First time buyer

[mizzemaz]

Hey all,

Im buying my Partner a Chilean rose tarantula for christmas, he had one when i met him but i made him get rid, as i am not the biggest fan of spiders.

Im willing to try and get over my fear, and have been practice with house spiders and garden spiders, and slowly gettin better.

I have a tank which is very secure, and im ordering a Chilean rose from a online Reptile store, First of all, is it best to buy a Spiderling or a Subadult? im not sure what they mean, but they ask me when ordering.

Also whats the best way to dress the tank? and also what the best thing to feed them, my partner knows this but he is away for a few weeks and as its a surprise i cant ask him, but i need to look after the spider for a a week until he is home.

any help please would be appreciated thanks x

 

[jt39565]

Slings are babies, subadults are the easiest way to go. Buy the spider and get a gift card to a local pet store & let your psrtner dress the tank. Easy peasy!

 

[lordddelgado]

The Rose-haired Tarantula thrives in a simple enclosure. Though not necessary, this Tarantula will like a scrubland type environment and will live in a shallow burrow if provided. A piece of driftwood, cork bark, or a hollow log will work well for this. Artificial or hardy live plants and other interesting decorations can also be added to the enclosure,

Rose-haired Tarantulas feed well on a variety of insect prey including crickets, grasshoppers, locusts, and others. They should be feed live insects once or twice a week. (Feed spiderlings with insects that dont fightback)

You can carefully pick up these tarantulas by cupping them gently with the legs folded under their bodies. Another, gentler method is to simply place a hand out flat in front of them and gently prod the tarantula's abdomen, forcing it to walk onto the hand. As they walk, simply place the other hand in front and have the spider walk across your hands.

 

[2oCHEVYo0]

I will give you all the information I can think of.

The care for sling (spiderling) would be the exact same care that you would give a juvenile, just on a smaller scale. A juvi could eat full grown crickets, but a sling could only eat small pin head crickets. When owning a sling, it is good to feed them 2 to 3 pinheads a week. If it is a VERY small sling, I would get pinhead crickets and prekill them as little tiny slings will scavenge for food until they are of size to hunt on there own. The temperature requirements for this particular tarantula are very simple to maintain. If you are comfortable, it will more than likely be comfortable as well.

They do not require any real amount of humidity or misting, unless they are a sling. In that case, only a small amount of moisture is required to be sprayed once a week to help them stay alive. It also helps slings when molting. A juvenile would only need a waterbowl as a sufficient form of humidity (only really need the waterbowl when approaching the 3" legspan mark, as that is when they tend to start drinking). Slings do not need a waterdish, and one should not be provided as they get all the moisture they need from crickets and the misting.

Slings would be better off in a smaller enclosure such as a small/medium size critter keeper as it would make it easier for them to find there food. Juvi's would be fine in a Large critter keeper or basically any aquarium of 2.5 gallons or more. Don't skimp on the substrate (coco fiber or vermiculite would be a good choice) as they should be able to make a burrow if they want and shouldn't be alot of room to the top of the enclosure in case of a fall. Alot of people use the method of filling the container half full with substrate, pretty fail proof IMO. Don't use woodchips as a substrate and don't put a sponge in the water dish.

Some type of hide should be provided for either size should they feel scared. That is really it. G. Rosea's have the most basic care of any tarantula out there. There is also a list of Terrestrial tarantula's that would follow this same basic method of care.

All that SUPER SUMMED UP!!! Just give it a hide, waterdish (or misting), substrate and a couple crickets a week and your good to go

I'd like to recommend getting a Brachypelma of some sort. I love Rosea's as many do, but B. Smithi, B. Boehmei, B. Auratum, and B. Emilia are amazing in color for only a slightly higher price (as slings).

L. Parahybana's are also pretty Omazing

 

[2oCHEVYo0]

also, just curious where you are buying it from and for how much? :?

 

[malevolentrobot]

if you get a s(pider)ling, whatever you have prepared is going too big. G. rosea are some of the slowest growing tarantulas in the hobby, you'd be better off with a deli cup, depending on its size. a sub adult will probably be fine in a 2.5gal or 5gal tank or shoebox sized enclosure.

getting acquainted with the search function here will give you an amzing amount of information on G. rosea, including this sticky.