Caribena Versicolor Care

[Hawksley]

My local pet store has my dream tarantula for sale. It's a little baby priced at $65.00 CAD. I'm seriously considering adopting her.

Are they fairly easy to care for? Any tips, advice, ect you could give me would be much appreciated. I currently have a Brachypelma smithi that I adopted last year. She was 6 or 7 when I adopted her, so I really do not know much about caring for little baby tarantulas.

Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Megaphobeman]

They say they're a tough species to keep but as long as you keep the substrate moist (not damp or overflowed, just moisted) and have some cross ventilation, you shouldn't have any problems. Also try provide a stick or something inside their cup, so she can make her tunnel.

 

[Vanessa]

Please review this thread: Information for Beginners and More especially the part half way down for:

Guides for Specific Genera or Species: Beginners

• Husbandry Videos (by @Tomoran): Videos that focus on the care of particular genera or species (not all of these are beginner-friendly).
• Avicularia and Caribena (by @Venom1080): These are the most beginner-friendly arboreal species, commonly sold as pinktoe tarantulas. These species are less tolerant of newbie mistakes, so we recommend getting feedback on your enclosure beforehand.
• Avicularia and Caribena (by @viper69): More helpful advice. See above.

 

[Arachnophoric]

They say they're a tough species to keep

Not true at all. Very easy to keep, but people kill them by keeping enclosures too wet or without good ventilation.

keep the substrate moist (not damp or overflowed, just moisted)

Not sure where you read that, but on the board it's generally recommended to keep Avicularia/Caribena on dry substrate with an always full water dish. I like to keep mine secured high to the side of the enclosure so the sling can have easier access to it, since I've had a few slings that would not travel to the bottom of the enclosure for a drink when the dish was on the ground. They do just fine on dry substrate and it leaves no room for the enclosure to get overly stuffy, which is as good as a death sentence for an Avic and their similarly behaved cousins.

 

[EtienneN]

I get this is controversial but I keep mine without any substrate at all. They do well kept completely dry with drinking water both in regular dish form as well as spraying the web for drinking opportunities every week or so.

 

[Megaphobeman]

Not true at all. Very easy to keep, but people kill them by keeping enclosures too wet or without good ventilation.



Not sure where you read that, but on the board it's generally recommended to keep Avicularia/Caribena on dry substrate with a water dish secured high to the side of the enclosure so the sling can have easier access to it, since sometimes slings will not travel to the bottom of the enclosure for a drink if the dish is on the ground. They do just fine on dry substrate and it leaves no room for the enclosure to get overly stuffy, which is as good as a death sentence for an Avic and their similarly behaved cousins.

Well, I've always read about people saying they die, so they must have some kind of complexity their keeping. Anyhow, I think we can all agree that as long as you don't keep them on a swampy enclosure and have some good cross ventilation, people shouldn't have any trouble raising them.
Happy keeping!

 

[Arachnophoric]

Well, I've always read about people saying they die, so they must have some kind of complexity their keeping. Anyhow, I think we can all agree that as long as you don't keep them on a swampy enclosure and have some good cross ventilation, people shouldn't have any trouble raising them.
Happy keeping!

They end up dying because they're sensitive to stuffy conditions and people continuously perpetuate the myth that you're supposed to keep them in damp/moist enclosures (often accompanied by some nonesense about how they need high humidity).

Happy keeping to you as well.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Aviculariinae basically have the same care right across the board. They're not particularly difficult provided you don't follow outdated care sheets that claim they need restricted ventilation and near constant spraying.

Keep slings in a well ventilated deli cup, provide bark to climb on, plants around the top of the bark piece to anchor their webbing to, I keep the substrate mostly dry (no need to spray, I just overflow the dish to moisten a small area of substrate and repeat whenever it dries out) and provide a water dish (a bottle cap on the ground will suffice, I've never needed elevated dishes, they will happily come down to drink, even while still teneral after moulting).

 

[Thekla]

@Tomoran just made a detailed video on Caribena versicolor care. It's a good one! Watch it alongside the threads @VanessaS linked and follow @The Grym Reaper's advice and you should be fine.

 

[viper69]

@Tomoran just made a detailed video on Caribena versicolor care. It's a good one! Watch it alongside the threads @VanessaS linked and follow @The Grym Reaper's advice and you should be fine.

This is generally a good video, finally. However he mentioned slings struggle to settle down into large enclosures. So, how do they settle down on planet EARTH in the wild. He is missing the crucial information that they require good cover
Oh well, another video attempt that again provides MISINFORMATION.

 

[Kitara]

I I want one too! I just watched this great video on YouTube yesterday about it. It will definitely be my next one.

 

[BasedGod]

Just make sure to keep it dry. Avics are big on the low humidity or you can kill them.

 

[Vanisher]

Not true at all. Very easy to keep, but people kill them by keeping enclosures too wet or without good ventilation.



Not sure where you read that, but on the board it's generally recommended to keep Avicularia/Caribena on dry substrate with an always full water dish. I like to keep mine secured high to the side of the enclosure so the sling can have easier access to it, since I've had a few slings that would not travel to the bottom of the enclosure for a drink when the dish was on the ground. They do just fine on dry substrate and it leaves no room for the enclosure to get overly stuffy, which is as good as a death sentence for an Avic and their similarly behaved cousins.

For slings the substrate should always be moist! Why? Cos it prevents waterloss and decrease the risk that the sling gets dehydrated. Keeping even a Avivularia dry is not something i would recommend

 

[Arachnophoric]

For slings the substrate should always be moist! Why? Cos it prevents waterloss and decrease the risk that the sling gets dehydrated. Keeping even a Avivularia dry is not something i would recommend

Avics and Caribena don't hang out on the substrate though, even as slings. I've kept my C. versi since I got it at .5" completely dry besides a waterdish that I ensure is full and dribbling some water in her webbing after she molts. I've also kept my G. pulchras, G. pulchripes, P. murinus, and GBB slings on completely dry sub (but always with access to a water dish). I've had literally zero issue with any of them becoming dehydrated. While slings indeed are more prone to getting dehydrated, it doesn't mean just go hog-wild with wetting the substrate for species sensitive to wet/stuffy conditions.

 

[Vanisher]

In this case, it doesnt matter if the spider hangs out on the substrate or not. Small slings have not develoup vax layer, meaning water can more easily evapourate through body. If kept in humid air they do not dry out!
Try to keep your wet t-shirt un a bonedry room, or kerp it in a room whith high humidety! And see in which room they dry out most quickly!

This said, it is important with good ventilation ofcourse! But a bonedry enclosure i would not recommend! I have raised lots of Avic slings on moist sub, and they was doing exellent! It is not a humid enclosure Avic slings are sensitive to, it is a humid poorly ventilated enclosure!

 

[NukaMedia Exotics]

In my experience I've raised one from a 1" sling and it was easy, however a lot of people have problems as they are pretty fragile under the 1" mark. How big is this sling exactly? The Grym Reaper gave photos of an enclosure that is very close to what I use and I would recommend, however I'd say add even more ventilation holes on the sides especially (cross ventilation is key to them staying alive at small sizes).

 

[Hawksley]

In my experience I've raised one from a 1" sling and it was easy, however a lot of people have problems as they are pretty fragile under the 1" mark. How big is this sling exactly? The Grym Reaper gave photos of an enclosure that is very close to what I use and I would recommend, however I'd say add even more ventilation holes on the sides especially (cross ventilation is key to them staying alive at small sizes).

I am not sure how big the sling is. I wanted to do some more research before I saw the actual spider at the pet store and fell in love and couldn't resist. Trying to be responsible here....

I suspect the sling is very little, though.....

 

[The Grym Reaper]

The Grym Reaper gave photos of an enclosure that is very close to what I use and I would recommend, however I'd say add even more ventilation holes on the sides especially (cross ventilation is key to them staying alive at small sizes).

The amount of ventilation I use is more than adequate, even with slightly moist substrate.

I guess that too much is better than not enough but people do go a bit silly with the amount of vent holes IMO.

 

[NukaMedia Exotics]

The amount of ventilation I use is more than adequate, even with slightly moist substrate.

I guess that too much is better than not enough but people do go a bit silly with the amount of vent holes IMO.

Yea I wasn't telling you that you don't have enough just personally I do put quite a bit extra just because I know Avic/Caribena etc. slings are pretty fragile with the ventilation.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

Yea I wasn't telling you that you don't have enough just personally I do put quite a bit extra just because I know Avic/Caribena etc. slings are pretty fragile with the ventilation.

Yeah, that's fair enough, I wasn't trying to argue