Soon To Be New Tarantula Owner

ratluvr76

Arachnodemon
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Jul 12, 2014
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Thanks. I am now at the stage where I am trying to line up some feeders. I am figuring they will be ready to test out some food early next week. I've noticed the largest Avic is starting to web up the enclosure. I am very happy with the arboreal enclosures I got from Jamie.
glad to hear your one Avic is starting to web it's enclosure. A webbing Avic is a happy Avic in my (although limited) experience. :)
 

Jeff23

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Jul 27, 2016
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620
I gave up trying to use tweezers and am having good success using a straw to coax the small feeders into the end. I tried to use the mostly dead method to provide some dubia roaches to my T's. Only one roach was missing the next morning so I removed the others. I don't know if that one roach is a zombie on the loose or got ate by a Euathlus Sp.'Red'. My Eupalaestrus Campestratus is burrowing next to the plastic and seems to never be on surface while the 'Red's are very active just like the adults I have seen in video's. I am getting 250 each 1/8" crickets and 250 each 1/4" crickets today. Please don't tell them it was me if you hear a news story soon about a large number of crickets on the loose and taking over an apartment complex.

Does anyone use artificial lighting to create a more dramatic difference between night and day? The room with the T's has two windows with blinds closed. It gets light but not like regular day light. I am hoping that what I have is enough to give the T's a feeling of normal lighting transitions.
 

Vanessa

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Mar 12, 2016
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I gave up trying to use tweezers and am having good success using a straw to coax the small feeders into the end. I tried to use the mostly dead method to provide some dubia roaches to my T's. Only one roach was missing the next morning so I removed the others. I don't know if that one roach is a zombie on the loose or got ate by a Euathlus Sp.'Red'. My Eupalaestrus Campestratus is burrowing next to the plastic and seems to never be on surface while the 'Red's are very active just like the adults I have seen in video's. I am getting 250 each 1/8" crickets and 250 each 1/4" crickets today. Please don't tell them it was me if you hear a news story soon about a large number of crickets on the loose and taking over an apartment complex.

Does anyone use artificial lighting to create a more dramatic difference between night and day? The room with the T's has two windows with blinds closed. It gets light but not like regular day light. I am hoping that what I have is enough to give the T's a feeling of normal lighting transitions.
Both my E. campestratus burrow too. One was on the surface all the time, for about a week, but then went back underground. I sometimes see their little feet poking out of the hole to the surface. My Euathlus are also always on the surface. Even if they have a burrow, they come out when the lid is opened. They are extremely curious.
You weren't able to get less crickets? That is an awful lot of crickets for such a small amount of spiders. I have over 20 and I still only get 50 small and 50 mix of medium and large every three weeks. So many of them die on me, but I'm not very good about keeping them. You will need to keep up with their upkeep with that many. My cats take care of any escapees... or, more specifically, Nigel takes care of them.
Most tarantulas will take to their burrows during the day to avoid heat and predators. They don't see a lot of daylight. They aren't that affected by being kept a bit on the darker side. I don't like the idea of keeping them completely dark, although many people do it and don't report any negatives, but they don't really need a lot of light to understand day versus night.
 

Jeff23

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Jul 27, 2016
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Both my E. campestratus burrow too. One was on the surface all the time, for about a week, but then went back underground. I sometimes see their little feet poking out of the hole to the surface. My Euathlus are also always on the surface. Even if they have a burrow, they come out when the lid is opened. They are extremely curious.
You weren't able to get less crickets? That is an awful lot of crickets for such a small amount of spiders. I have over 20 and I still only get 50 small and 50 mix of medium and large every three weeks. So many of them die on me, but I'm not very good about keeping them. You will need to keep up with their upkeep with that many. My cats take care of any escapees... or, more specifically, Nigel takes care of them.
Most tarantulas will take to their burrows during the day to avoid heat and predators. They don't see a lot of daylight. They aren't that affected by being kept a bit on the darker side. I don't like the idea of keeping them completely dark, although many people do it and don't report any negatives, but they don't really need a lot of light to understand day versus night.
I bet it is fun to watch a cat chase crickets. I suppose someone else sells less crickets but I could only find roaches and assorted worms at other sellers. The price on the crickets isn't high, but the shipping cost for each order is ridiculous. That is why I went ahead and ordered two sizes. I was dissatisfied with what I saw on crickets at Petco and Petsmart. Neither had much of any real small ones. They also failed to clean out the dead ones. I ran out of time and decided to just order these here at the beginning. I wish there was a local Tarantula club so the everybody could share in this type of situation. I would be happy to give away some of these.

Thanks for the advice on light. My two Avic. Vers. see the biggest difference on light changes since they don't burrow.

@Jeff Allen The lesson to be learned from both my and @VanessaS experiences is that each spider has its own unique personality. While the Brachypelma sp. might be notorious for being unusually hair flicky this is by no means set in stone and as both of our experiences can attest each spider can be its own character.

In your case, given the value of true B. smithi I would investigate it and if it is indeed a true specimen I would pick it up. The value is worth it!
I don't want to give the impression that I don't love my two B. smithi, because I do, I just had to adjust the way I do things because they delight in hair kicking so much. They are really lovely tempered overall, and they are very beautiful, and I am pleased to have them in my collection. They are really very calm individuals, other than the hair kicking, and don't give me too much trouble. I have taken to using my gloves, and closing the lid to the enclosure as soon as they go on their kicking binge, so things are good with us.
It was just a new challenge for me to have these two because I have had very few kick hair at me over the years. At best, they would give a half-hearted kick during a rehouse and that was it - never during regular feeding and maintenance. I really wasn't prepared for the reaction I would have to their hair. I just made certain adjustments in the way I do things and everything is working out just fine.
:)
Guess what I just bought? I now own a 4-5 inch long Brachypelma. I am not going to say it is a smithi yet because this is the same one I had previously mentioned at Petco (Red Leg), but it does look like it could be a smithi. Petco had it in an aquarium with almost no substrate and barely enough plastic plants for it to shield a little of the light. I have been wanting a big spider and couldn't find what I wanted on the Internet so I decided to rescue this one. It didn't kick any hairs when the person put it in a muslin bag (????).
 

darkness975

Latrodectus
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Guess what I just bought? I now own a 4-5 inch long Brachypelma. I am not going to say it is a smithi yet because this is the same one I had previously mentioned at Petco (Red Leg), but it does look like it could be a smithi. Petco had it in an aquarium with almost no substrate and barely enough plastic plants for it to shield a little of the light. I have been wanting a big spider and couldn't find what I wanted on the Internet so I decided to rescue this one. It didn't kick any hairs when the person put it in a muslin bag (????).
Setae flicking is a defense but it is not always utilized. None of my spiders have flicked at me any time recently.

Post some images of your new addition.
 

Jeff23

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Jul 27, 2016
Messages
620
Setae flicking is a defense but it is not always utilized. None of my spiders have flicked at me any time recently.

Post some images of your new addition.
I'll do that once it gets settled (probably start a new thread in T Chat for it). I definitely want to get it identified. Right now it is in its hide and I don't want to create too much bright lights.

I've noticed that it is drinking a lot of water. I never saw it drink yesterday but noticed the deep dish bowl was lower on water this morning than expected. I refilled it while the spider was sitting on the substrate in front of its hide. It went into its hide at some point after sunrise. I just now found the spider drinking from it again before going back into its hide. So I just filled it up again. I hope this is nothing unusual. Maybe I should change my user name to "over thinking" Jeff :)
 

Trenor

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Jan 28, 2016
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I'll do that once it gets settled (probably start a new thread in T Chat for it). I definitely want to get it identified. Right now it is in its hide and I don't want to create too much bright lights.

I've noticed that it is drinking a lot of water. I never saw it drink yesterday but noticed the deep dish bowl was lower on water this morning than expected. I refilled it while the spider was sitting on the substrate in front of its hide. It went into its hide at some point after sunrise. I just now found the spider drinking from it again before going back into its hide. So I just filled it up again. I hope this is nothing unusual. Maybe I should change my user name to "over thinking" Jeff :)
It's not unusual, several of mine drink often. You are likely losing some to evaporation as well. Keep an eye on it and soon you'll know how often you need to fill it.
No worries, asking is how you learn.
 
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