Tarantula vets and substrate questions.

[tiohn]

As some know, I got my first tarantula, a G. rosea, a little less than a week ago. Things seem to be going well, although I had the substrate a bit damp at first. I put a heating pad under the tank for a couple of days to dry out the substrate, but the T still spends most of its time halfway up one of the walls. It was in the burrow I made for it for a short while, but went straight back to the wall. Is my substrate possibly still too damp, or do I just have a T that likes to splay against the wall?

Also, I considered taking it to an exotic pet vet for a routine checkup, but this will turn out to cost nearly $100. Would I just be wasting my money at this point? I don't have any real reason that I'm aware of to take it in, but part of me just wants to make sure everything is healthy. And they want a stool sample. I have no idea what tarantula crap looks like.

 

[problemchildx]

Get a couple new spiders for the cost of that "vet" bill.
It still could be moist, but the spider could just be wanting to hang out on that side because there is a slight temp difference maybe. The slightest difference is big to them.

 

[julesaussies]

Also, I considered taking it to an exotic pet vet for a routine checkup, but this will turn out to cost nearly $100. Would I just be wasting my money at this point? I don't have any real reason that I'm aware of to take it in, but part of me just wants to make sure everything is healthy. And they want a stool sample. I have no idea what tarantula crap looks like.

OMG!! i worked at an exotic veterinarian hospital for 14 years. In all honesty they didn't know squat about T's. Of the two that came in during that 14 years, they had me look at them. i can't even remember what they came in for now. i have honestly never heard of anyone treating a T for internal parasites (reason for the stool sample.) It would be very tricky as i'm sure most treatments would be toxic for the T. i'm all for routine health exams on my animals; my 11 year old Aussie gets a full blood panel every 6 months. However, i honestly believe they are taking you to the cleaners on this one. i would love to know what types of parasites they have diagnosed and treated in T's. It would be great if i was wrong but i won't believe it until proven otherwise.

 

[Aarantula]

OMG a tarantula vet!!!?

I'm sorry I have to laugh about this but when you said "I don't know what tarantula crap looks like" I literally burst out laughing because it sounds sooooo damn funny!!! Hey ya know what would be funny as hell though... if you scheduled an appointment for your tarantula and brought in a brown paper bag filled with dog crap and said it was your T's... the look on their face would be PRICELESS!!!!

 

[tiohn]

The bag of dog poo is a great idea. However, I'll definitely be foregoing the visit. I suspected that I might just be getting ripped off.

 

[omni]

In my experience, vets are well trained in mammal care, some have experience and knowledge about rodents, few can treat a reptile or bird , and none I ever heard of can diagnose/treat invertebrates.
T poo looks white, you'll see it at the edges of the substrate on the glass(terrestrials) and anywhere on the glass from arboreals.

 

[cockroach52]

you are better off asking people here for advice, there seems to be a lot of expertise here.

just take good pics and ask away.

people here are pretty helpful even if it's the same questions over and over again.

 

[imjim]

I'm sorry I have to laugh about this but when you said "I don't know what tarantula crap looks like" I literally burst out laughing because it sounds sooooo damn funny!!! Hey ya know what would be funny as hell though... if you scheduled an appointment for your tarantula and brought in a brown paper bag filled with dog crap and said it was your T's... the look on their face would be PRICELESS!!!!

PRICELESS! Yes ; )

$100 no way. . .

 

[cacoseraph]

i think you should ask more questions along the lines of those already posed here


ask them how they know it is normal and healthy. what maladies can they detect. what treatments would they be able to offer.


i suspect they are possibly well meaning but probably underinformed and it would be a waste of money

 

[Moltar]

That's funny. I don't know this for certain but i have a feeling that even the world's foremost experts on tarantulas (Schultz, West, etc) have very limited if any tools to actually remove internal parasites from tarantulas.

 

[vvx]

routine checkup

Routine tarantula checkup? Ask the vet how many of these "routine" checkups they've done in the last year.

I've never heard of anyone taking a tarantula to the vets. Not that tarantula owners are bad people, it's just what can a vet do for a tarantula? Not exactly the kind of pet you give medicine to or perform surgery on.

 

[Stylopidae]

Tarantulas are not animals you take into a vet.

If a tarantula is sick or injured, there are a handfull of easy things you can do for it...but nothing that can't be done at home by a college student.

If something happens, post or send someone a PM and your questions will be answered within minutes or hours.