# First time rasing baby Tarantula, Need advice



## Jerm357 (Mar 21, 2009)

As soon as the weather gets a little warmer around here (a few days) Im going to place an order with TarantulaCages.com for a 3/4" G. pulchra which comes with a free 1/4" B. smithi. This will be my first time rasing Tarantulas this small and Im a little nervous. I have not had a Tarantula for over 10 years, but Im not new to taking care of exotic animals. Right now I have two 5' Green Iguanas that I raised from 3" babies and a pond with 11 Japanese Koi from 12 to 27" long all raised from babies. 

Im really wanting to get back into the Tarantula game so I have been reading as much info as I can find but I have a few questions. 

How hard is it to actually raise spiders this small? I mean 1/4" is sooo tiny and 3/4" is not much bigger. 

Are the breed of spiders I choose good to try to do this with?

I am planning on using 50/50 mix of sphagnum peat moss and vermiculite. Is this good for these types of Tarantulas?

Am I ordering from the right place?

Im going to need all the advice you can give me on how to do this. This is the info I plan to go by. http://www.tarantulas.com/spiderlings.html It sounds like some good info but if there are any tricks I should know please let me know.


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## scar is my t (Mar 21, 2009)

keep them in the container they come in (well remake the cage (substrate))
when they molt move them to the apprpiate cage size
if you do that you should survive and it is a good freebe but its free so if it dies no worrys it was free i would be bummed but its better then spending $100 on it and it dies a week later


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## c'est ma (Mar 22, 2009)

How very, very exciting!! I absolutely LOVE raising T's from slings...You are in for such a treat!

I have one 7-year-old female GBB that we raised from a very small sling, and 9 current slings, that I've had from 9 months, 6 months, & 4 months ago.  All are doing well.  (Before that we had store-bought sub-adult rosies which were all males and so did not last long after their ultimate molts...)

The information you've found is quite good, and there are plenty of other resources online, plus great info in the _Tarantula Keeper's Guide_, and maybe another book or two...so I'm not going to repeat all that advice, just encourage you to enjoy every minute and not worry about things.  

Here is a pic of my B. smithi sling the day I got him/her, 9/17/08.  BTW, that's a _millimeter_ scale below:







Here s/he is on 11/01, when I was amazed to discover s/he'd lost a leg!  Since I never handle these little guys, or do anything to interfere with them, I have to think it was just one of those proverbial "bad molt" incidents:








As is usually the case, the leg reappears with each successive molt.  Here she is as of 3/8/09, just a few weeks ago:







S/he molted just a week after that shot, and seems to have taken a relatively huge leap in leg spread, though her/his vial is still perfectly roomy. S/he has molted 3 times since I've had her/him.  

S/he is on coco fiber, which I find very convenient and all my T's seem to like...her hide is a quarter of a black film canister, and there is a piece of a dried magnolia leaf in there, on which she spends most of her time.  S/he will sometimes run for her hide when I open the vial, but spends most of her time sitting on the leaf piece, most viewable.    Quite unlike my _B. albopilosum _sling, which has dug an extensive burrow system in its vial and stays below the surface, or the _Aphonopelma waconum _sling which stayed buried for several weeks before re-emerging.

I like to feed the very smallest slings wingless _Drosophila_, which I have on hand because I also have a dart frog...I am also very lucky to have a fairly close pet store that always has 10-day crickets available.  There are other ways to feed tiny slings, but these items work very well.

The only thing I might suggest would be to consider getting even more in your first shipment.   This is because the slings themselves are usually pretty cheap, compared to the shipping costs, and it's really not much more difficult to keep half a dozen, say, than two.  And also because it is so fascinating to observe how different they are.  The first batch of five I received last June contained two more tropical NW spp--a_ Nhandu_ & a _Lasiodora_--that have grown like weeds (now in the 2.25-2.5" range), while the _A. behlei _from the same batch buried himself for more than 5 months (!) and is still only ~ .75" at the most.  

I'm sure with your other animal experience you will have the sort of mind to pull off this project with no problems whatsoever.  Can't wait to hear about your first impressions!


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## Fyreflye (Mar 22, 2009)

Welcome, Jerm!

I too am about to order my first sling (my first T, actually), and am quite nervous about it!  I've bottle-raised litters of newborn puppies and kittens, but have never cared for a baby as tiny as my sling will be!  

My advice:  do a LOT of reading.  There is so much information to be learned on these forums, and other sites, if you just look.  There's a search option on the toolbar to the top of the forum, and will find for you all threads that mention the topic that you choose (substrate, feeding, habitat, species specifics, etc).

I've been told to keep it simple.  Keep the little ones protected, and try not to over-do it at first.   

Looking forward to hearing stories and seeing pics soon!


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## SCORPIONNOOB (Mar 22, 2009)

I have had my new slings for about 2 weeks now. A B. Smithi that came 3/4 of an inch and a P. irminia that was 1 inch+ I have both of them set up in 3 inch tall baby jars half filled with peat moss. They eat like horses and I feed them every 3rd day a small cricket which they seam to hunt efficiently. Some slings are harder than others to raise, but its far from rocket science :}  Good luck and cheers!


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## Jerm357 (Mar 22, 2009)

Thanks for all the replys. I just ordered my T's today and they should be here tuesday. I cant wait. 

c'est ma, in the pic you posted it looks like your using paper towls as bedding, if so how long did you keep the B. smithi on it before changing it to coco fiber? 

Mine said it was going to be shipped in a plastic container packed with a paper towel. Should I be keeping them like this for a little while or should I replace the paper towl with coco fiber soon? People say to keep them in the container they come in but, "packed with a paper towel" does not sound right to me. Yours look more like a bed then packed though. I guess I just need to wait and see what is being sent first before I try and figure every thing out right now.


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## c'est ma (Mar 22, 2009)

Jeremy,

The first picture of my last post was taken right after the sling arrived, on the material it had been wrapped in.  My vendor usually uses something like damp cheesecloth, but it does look more like paper towels in the pics.

Here's a pic of the other sling I got in the same shipment, sitting on the material he'd been wrapped in.  (This is an _Aphonopelma waconum_. Delightful little guy, & very slow-growing.  The _B. smithi _is probably twice as big as he is, now!):








These are the little condiment cups my slings come in.  I suppose you could keep your T's in them for a while, but I wouldn't find it too convenient...not the clearest view into them, and a bit disruptive to open...(cup on far side contains a bunch of free baby crickets, compliments of the vendor ):







I do like to start my slings out on damp tissue, tho...makes it easier to observe them for a few days and get pics through the sides of their vials:







This pic taken through a 12X loupe:







But as soon as you add food, you start seeing mold...and it's not considered the "proper" way to keep them (translation: prepare to be flamed if you do).  However, in "the old days," T books often advised keeping them on paper towels, etc.  Nowadays it's mostly used for ICUs or other special conditions.  The spiders prefer coco, peat, etc.--esp. the burrowers, of course! But they're going to be fine for a few days to a week or more on paper towels or tissue...after all, they were probably incubated on coffee filters not that long ago!


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## Mushroom Spore (Mar 22, 2009)

c'est ma said:


> and it's not considered the "proper" way to keep them (translation: prepare to be flamed if you do).  However, in "the old days," T books often advised keeping them on paper towels, etc.


T books in "the old days" advised a LOT of practices that we now know to be harmful. For instance, telling people that you have to put cotton or sponges in water dishes or the spider will drown...which is not only not true, but they can't drink water that way and often dehydrate depending on species. 

I'm not saying paper towels are necessarily bad, except perhaps in that they cannot let a tarantula burrow (which can cause stress if they want to but can't). Just that "in the old days it was fine" doesn't mean it's a good idea, and sometimes people arguing for the "proper" way are right.


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## Bill S (Mar 23, 2009)

Mushroom Spore said:


> I'm not saying paper towels are necessarily bad, except perhaps in that they cannot let a tarantula burrow (which can cause stress if they want to but can't). Just that "in the old days it was fine" doesn't mean it's a good idea, and sometimes people arguing for the "proper" way are right.


I do not like to keep tarantulas on paper - soil or some other medium seems better for a number of reasons (better moisture retention, burrowing, etc.)  But I've had good success with the very smallest slings - ones small enough to keep in vials - using kleenex.  My technique is to have a piece of kleenex stuffed in the bottom of the vial to form a "tunnel" in maybe the bottom one inch of the vial.  And another smaller piece near the lip of the vial.  The one near the lip is the one I moisten every day, and the bottom one serves as a hiding place.  The only drawback to using tissue is that it needs to be changed out periodically - and the more humid it is, the more frequent the changing.  But I like the fact that it makes it very easy to keep track of the spider and know for sure whether it's eating, molting, etc.

My wife uses a variation of this technique for a lot of the small spiders she raises (jumping spiders, cave spiders, etc.), and she's had excellent results with it.


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## Jerm357 (Mar 23, 2009)

Can someone give me an idea on how long it would take a 1/4"  B. smithi to reach an inch? I was going to feed them about 2 times a week. Does this sound good, should it be more or less? Each time I feed how many crickets should be feed at one meal? The crickets will be about 3/16" and I was planning to feed 1 at a time but after it eats 1 should I try a few more?


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## Agent Jones (Mar 23, 2009)

Jerm357 said:


> Can someone give me an idea on how long it would take a 1/4"  B. smithi to reach an inch? I was going to feed them about 2 times a week. Does this sound good, should it be more or less? Each time I feed how many crickets should be feed at one meal? The crickets will be about 3/16" and I was planning to feed 1 at a time but after it eats 1 should I try a few more?


This is an individual kind of thing. Observe your baby. If it grabs the cricket like it's starving to death, you could try offering another after you're sure the first one has been eaten. You could probably offer food a bit more often than 2xweek with a sling that small. But a lot of people here are of the mind that you should feed less often in order to extend the life of your T.

Personally, I'd rather grow them quickly to a size where I don't have to drive 30 minutes to the closest pet store that carries pinheads.

Just offer crickets and if they don't take them, remove them. Slings molt more frequently than larger individuals, so don't ever leave crix in with them. They might also fast for a period before a molt and that's normal, so don't fret.


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## Jerm357 (Mar 23, 2009)

Wheres a good place to keep the pill bottles they will be in? (they will be in a clear 2" x 3" pill bottle with air holes half filled with coco fiber)  Should it be in complete darkness (like a closet) or should they be somewhere where they would get a day and night cycle? (like a shelf in the room)


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## c'est ma (Mar 23, 2009)

IME they are not bothered by ordinary levels of room lighting.  Keep them away from bright windows, of course...But otherwise, I'd keep them where you can observe them the most!  That way it's most fun for you.


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## Sr. Chencho (Mar 23, 2009)

*Hola Jerm!*

Who wants to bet that Jerm357 will have 10-15 new slings in his collection in the next six months? 

Welcome Jerm. I keep my collection in the guest room where they get the normal cycle of daylight and darkness. Tarantulas are especially active and do their hunting at night. Keeping slings in the closet is punishment, unless you have other pets that might disturb their vials by tipping them over. Plus, you wouldn't be able to see them. 
When returning from work, which is usually during the early morning hours, I love to creep up on my Ts and watch them out and about within their enclosures. 
You need to start thinking about getting yourself a rack, forget the shelf. 
You'll need it sooner than later. It happened to us. We started with a rosie.
Fredster and Sil
Encinal, Texas


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## Bill S (Mar 23, 2009)

Jerm357 said:


> Wheres a good place to keep the pill bottles they will be in?


My wife's collection of spiders-in-vials (close to 50 of them) occupies a section of the kitchen counter.  Not my idea of the ideal situation, but it certainly works.  (And draws interesting comments from visitors.)


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## Arachno Veteran (Mar 23, 2009)

*Fruit fly cultures*

Hi,

I'm new here, not sure if anyone's mentioned this to you already (but I didn't see it in the posts) - You might want to try feeding the really small T's (flightless) Fruit Flies (Drosophila Melenagaster). Need to keep the culture tubes in the fridge...good luck. That's what I used to use when raising baby Jumping spiders.

-Al


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## Bill S (Mar 23, 2009)

Arachno Veteran said:


> I'm new here, not sure if anyone's mentioned this to you already (but I didn't see it in the posts) - You might want to try feeding the really small T's (flightless) Fruit Flies (Drosophila Melenagaster). Need to keep the culture tubes in the fridge...good luck. That's what I used to use when raising baby Jumping spiders.


Better than keeping them in the refrigerator is to set them up in a culture and raise them.  There are various home recipes on the web for fruit fly media, as well as commercial media available.  Fruit flies are easy to raise.  We keep culturesof both _Drosophila melanogaster_ and _D hydei_ for feeding small spiders.  It's been a long time since I've had to buy fruit flies.


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## c'est ma (Mar 24, 2009)

Bill S said:


> My wife's collection of spiders-in-vials (close to 50 of them) occupies a section of the kitchen counter.  Not my idea of the ideal situation, but it certainly works.  (And draws interesting comments from visitors.)


LOL.  Sounds so familiar!  But my drainboard is full of fish tanks...

I keep most of my slings on the table right next to "my spot" on the living room couch!   Tho the reading lamp looks bright in the pic, it really isn't, and it doesn't seem to bother the spiders.  (It's hard to see, but I have pieces of black construction paper over the KKs on the top.  It also helps, I suppose, the my vial lids are black.)

This way I get to see so much more behavior than I otherwise would. And if I stay up late reading, they just come out and do their things...don't seem to notice the extra light at all.


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## Bill S (Mar 24, 2009)

c'est ma said:


> I keep most of my slings on the table right next to "my spot" on the living room couch!


Yup, there seem to be familiar patterns here.  On the table next to our living room couch we've got a couple large terrariums set up that will hopefully be communal displays some day.  (One for _H. incei_, the other for emperor scorpions.)

Diane - any chance you'll be at the American Tarantula Conference this summer?  My wife will be one of the speakers.  You two could sit down and compare ways to inundate a house with spiders.


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## Jerm357 (Mar 24, 2009)

Got my T's today and they made the trip just fine. The B. smithi seems very active. As soon as I put him in his vial he checked it out and found his burrow pretty quick jumped right in and hung out most of the day in it. At about 8 pm he came back out and has been just hanging out on the surface getting used to his new home.

The G. pulchra on the other hand has not moved at all since I put him in his vial. He moved around alot while trying to tranport him to his new home from the damp paper towel to the vial (He just did not want to go in). He was on the towel and I put the towel in the vial and was gently nudging him on to the substrate but he just wanted to climb back up the paper towel. Finaly he walked onto the substrate but has not moved since. 

Now I know this is the first day after his long trip but should I be concerned?
I know he's alive and unharmed, but he is just not as active as the B. smithi.
Im probably worrying over nothing right?


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## Miss Bianca (Mar 24, 2009)

Jerm357 said:


> Got my T's today and they made the trip just fine. The B. smithi seems very active. As soon as I put him in his vial he checked it out and found his burrow pretty quick jumped right in and hung out most of the day in it. At about 8 pm he came back out and has been just hanging out on the surface getting used to his new home.
> 
> The G. pulchra on the other hand has not moved at all since I put him in his vial. He moved around alot while trying to tranport him to his new home from the damp paper towel to the vial (He just did not want to go in). He was on the towel and I put the towel in the vial and was gently nudging him on to the substrate but he just wanted to climb back up the paper towel. Finaly he walked onto the substrate but has not moved since.
> 
> ...



They will be fine, and Adam from Tarantulacages is a doll. 
His specimens are always healthy and your Pulchra is probably just adjusting. 
If anything's wrong I'm sure he'd make it right.
You'll come to notice that all Ts have their own little (or big) personality. 
I am very excited for you, and you chose a wonderful way to start. 
Both the Ts you got prefer dryer conditions so make sure you moisten only one 
side of their little enclosures. Both also are rather moderate growers, but
In no time at all they'll grow and need to be transfered, 
but they do well in vials for now. 
Also, I think you'll soon be adding to your collection... just watch! 
 good luck with all! -B


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## NinjaPirate (Mar 25, 2009)

Jerm357 said:


> The G. pulchra on the other hand has not moved at all since I put him in his vial. He moved around alot while trying to tranport him to his new home from the damp paper towel to the vial (He just did not want to go in).


I just got a pair of pulchra slings and they both behaved pretty much the same way. I wouldn't worry about it.


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## c'est ma (Mar 27, 2009)

Bill S said:


> Yup, there seem to be familiar patterns here.  On the table next to our living room couch we've got a couple large terrariums set up that will hopefully be communal displays some day.  (One for _H. incei_, the other for emperor scorpions.)


Very cool!  

Martha Stewart has nothing on us.



> Diane - any chance you'll be at the American Tarantula Conference this summer?  My wife will be one of the speakers.  You two could sit down and compare ways to inundate a house with spiders.


Wow, that just upped the attraction about ten-fold, and it was already pretty darn tempting.  Will email you. 





tortuga00 said:


> You'll come to notice that all Ts have their own little (or big) personality.



Isn't that the truth?! 

Jeremy, congrats on the new arrivals!


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## Jerm357 (Mar 27, 2009)

Well I got both to eat yesterday so now I can finaly relax. The G. pulchra has snapped out of it and is moving around more. Ill get some pic's up as soon as I can.


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## Fyreflye (Mar 27, 2009)

Jerm357 said:


> Well I got both to eat yesterday so now I can finaly relax. The G. pulchra has snapped out of it and is moving around more. Ill get some pic's up as soon as I can.


Glad to hear that they're eating!  Very much looking forward to the pics, i'd like to see what their enclosures look like too.      I JUST ordered my first T about 5 minutes ago, it's a very exciting time!


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## dantediss (Mar 27, 2009)

looking through the tarantula handbook i found useful info for you.,be careful with the misting because at small sizes slings absorb water through their legs so be careful, and if a point comes where you only have large crickets, you can rip off their hind leg and offer that as food until you get small prey for them


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## Bill S (Mar 28, 2009)

c'est ma said:


> Martha Stewart has nothing on us.


OK.  That reminds me of a story.

A friend of ours used to work for a company that makes museum-quality casts of skulls and skeletons, and his company would exhibit at the Tucson Gem, Fossil & Mineral Show each year.  And each year we'd add a new piece to our collection.  It started with a cast of a sabertooth skull found in the La Brea Tar Pits, and expanded from there.  So... our living room contains a number of them.  It also contains a few related items such as a tusk of a mammoth, found in the permafrost in Siberia.  

Several years ago we were contacted by a German television crew that had been hired by a Russian company to do a special on people who studied, collected, or simply had an interest in Pleistoscene fossils and such.  (The Russians we had purchased the tusk from were the ones who had hired the German crew.)  Anyway - the crew wanted to film my wife and I "shopping" for a Pleistoscene item.  We had been thinking of getting a cast of a cave bear skull from my friend - so we notified him and worked his company into the show.  My wife was filmed picking out the skull and purchasing it.  Then the next day the German crew came out to the house to film us unpacking the skull and setting it up for display.  

(I need to mention here that our house is not especially traditional in its decor.  I have one room set up for reptiles - at that time primarily venomous reptiles - and we're very casual about spiders living in the house.  And there are more animals outdoors, including, at the time, a wolf.)

The "star" of the German production, a lovely woman named Ekatarina, stepped into our living room, looked slowly around, and said "What a novel idea - decorating with skulls!!"  (Martha Stewart, eat your heart out.)


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## Miss Bianca (Mar 28, 2009)

dantediss said:


> and if a point comes where you only have large crickets, you can rip off their hind leg and offer that as food until you get small prey for them


it's more like rip their _head_ off... not their hind legs... 
you can pre-kill for slings...


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## WIZZYBEATZ (Mar 28, 2009)

I BIN TAKING OFF THERE HIND LEGS TO BUT THEN FEEDING THEM THE CRICKET . ITS BIN WORKING GREAT FOR ME WITH MY 4 SLINGS I HAVE NOW 
1/4 INCH
1/2 INCH 
2)  3/4 INCH T's
AFTER TRYING TO FIND FRESH PIN HEADS OR FRUITFLIES I GAVE UP AND JUST GOT A BOX OF THE small/med 24,count CRICKETS FROM PET SMART 
CLIPED THERE HIND LEGS AND THE SMALL ONES WENT TO THE 1/4 & 1/2 INCH T's AND THE BIG ONES WENT TO THE 2)  3/4 INCH T's AND THEY BIN EATING THEM LIKE NOTHING ! :clap:


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## wedge07 (Mar 28, 2009)

I cut crickets in half and feed them to my tiny sling .75" and my B. smithi is 1.75" so he gets live food.


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## Jerm357 (Mar 28, 2009)

Im having no problems feeding my 1/2" and 3/4" sings live food. I have been offering 1 week old crickets and they love them. The 1/2" B. Smithi ate 1 today and the 3/4" G. Pulchra ate 2.

You guys were right about getting addicted. We are seariously thinking about getting an A. Versicolor and maybe something else a little bigger than the slings. Im thinking something around the 3" to 4" size to have fun with while the little ones grow. How rare are the Versicolors to find offline? Theres a reptile show coming up pretty soon real close to me that has a lot of T's, but Im wondering if these are hard to come by in the size I want. What do you think?


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## wedge07 (Mar 28, 2009)

I don't think you will have any problems finding versi's at all, though I am not sure what size you want.


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## Jerm357 (Mar 28, 2009)

wedge07 said:


> I don't think you will have any problems finding versi's at all, though I am not sure what size you want.


Around the 3" to 4" size.


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## wedge07 (Mar 28, 2009)

I think you will have an easier time finding slings but I haven't been to a show in long time so you may be able to find what you want very easily.


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## Ritzman (Mar 29, 2009)

I have never seen a versi at the show around here(Taylor Mi.), the size that you want. I'm not saying that nobody would have one, but you better get to the show early if you wanna chance.


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## c'est ma (Mar 29, 2009)

Bill S said:


> OK.  That reminds me of a story.
> 
> A friend of ours used to work for a company that makes museum-quality casts of skulls and skeletons, and his company would exhibit at the Tucson Gem, Fossil & Mineral Show each year.  And each year we'd add a new piece to our collection.  It started with a cast of a sabertooth skull found in the La Brea Tar Pits, and expanded from there.  So... our living room contains a number of them.  It also contains a few related items such as a tusk of a mammoth, found in the permafrost in Siberia.
> 
> ...


Bill, that's a super story!  And a super decor theme !   After the spider book, your wife will have to make one of your house & artifacts--seriously!  You two certainly lead an interesting life.



Jeremy--Even if you only find versi slings, I think you'd find that they grow much more rapidly than your other two.  And they are such a gorgeous blue when they're the smallest...

I think you'd be fascinated by the contrast between it and your other two...(in other words, don't rule out a sling! )


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## Jerm357 (Mar 29, 2009)

Ritzman said:


> I have never seen a versi at the show around here(Taylor Mi.), the size that you want. I'm not saying that nobody would have one, but you better get to the show early if you wanna chance.


Thats the show I was talking about. That sucks that you never saw a versi there because thats where I was planning to get one. I guess we will see what they will have this month, Im sure they will have something cool.


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## Ritzman (Mar 29, 2009)

I have seen A. versi there, just not as big as your talking.
I got mine there, she was about 2 inches unsexed. 

There is always some cool stuff there.


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## wedge07 (Mar 29, 2009)

I like raising them from slings.  Its kind of cool to see them go through all the stages of their lives right before your eyes.


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## Bill S (Mar 29, 2009)

> I have never seen a versi at the show around here(Taylor Mi.), the size that you want. I'm not saying that nobody would have one, but you better get to the show early if you wanna chance.


If you know who the dealers are that will be at the show, you might try contacting them ahead of time and asking if they will be bringing the size and species you are looking for.  Dealers generally do not bring their entire stock with them to a show - just the stuff that they expect will sell fastest.  If they know there will be a customer looking for a specific animal, they are much more likely to bring it.


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## c'est ma (Mar 29, 2009)

Jerm357 said:


> Thats the show I was talking about. That sucks that you never saw a versi there because thats where I was planning to get one. I guess we will see what they will have this month, Im sure they will have something cool.


Good advice from Bill.  But just showing up and finding something you never even considered before might be kind of fun too.  (Heck, you'll probably do both, anyway!)


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## Jerm357 (Apr 3, 2009)

I finaly took some pictures of the slings. It was much harder to get good pics than I thought it would be but heres the best I could do.

This is the 1/2" B. smithi. If you look close you can see him/her muching on his/her dinner.





Heres a few more...










Heres his/her home.





This is the 3/4" G. pulchra.















And his/her home


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## Jerm357 (Apr 3, 2009)

What do you think of the G. pulchra, does he/she look like it will be molting soon. Does the abdomen look dark enuff?


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## c'est ma (Apr 3, 2009)

Super pictures!  They're so cute!

And I'd say yes to the molting question...be sure to get some pics of that, too.


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## wedge07 (Apr 3, 2009)

Nice slings! I think I will have to get a Pulchra eventually.


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## Jerm357 (Apr 3, 2009)

What about the Smithi? When it goes into premolt will the whole abdomen darken up or just the black spot on it? I keep hearing others talk about small smithi's getting a dark spot on there abdomen when there going to molt. Is this whats happends or will the whole thing get dark?

Also, will they always stop eating before a molt or is it possible to still molt even after eating a few days before?


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## c'est ma (Apr 4, 2009)

What you are seeing now on the smithi is just the patch of urticating hairs, which will grow along with the spider...

I really don't get a molt-warning in terms of color w/ my smithi, (which is still pretty small), but s/he sure goes off her food.  Of course, since the new exo isn't going to be dark-colored for a while, anyway, there's really no reason the opisthosoma _should_ look dark before a molt...


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## Fyreflye (Apr 5, 2009)

*Slings!*

Not trying to ninja your thread Jerm, just wanted to add pics of my first slings!  I ordered a GreenBottle Blue from Reptist, and he added a freebie to my order, a very tiny New River Rust Rump.    I'm not a great photographer, but did my best to capture their spindly cuteness.

_
Aphonopelma sp. new river_  This was taken just after a misting.  S/he makes the coco fiber look like giant rocks!






_Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens_  S/he is a fast little thing!







Jerm, are you thinking about naming yours?


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## c'est ma (Apr 5, 2009)

Congrats, Fyreflye!  I'd say you did a great job getting pics of those minute little guys.   "Spindly cuteness," indeed!


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## lmramsey89 (Apr 9, 2009)

Nice, Jeremy. You're getting some very good advice.  And FyreFlye, Yeah, I have a C. Cyaneopubescens as well. Teleport much?! sheesh. My A. Seemani does its fair share of teleportation as well...EVERY time I move the black fabric covering the top of the case lol


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## Jerm357 (Apr 13, 2009)

Well I went to the reptile show last saturday and had no luck finding a versicolor at all. I looked all over the show and there was not a lot to pick out of in the size I wanted which was in the 2 to 3" in size. The did have a 2 1/2" B. smithi that I really wanted but I already have a sling so I thought I would like something different. So I decided on a 2 1/2" Nhandu coloratovillosus. Its a very cool looking spider and it was the right size. I picked it up for $35 and went home and did some research since I had no idea what I just bought. 

After some quick research I find out that these things are monsters. They grow up to 9" and can have quite the little attitude. This is not a bad thing, but I just was not expecting it. Its a really cool tarantula though and Ill get some pictures up as soon as I can. 

I guess Im just going to have to order the versicolor online if I going to get one because they are no where to find around here. I already have a cage all set up waiting to put one in, so Im going to start the search today and try to get one ordered.


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## c'est ma (Apr 13, 2009)

Good choice. Nhandus are very interesting spiders--will be a nice contrast wih your smithi. 

If you're going to order online (which I've always had very good luck with), you might as well order more than one...what with the shipping you'll pay.


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## wedge07 (Apr 13, 2009)

I agree I almost always order at the very least 2 or 3.


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## burmish101 (Apr 13, 2009)

9in. chromatus? Thats not normal is it, what size do they average?


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## c'est ma (Apr 13, 2009)

Coloratovillosus, not chromatus.  But I agree.  I thought both were ~ 5 - 6"?

http://www.beccastarantulas.com/tarantulas/caresheets/care page.htm#Nhandu


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## Jerm357 (Apr 13, 2009)

I keep reading all different measurements, but most say 7 to 8". Thats also what they say in this thread....but well see what happends. http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=20131

I just ordered a 2" female versicolor form reptistexotics.com. It should be shipped out tomorrow and I cant wait. I have a question though, will a versicolor still be blue when its around 2"?


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## wedge07 (Apr 14, 2009)

Jerm357 said:


> I just ordered a 2" female versicolor form reptistexotics.com. It should be shipped out tomorrow and I cant wait. I have a question though, will a versicolor still be blue when its around 2"?


Yep they don't really get adult coloration until they mature.  Sooner for males though, males will achieve adult coloration before they are sexually mature.


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## Jerm357 (Apr 15, 2009)

Heres some pictures of the Nhandu coloratovillosus.


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## c'est ma (Apr 16, 2009)

Oooooh, nice pics!!  And s/he's a doll.


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## Jerm357 (Apr 16, 2009)

c'est ma said:


> Oooooh, nice pics!!  And s/he's a doll.


Thanks. I cant wait for tomorrow because I expecting this exact T in the mail. I ordered her from Brandon from reptistexotics.com.










Heres her new home with out the fake lizard.





I never though this hobby would be so addictive, I mean I only started on 3/24/09 and Im on #4.


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## Jerm357 (Apr 16, 2009)

Sorry, double posted.


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