dieselmama
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2011
- Messages
- 13
Hi, we (my son and I) are new here, he is a new tarantula owner, having researched them for 2 years and kept house spiders as pets during that time... (mom says shudder, but I am trying to be a good mom!).
Anyway... he finally got his first friend a couple of weeks ago and chose the Panama Red Rump (female) as his Tarantula of choice. The store showed us how they were hand feeding her roaches (with tweezers), though locally (we live in Idaho, store was in Arizona) we are not able to get roaches, just crickets and such.
We got her aquarium all set up nicely once we got her home (drove home in 2 days so she wasn't packed in her carrying case for too long), but we have a couple of problems we are hoping you might help us with.
First of all, she is not eating still, though we have seen her drinking a few times from her water dish, and see signs of webbing in various places throughout the aquarium. She seems to prefer (during the day anyway) to be on the glass rather than on the ground or in her hide... fine by us as her coloring is really pretty, for a Tarantula anyway.
2nd question is a little more tricky though... we noticed this evening that she has a bare spot on one side on her abdomen near her pedicel (hope I am using the right terminology!). Sean of course is quite worried.. he has read just about every spider/tarantula book he can find, has found himself confused because some of them suggest opposing things regarding Tarantula care, (vermiculite vs peat vs coconut husks, heat vs not, how deep to make the base, etc...). anyway... whatever help you can give would be appreciated. I wondered if just maybe we are seeing a book lung? though we don't see it on the other side, she seems to walk and stand such that that one side is a little more open than the other side anywa....
No idea how to post pics here, but I am going to try to do so.
Thanks for any help you can give my budding arachnologist... He has a dream of someday owning a spider zoo. As he is special needs, it is wonderful that he has found something that so stimulates him like this!
Heidi
Anyway... he finally got his first friend a couple of weeks ago and chose the Panama Red Rump (female) as his Tarantula of choice. The store showed us how they were hand feeding her roaches (with tweezers), though locally (we live in Idaho, store was in Arizona) we are not able to get roaches, just crickets and such.
We got her aquarium all set up nicely once we got her home (drove home in 2 days so she wasn't packed in her carrying case for too long), but we have a couple of problems we are hoping you might help us with.
First of all, she is not eating still, though we have seen her drinking a few times from her water dish, and see signs of webbing in various places throughout the aquarium. She seems to prefer (during the day anyway) to be on the glass rather than on the ground or in her hide... fine by us as her coloring is really pretty, for a Tarantula anyway.
2nd question is a little more tricky though... we noticed this evening that she has a bare spot on one side on her abdomen near her pedicel (hope I am using the right terminology!). Sean of course is quite worried.. he has read just about every spider/tarantula book he can find, has found himself confused because some of them suggest opposing things regarding Tarantula care, (vermiculite vs peat vs coconut husks, heat vs not, how deep to make the base, etc...). anyway... whatever help you can give would be appreciated. I wondered if just maybe we are seeing a book lung? though we don't see it on the other side, she seems to walk and stand such that that one side is a little more open than the other side anywa....
No idea how to post pics here, but I am going to try to do so.
Thanks for any help you can give my budding arachnologist... He has a dream of someday owning a spider zoo. As he is special needs, it is wonderful that he has found something that so stimulates him like this!
Heidi
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