How do I take care of a Grammostola pulchripes?

yamalolz

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 6, 2020
Messages
2
Hey, another quick post. I'm very close to getting my first tarantula, a G. Pulchripes, but I just want to be 100% sure i can take of this lil fella before buying

I have a few questions:

1. What do I use for the enclosure substrate? Cocopeat mixed with dirt, maybe some moss?

2. How often do i need to spray its enclosure?

3. When should I rehouse my tarantula, and how often?

4. When do I need to clean my tarantula's enclosure?

5. In the case of it having a bad molt, or getting injured, what do I do?


Thank you to all those who will help. Im still starting out in this hobby, and Im grateful for any help and tips I get



I must also include that I may not have the substrate ready immediately. Would it be okay to use plain as the substrate temporarily?
 
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nicodimus22

Arachnomancer
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Sep 26, 2013
Messages
715
Hey, another quick post. I'm very close to getting my first tarantula, a G. Pulchripes, but I just want to be 100% sure i can take of this lil fella before buying

I have a few questions:

1. What do I use for the enclosure substrate? Cocopeat mixed with dirt, maybe some moss?

2. How often do i need to spray its enclosure?

3. When should I rehouse my tarantula, and how often?

4. When do I need to clean my tarantula's enclosure?

5. In the case of it having a bad molt, or getting injured, what do I do?
1. Coco fiber or topsoil (with no fertilizer or other stuff in it.) Peat can be OK when mixed with other substrate...it's too soft and powdery by itself. I prefer coco fiber, personally. Make sure you fill the enclosure adequately. The distance between the top of the enclosure and the substrate should be no more than 1.5X the legspan of the tarantula. This eliminates long falls that can rupture their fragile abdomens. No hard, pointy objects that they can fall on, either.

2. Never. Humidity is not something to concern yourself with at all. Just overflow the water dish in one corner periodically, and let it dry out. Repeat.

3. It's not an exact science. Generally, I try to keep the footprint of the enclosure within about 4-6 of that particular tarantula's footprint when fully spread out. You can post photos if you're not sure.

4. Other than spot-cleaning bolus, mold and poop, never. (A note on mold: if you see it a lot, your enclosure probably needs more cross-ventilation.)

5. If you have a tarantula with a leaking body injury, you can try putting corn starch on it to stop the bleeding. If it's bleeding from a leg, the tarantula will usually close off the valve at the base of the leg and amputate. The leg will grow back in subsequent molts.

I just had a 4" N. chromatus try to molt without flipping over, and it went badly for her. She popped the carapace off, and got her legs maybe 1/4 inch out, and then got stuck. I found her like that in the morning before she had completely hardened up, and was able to carefully place her on her back and gently cut and pull (with small scissors and tweezers) the rest of the abdomen piece off, and eventually get all of the legs out. She has recovered well. I've had to do this a few times over the years...it's very important that you find them quickly, because the more time passes, the more they will harden in that position...which can be a death sentence. I quickly look over my Ts in the morning and evening in case someone did something dumb like molt upright, or otherwise got stuck, so I can assist. Disclaimer: 99%+ of the time, they do not need your help molting, and you should leave them alone, and make sure they have fresh water.

If you think something is wrong, get a picture up here ASAP so we can see it.

You should have the enclosure ready to go before getting the tarantula, just like with any other animal.
 
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viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
Hey, another quick post. I'm very close to getting my first tarantula, a G. Pulchripes, but I just want to be 100% sure i can take of this lil fella before buying

I have a few questions:

1. What do I use for the enclosure substrate? Cocopeat mixed with dirt, maybe some moss?

2. How often do i need to spray its enclosure?

3. When should I rehouse my tarantula, and how often?

4. When do I need to clean my tarantula's enclosure?

5. In the case of it having a bad molt, or getting injured, what do I do?


Thank you to all those who will help. Im still starting out in this hobby, and Im grateful for any help and tips I get



I must also include that I may not have the substrate ready immediately. Would it be okay to use plain as the substrate temporarily?
1. I use coco fiber, but many use other subs- no science to it

2 NEVER EVER SPRAY - Use water bowl for this species

3 when its home is too small

4 almost never, spot clean is best, almost no need to replace sub

5 wait usually
 
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Tim Benzedrine

Prankster Possum
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Apr 4, 2004
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1,496
2 NEVER EVER- use water bowl for this species
Huh? Why not? I'm not arguing, this is just one bit of husbandry for this species I've never heard before, and I've had a small water source in with mine since it was big enough to need one, and that's been for several years. have I missed something?
 

MrDeranged

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Huh? Why not? I'm not arguing, this is just one bit of husbandry for this species I've never heard before, and I've had a small water source in with mine since it was big enough to need one, and that's been for several years. have I missed something?
I'm pretty sure it's bad formatting. ;) @viper69 can correct me if I'm wrong, but the "NEVER EVER" is in reference to the "How often to spray the enclosure". The "use water bowl for this species" is what you SHOULD be doing instead.
 

Tim Benzedrine

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You are no doubt correct. I'd never seen such a thing mentioned before here or elsewhere, and thought "Whoa! have i been doing this wrong all this time?" Which did not seem very likely, but ya never know. I was not planning on changing anything, though.
Still, I guess there was no harm in asking, at least it can be corrected so nobody new to the species will believe it to be correct.
 

viper69

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Dec 8, 2006
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I'm pretty sure it's bad formatting. ;) @viper69 can correct me if I'm wrong, but the "NEVER EVER" is in reference to the "How often to spray the enclosure". The "use water bowl for this species" is what you SHOULD be doing instead.
Quite correct Mr D!

When on phone, my answers are shorter- seems Tim overlooked my hyphen a bit.
 

Tim Benzedrine

Prankster Possum
Old Timer
Joined
Apr 4, 2004
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I did in fact overlook the hyphen! Which to be fair, appears pretty small on my screen, but easily noticeable when I looked for it.

Er, gotta go. I have a waterbowl I need to return to an enclosure! :D ;)

@ MrDeranged Shhh! Don't invoke She Who Should Not Be Named! :eek:
 

EpicEpic

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Apr 13, 2020
Messages
872
It seems everyone answered before asking the most important question....

How big is the spider?

If it is a sling you'll want the substrate to be semi-moist to moist to avoid dessication!

Do this by slowly pouring water into the substrate (best done with a dropper IME)
 

nicodimus22

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Messages
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It seems everyone answered before asking the most important question....

How big is the spider?
What I said (Just overflow the water dish in one corner periodically, and let it dry out. Repeat.) applies to slings too. You just need to do it more frequently because it dries up faster. As long as part of the substrate is moist, you're giving the tarantula the choice as to where it hangs out.
 
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