Introduce Yourself

[ScorpGuyNW]

Hi everyone I'm Kenny. I have a Heterometrus Spinifer which is my first scorpion. I've had him (I think its a him anyway) for about a week and he eats, sleeps, drinks, and lives a pretty cozy life. I am looking forward to connecting with yall and learning all I can.

 

[InvertNix]

Hi I'm Nix I've only recently joined I live in England. I'm 31 and the mum to 2 lovely kids. I have 2 giant land snails, porcellio pruinosus orange (lost count of those there's so many) 5 bermese beauty millipedes, 8 velvet slugs and am attempting to hatch some extatosoma tiaratum and black beauty stick insects.

 

[Ic4ru577]

I am Jun of Indonesia. I just got a 2” b. Klaasi. Searched the net for info and found this site to be helpful and informative.

 

[psychgrl]

Hi! My name is Rebecca and I just joined. I had tarantulas years ago (mostly brachypelma species and one C. cyaneopubescens) and have decided to return to the hobby! I have a C. versicolor and a G. pulchra arriving this week. I'm so excited to have tarantulas again and had to refrain from ordering many more! After these guys settle then maybe... I've had all kinds of pets...snakes, geckos, bearded dragons, scorpions, rats, tarantulas (obviously) and the typical dogs. I live in central PA and work at Penn State. Maybe I'll take one in to my office when we go back to working in person! Haha!

 

[Manglerius]

Hi all. Lifelong scorpion freak finally Diving into arachnid ownership. Looking to grow my knowledge and collection and happy to meet new people

 

[Songbirdsingz]

Hey guys! My name is Jacob. I am 26. I live in Alabama, USA. I was a LONG time arachnophobe. I eventually started learning about insects and arachnids and joined a big group on Facebook that studies entomology. I eventually started to overcome my arachnid fear about a year ago. A few weeks ago I decided I would try raising a T after weeks of research. I picked up a Pink-Toe (avic avic) named Thundara. I have handled her and she is extremely docile and amazing. She's my profile pic! Anyway I am super new to arachnoboards and a new Tarantula hobbyist. If any other newbies wanna be friends hmu! We can learn together! Welcome to all!

 

[Slater8486]

Hi, my name is Slater and I've recently bought my son a Dead Leaf Mantis, it is only very small. About 3cm at the moment.

I have read up quite a lot on the feeding and I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me. So far we've had him two days and fed him/her two small flies which he gobbled up very quickly.

On research though I have seen people saying feed every other day or some sites saying every 2/3 days and others that say if he eats it add another until they leave the prey alone.

I was wondering if anyone is a bit of a scholar with Dead Leaf Mantis Nymphs and which is the best approach?

Thank you

 

[Ungoliant]

Hi, my name is Slater and I've recently bought my son a Dead Leaf Mantis, it is only very small. About 3cm at the moment.

I have read up quite a lot on the feeding and I was wondering if anyone might be able to help me. So far we've had him two days and fed him/her two small flies which he gobbled up very quickly.

On research though I have seen people saying feed every other day or some sites saying every 2/3 days and others that say if he eats it add another until they leave the prey alone.

I was wondering if anyone is a bit of a scholar with Dead Leaf Mantis Nymphs and which is the best approach?

If anyone wants to help Slater with mantis care, please post your response here: https://arachnoboards.com/threads/new-to-the-mantis-world-my-question-is-on-dead-leaf-mantis.336749/

 

[Veroct]

Hello, from southeast asia, just got into keeping since a few weeks ago, hopefully i can learn from your experiences, thank you

 

[The Spider House]

Hi everyone, my name is Phil. I have been keeping and now breeding tarantulas for over 30 years and currently have approx 350 spiders in my collection.

I am looking forward to being part of this forum having been a prominent member (and still am) on another forum for many years. For those that haven't guessed, it's the Tarantula Forum and I am user name Phil on there. I knew there are members on here that also cross over so hopefully you will recognise me.

My user name here (The Spider House) is an affectionate name given to me by my neighbours....LOL

Thank you to @Jess S for the recommendation to join.

I will be sharing lots and lots of pics of my beautiful babies so watch this space..

 

[Kichimark]

Hello all, glad to be here. I am Mark and been lurking on here for the longest and decided to join all you fine folks. One thing I have learned over the internet is that folks love pictures so this is my Eve (a former student named her) and she is going on 7 years now. I still can't tell if she is a hamorii or smithi.

 

[Ungoliant]

One thing I have learned over the internet is that folks love pictures so this is my Eve (a former student named her) and she is going on 7 years now. I still can't tell if she is a hamorii or smithi.

If you upload here, you can get opinions on her ID.

 

[somanyknees]

Hi! I am getting back into the hobby after a 15 year hiatus. I remembered this board from way back and created a new account as I could not for the life of me remember my credentials.

 

[yoursuperman01]

Hey everyone! I’m Tom. I’m brand new to the T hobby. I’ve been doing extensive research, for about 3 months now, to get prepared for my very first one ever. Originally, I was opting to get Anophopelma Chalcodes (Arizona Blonde) to start. I took a trip today to my local pet store for some supplies for my bearded dragon (Yoshi) and my ball python (Shiva). Lo and behold, there was this beauty of an Anophopelma Seemanni (Costa Rican Zebra)! I immediately jumped on the purchase and couldn’t be happier. I’m unsure if it’s male or female, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out. I hope you enjoy my pics and thank you all for having me here.

 

[Corrie]

Hello! My name is Corrie, I’m out in Washington close to Oregon. I’m a newbie and first time owner of a G. Pulchra sling, that molted a few days ago
I‘m thankful for finding a site like this to be able learn from others who share the same interest.

 

[tazmilee]

Hello! My name is Osprey, but I also go by the online name Taz. I live in central Florida.

I'm brand new to the hobby, and I'm incredibly eager to get into it! I don't actually have any inverts yet, but I'm currently saving up to afford proper enclosures and materials for the pets that I plan on keeping in the future. As my first choice, I'm aiming for either a dry beetle setup with tenebrionids such as death-feigners, or a vinegaroon setup. I've heard that both of these options are very friendly for beginners, and the animals fascinate me as well!

Honestly, my entire life for the past few months has been researching different inverts and their care requirements. It helps that I'm on the autism spectrum- being on the spectrum makes it easy for me to completely fixate on something as long as it interests me. Speaking of that, arthropods are my "special interest"! The term "special interest" refers to something that an autistic individual focuses on and loves more than anything else. I could read and talk about invertebrates for hours on end, I'm so glad to be here!

I can't wait to interact with this community, it's very nice to meet you all!

 

[The Spider House]

Hello! My name is Osprey, but I also go by the online name Taz. I live in central Florida.

I'm brand new to the hobby, and I'm incredibly eager to get into it! I don't actually have any inverts yet, but I'm currently saving up to afford proper enclosures and materials for the pets that I plan on keeping in the future. As my first choice, I'm aiming for either a dry beetle setup with tenebrionids such as death-feigners, or a vinegaroon setup. I've heard that both of these options are very friendly for beginners, and the animals fascinate me as well!

Honestly, my entire life for the past few months has been researching different inverts and their care requirements. It helps that I'm on the autism spectrum- being on the spectrum makes it easy for me to completely fixate on something as long as it interests me. Speaking of that, arthropods are my "special interest"! The term "special interest" refers to something that an autistic individual focuses on and loves more than anything else. I could read and talk about invertebrates for hours on end, I'm so glad to be here!

I can't wait to interact with this community, it's very nice to meet you all!

Hi, very nice to meet you too. I am also new on this forum even though I have been keeping and lately breeding tarantulas for over 32 years.

Research is very commendable, and my advice would also be to reach out to members on the forum as they, like me, will have had many successful years keeping Ts and that is much more important than some keyboard warrior on line. IMHO anyway.

General care that has worked for me* and some suggestions for "starter Ts" is as follows:

Regarding best "starter" Ts:

Best beginner Ts in my opinion are listed below depending on your preference.

Terrestrial (ground dwellers)
Brachypelma hamorii
Brachypelma vagans
Tliltocatl albopilosum
Grammastola rosea
Grammastola pulchripes

Arboreal (tree dwellers)
Avicularia Avicularia
Ceribena versicolor
although both if these can be difficult to keep in ideal conditions and others have reported being susceptible to "sudden death", although I have never experienced this.

Regarding care needs:

1. Enclosures
These should be size appropriate not too big and not too small. For the terrestrial species, length is more important than height, for arboreal species, height is more appropriate. I have had best results when the substrate is in the main coco fibre (coir), mixed with some top soil. This should be kept mostly dry for most species with a more slightly moist area no bigger tha 50% of the surface so the spider has the option. I usually put the open water dish that is also needed in the 'damp' area.

One if the most important things to understand is that cross ventilation is better than holes in the top of an enclosure. For this reason, plastic storage boxes are often better than the more expensive glass vivariums.

2. Food
Live Food is always best as they are hunters. The size of prey (whether that be crickets, meal worms, locusts, roaches etc) should ideally not be larger than the size of the abdomen of the spider. It therefore stands to reason that as the spider grows, as does the size of the prey. Spiderlings will often eat twice a week but I feed my juveniles and adults once a week so as not to cause weight/health issues (e.g. if the abdomen is too big on a large spider, it can drag and become injured) If you cannot find live food small enough for the spiderlings, you can cut up the prey into pieces and they will scavenge.

3. Heating and humidity
Right off the bat, just remember that probably 99% of all spiders available are captive bred, so even though the species may have originated from Mexico for example, there is no need to replicate the conditions found in that country. In my 32 years of looking after tarantulas I have observed best results when temperatures are about 23/24°c dropping to 19°c and sometimes a bit lower at night. Always try to make that the room temperature rather than using heat mats or heat rocks which in my opinion are completely wrong for spiders as they can burn themselves and the extra heat often causes the humidity levels to drop which in turn can cause moulting problems. More of that later.

If you do use a heater of any description, if you have a cold room for example, this should be thermostatically controlled and temperatures monitored daily. I have seen stories of whole collections being lost due to overheating. If you must use them, heat mats should only ever be mounted vertically and never cover more than 50% of the surface of the tank/enclosure.

For most species humidity around 60 to 70%* is fine (which is typically UKs average btw) so as long as you have an open water dish and a more damp area as described earlier, you should be ok and would only need to light mist once a week if needed.

4. Water
Water dishes has already been mentioned a few times. Many keepers use distilled water or bottled water but I find that cooled down boiled water is absolutely fine for both topping up the water dish and misting. The process of boiling removes any chemicals from tap water as does the fact it has been stood overnight to cool. Any spare water from the kettle just goes in the sprayer. Sorted.

5. Listen to other keepers
Care sheets are all well and good to some extent, but there is nothing like listening to what others have to say and looking at their spiders for real pictures of individual species (rather than edited photos in google) so I would also recommend regular visits to dedicated spider forums like this one.forums.

Sorry for such a long reply but I have tried to cover all the needs as best I can.

***Disclaimer***
Any advice provided is based on my personal experience ONLY, it works very well for me and I have successfully collected, bred and nurtured spiders for over 32 years. I currently have over 300 tarantulas in a converted garage.

I hope this helps. Best wishes, Phil


*with the exception of the Theraphosa species that I keep in higher humidity

Substrate:

 

[tazmilee]

Hi, very nice to meet you too. I am also new on this forum even though I have been keeping and lately breeding tarantulas for over 32 years.

Research is very commendable, and my advice would also be to reach out to members on the forum as they, like me, will have had many successful years keeping Ts and that is much more important than some keyboard warrior on line. IMHO anyway.

General care that has worked for me* and some suggestions for "starter Ts" is as follows:

Regarding best "starter" Ts:

Best beginner Ts in my opinion are listed below depending on your preference.

Terrestrial (ground dwellers)
Brachypelma hamorii
Brachypelma vagans
Tliltocatl albopilosum
Grammastola rosea
Grammastola pulchripes

Arboreal (tree dwellers)
Avicularia Avicularia
Ceribena versicolor
although both if these can be difficult to keep in ideal conditions and others have reported being susceptible to "sudden death", although I have never experienced this.

Regarding care needs:

1. Enclosures
These should be size appropriate not too big and not too small. For the terrestrial species, length is more important than height, for arboreal species, height is more appropriate. I have had best results when the substrate is in the main coco fibre (coir), mixed with some top soil. This should be kept mostly dry for most species with a more slightly moist area no bigger tha 50% of the surface so the spider has the option. I usually put the open water dish that is also needed in the 'damp' area.

One if the most important things to understand is that cross ventilation is better than holes in the top of an enclosure. For this reason, plastic storage boxes are often better than the more expensive glass vivariums.

2. Food
Live Food is always best as they are hunters. The size of prey (whether that be crickets, meal worms, locusts, roaches etc) should ideally not be larger than the size of the abdomen of the spider. It therefore stands to reason that as the spider grows, as does the size of the prey. Spiderlings will often eat twice a week but I feed my juveniles and adults once a week so as not to cause weight/health issues (e.g. if the abdomen is too big on a large spider, it can drag and become injured) If you cannot find live food small enough for the spiderlings, you can cut up the prey into pieces and they will scavenge.

3. Heating and humidity
Right off the bat, just remember that probably 99% of all spiders available are captive bred, so even though the species may have originated from Mexico for example, there is no need to replicate the conditions found in that country. In my 32 years of looking after tarantulas I have observed best results when temperatures are about 23/24°c dropping to 19°c and sometimes a bit lower at night. Always try to make that the room temperature rather than using heat mats or heat rocks which in my opinion are completely wrong for spiders as they can burn themselves and the extra heat often causes the humidity levels to drop which in turn can cause moulting problems. More of that later.

If you do use a heater of any description, if you have a cold room for example, this should be thermostatically controlled and temperatures monitored daily. I have seen stories of whole collections being lost due to overheating. If you must use them, heat mats should only ever be mounted vertically and never cover more than 50% of the surface of the tank/enclosure.

For most species humidity around 60 to 70%* is fine (which is typically UKs average btw) so as long as you have an open water dish and a more damp area as described earlier, you should be ok and would only need to light mist once a week if needed.

4. Water
Water dishes has already been mentioned a few times. Many keepers use distilled water or bottled water but I find that cooled down boiled water is absolutely fine for both topping up the water dish and misting. The process of boiling removes any chemicals from tap water as does the fact it has been stood overnight to cool. Any spare water from the kettle just goes in the sprayer. Sorted.

5. Listen to other keepers
Care sheets are all well and good to some extent, but there is nothing like listening to what others have to say and looking at their spiders for real pictures of individual species (rather than edited photos in google) so I would also recommend regular visits to dedicated spider forums like this one.forums.

Sorry for such a long reply but I have tried to cover all the needs as best I can.

***Disclaimer***
Any advice provided is based on my personal experience ONLY, it works very well for me and I have successfully collected, bred and nurtured spiders for over 32 years. I currently have over 300 tarantulas in a converted garage.

I hope this helps. Best wishes, Phil


*with the exception of the Theraphosa species that I keep in higher humidity

Substrate:

I didn't expect to be given so much helpful information right off the bat, thank you Phil! I'm glad someone with so much experience gave me a reply so quickly. It's even a little intimidating... I mean, 32 years? Wow!

I will certainly be keeping T's sometime in the future and knowing all of this is very important. You're definitely right about conversations with experienced keepers being much better than simply reading articles and guides online. No matter what, the most important thing is the safety of the animals, so I want to make sure I know everything possible about a species before I get one. I also appreciate the list of good beginner species! I definitely don't want to overshoot and go for a species that's highly sensitive to a beginner's level of experience, no matter how much research I do.

Again, thank you so much! I'm amazed by all of these details, and it's very nice to have so much information in one condensed post. I wish I knew what else to say, it feels like my reply won't even be comparable to yours! Nonetheless, it put a smile on my face getting welcomed like this.

 

[The Spider House]

I didn't expect to be given so much helpful information right off the bat, thank you Phil! I'm glad someone with so much experience gave me a reply so quickly. It's even a little intimidating... I mean, 32 years? Wow!

I will certainly be keeping T's sometime in the future and knowing all of this is very important. You're definitely right about conversations with experienced keepers being much better than simply reading articles and guides online. No matter what, the most important thing is the safety of the animals, so I want to make sure I know everything possible about a species before I get one. I also appreciate the list of good beginner species! I definitely don't want to overshoot and go for a species that's highly sensitive to a beginner's level of experience, no matter how much research I do.

Again, thank you so much! I'm amazed by all of these details, and it's very nice to have so much information in one condensed post. I wish I knew what else to say, it feels like my reply won't even be comparable to yours! Nonetheless, it put a smile on my face getting welcomed like this.

Then it that case it made it all worth while. Glad some of it will help you on your epic tarantula journey. being an 'arachnohilic' is real and this is a very addictive hobby.

Good luck on your first T and do share with us, your T of choice, enclosure pictures, your new furry friend when you get him/her etc

There are vendors and reviews on this site which will probably be a much better option than shop bought spiders so check that out too. Happy hunting

 

[ShyDee37]

Hi all, I’m Shyra and I’m new here. I’ve been lurking on the boards for about a year, just trying to gain information and become more educated on tarantulas. My daughter (almost 10) and I are both obsessed. She’s been a bug girl her entire life. We have two 3 inchers (Avicularia Avicularia and Tliltocatl Albopilosum) and are excited to get more!