Aphonopelma Chalcodes

[aviation]

Hey, so I had just purchased an Aphonopelma Chalcodes, or an Arizona Blonde, she had seemed sweet when I had handled her but I don’t have my terrarium set up yet so she is still in a container. I had noticed that she has had her fangs out a few times now and is trying to get out of the container. I just want to know if this is normal or worse if this is a sign of distress, being threatened, or being an aggressive tarantula.

 

[NYAN]

Hi, just a heads up that most people on this forum are against handling.

What exactly do you mean by “trying to get out?”

If the container it is in is a small deli cup, then I imagine it wouldn’t be too abnormal for it to want out.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

Yeah, like Nyan said you'll find that nearly everyone here is against handling for a myriad of reasons.

Having said that, if you don't even have her in an actual enclosure yet I'm sure she's not happy at all. In general it takes a tarantula anywhere from a few days to a few weeks to fully acclimate to their new surroundings (how would you like being uprooted from your nice old home?!) and if your T is in a small temporary enclosure that's definitely contributing to her aggravated behaviour. I wouldn't say it's a sign that you have an aggressive T, just one that isn't very happy about where she is at the present moment. I'd encourage you to get her into her new home ASAP but I'm sure you're already on it.

And once she is in her new setup, I would also encourage you to post a photo of it here so the experts on enclosures can give you some advice on what to change/what to keep.

 

[Beggottenson]

Here a pic of my enclosure, also the substrate should be higher than mine so that the spider does not climb and fall

 

[aviation]

Hi, just a heads up that most people on this forum are against handling.

What exactly do you mean by “trying to get out?”

If the container it is in is a small deli cup, then I imagine it wouldn’t be too abnormal for it to want out.

Yeah well she is still in a temporary container until her terrarium is ready. So she will like take her fangs out and mess with the edges of the container.

 

[Thekla]

Well, I assume you went and bought your A. chalcodes from LLLreptiles despite all the advice you've been given to better buy from another, more reputable source. Am I right?

I hope you'll have her enclosure set up asap, because if she is indeed in one of those tiny containers like I've seen on their website, it's no wonder she wants to get out. IMO you should've set up the enclosure before you buy your T. But what's done is done. Just make sure you'll meet her requirements. And please, feel free to post a picture of her enclosure once you finished it.

By the way, did you buy her as a confirmed female? On their website they don't mention whether they sell males or females, not even with the larger specimens. That's a bit dubious, to say the least.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

IMO you should've set up the enclosure before you bought your T.

This. Always this. This until blue in the face.

 

[aviation]

Well, I assume you went and bought your A. chalcodes from LLLreptiles despite all the advice you've been given to better buy from another, more reputable source. Am I right?

I hope you'll have her enclosure set up asap, because if she is indeed in one of those tiny containers like I've seen on their website, it's no wonder she wants to get out. IMO you should've set up the enclosure before you buy your T. But what's done is done. Just make sure you'll meet her requirements. And please, feel free to post a picture of her enclosure once you finished it.

By the way, did you buy her as a confirmed female? On their website they don't mention whether they sell males or females, not even with the larger specimens. That's a bit dubious, to say the least.

They hadn’t known if my A. Chalcodes was a confirmed female but they were almost certain. Also just to add I had a plan on getting my enclosure ready before we had gotten my T. I had just wanted to get some supplies and see if they even had any A. Chalcodes. I didn’t plan on buying her yet but it happened that I did.

 

[NYAN]

They hadn’t known if my A. Chalcodes was a confirmed female but they were almost certain.

I’ve found that these types of sellers will often just say that an individual is likely female for no real reason.

 

[Liquifin]

They hadn’t known if my A. Chalcodes was a confirmed female but they were almost certain.

Why not just ventral sex it?? These species are very easy to ventral sex

 

[Teal]

Ugh.

If your T is indeed from LLL, then you almost certainly have an unsexed wild caught specimen that hasn't been taken care of at all. I was abhorred by their stock at a recent reptile expo...

Anyways...

1. Don't handle your spider - It stresses them out and is dangerous.

2. There is no such thing as an "aggressive" tarantula. Aggression is a willful intent to harm... they don't have that. They can certainly be DEFENSIVE, especially when housed improperly and messed with (like handling).

3. Post a photo of your enclosure before you put your spider into it. If LLL advised you on the set up or if you have read caresheets, your enclosure will be a death trap.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

2. There is no such thing as an "aggressive" tarantula. Aggression is a willful intent to harm... they don't have that. They can certainly be DEFENSIVE, especially when housed improperly and messed with (like handling)

Oh yeah I guess "defensive" is really what I meant when I said they likely don't have an "aggressive" spider. Definitely still getting used to the whole "spiders get defensive, not angry" thing.

 

[PidderPeets]

It's likely using its fangs on the edges of the enclosure because it wants out. Just because they live in small quarters in the wild (burrows) doesn't mean they want to be forced in a small temp container they aren't familiar with.

If it's an adult or subadult, they really should have been able to at least vent sex it, and been able to tell you that's how they sexed it. When I bought my unsexed B. hamorii, the pet store guy "highly suspected" it was female based on how fat it's abdomen was. I wasn't even out of the store before I vent sexed him as male. He was so fat because they fed him multiple crickets daily and they had his temps so high that he was growing at an insane rate. A reputable seller should be able to sex your tarantula and tell you how they did it. If they can't, they should sell it as unsexed, for an unsexed price. It wouldn't hurt to get a clear photo of its underside, between the upper set of booklungs so that we can sex it for you.

Since pet stores aren't great with tarantula care advice, here's the basic care this species needs: dry substrate, enough substrate that they won't hurt themselves in a fall (no more than 1.5x the spider's legspan in free space, ie. a 4 inch spider should have no more than 6 inches between the substrate and lid), a water dish with plain water (no water gel, no sponges, just water), a hide of some sort, no heat pads, no heat lamps, and that's basically it.

I'm not going to tell you not to handle it (but I am against it, as are many people on here), but I am going to say that if you do handle, you always need to be prepared for the tarantula to behave differently from that "sweet" disposition you saw at the store. Just like anything else, tarantulas have their moods and aren't always going to react the exact same way every time. I've gotten strikes from plenty of what are usually my most docile tarantulas. This is one of the many reasons many people are so against handling. If you're intending to handle it, you need to be willing to take a bite without flinging the tarantula across the room, you need to be calm enough to not panic or fling it if it suddenly bolts or strikes, and you should really be handling it low enough to the ground that if it panics for whatever reason it's not going to fall and rupture it's abdomen which would kill it. So handling really shouldn't be done any higher than a couple inches over a soft surface.

Finally, tarantulas don't have the capability to be aggressive. That would mean deliberately seeking something out and attacking it without reason. When tarantulas strike or chase after movement, it's defensiveness or a feeding response. They're not attacking because they have bad tempers, they're defending themselves because they're scared. It's a simple fight or flight response. Or because they feel the vibration of movement and they mistake it for food. Tarantulas don't have the intelligence to be deliberately agressive, so any instinctual defensive or hungry behavior is exactly that: instinctual. So don't be afraid of it's behavior, since it's not trying to seek you out and hurt you, but do be aware that this behavior can't be helped or trained out of it so you need to be prepared for such behavior.

Hopefully that didn't come across as rude, as I was just trying to offer some advice and suggestions. I know many of us on here may get interpreted as rude or condescending, but please understand that everyone on here is just looking out for your tarantula. So don't read too much into the way things are said on here, and I hope you stick around these forums. They are an invaluable source of information.

Welcome to the hobby!

 

[aviation]

It's likely using its fangs on the edges of the enclosure because it wants out. Just because they live in small quarters in the wild (burrows) doesn't mean they want to be forced in a small temp container they aren't familiar with.

If it's an adult or subadult, they really should have been able to at least vent sex it, and been able to tell you that's how they sexed it. When I bought my unsexed B. hamorii, the pet store guy "highly suspected" it was female based on how fat it's abdomen was. I wasn't even out of the store before I vent sexed him as male. He was so fat because they fed him multiple crickets daily and they had his temps so high that he was growing at an insane rate. A reputable seller should be able to sex your tarantula and tell you how they did it. If they can't, they should sell it as unsexed, for an unsexed price. It wouldn't hurt to get a clear photo of its underside, between the upper set of booklungs so that we can sex it for you.

Since pet stores aren't great with tarantula care advice, here's the basic care this species needs: dry substrate, enough substrate that they won't hurt themselves in a fall (no more than 1.5x the spider's legspan in free space, ie. a 4 inch spider should have no more than 6 inches between the substrate and lid), a water dish with plain water (no water gel, no sponges, just water), a hide of some sort, no heat pads, no heat lamps, and that's basically it.

I'm not going to tell you not to handle it (but I am against it, as are many people on here), but I am going to say that if you do handle, you always need to be prepared for the tarantula to behave differently from that "sweet" disposition you saw at the store. Just like anything else, tarantulas have their moods and aren't always going to react the exact same way every time. I've gotten strikes from plenty of what are usually my most docile tarantulas. This is one of the many reasons many people are so against handling. If you're intending to handle it, you need to be willing to take a bite without flinging the tarantula across the room, you need to be calm enough to not panic or fling it if it suddenly bolts or strikes, and you should really be handling it low enough to the ground that if it panics for whatever reason it's not going to fall and rupture it's abdomen which would kill it. So handling really shouldn't be done any higher than a couple inches over a soft surface.

Finally, tarantulas don't have the capability to be aggressive. That would mean deliberately seeking something out and attacking it without reason. When tarantulas strike or chase after movement, it's defensiveness or a feeding response. They're not attacking because they have bad tempers, they're defending themselves because they're scared. It's a simple fight or flight response. Or because they feel the vibration of movement and they mistake it for food. Tarantulas don't have the intelligence to be deliberately agressive, so any instinctual defensive or hungry behavior is exactly that: instinctual. So don't be afraid of it's behavior, since it's not trying to seek you out and hurt you, but do be aware that this behavior can't be helped or trained out of it so you need to be prepared for such behavior.

Hopefully that didn't come across as rude, as I was just trying to offer some advice and suggestions. I know many of us on here may get interpreted as rude or condescending, but please understand that everyone on here is just looking out for your tarantula. So don't read too much into the way things are said on here, and I hope you stick around these forums. They are an invaluable source of information.

Welcome to the hobby!

Thank you so much this was a lot of help and much needed information! As well as all the others replying thank you. I am somewhat knew on this even though I’ve done my research I always see opposing information and am not sure which is true and which is not. So thank you again I am using all of this to make my Ts life very enjoyable and healthy.

 

[PidderPeets]

Thank you so much this was a lot of help and much needed information! As well as all the others replying thank you. I am somewhat knew on this even though I’ve done my research I always see opposing information and am not sure which is true and which is not. So thank you again I am using all of this to make my Ts life very enjoyable and healthy.

No problem I know how much incorrect and misleading information there is on the web, so I try to help out when I can. That's also why this forum is just a great source of information, because there's actual people around to help you with what's right and what's wrong.

If you ever have any questions, even if you think it's a stupid question, feel free to ask on here. There's almost always someone around to answer

 

[aviation]

Aphonopelma chalcodes Enclosure

• aviation
• Dec 24, 2018
• aphonopelma aphonopelma apacheum aphonopelma chalcodes aphonopelma schmidti arizona blond tarantula chalcodes desert blond tarantula enclosure

terrarium for a. chalcode

sorry this took so long but this is my terrarium for my a. chalcode. I had tried to make it as safe and comfortable as possible

Aphonopelma chalcodes Enclosure

• aviation
• Dec 24, 2018
• aphonopelma aphonopelma apacheum aphonopelma chalcodes aphonopelma schmidti arizona blond tarantula chalcodes desert blond tarantula enclosure

terrarium for a. chalcode

sorry this took so long but this is my terrarium for my a. chalcode. I had tried to make it as safe and comfortable as possible

also there is a black heating pad on the left and a pink heating rock in the middle. just to clarify. I had just realized that the heating pad was facing the wrong direction so I just fixed that woops

 

[Paul1126]

what is a pink heating rock?

 

[aviation]

what is a pink heating rock?

it’s just a rock that’s pink, that also heats up a bit when plugged in.

 

[Paul1126]

it’s just a rock that’s pink, that also heats up a bit when plugged in.

I wouldn't plug it in

 

[aviation]

I wouldn't plug it in

just curious, why?