Any advice for a new T keeper?

[billyboi3895]

I’m a relatively new T keeper and I recently bought a Brachypelma hamorii (Mexican red knee) and I would love some advice to give it the best life it could have. I already did research on the T before I bought it but any advice on top of that would help massively.

Before I forget, it’s in its juvenile stage at the moment, it’s in a good sized enclosure with a good enough width (not too big) and around its leg span in height.

 

[Wolfram1]

Hey, so if you want concrete advice its best if you post a picture of your setup, and give a little context to how you care for your B. hamorii.

Otherwise we may just repeat what you already know, nor do we have any idea where you stand at the moment and what kind of advice may be helpful to you...

 

[cold blood]

keep it simple and don't over-complicate the relatively simple task of keeping a tarantula.

 

[billyboi3895]

I’ll attach some pictures of my setup, I did get it quite recently so it is the set up that the shop had, but I was going to rehouse it at some point to an enclosure with some better substrate and possibly some moss to keep the humidity fairly okay. I’ll do some more research to see if the breed is okay with moss in general first though.

 

[cold blood]

some better substrate and possibly some moss to keep the humidity fairly okay.

This is what I mean by over-complicating t keeping. You don't need to be keeping any specific humidity....dampen the sub, its that simple.

I’ll do some more research to see if the breed

species, not breed...every t is its own species, theyre not like dogs where all of them are the same species ( Canis lupus familiaris ).

is okay with moss in general first though.

Again, this is over-complicating keeping. Moss can be used with any t, or with none, its pretty much a keepers choice, like your choice of substrate.

 

[The Spider House]

Echo everything that @cold blood has said.
That enclosure could with being bigger as come the next moult it will be too small.

Some GENERAL advice....
Don't wet the sub, just an overfilled water dish is fine for the species Brachypelma.
A hide... a must, your spider will want to feel safe and a hid is what they will seek out initially until they settle in
Water dish....a must. And like I mentioned earlier, if you just top that up and let it overflow a little. That is more than enough.
Enclosure....although it sounds obvious, make sure it is secure and has cross ventilation (holes on all sides) as well as on the lid as this will help with air circulation sonifbthings do get too wet, reduces the risk of mould.

The distance between the top of the sub and the top of the enclosure should be no more than x1.5 the length of your spider. You don't want it to fall and hurt itself. Which is another reason to avoid ornaments and other sharp objects on the enclosure.

Food...live prey usually no bigger then the size of the abdomen. Feeders do not need any gut loading, calcium dusting or other nonsense like that out there on the interwebs! If you are going to have crickets for a few days, just give them some lettuce.

Thats it. Sit back and enjoy the world of Tarantulas.

 

[Wolfram1]

yep, i can only repeat what was already mentioned.

could be a little bigger, though it will do for now. 2x leg span squared is about the absolute minimum in terms of acceptable floor space. Thats what it has currently. You can always go bigger but remember not to create a fall risk.

keep it low, to reduce fall risk
nothing sharp
1 hide and 1 waterdisch

dirt, doesnt really matter what kind, no pesticides or fertilizer, no woodchips or other sharp particles, different soils hold water differently ...

keep the water dish clean and full, wet down the corner around it occasionally

no moss needed, add only if you have lots of ventilation and even then you dont need it.

if there is condensation then there is either too much moisture or too little ventilation. crossventilation is best.

if you use live feeders remove them if the spider shows no interest, if you prekill them remove after 24h

oh yea, they don't need extra heating, roomtemperature or thereabouts should be fine

 

[BoyFromLA]

Tarantula Information for Beginners (and More)

Below are some helpful resources. (Rather than having half a dozen or more pinned threads, which clutter the top of the board, we are pinning this index.) While the focus is on beginners, there are other threads on health and more advanced species that may be useful to more experienced keepers...

arachnoboards.com

 

[viper69]

Read about everything on the forum

don’t feed on schedule

What have you learned? Don’t feel like typing what you may know

 

[RoachCoach]

Check out Tom Moran, he has a lot of rehousing videos for a fairly large collection on YouTube.

 

[Mustafa67]

Dave’s little beasties channel is good too