Spiderlings, and their care........

[sunnymarcie]

Is it more difficult to care for tiny T's?
I was looking at some babies, and thinking
about getting a few, maybe.
What is the least difficult to care for,
and what is the most difficult?
I'm looking for ideas, a sort of shopping list
for the next show.

 

[safetypinup]

Here's a short list of some spiderlings that you may be interested in keeping, as these are generally quite hardy:

--A. avicularia
--most Brachypelma species, including the hobby favorites B. smithi and B. emilia (although these are frustratingly slow-growing)
--T. blondi (you would need to keep a close eye on these as they prepare to molt, however, as they seem to have a tendency towards bad molts)
--most Poecilotheria (especially the good ol' P regalis)
--C. cyaneopubescens (practically impossible to kill)
--P. murinus
--L. parahybana

The list goes on, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind.
As far as care requirements, obviously they differ from species to species, but as a general rule, you'll want to just keep a closer eye on young spiderlings, and feed them a little more often than you would juveniles or adults. Some spiderlings are more moisture-sensitive than you're probably used to, so just check out a good caresheet or ask the dealer about the individual species.
One species that you'd definitely want to steer clear of in the "hardy spiderling" department is A. versicolor, as these have a frustrating tendency toward...well...dying.

Let me know if you need any more information. We have most of these spiderlings here at e-spiderworld, so give us a call if you're interested.

Good luck, and let us know what you choose

 

[Bob the thief]

some of those....... venom wise are not very safe for beginners...
but I have had curly slings survive 4 days without power in the middle of winter they grow slooooooooooooooooooow though.

Oh and even though I pheer my usambara sling I think its my best sling I got him in october at a reptile show and he was 1/2 an inch....
Now hes a inch and a half and I have him in a big roomy desert like container with lots of twigs and 2 inches of semi dry peat.
Its really interesting how he makes this big funnel from the top of the twigs that leads under the ground and under some rocks that are in there.

He is still my favorate.
Faster than my eye can see litterally sometimes and a scarey bite but other than that hes nice.

 

[Tranz]

Originally posted by sunnymarcie
Is it more difficult to care for tiny T's?
I was looking at some babies, and thinking
about getting a few, maybe.
What is the least difficult to care for,
and what is the most difficult?

I'd recommend a Brazilian Black or a Chaco Golden Knee. They are hardy and do well in captivity. They don't have stringent humidity or ventilation requirements, and they won't attack you.

 

[rapunzel]

are you going to the show

in Taylor? It is on the first of March...lots of slings there..and mmmdonuts from here has a table at the show..he has brazillian black slings, lots of different slings... He helped me out great with questions and care also, real easy to talk to.
But darn, slings are addictive.I am real impatient and hate waiting for them to grow...i need to get a real fast growing one to satisfy my impatient-ness....heehee..hmm, wonder what I will get this time around...

 

[Nixy]

Every T has their chalenges, pros and cons.
S'lings are pretty easy if you Look up and Fine out what they need.
I read All about how A.Veriscolors are and their habit of kissing death but after alot of research and careful planning our Versicolor Xenix is doing Great.

Research is the best tool toward growing little S'lings into big healthy happy Tarantuals.

Welcome abourd and have fun.

I'm still newish to the hobby with my little twins but we are Totaly hooked and will continue for a Good long time.

Good luck sunnymarcie and happy T collecting.

 

[safetypinup]

Originally posted by Bob the thief
some of those....... venom wise are not very safe for beginners...

Not to say that I don't agree with you, but...
We *are* talking about spiderlings, here, and when's the last time you heard of a 1" Poecilotheria attacking someone?
Personally, (just my opinion here) I think that any keeper, regardless of experience (or lack thereof) can successfully keep *just about* any T, provided they do the adequate research and understand/are prepared to deal with any problems that said spider might display or cause. Not to say, of course, that I advocate someone getting a Poec or other genus with known high venom toxicity as a beginner to the hobby, but it would stand to reason that someone with enough "smarts" would read up thoroughly about whatever species they decide to get BEFORE they get it, and make their decision accordingly.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Kenny]

Hi

Hi

It should be fun and no worries.

Most T IME do fine with a waterdish and some extra pre-cautions: For Avicularia spieces, for example, ventilation is important, humidity that changes on and off they can take, just don't let it go bonedry in the cage to long time, keep misting on cage walls for these and allways a waterdish.
This is what I've done and I haven't lost one s'ling of these spieces.

Some speices like it bonedry and there a waterdish is the only thing they need really.

Just check what that specific T spieces in question need in pre-caution, otherwise IMHO, little misting, food and a waterdish and they do just fine.

Kenny

 

[kellygirl]

I have several 1st and 2nd instar A. avicularia spiderlings in tiny delicups. How in the world do I ventilate beyond poking holes?!

kellygirl

 

[Steve Nunn]

Originally posted by kellygirl
I have several 1st and 2nd instar A. avicularia spiderlings in tiny delicups. How in the world do I ventilate beyond poking holes?!

kellygirl

Hi Kelly,
Kenny's post doesn't relate to s'lings as s'lings don't need water dishes, just moist substrate (they are capillary drinkers, remember). Just relax about the ventilation issue, you are doing all you can and exactly what every other successful keeper does. S'lings are a catch 22 in captivity, too much ventilation and the substrate will dry out too quickly, too little and fungus sets in quickly. Just go with what you have set up, no need to worry, it's the best any keeper could do, nothing is perfect in captivity.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[sunnymarcie]

@Rapunzel~:0)

I bought my T. from him, I didn't think to
ask what it was at the time. :?
I've talked with him every time we attended
the show, and finally made my purchase last month.
SOOOO, at the moment, he is my vendor of choice
In the spring, I plan to buy a Ball Python for
my daughter, do you know any of the snake people?
=D

 

[Nixy]

T. shows in Baltimore

We don't get them as far as I know.

Dang it..........

 

[jwb121377]

Re: T. shows in Baltimore

Originally posted by Nixy
We don't get them as far as I know.

Dang it..........

There are a few shows in your extended area that often have inverts for sale. First there is Havre de Grace, a small but well put together show that always has someone selling inverts. It happens once a month. Next there is the Hamburg Pa show. If you only go to one show this is the one you will want to make. It may invole a drive, but if I am willing to make a four hour drive you know its good. Tommy's spiders, Regal Reptles, and many others are there that are selling Inverts. It only happens twice a year though, and the next one is not until summertime. If you check out kingsnake.com and look at the events page you will find more info on them.

 

[LPacker79]

We don't get them as far as I know.

Go to kingsnake.com and check out their Events page.

Leanne

 

[Arachnopuppy]

The thing I have found about keeping slings is that they require more care and attention than the big ones. One needs a lot of patience to have slings. Since they are not as impressive on the outside as the big ones, they may seem boring to people. It actually happenned to me before I became really interested in them and actually check each one everyday. I would say that it is better to care for some big ones for a while before getting slings.

Another problem you will probably encounter is finding a stable food source. Mostly everything live you can find easily are big for the adult or juvie T's. Finding insects small enough for these slings are harder and you would probably need to order online. An even more annoying problem you will probably encounter is the fact that such small insects die so easily. I think I have tried 5 times with pinhead colonies and I failed miserably on all of them. It's just too hard to keep them alive and healthy, even harder than the slings. I have resorted to keeping mealworms colony and their beetle counterparts. Ever other day, I would dig through the substrate to find really tiny mealworms for my slings. A colony like this is really easy to keep. Just keep throw in food every once in a while and keep the substrate moist.

So, you would probably need to resort to cutting up mealworms or adult crix. This may be no problem at first, but it will start to get really annoying everytime you do it. Take my world for it, no matter how hard you try, the smallest pieces of worms or crix that you could cut would still be much bigger than the slings themselves. Therefore, you need to remember to remove any remain after the slings are filled before mold sets in. Try doing this everytime after feeding time.

Another thing I can think of is to always keep the substrates for the slings moist, but not wet. They are easily dehydrated and will curl up and die if left dry for more than a day or 2.

I'm not trying to scare anyone away from getting slings. I'm just trying to get people to reallize that it is not that simple to take care of slings. It took me some deaths before I reallized my mistakes and changed my ways.

 

[Steve Nunn]

Originally posted by lam
It took me some deaths before I reallized my mistakes and changed my ways.

That's a shame lam, you could have avoided a lot of losses and dramas by researching properly before you purchased. I'm not coming down hard on you, each to their own after all, but to give an anology, one doesn't buy fish without a fishtank.

Keeping slings are just like the adults, only with a slight variation on requirements. One or two posts expressing an interest in slings would have got you the right info and maybe explained some of the pittfalls involved.

After all, slings need humidity, but that isn't a problem if tackled correctly. Food is just as easy, a little research goes a long way in this hobby.

Rather then express problems with something as gratifying as keeping slings (nothing beats watching your T's grow so damn quickly and you can take comfort knowing your supporting captive breeding, a noble ideal for certain), how about expressing the upsides of keeping them. There are just too many reasons to keep positive about slings, adults are the one thing I'd steer keepers away from.

Lets look at the positives behind purchasing adults: They are big and look good.
You know the sex.

Now the negatives: They cost a fortune.
If they don't cost a fortune then chances are they're wild caught (and we all know the downsides to that).
They may not live that long(every chance of purchasing an old spider).
Being that many adults are indeed wild caught, you could introduce parasites into your collections(nematodes and mites).
The enclosures and setups will cost more than slings.
There's no appreciation on your possible "assets", unlike slings.

I can appreciate you had a bad experience or two, but the fact remains, research could have altered that. Don't take offense lam, I just think you made a mistake, but I'd hate to see you spread that mistake


Cheers,
Steve

 

[Arachnopuppy]

I never said I didn't know about them. I did do research and I pretty much knew as much as I know now. The point that I was trying to get across was that knowing isn't necessarily mean you would do it right the first time. Taking care of slings are much harder, based on my personal experience, than taking care of a rosea. All I did was suggested that a person should familiarize himself to with care technigues and dedication. Now be honest, do you actually know how to do something right the first time always after just by knowing it? I don't know about you, but it took time for me to get into a pattern that works. BTW, read my post again more carefully. I don't think I expressed any warnings of lack of knowledge in the field. I stressed heavily on pattern of care and dedication. By "my mistake" that I put in the other post, I meant not enough focus and dedication.

I think part of the problem was that I'm a student. Cutting up crix and worms takes time and they're not exactly fun to do. It is easy to let it slip your mind if you have a busy schedule. And that was what I was trying to say. I had no doubt that people would seek help on the forum. It is just a matter of forcing yourself to make time for doing such things. Doing it the first couple time is easy. But trying to get into a pattern of doing it every other day or so takes focus. For me, it is not a given.

 

[Tranz]

Originally posted by Steve Nunn
Now the negatives: They cost a fortune.
If they don't cost a fortune then chances are they're wild caught (and we all know the downsides to that).
They may not live that long(every chance of purchasing an old spider).
Being that many adults are indeed wild caught, you could introduce parasites into your collections(nematodes and mites).
The enclosures and setups will cost more than slings.
There's no appreciation on your possible "assets", unlike slings.

Cheers,
Steve

Also, isn't it possible that adults can bring with them certain emotional or behavioral "baggage"? Though I've never seen it discussed, would it not be possible to make a spider mean, or fearful, by repeatedly mistreating it? I know that is possible with dogs and cats. You have to wonder if some of these "psycho rosies" that people wind up with were perhaps made that way by their previous keepers, or even by experiences in the wild.

 

[Steve Nunn]

Originally posted by Tranz
Also, isn't is possible that adults can bring with them certain emotional or behavioral "baggage"?

OOOOHHHHH, Dr Breene (ATS) would chew your head off and eat it if he saw that remark

I however am not so inclined and believe that the spiders may 'remember' as such, I couldn't even guess to what extent though. The reason this subject isn't really approached is because at this stage of the game it's all hypothetical, there's absolutely no concrete evidence to support tarantula "mammal type thought" as it were.

Many would say it's just not possible and unbelieveable that these arthropods can harbour any sort of thought patterns similar to what mammals might do. Sure they have what we term a brain (the ganglion) but any suggestion that they may think in some way like we do (mammals) is going to be met with harsh criticism.

I'm of the opinion that the tarantulas may think more then we give them credit for, but how much more is anyones guess and it would be just that, a guess.

Still, you never know

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Mad Scientist]

--most Brachypelma species, including the hobby favorites B. smithi and B. emilia (although these are frustratingly slow-growing)

Don't I know that, we have had a B. smithi & B. emilia slings for about a year now and they've only grown 1''.

Is it more difficult to care for tiny T's

I'd would have to say no, all the tarantulas that have come to us were either spiderlings or juvie's; and we kept them the same as we would any other adult T' (only with the exception of a smaller enclosure) and most are adults now.

We've got 13+ species now. -lol, I know it's kinda weak, especially compared to other members here-