Long car travel with tarantula?

[bentrollio]

Within the next couple days, I need to drive back home from college, and I'm unsure the proper way to contain a tarantula during a long car drive. It's going to be a 6-7 hour drive, and the roads can get quite bumpy at times. What is the proper way to contain/pack my tarantula to ensure that she's safe in the car for a long drive? I still have the cup and padded cardboard box she came in, but I'm unsure about how to actually get her into the cup, and how much space she needs inside to breathe. Does anyone have any tips or advice? I could theoretically keep her in her tank, but I'm worried that if the tank or decor somehow got knocked over, she could get killed.

 

[Arthroverts]

Well, just pack the specimen in a deli cup about the size of its leg span stretched out with paper towels, like they do with shipping, and then place that in the padded cardboard box/cooler (styrofoam works great, but other coolers work as well), before packing that snug with paper or other similar packing materials.
If that isn't an option and depending on the size of the enclosure you could most definitely keep her in her enclosure, just remove all cage decor and perhaps add some paper towels to reduce the amount of space available for the specimen to potentially be bounced around.

What species is it? Whether it is an arboreal, fossorial, terrestrial, etc. could make a difference in how you should secure it.

Hope this helps,

Arthroverts

 

[Nightstalker47]

Safest route is to pack it like you would for shipping.

 

[TwiztedNinja]

Although not super bumpy, I have done shorter trips with tarantulas in their regular enclosures or temporary ones after getting them from shows or expos. I just make sure the enclosures are not going to move around a lot or tip over

 

[chanda]

I routinely transport the majority of my spiders back and forth to school for teaching summer school classes - and a smaller assortment on Halloween for "Creepy Crawly Day" presentations. For these trips, I just remove all large/heavy cage decor that might shift (water dishes, hides) and transport them in their regular enclosures, and have never had any problems.

I also sometimes acquire other bugs/spiders (and even the occasional tarantula) on collecting trips to Arizona or on summer road trips with my kids. I just stick 'em in plastic deli cups with slightly damp paper towels or dirt/leaf litter, and keep them in the trunk of the car in an ice chest (with minimal ice - just to keep it cooler but not actually cold - because the summer temperatures are often over 100F.) I've kept tarantulas that way for a couple of days before I returned home, and have kept other bugs for a week or more while on a road trip. For the longer trips (more than a day or two) I provide water and sometimes food while in transit. (Food is more of a concern with plant-eating bugs, which generally like to eat every day. Many predatory species can easily go a few days or even a week or so without food.)

 

[viper69]

I've driven across country during the summer- no issues. All Ts were in deli cups. Paper towels slightly damp.