Brachypelma Smithi Questions

Michael Morgan

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Apr 4, 2017
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Ok everyone I think I have the enclosure set up properly. I've got holes punched in the lid and the side of the container for ventilation. There's a couple of small cracks in the plastic but hopefully that'll be ok. I'm using coconut fiber for the substrate and I made shre it was fairly dry before putting it in the container. What do y'all think?
 

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Michael Morgan

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Well I got her rehoused today. It was a little tricky getting her into her new home but now my only concern is wheteher or not its a good size enclosure for her. What do y'all think?
 

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Michael Morgan

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Also I was wondering if it would be a good idea to give her a water dish. Of so, what size should I ise? She's roughly an inch big.
 

Ungoliant

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It was a little tricky getting her into her new home but now my only concern is wheteher or not its a good size enclosure for her.
That's plenty of space for your sling.


Also I was wondering if it would be a good idea to give her a water dish. Of so, what size should I ise? She's roughly an inch big.
I would include both a small hide and a water dish. The dish should be wide enough for the tarantula to submerge its whole mouth to drink. At that size, something like a bottle cap would be a good water dish.

The best hides don't have a bottom, allowing the tarantula to dig deeper if it wants. Tarantulas like cozy hides, so bury most of it and just make a little starter burrow at the entrance with your fingertip. (They'll excavate any extra space they need.)
 

Ellenantula

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Agreed @Ungoliant re: also adding a hide. At one inch size, even a small piece of corkbark or a plastic/silk leaf is better than nothing for her to burrow under.
 

Michael Morgan

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Hey all my B smithi molted again today. Part of her molt is still stuck to her abdomen and I don't want to try to remove it because I'm afraid of hurting her. Does anyone have any advice for safely removing the molt?
 

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darkness975

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Try seeing if you can grab it with a pair of tongs / tweezers and let the spider pull away.

Side note, tongs should be in Your Arsenal of tools for tarantula maintenance. Especially when your collection grows.
 

mconnachan

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Try seeing if you can grab it with a pair of tongs / tweezers and let the spider pull away.

Side note, tongs should be in Your Arsenal of tools for tarantula maintenance. Especially when your collection grows.
Yep, use tweezers, hold the molt, not the spider, let the spider pull the remaining exuviae off by itself, from what I can see in the photo it will come off quite easily, if not try using a wet cotton bud, apply the wet cotton bud to the area where it is still attached then use the tweezers, it should come off easily.
 

Michael Morgan

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Apr 4, 2017
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Ok so I was able to get most of it off but there is still a small patch attached to her opisthosoma that wont budge. I really don't want to hurt her by trying to tug it off. Can I just leave it on until she molts again?
 

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Moakmeister

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I feel like i should let you know, if you bought that as a smithi a few minths ago, it's called hamorii now. Its name was changed.
 

Moakmeister

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Ok so I was able to get most of it off but there is still a small patch attached to her opisthosoma that wont budge. I really don't want to hurt her by trying to tug it off. Can I just leave it on until she molts again?
It should be fine until she molts again. At that tiny size, you should be power feeding it to get t to molt and grow faster anyway.
 

boina

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What I do is, I use a very small, very soft artist paint brush to apply a drop of water to the abdomen. Give it a couple of minutes to soften the old skin, then use the same brush, but this time only slightly moist, to brush off the remaining skin. It should work 9 out of 10 times.
 

Arnel Pahuriray

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May 22, 2017
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Well I got her rehoused today. It was a little tricky getting her into her new home but now my only concern is wheteher or not its a good size enclosure for her. What do y'all think?
No. its not a good size container," try put the spider in 32oz. plastic jar with a cover. it will grow faster,".
 

boina

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No. its not a good size container," try put the spider in 32oz. plastic jar with a cover. it will grow faster,".
Really? How do you know that? - A tarantula's growth rate depends on many things but not the size of container they are in.

OP: It's a good size, as others have already stated.
 

darkness975

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Ok so I was able to get most of it off but there is still a small patch attached to her opisthosoma that wont budge. I really don't want to hurt her by trying to tug it off. Can I just leave it on until she molts again?
The enclosure it is in is fine, but take the rock out of the water dish
 
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