The Chronicles of my First Tarantula

[Ely]

All great info! Thanks I need to wait till Friday to renovate things to be more safe. I put the sponge in there to prevent crickets from drowning (I only leave them in the tank for about 24hrs), I will change it out regularly, also there is a big enough gap that my G. rosea can drink, I smell and rinse it very often.
I know that this species is sensitive to bacteria, I may just eliminate it idk

 

[viper69]

All great info! Thanks I need to wait till Friday to renovate things to be more safe. I put the sponge in there to prevent crickets from drowning (I only leave them in the tank for about 24hrs), I will change it out regularly, also there is a big enough gap that my G. rosea can drink, I smell and rinse it very often.
I know that this species is sensitive to bacteria, I may just eliminate it idk

Yeah crickets aren't that bright. I used to use glass beads from Michaels, but one could argue that forms a surface too! Then I stopped, primarily because I wanted more water in bowl, equals less time I need to refill. IF you had to use something, I'd go with glass beads over a sponge.

 

[boina]

I have a Grammostola rosea, not bigger than 3", I will cut back his intake of food.

I really wouldn't cut back on his food just yet. I looks a bit on the thin side. I'd fatten him up before I slow down his feeding schedule.

 

[sasker]

we have also just sat and felt each others "fingers" for awhile I try to talk to him everyday to get him used to me and associate my voice/vibrations with food, water, or general maintenance

Please be aware that associating with your spider will not result in a well-trained spider. Tarantulas are no social animals and there is no indication that they can get used to being handled or recognize our voice. They are highly sensitive to vibrations but as far as we know they only make the distinction between 'can I eat it' and 'will it eat me' when they notice vibrations. Although it is entirely up to you if you decide to handle your tarantula, handling is a controversial topic and many keepers (if not most) decide to only enjoy their tarantulas from a safe (for both tarantula and keeper) distance. As mentioned earlier, your G. rosea will not get anything out of being handled, accept the risk of injury.

 

[Venom1080]

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

Fatten it up, then feed like once a month. Don't bother trying to mimic a wild feeding schedule, they don't care. My big girl gets like once every other month. She's fat and healthy.
They don't care about season, I keep mine at about 74 24/7. Temp changes can be helpful for breeding however I think. Don't bother monitoring it, unless you care to know of course.
They generally don't burrow. But it's best to leave them an option to. Add more substrate to make a gap of no more than 1.5 x the spiders legspan. Terrestrials easily die from falls.
If it has tibial hooks onthw underside of its first pair of legs, it's a MM and will die in about a year. If not, hold out hope it's female. Tarantulas are much more active at night. Get that sponge out as well. Plain water works fine. I rarely leave prey in for more than a few minutes, if it doesn't take it by then it's probably not going to at all. They don't sleep as we do. If he's curling his legs in, he's probably stressed.
Switch out that cage or the screen lid. They can lose legs from hanging.

 

[Ely]

I really wouldn't cut back on his food just yet. I looks a bit on the thin side. I'd fatten him up before I slow down his feeding schedule.

Thanks for the input!
That was my original plan so I will taper him off eventually, but I still want to keep up the randomness of the feeding schedule

 

[darkness975]

Thanks for the input!
That was my original plan so I will taper him off eventually, but I still want to keep up the randomness of the feeding schedule

When you make the changes to the Enclosure, re post so we can see if there is anything else that may have been missed. Always helpful to have multiple pairs of eyes (no pun intended) observing.

 

[Ely]

When you make the changes to the Enclosure, re post so we can see if there is anything else that may have been missed. Always helpful to have multiple pairs of eyes (no pun intended) observing.

I definitely will, this Friday I can go shopping for my fuzzy friend

 

[Ely]

I do understand handling is dangerous for both of us, that's why I have only touched my G. Rosea, I haven't even had her/him climb on my hand yet, and when I do I will make sure he/she most of all is safe, meaning in the tank at all times and never lift him/her off the ground, he/she is a family member and I will always look out for my families safety

 

[Ely]

So what website's are the best to order supplies?