Hello Everyone,
I'm from the UK and have just purchased my first two tarantulas. I have a Brachypelma Vagans (Red Rump) and a Lasiodora Parahybana (Salmon Pink Bird eater), both of which I got around 2 weeks ago. My Vagans is has a leg span of around 3.5-4 inches and my Salmon Pink is around 4-4.5 inches. My first question is about measurements - I've am measuring from back to front (end of leg-to-end of leg), but are you supposed to do it this way? Or is it like TV screens where you measure diagonally or something?
Also, my Vagans has not ate since I've had him (I say 'him' because he just moulted on Saturday night, and I took a look at his shed skin), I'm just wondering if I'm right to keep food away from him till the Saturday after (to let his new skin harden), even though he hasn't ate anything since I've had him? He spends a lot of his time in his burrow - a half coconut shell, semi-dug into his coconut fibre substrate. His home is a plastic pet pal (11x8x8") with 4-5" of coconut fibre (85%), Vermiculite (10%) and a few bark chips (5%). A halt coconut shell for his hide and a water bowl. Is this set up okay for him? Will I need to upgrade at all?
My Salmon Pink is, I think, a female. She sometimes shows me her underside by climbing on the glass in full view - quite the attention seeker when compared to the Vagans. She's in a bigger glass tank (18x10x10"). It has a half flower pot hide (which she only uses when I open the top to feed her), a piece log to climb on and a water dish. Her substrate is made up of Vermiculite (75%), coconut fibre (20%) and bark chips (5%), though it's only about 2 1/2 inches deep. I know the Salmon Pinks grow a lot bigger - so do you think I should maybe (eventually) get a bigger tank for her? Or will this one do? Are there any good places in the UK - or anywhere else which may do international shipping - to get suitably built tanks (glass or acrylic) for my tarantulas?
One last question: What is the lifespan of my respectively different tarantulas (taken into account their size and sex) and what age would you say they are now? (Okay, so I asked two questions there!)
Thanks for any help you guys can offer! Look forward to posting and reading this forum more often.
I'm from the UK and have just purchased my first two tarantulas. I have a Brachypelma Vagans (Red Rump) and a Lasiodora Parahybana (Salmon Pink Bird eater), both of which I got around 2 weeks ago. My Vagans is has a leg span of around 3.5-4 inches and my Salmon Pink is around 4-4.5 inches. My first question is about measurements - I've am measuring from back to front (end of leg-to-end of leg), but are you supposed to do it this way? Or is it like TV screens where you measure diagonally or something?
Also, my Vagans has not ate since I've had him (I say 'him' because he just moulted on Saturday night, and I took a look at his shed skin), I'm just wondering if I'm right to keep food away from him till the Saturday after (to let his new skin harden), even though he hasn't ate anything since I've had him? He spends a lot of his time in his burrow - a half coconut shell, semi-dug into his coconut fibre substrate. His home is a plastic pet pal (11x8x8") with 4-5" of coconut fibre (85%), Vermiculite (10%) and a few bark chips (5%). A halt coconut shell for his hide and a water bowl. Is this set up okay for him? Will I need to upgrade at all?
My Salmon Pink is, I think, a female. She sometimes shows me her underside by climbing on the glass in full view - quite the attention seeker when compared to the Vagans. She's in a bigger glass tank (18x10x10"). It has a half flower pot hide (which she only uses when I open the top to feed her), a piece log to climb on and a water dish. Her substrate is made up of Vermiculite (75%), coconut fibre (20%) and bark chips (5%), though it's only about 2 1/2 inches deep. I know the Salmon Pinks grow a lot bigger - so do you think I should maybe (eventually) get a bigger tank for her? Or will this one do? Are there any good places in the UK - or anywhere else which may do international shipping - to get suitably built tanks (glass or acrylic) for my tarantulas?
One last question: What is the lifespan of my respectively different tarantulas (taken into account their size and sex) and what age would you say they are now? (Okay, so I asked two questions there!)
Thanks for any help you guys can offer! Look forward to posting and reading this forum more often.