First Tarantula

[Hypancistrus]

My GF and I attended the Northern Berks Reptile show in Hamburg, PA yesterday and she purchased our first T. I am somewhat spider-phobic (a lot better now than I have been, but I don't think I could touch her!) so this should be interesting.

She is in a medium sized critter keeper with slightly moist bed-a-beast as her substrate. We put in a water dish with a sponge and half of a plastic drinking cup as a cave. The heat at the show was ridiculous, and we were worried about her the whole trip home-- she was kind of curled up in a corner of the cup she came in.

She is about the size of a half dollar with legs spread out. Any idea how old she is? Many of her "litter mates" at the show were starting their molts... does this mean she probably will soon too? Is there anything I need to do or know about this process?

I hope we are successful with her. My GF is already very attached and she is nice to look at. I am going to try and feed her later today with one small cricket, see if she takes it.

 

[sean-820]

What species is it. Some are pretty slow growers and others are fast so if is a about an inch-2 inches( i think thats about the size of a 50 cent piece), it could be a couple of months to mayby a year for some real slow growing species.

"Many of her "litter mates" at the show were starting their molts... does this mean she probably will soon too? Is there anything I need to do or know about this process?"

That could mean she is close, however they are different individuals so they dont all molt at once especially if they have molted acouple times before. Molting is easy for you since you just leave it alone (with no food in there). If it refuses to eat, remove the food since that could be a sign of a molt. They also flip on their backs to molt so dont be worried if you see that. Fter molting, dont feed or handle it for mayby a week since its vaunarable and needs to harded its exoskeleton again.

Post species name for care requirements since some need it humid and others bone dry.

I used to be abit uncomfortable with them, now i have 4 and may get another today. Now i have a A. versicolor , A. avicularia, P. murinus and L. parahybana. Welcome to this site and im sure many will help you as they did with me when i just started.

 

[Hypancistrus]

Will she molt outside of her hide? Right now she is under her cup. I am also not sure about feeding... does she have to be "out cruising" in order to feed her? Can I drop a cricket near her hide? Or is that dangerous? Oh, and I think the species name of this is B. emilia?

 

[GiantVinegaroon]

Will she molt outside of her hide? Right now she is under her cup. I am also not sure about feeding... does she have to be "out cruising" in order to feed her? Can I drop a cricket near her hide? Or is that dangerous? Oh, and I think the species name of this is B. emilia?

just crush a pinhead cricket's head and drop it in. It can twitch and the spider will find it, and you can leave it overnight wit no worries of the cricket eating your new T. Just drop it near her it doesn't matter if she's cruising or not to feed her. If she eats she's fine, if not, she's probably getting ready to molt

 

[zwd22]

I would ditch the sponge, it isn't needed and can harbor mold/bacteria and stuff, if your worried that ur T can drown use rocks instead. congratz on getting into the hobby xD.

 

[Hypancistrus]

I put a total of five small (1/4" to 3/8") crickets in yesterday, and it ate all five. I did one at a time. It was cool but a little freaky, seeing how fast it moved when it pounced on the crickets.

Thanks for the tip about the sponge.