait it out or really go hardcore into some Google searches to see if I can locate a juvenile. I just wondered how experienced you need to be to raise a sling, or if being really well read on the subject would mean I can cope.

Thanks for your time, regardless

 

[shaneshac]

Hi, getting a sling of a species like E sp red may test your patience and not sure the crickets you have but you will still have a lot of crickets to spare

I would go for a juvenile of another species say Grammostola pulchripes if you can find them

They will take down adult crickets easily and can be fed more often

 

[Veribug]

Hi, getting a sling of a species like E sp red may test your patience and not sure the crickets you have but you will still have a lot of crickets to spare

I would go for a juvenile of another species say Grammostola pulchripes if you can find them

They will take down adult crickets easily and can be fed more often

Thank you! Yeah I forgot to mention in the post that I definitely didn't expect the T to make a dent in my cricket numbers. I bought them as medium crickets but are of course growing. I read somewhere that you can feed pieces of freshly killed crickets to the slings but I guess if they don't take them then I have a bit of a problem!

I'll look into that species, thanks for the info

 

[sdsnybny]

You will need lots of patience the E.sp red grow slow as glacial melt and can be fussy eaters. They seem to prefer smaller prey when slings. They molt regularly when slings but as soon as they start to get juvenile colors @ 3/4-1" they molt slow, I have two at @ 3/4" that have passed 200 days since last molt

 

[Veribug]

You will need lots of patience the E.sp red grow slow as glacial melt and can be fussy eaters. They seem to prefer smaller prey when slings. They molt regularly when slings but as soon as they start to get juvenile colors @ 3/4-1" they molt slow, I have two at @ 3/4" that have passed 200 days since last molt

Thank you, yeah I'm actually not too concerned about the speed of growth - if anything a slow grower might be more suited to me just so that my finances can comfortably keep up with the enclosure changes. I'm more concerned with how easy - or difficult - it is to raise a sling (e.g. are bad molts common and are they easy/difficult to prevent, things like that) thank you for letting me know though!

 

[Andrea82]

If you want to make a 'dent' in your cricket supply, I would recommend a Lasiodora parahybana . Great eaters, fast growers, and with good reading in, suitable as a first T. The urticating hairs can be a bother though, but shouldn't be a problem if you don't handle. Acanthoscurria geniculata is also a good eater and fast grower, and has amazing colouring. Both species are readily available in the UK.

 

[Veribug]

If you want to make a 'dent' in your cricket supply, I would recommend a Lasiodora parahybana . Great eaters, fast growers, and with good reading in, suitable as a first T. The urticating hairs can be a bother though, but shouldn't be a problem if you don't handle. Acanthoscurria geniculata is also a good eater and fast grower, and has amazing colouring. Both species are readily available in the UK.

Awesome advice, thank you I'm guessing I'll need to go down the route of a heat mat for one of those species. That's fine, but might have to hold off until I've got the funding for that set up ^^ good to know what eats well though, as I'm a bit clueless and lost in a sea of tarantulas (but thankfully not literally )

 

[Andrea82]

These species don't require heat mats. Just room temperature is fine.

 

[louise f]

Welcome to a super nice hobby.
The E.sp red grow slow, very slow. i think yo should get an adult of the species, or a grammostola pulchripes they are fancy too.
and no tarantulas need heat mat.

 

[Walter1]

Welcome to a super nice hobby.
The E.sp red grow slow, very slow. i think yo should get an adult of the species, or a grammostola pulchripes they are fancy too.
and no tarantulas need heat mat.

Yup you'll be old enough to be your own grandpa before that sling is grown. Think +1" G. pulchripes or B. albopilosum.

 

[louise f]

 

[Veribug]

Oh brill - thanks all for the info. I see a lot of sellers saying 24-28 degrees C for these species and I sometimes worry because my room usually hovers more around 20 (70F). I love those white joints on the Acanthoscurria geniculata, very beautiful! I suddenly feel spoilt for choice.

 

[louise f]

the sellers are right about temperatures. IMO you need 25-26 degrees at day, but that`s just my opinion.
20 degrees is to cold at daytime for tarantulas.
good luck with choosing one. Hope you find yourself a nice T

 

[Veribug]

the sellers are right about temperatures. IMO you need 25-26 degrees at day, but that`s just my opinion.
20 degrees is to cold at daytime for tarantulas.
good luck with choosing one. Hope you find yourself a nice T

Ahh, if only England would warm up a bit sometimes eh!
I'll keep browsing. I'm in no rush - my whip is definitely keeping me very preoccupied at the moment and it is such a fascinating creature.
I will have a good think. Whatever I do I want to get it all set up properly. ^^

 

[johnny quango]

If you're thinking about buying from the spidershop there's a good selection and E sp red are great tarantulas but they are dwarves and painfully slow growers there's something a little different on the same page check out Cyclosternum pentalore they grow quicker and don't get much larger than E sp red. These are also better eaters and just as easy to care for plus only £2 more expensive

 

[cold blood]

Thank you, yeah I'm actually not too concerned about the speed of growth - if anything a slow grower might be more suited to me just so that my finances can comfortably keep up with the enclosure changes. I'm more concerned with how easy - or difficult - it is to raise a sling (e.g. are bad molts common and are they easy/difficult to prevent, things like that) thank you for letting me know though!

A slow grower will pose problems a newbie shouldn't worry about. When they are small, they are vulnerable, they do not have the waxy layer, so they are at constant risk of dehydration so conditions need to be kept pretty consistent. Now small slings aren't too bad, but when they are small slings for years its a different story. Small slow growers can present a lot of little difficulties, from slow molt periods, to little growth per, to poor appetites and unusually long fasts for such small critters. Getting a little bigger one, like say over an inch, will go a long way in making things easier for you and the sling.

Awesome advice, thank you I'm guessing I'll need to go down the route of a heat mat for one of those species. That's fine, but might have to hold off until I've got the funding for that set up ^^ good to know what eats well though, as I'm a bit clueless and lost in a sea of tarantulas (but thankfully not literally )

Heat mats are for reptiles, and are dangerous to use with tarantulas.

Oh brill - thanks all for the info. I see a lot of sellers saying 24-28 degrees C for these species and I sometimes worry because my room usually hovers more around 20 (70F). I love those white joints on the Acanthoscurria geniculata, very beautiful! I suddenly feel spoilt for choice.

No t has such a small window of temp range, the very thought of that is ridiculous. 70 is just fine for almost every species. Now if you get a sling, you need to worry about dropping much more than that as they are more delicate, but a juvie or adult won't have any issue with 70 degrees. Now the higher temps you keep, the more food it will require, and in turn it will molt at a quicker rate and you will probably see more growth per molt....but their window for temps isn't accurate....68-95f is the range most ts can handle (there are exceptions, but you won't be looking at those species)...that's a huge variance.

Similarly, do not believe anyone that tells you your t needs a number specific humidity level, that's a commonly told fib as well.

 

[Veribug]

Wow, thank you cold blood. The temperature thing would have put me off so I'm glad you told me all that.

Forgive my ignorance with the heat mat - research online can be risky as you hear a lot of conflicting info on the subject.

Johnny quango, yes thespidershop is where I bought my whip from. The C. pentalore actually looks great! Don't suppose you know approximately how long it takes to get from sling to juvenile? I'm guessing it's a bit temp dependent but a loose approx is really all I need

 

[viper69]

I own 2 E sp Red and one E sp Yellow. While people say they are slow growers, they are not as slow as people make them out to be. My mature male E sp Yellow took 1 year to be full size and mature at 5 molts. That's not slow at all.

The younger E sp Red I bought as a 1/4" sling, it has molted 6x in 3 years, that's not exactly slow in my opinion. Its leg span exceeds the size of a US 25cent piece.

All of them are raised with 68/73F night/day temps and a water bowl. They are not the fastest to attack prey, and as someone mentioned above, they tend to prefer smaller prey despite being able to take on larger prey despite their size.

Slow/Fast are all relative terms, and without knowing the complete temps and feeding history of a given specimen someone owns, one has to take "fast/slow" growth rates with a grain of salt.

Some people keep their Ts on a Nazi feeding program and give them a cricket once a week or less , so of course their animals are going to grow more slowly than other owners.

 

[Veribug]

I won 2 E sp Red and one E sp Yellow. While people say they are slow growers, they are not as slow as people make them out to be. My mature male E sp Yellow took 1 year to be full size and mature at 5 molts. That's not slow at all.

The younger E sp Red I bought as a 1/4" sling, it has molted 6x in 3 years, that's not exactly slow in my opinion. Its leg span exceeds the size of a US 25cent piece.

All of them are raised with 68/73F night/day temps and a water bowl. They are not the fastest to attack prey, and as someone mentioned above, they tend to prefer smaller prey despite being able to take on larger prey despite their size.

Slow/Fast are all relative terms, and without knowing the complete temps and feeding history of a given specimen someone owns, one has to take "fast/slow" growth rates with a grain of salt.

Some people keep their Ts on a Nazi feeding program and give them a cricket once a week or less , so of course their animals are going to grow more slowly than other owners.

Oh ok, cool! I won't be too quick to rule out an E sp. red. I'm just especially interested in them as they seem like (they have the potential to be, at least) very docile beginner Ts.

Edit: also, spoke to my fiancé about it as we don't currently live together and he's a bit jumpy around Ts, so I think the more docile a species I can begin with the better. Just to help him come around to them a bit

 

[viper69]

Oh ok, cool! I won't be too quick to rule out an E sp. red. I'm just especially interested in them as they seem like (they have the potential to be, at least) very docile beginner Ts.

Edit: also, spoke to my fiancé about it as we don't currently live together and he's a bit jumpy around Ts, so I think the more docile a species I can begin with the better. Just to help him come around to them a bit

There is no better locality of T to own as a beginner than E sp Reds/Yellows.