Ely
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- May 4, 2017
- Messages
- 0
Hello, my name is Elyse, My fascination for spiders started quite a few years ago, and I almost want to say the spiders started it!
They will show up in places only I will notice (saving others from the horror), they will be waiting for me it seems... Knowing I will go to great lengths to protect and hopefully rescue them (place them outside or in an equivalent safe spot).
After I decided I was on a mission to save the spiders from the humans, I started learning everything I could about them, mostly wild common north American species. For two years I took Macro (up close) pictures of very many species, I have hundreds of photos so far. Truly amazing creatures!
On March 18 2017, I adopted my first tarantula, I finally justified to myself how I could keep the little guy safe and happy
He is a Chilean rose or Grammostola rosea, I have yet to properly name him, so for now he is my Baby Boy, The pet store claims he was about 5 months old at that point (some how I think it is untrue).
We have only "held hands" at this point, I'm shy and so is he I want to start slow.
I have heard controversial information about feeding schedules so I have created my own,
as follows;
-adoption
- waited a week
- fed him about 5 crickets throughout a 7 day period
- waited just under a month
-fed him 5 crickets over about a 3 day period
-been waiting about a week so far now.
I imagine I will somewhat keep a structured yet staggering schedule like that, I want to create a more natural flow of prey, more unpredictable.
For housing I have a 5g tank with a walnut sandy like substrate, a bark hide, a fake fern for him to climb and hide under and a water dish. I try to give him a daylight period and to have the tank become warmer very gradually ( a few degrees different) to help to orient what season he's in, also I do monitor the temp and humidity in the tank. I know they are hardy and extremely adaptable but he doesn't have the option to borrow and create his own climate like he would be able to in the wild. If anyone here knows or has achieved their Chilean borrowing in captivity please share with me!
Hmm what else have I missed, oh, reasons why I think he is a male: his abdomen is the same or smaller than his cephalothorax, and his legs seem to be long, as I understand there won't be much difference between a male and female until I know it is mature? Which is not clear how to tell...
This evening I was able to inspect is book lungs and look for signs of sex organs but I only saw the lungs.
He seems to be very active at night and I got to witness him drinking from the water dish the first night I adopted him, very strange sight to see lol I love seeing the mammalian characteristics in him, he tucks himself in and he slowly stretches out more and more as he falls asleep lol
So I will conclude this now with a huge invitation to constructively criticize anything I am doing for I am only a beginner! Please help me with any advice or just share your experiences! I want my baby boy to live long and prosper!
Good night fellow Arachnologists
They will show up in places only I will notice (saving others from the horror), they will be waiting for me it seems... Knowing I will go to great lengths to protect and hopefully rescue them (place them outside or in an equivalent safe spot).
After I decided I was on a mission to save the spiders from the humans, I started learning everything I could about them, mostly wild common north American species. For two years I took Macro (up close) pictures of very many species, I have hundreds of photos so far. Truly amazing creatures!
On March 18 2017, I adopted my first tarantula, I finally justified to myself how I could keep the little guy safe and happy
He is a Chilean rose or Grammostola rosea, I have yet to properly name him, so for now he is my Baby Boy, The pet store claims he was about 5 months old at that point (some how I think it is untrue).
We have only "held hands" at this point, I'm shy and so is he I want to start slow.
I have heard controversial information about feeding schedules so I have created my own,
as follows;
-adoption
- waited a week
- fed him about 5 crickets throughout a 7 day period
- waited just under a month
-fed him 5 crickets over about a 3 day period
-been waiting about a week so far now.
I imagine I will somewhat keep a structured yet staggering schedule like that, I want to create a more natural flow of prey, more unpredictable.
For housing I have a 5g tank with a walnut sandy like substrate, a bark hide, a fake fern for him to climb and hide under and a water dish. I try to give him a daylight period and to have the tank become warmer very gradually ( a few degrees different) to help to orient what season he's in, also I do monitor the temp and humidity in the tank. I know they are hardy and extremely adaptable but he doesn't have the option to borrow and create his own climate like he would be able to in the wild. If anyone here knows or has achieved their Chilean borrowing in captivity please share with me!
Hmm what else have I missed, oh, reasons why I think he is a male: his abdomen is the same or smaller than his cephalothorax, and his legs seem to be long, as I understand there won't be much difference between a male and female until I know it is mature? Which is not clear how to tell...
This evening I was able to inspect is book lungs and look for signs of sex organs but I only saw the lungs.
He seems to be very active at night and I got to witness him drinking from the water dish the first night I adopted him, very strange sight to see lol I love seeing the mammalian characteristics in him, he tucks himself in and he slowly stretches out more and more as he falls asleep lol
So I will conclude this now with a huge invitation to constructively criticize anything I am doing for I am only a beginner! Please help me with any advice or just share your experiences! I want my baby boy to live long and prosper!
Good night fellow Arachnologists
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