Thrixopelma Sp. Cajamarca "Orange" Care

[batton1k]

Hello All.

HELP! I recently acquired a few tarantulas. One of them is a Thrixopelma Sp. Cajamarca "Orange." Unlike the other spiders, this one has not acclimated OR eaten since I got it. I wonder if I have it in the correct kind of enclosure. Should it be a vertical enclosure instead? Like an arboreal tarantula?
Please, any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[viper69]

sounds like you haven’t even done a search

 

[batton1k]

sounds like you haven’t even done a search

I have tried to do a search and so has my friend who gave it to me. She suggested trying here. It is a very new species to collectors so there isn't much info out there. I am sorry to have bothered you. You could have just moved on and not said anything. I was looking for information. Not a troll.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I have tried to do a search and so has my friend who gave it to me. She suggested trying here. It is a very new species to collectors so there isn't much info out there. I am sorry to have bothered you. You could have just moved on and not said anything. I was looking for information. Not a troll.

Post pics of its enclosure.

 

[batton1k]

Post pics of its enclosure.

I just wanna make sure I'm being a good mom

 

[viper69]

I have tried to do a search and so has my friend who gave it to me. She suggested trying here. It is a very new species to collectors so there isn't much info out there. I am sorry to have bothered you. You could have just moved on and not said anything. I was looking for information. Not a troll.

Very new- - subjective term- IMO it isn’t very new. If you google you’ll see people have owned this locality for at least 9 yrs, and likely a bit earlier.

There’s no need for name calling here. That’s quite rude of you. You can take your attitude and save it.

Why do you think it should be in an arboreal setup? It’s a terrestrial species in case you couldn’t tell.

As for not eating etc, you have not provided specific enough information so for now all seems fine. It’s not uncommon for Ts not to eat for a while when settling in.

But given your lack of specific information and your use of subjective terms maybe you’ve owned this T for a day or for 3 years.

 

[batton1k]

Very new- - subjective term- IMO it isn’t very new. If you google you’ll see people have owned this locality for at least 9 yrs, and likely a bit earlier.

There’s no need for name calling here. That’s quite rude of you. You can take your attitude and save it.

Why do you think it should be in an arboreal setup? It’s a terrestrial species in case you couldn’t tell.

As for not eating etc, you have not provided specific enough information so for now all seems fine. It’s not uncommon for Ts not to eat for a while when settling in.

But given your lack of specific information and your use of subjective terms maybe you’ve owned this T for a day or for 3 years.

IYO. Opinions are VERY subjective. And you sure know how to call the kettle black when it comes to being rude. Why didn't you just move along? Seriously? Why?
I never said it "should be." I said I "wondered if." Maybe work on your reading comprehension.
I have read while searching that it is a newer spider to collectors. I also said I acquired these spiders RECENTLY. Recently does not mean 3 years ago. THAT is a fact. You can move along now troll. You clearly aren't here to help so I am not interested in your feedback moving forward.
This was my first post on here. Thanks for making it an unpleasant experience.

 

[viper69]

IYO. Opinions are VERY subjective. And you sure know how to call the kettle black when it comes to being rude. Why didn't you just move along? Seriously? Why?
I never said it "should be." I said I "wondered if." Maybe work on your reading comprehension.
I have read while searching that it is a newer spider to collectors. I also said I acquired these spiders RECENTLY. Recently does not mean 3 years ago. THAT is a fact. You can move along now troll. You clearly aren't here to help so I am not interested in your feedback moving forward.
This was my first post on here. Thanks for making it an unpleasant experience.

Recently is a subjective term Your “facts” are your opinions You need to work on your vocabulary definitions

should, wondered, speculated, questioned etc whatever thought exists in your neurons- it’s a terrestrial species, put it in an arboreal setup- it’s your T.

Not long ago someone posted somewhere how they keep this locality- it’s quite easy to keep.

Like I typed, maybe you should actually search.

I would have pointed you to the info, but you’re not interested in feedback.

Good luck!

 

[batton1k]

Recently is a subjective term Your “facts” are your opinions You need to work on your vocabulary definitions

should, wondered, speculated, questioned etc whatever thought exists in your neurons- it’s a terrestrial species, put it in an arboreal setup- it’s your T.

Not long ago someone posted somewhere how they keep this locality- it’s quite easy to keep.

Like I typed, maybe you should actually search.

I would have pointed you to the info, but you’re not interested in feedback.

Good luck!

I am not interested in being lectured. The feedback you have offered so far hasn't been informative. It has just been rude and impatient. There is TOO much info on the internet. Since I read that it is a newer species as a pet on the internet and IYO that is clearly false, maybe the internet isn't always correct. Also, I am old fashioned. I want to discuss things with actual people. And I refuse to take on a new pet and not do everything I can to make them comfortable. If I put it in the wrong kind of enclosure, they won't be happy. It is in the enclosure my friend gave it to me in. I want one a little bigger but don't want to purchase the wrong kind. I decided to reach out to humans as well as Google.
And again, Why did you choose to respond if you didn't want to help? You never answered my question.
I specifically said it one way and you tried to act like you were quoting me with what you wanted to say. Saying I wonder if it may need a different kind of enclosure since it seems unhappy is no where close to saying I think it needs to be in a different kind of enclosure. I don't know what kind of enclosure it would prefer. Hence asking here. Maybe even getting feedback from someone who actually owns one. Are you always this rude to other members? Calling yourself a god and using 69 in your user name. It sounds to me that you just might live in your mommy's basement. That would explain all the anger and hostility

 

[DonLouchese]

This back and forth brings us nowhere anyhow. The tarantula itself should be kept as other Thrixopelma species so that means terrestrial, meaning substrate a hide and a water dish. You can decorate it as you prefer.


Below Thrixopelma ockerti. From my friends room.



Best regards,

Don

 

[batton1k]

This back and forth brings us nowhere anyhow. The tarantula itself should be kept as other Thrixopelma species so that means terrestrial, meaning substrate a hide and a water dish. You can decorate it as you prefer.


Below Thrixopelma ockerti. From my friends room.

View attachment 457717

Best regards,

Don

Thank you Don. I appreciate the straight forward information.

Thank you Don. I appreciate the straight forward information.

Also, I hope mine get's that pretty! So far it is a very dark brown color all over with a small mark on its rump and very little hair.

 

[DonLouchese]

Yeah this is totally fine for a sling this size. Could be even smaller , maybe just a bit less moisture as the picture looks very heavily wet gl.

 

[Smotzer]

Yes it can be kept like the rest of the Genus as well as most other NW tarantulas, very few tarantulas ever need specific care outside of their genus or area of the world, so always rely on that.
I agree the set up looks a bit to wet, and also I would include some type of water dish and possibly something to hide under since the enclosure is a bit on the larger side, also the sling isn't also skinny so not eating for a few days/weeks/etc is not anything to be concerned about!

 

[viper69]

I am not interested in being lectured. The feedback you have offered so far hasn't been informative. It has just been rude and impatient. There is TOO much info on the internet. Since I read that it is a newer species as a pet on the internet and IYO that is clearly false, maybe the internet isn't always correct. Also, I am old fashioned. I want to discuss things with actual people. And I refuse to take on a new pet and not do everything I can to make them comfortable. If I put it in the wrong kind of enclosure, they won't be happy. It is in the enclosure my friend gave it to me in. I want one a little bigger but don't want to purchase the wrong kind. I decided to reach out to humans as well as Google.
And again, Why did you choose to respond if you didn't want to help? You never answered my question.
I specifically said it one way and you tried to act like you were quoting me with what you wanted to say. Saying I wonder if it may need a different kind of enclosure since it seems unhappy is no where close to saying I think it needs to be in a different kind of enclosure. I don't know what kind of enclosure it would prefer. Hence asking here. Maybe even getting feedback from someone who actually owns one. Are you always this rude to other members? Calling yourself a god and using 69 in your user name. It sounds to me that you just might live in your mommy's basement. That would explain all the anger and hostility

Rude is subjective too.

It’s not a new locality at all. New to me for Ts is a species or locality that was introduced within the past 1-2 yrs. If you call my friends at google you’ll see references of this specimen back to at least 2014- that’s a fact. So it seems you consider that time to equal new. That’s fine, different working definitions. It’s far better to know that then use subjective terms when it comes to Ts, such as recent, new, etc

You need some board education because you are ignorant of the forum> For the same reason your profile status lists you as a peon, is the same reason my profile lists me as a god. It’s automatically done by the forum software. That’s a fact, don’t assume.


As for your character assault there’s no need for that. You have issues; you’re focused on my profile and not your T

Good luck!

 

[fcat]

I searched "cajamarca" here and it yielded 9 pages of search results. There might be more I didn't bother going to the last page. I guess the most recent helpful post is on the first page:

Thrixopelma sp. Cajamarca

Female Thrixopelma sp. Cajamarca. Amazing girl...love this species!

arachnoboards.com

You mentioned wanting to be a good mom, I totally get that. There are good moms that had it in them and got a living thing dumped on their doorstep or uterus (although I would argue it takes more effort and cognitive ability to order a pizza) and then there are people who planned to be moms, and of those, some might be bad but not usually. But then again I don't speak to my mother so maybe I'm not one to chime in on that regard. But I know there are good moms out there. You are asking for help, that's a good step! But since you mentioned not having pets you don't know how to care for properly, I want capture that MO and take it one step further... Don't acquire them before knowing. I've used that line to get out of a full court press sale of an overpriced wishlist spider. I also don't buy anything if I don't have its enclosure set up. That means I have to plan ahead. Saves me money lol.

Since you posted pictures, I can see that is a wee feller and depending on how long recently is, not eating could actually be detrimental. If it's a mature specimen, it might not eat, but it wouldn't be an issue. That's the benefit of pictures and descriptions. If you have done any googling, doesn't have to be research whatsoever, on how often tarantulas eat you'll see a wide range of instructions...not to say they are wrong. Look at the size of the spider. Little babies need to eat frequently. Mature specimens can go months with out food. "Recently" is perhaps subjectively, but definitely garbage in this sense, ESPECIALLY because that little cutie is so small. And how could anyone safely give advice not knowing the size of the specimen. If you go to Facebook sans pics and any type of description you might actually receive advice, and they will be really nice about it when they say, "Give it a few weeks to get settled." Bro would be dead.

I hope I am not coming across as offensive. It's hard to convey tone in writing. And I am a paramedic on a 24 hour shift, in between patients and on no sleep, but I just aim to see if tone might be a part of the problem here.

Standards for helping over the internet include pictures. I shouldn't have to write that it's so obvious but be reasonable. I would've guessed it was a tiny sling on the basis that it's undescribed but that would be a really asinine assumption. While this is a bit of an extreme example, what do you think your vet would say if you emailed them the text in your post? They'd want to see the animal right? And they'd want to know exactly how long the symptoms had been occurring? Ma'am I am pressing my patients for as much info as possible because I am expected to have a differential diagnosis on a patient that may or may not be conscious and I get about 10 minutes with them before I am expected to diagnose. My livelihood is on the line if I miss something. I could go to prison if I make a mistake! There is no way in hell I would accept "recently" for an answer lol. I'm also taking mental pictures, looking for details, clues, causes and explanations. It's all I have to go on when my patient can't speak for themselves. I then have to describe and paint the picture of what poop show I walked into (or as we call it in my field, the "scene"). Then the doctors read it and the liability gets added to their plate. Words and pictures (when allowed) are everything.

There are other places to visit for help but you need to vet your sources. This is a part of life in this day in age. There's actually a few Facebook groups. I got "banned" from one for saying that the g pulchra the person was handling (not on a safe surface) on sleep meds (!!!) needed to be fed first and not handled, being as it hasn't eaten in almost a year and disappeared for several months and looked gaunt and freshly molted. Not to the "somewhat experienced keeper," though. I got banned for saying the T doesn't benefit whatsoever by being handled but above all the owner needs to put the T's needs first. Is anyone putting the Ts needs first by arguing? But Facebook will be nice to you when they give you misinformation. They will want pictures of the enclosure though And they don't Google anything, but don't take my word for it. Go have a gander.

I also recently offended professional colleague who I recently discovered works part time at a reptile shop and keeps Ts and reptiles personally. I pointed out 5 live crickets in a P smithi sling's enclosure. Less than 1" and all the crickets larger than the sling, and literally nothing else in this tower enclosure. He said I was bossy and rude for saying it instead of "hello" or something, and I flat out told him that it might be my place in the spectrum but I have nothing to lose by saying it and that spider does by me not. I kept explaining to him that I only care about the spider, and he kept saying I was rude and we just didn't come to the same conclusion somehow. Truth is, I did not walk away from that exchange offended. You could say the emotional aspect escaped me, but I honestly care more about the spiders life than a person's feelings. Does that make me a monster? Does it make it better that I'm honest about it? Does it make it worse that I don't care about how I am perceived as long as spiders are sound? I'm not saying there's not anything wrong with me!

Another place is reddit. What moderators of that sub employ is a friendly community designed to delicately handle the OWNER so the owner won't get pissy and not do the best thing for the tarantula. I play nicely there but I am missing the coddle humans gene....id be a nurse making 4x if I had it. But I feel a little kettly saying that, because I hope I did a good job explaining that I'm not the type of person to coddle a human's feelings over an animals needs. Where it really gets scary is my passion for defending and protecting innocent living things that can't advocate for themselves. That actually does include some humans... Usually victims of other humans.

I might sound like a wench. This is me being nice because I really want you to love the crap out of your tarantula. This isn't Facebook, this isn't reddit. This is actual tarantula husbandry. Some of the people here have been keeping tarantulas since before keeping tarantulas was a thing. Some people here have literally written THE books on tarantulas. SOME OF THE PEOPLE HERE ACTUALLY DISCOVERED THEM. So I ask you personally not to be disrespectful to the people that I respect, the PERSON who wrote the care guide that has saved thousands of tarantulas, before you accidently say it to someone who has a tarantula named after them.

And a handle/username shouldn't discredit anyone. IMO trends come and go, it was something popular in the 90s and 00s and just like bad, over plucked eyebrows, sometimes old trends precede you.

What other tarantulas did you get? I encourage you to share their setups too. You might have a T that could live to 30 years if you treat it right!

I guess this was a really long way of saying we all just care about the spider. And all the other ones you got. Here's hoping pride doesn't interfere with them flourishing!

Maybe my mom beat me better than that, but I don't care if these guys are nice to me. I come to them when I need something, they are literally experts in helping me save my tarantulas. They help me for nothing in return. I just want what's best for my spiders. I made them mine. I owe it to them.

Good luck little cajamarca. I can't tell from the pic but you might be drowning the little guy with 100% RH if there aren't ventilation holes and the substrate is that wet. There's several posts here to explain but if you search "field capacity" you should find a giant, an above my pay grade thread written by one of these meanies.

Disclaimer: Everything I know about tarantulas is borrowed from someone else.

 

[batton1k]

Yeah this is totally fine for a sling this size. Could be even smaller , maybe just a bit less moisture as the picture looks very heavily wet gl.

That photo is not of my spider. It is from the internet but it looks exactly like mine. Size and all. My enclosure has moss and a plant and some cork oak bark. And it is not that wet. I figured out why it hasn't been eating... It molted last night.

 

[Mike Withrow]

I searched "cajamarca" here and it yielded 9 pages of search results. There might be more I didn't bother going to the last page. I guess the most recent helpful post is on the first page:

Thrixopelma sp. Cajamarca

Female Thrixopelma sp. Cajamarca. Amazing girl...love this species!

arachnoboards.com

You mentioned wanting to be a good mom, I totally get that. There are good moms that had it in them and got a living thing dumped on their doorstep or uterus (although I would argue it takes more effort and cognitive ability to order a pizza) and then there are people who planned to be moms, and of those, some might be bad but not usually. But then again I don't speak to my mother so maybe I'm not one to chime in on that regard. But I know there are good moms out there. You are asking for help, that's a good step! But since you mentioned not having pets you don't know how to care for properly, I want capture that MO and take it one step further... Don't acquire them before knowing. I've used that line to get out of a full court press sale of an overpriced wishlist spider. I also don't buy anything if I don't have its enclosure set up. That means I have to plan ahead. Saves me money lol.

Since you posted pictures, I can see that is a wee feller and depending on how long recently is, not eating could actually be detrimental. If it's a mature specimen, it might not eat, but it wouldn't be an issue. That's the benefit of pictures and descriptions. If you have done any googling, doesn't have to be research whatsoever, on how often tarantulas eat you'll see a wide range of instructions...not to say they are wrong. Look at the size of the spider. Little babies need to eat frequently. Mature specimens can go months with out food. "Recently" is perhaps subjectively, but definitely garbage in this sense, ESPECIALLY because that little cutie is so small. And how could anyone safely give advice not knowing the size of the specimen. If you go to Facebook sans pics and any type of description you might actually receive advice, and they will be really nice about it when they say, "Give it a few weeks to get settled." Bro would be dead.

I hope I am not coming across as offensive. It's hard to convey tone in writing. And I am a paramedic on a 24 hour shift, in between patients and on no sleep, but I just aim to see if tone might be a part of the problem here.

Standards for helping over the internet include pictures. I shouldn't have to write that it's so obvious but be reasonable. I would've guessed it was a tiny sling on the basis that it's undescribed but that would be a really asinine assumption. While this is a bit of an extreme example, what do you think your vet would say if you emailed them the text in your post? They'd want to see the animal right? And they'd want to know exactly how long the symptoms had been occurring? Ma'am I am pressing my patients for as much info as possible because I am expected to have a differential diagnosis on a patient that may or may not be conscious and I get about 10 minutes with them before I am expected to diagnose. My livelihood is on the line if I miss something. I could go to prison if I make a mistake! There is no way in hell I would accept "recently" for an answer lol. I'm also taking mental pictures, looking for details, clues, causes and explanations. It's all I have to go on when my patient can't speak for themselves. I then have to describe and paint the picture of what shitshow I walked into (or as we call it in my field, the "scene"). Then the doctors read it and the liability gets added to their plate. Words and pictures (when allowed) are everything.

There are other places to visit for help but you need to vet your sources. This is a part of life in this day in age. There's actually a few Facebook groups. I got "banned" from one for saying that the g pulchra the person was handling (not on a safe surface) on sleep meds (!!!) needed to be fed first and not handled, being as it hasn't eaten in almost a year and disappeared for several months and looked gaunt and freshly molted. Not to the "somewhat experienced keeper," though. I got banned for saying the T doesn't benefit whatsoever by being handled but above all the owner needs to put the T's needs first. Is anyone putting the Ts needs first by arguing? But Facebook will be nice to you when they give you misinformation. They will want pictures of the enclosure though And they don't Google anything, but don't take my word for it. Go have a gander.

I also recently offended professional colleague who I recently discovered works part time at a reptile shop and keeps Ts and reptiles personally. I pointed out 5 live crickets in a P smithi sling's enclosure. Less than 1" and all the crickets larger than the sling, and literally nothing else in this tower enclosure. He said I was bossy and rude for saying it instead of "hello" or something, and I flat out told him that it might be my place in the spectrum but I have nothing to lose by saying it and that spider does by me not. I kept explaining to him that I only care about the spider, and he kept saying I was rude and we just didn't come to the same conclusion somehow. Truth is, I did not walk away from that exchange offended. You could say the emotional aspect escaped me, but I honestly care more about the spiders life than a person's feelings. Does that make me a monster? Does it make it better that I'm honest about it? Does it make it worse that I don't care about how I am perceived as long as spiders are sound? I'm not saying there's not anything wrong with me!

Another place is reddit. What moderators of that sub employ is a friendly community designed to delicately handle the OWNER so the owner won't get pissy and not do the best thing for the tarantula. I play nicely there but I am missing the coddle humans gene....id be a nurse making 4x if I had it. But I feel a little kettly saying that, because I hope I did a good job explaining that I'm not the type of person to coddle a human's feelings over an animals needs. Where it really gets scary is my passion for defending and protecting innocent living things that can't advocate for themselves. That actually does include some humans... Usually victims of other humans.

I might sound like a wench. This is me being nice because I really want you to love the shit out of your tarantula. This isn't Facebook, this isn't reddit. This is actual tarantula husbandry. Some of the people here have been keeping tarantulas since before keeping tarantulas was a thing. Some people here have literally written THE books on tarantulas. SOME OF THE PEOPLE HERE ACTUALLY DISCOVERED THEM. So I ask you personally not to be disrespectful to the people that I respect, the PERSON who wrote the care guide that has saved thousands of tarantulas, before you accidently say it to someone who has a tarantula named after them.

And a handle/username shouldn't discredit anyone. IMO trends come and go, it was something popular in the 90s and 00s and just like bad, over plucked eyebrows, sometimes old trends precede you.

What other tarantulas did you get? I encourage you to share their setups too. You might have a T that could live to 30 years if you treat it right!

I guess this was a really long way of saying we all just care about the spider. And all the other ones you got. Here's hoping pride doesn't interfere with them flourishing!

Maybe my mom beat me better than that, but I don't care if these guys are nice to me. I come to them when I need something, they are literally experts in helping me save my tarantulas. They help me for nothing in return. I just want what's best for my spiders. I made them mine. I owe it to them. EVEN IF SOMEONE HERE SLAPS MY PEE-PEE I OWE IT TO MY SPIDERS TO DO THE RIGHT THING.

Most, if not all of my tarantulas are alive because of these meanies, it would be an honor to get my pee pee slapped by one of them lol.

Good luck little cajamarca. I can't tell from the pic but you might be drowning the little guy with 100% RH if there aren't ventilation holes and the substrate is that wet. There's several posts here to explain but if you search "field capacity" you should find a giant, an above my pay grade thread written by one of these meanies.

Disclaimer: Everything I know about tarantulas is borrowed from someone else.

LMAO!! Step away from the coffee maker and mirror please.

 

[Smotzer]

I got banned for saying the T doesn't benefit whatsoever by being handled but above all the owner needs to put the T's needs first.

Yuuuup they don’t care about it that’s why Facebook is a hugeeee joke!!

Is anyone putting the Ts needs first by arguing? But Facebook will be nice to you when they give you misinformation. They will want pictures of the enclosure though And they don't Google anything, but don't take my word for it.

Yuuup those people don’t care about correctly keeping anything only just being “cool” and getting likes. A sounding board for misinformation!

that I'm not the type of person to coddle a human's feelings over an animals needs. Where it really gets scary is my passion for defending and protecting innocent living things that can't advocate for themselves.

That’s is why we are here on AB and while myself included can be blunt, our intent it to help provide correct information so the animals can have better living environments!

 

[slocoj91]

I searched "cajamarca" here and it yielded 9 pages of search results. There might be more I didn't bother going to the last page. I guess the most recent helpful post is on the first page:

Thrixopelma sp. Cajamarca

Female Thrixopelma sp. Cajamarca. Amazing girl...love this species!

arachnoboards.com

You mentioned wanting to be a good mom, I totally get that. There are good moms that had it in them and got a living thing dumped on their doorstep or uterus (although I would argue it takes more effort and cognitive ability to order a pizza) and then there are people who planned to be moms, and of those, some might be bad but not usually. But then again I don't speak to my mother so maybe I'm not one to chime in on that regard. But I know there are good moms out there. You are asking for help, that's a good step! But since you mentioned not having pets you don't know how to care for properly, I want capture that MO and take it one step further... Don't acquire them before knowing. I've used that line to get out of a full court press sale of an overpriced wishlist spider. I also don't buy anything if I don't have its enclosure set up. That means I have to plan ahead. Saves me money lol.

Since you posted pictures, I can see that is a wee feller and depending on how long recently is, not eating could actually be detrimental. If it's a mature specimen, it might not eat, but it wouldn't be an issue. That's the benefit of pictures and descriptions. If you have done any googling, doesn't have to be research whatsoever, on how often tarantulas eat you'll see a wide range of instructions...not to say they are wrong. Look at the size of the spider. Little babies need to eat frequently. Mature specimens can go months with out food. "Recently" is perhaps subjectively, but definitely garbage in this sense, ESPECIALLY because that little cutie is so small. And how could anyone safely give advice not knowing the size of the specimen. If you go to Facebook sans pics and any type of description you might actually receive advice, and they will be really nice about it when they say, "Give it a few weeks to get settled." Bro would be dead.

I hope I am not coming across as offensive. It's hard to convey tone in writing. And I am a paramedic on a 24 hour shift, in between patients and on no sleep, but I just aim to see if tone might be a part of the problem here.

Standards for helping over the internet include pictures. I shouldn't have to write that it's so obvious but be reasonable. I would've guessed it was a tiny sling on the basis that it's undescribed but that would be a really asinine assumption. While this is a bit of an extreme example, what do you think your vet would say if you emailed them the text in your post? They'd want to see the animal right? And they'd want to know exactly how long the symptoms had been occurring? Ma'am I am pressing my patients for as much info as possible because I am expected to have a differential diagnosis on a patient that may or may not be conscious and I get about 10 minutes with them before I am expected to diagnose. My livelihood is on the line if I miss something. I could go to prison if I make a mistake! There is no way in hell I would accept "recently" for an answer lol. I'm also taking mental pictures, looking for details, clues, causes and explanations. It's all I have to go on when my patient can't speak for themselves. I then have to describe and paint the picture of what shitshow I walked into (or as we call it in my field, the "scene"). Then the doctors read it and the liability gets added to their plate. Words and pictures (when allowed) are everything.

There are other places to visit for help but you need to vet your sources. This is a part of life in this day in age. There's actually a few Facebook groups. I got "banned" from one for saying that the g pulchra the person was handling (not on a safe surface) on sleep meds (!!!) needed to be fed first and not handled, being as it hasn't eaten in almost a year and disappeared for several months and looked gaunt and freshly molted. Not to the "somewhat experienced keeper," though. I got banned for saying the T doesn't benefit whatsoever by being handled but above all the owner needs to put the T's needs first. Is anyone putting the Ts needs first by arguing? But Facebook will be nice to you when they give you misinformation. They will want pictures of the enclosure though And they don't Google anything, but don't take my word for it. Go have a gander.

I also recently offended professional colleague who I recently discovered works part time at a reptile shop and keeps Ts and reptiles personally. I pointed out 5 live crickets in a P smithi sling's enclosure. Less than 1" and all the crickets larger than the sling, and literally nothing else in this tower enclosure. He said I was bossy and rude for saying it instead of "hello" or something, and I flat out told him that it might be my place in the spectrum but I have nothing to lose by saying it and that spider does by me not. I kept explaining to him that I only care about the spider, and he kept saying I was rude and we just didn't come to the same conclusion somehow. Truth is, I did not walk away from that exchange offended. You could say the emotional aspect escaped me, but I honestly care more about the spiders life than a person's feelings. Does that make me a monster? Does it make it better that I'm honest about it? Does it make it worse that I don't care about how I am perceived as long as spiders are sound? I'm not saying there's not anything wrong with me!

Another place is reddit. What moderators of that sub employ is a friendly community designed to delicately handle the OWNER so the owner won't get pissy and not do the best thing for the tarantula. I play nicely there but I am missing the coddle humans gene....id be a nurse making 4x if I had it. But I feel a little kettly saying that, because I hope I did a good job explaining that I'm not the type of person to coddle a human's feelings over an animals needs. Where it really gets scary is my passion for defending and protecting innocent living things that can't advocate for themselves. That actually does include some humans... Usually victims of other humans.

I might sound like a wench. This is me being nice because I really want you to love the shit out of your tarantula. This isn't Facebook, this isn't reddit. This is actual tarantula husbandry. Some of the people here have been keeping tarantulas since before keeping tarantulas was a thing. Some people here have literally written THE books on tarantulas. SOME OF THE PEOPLE HERE ACTUALLY DISCOVERED THEM. So I ask you personally not to be disrespectful to the people that I respect, the PERSON who wrote the care guide that has saved thousands of tarantulas, before you accidently say it to someone who has a tarantula named after them.

And a handle/username shouldn't discredit anyone. IMO trends come and go, it was something popular in the 90s and 00s and just like bad, over plucked eyebrows, sometimes old trends precede you.

What other tarantulas did you get? I encourage you to share their setups too. You might have a T that could live to 30 years if you treat it right!

I guess this was a really long way of saying we all just care about the spider. And all the other ones you got. Here's hoping pride doesn't interfere with them flourishing!

Maybe my mom beat me better than that, but I don't care if these guys are nice to me. I come to them when I need something, they are literally experts in helping me save my tarantulas. They help me for nothing in return. I just want what's best for my spiders. I made them mine. I owe it to them. EVEN IF SOMEONE HERE SLAPS MY PEE-PEE I OWE IT TO MY SPIDERS TO DO THE RIGHT THING.

Most, if not all of my tarantulas are alive because of these meanies, it would be an honor to get my pee pee slapped by one of them lol.

Good luck little cajamarca. I can't tell from the pic but you might be drowning the little guy with 100% RH if there aren't ventilation holes and the substrate is that wet. There's several posts here to explain but if you search "field capacity" you should find a giant, an above my pay grade thread written by one of these meanies.

Disclaimer: Everything I know about tarantulas is borrowed from someone else.

Thanks for explaining all of this! I will say, Reddit - on the Tarantula page, and some other arachnids - isn't entirely terrible, due to the wording they require to be used if you're not providing proof/sources. However, it's annoying when you're correct, others are giving wrong info, but you're all using the same phrasing - simply because your proof isn't a specific paper or whatever, but the result of a special interest and hyperfocus sending you into obsessive research mode

I couldn't help but laugh at some of the things you mention - the colleague's shop, for example. You were giving free advice, maybe they need to check their ego! But I'm much the same when it comes to animals/other living creatures. Their best interests are at the heart of a lot of what I do.

And to be honest, sometimes you can fluff things up and people - with their egos - will still take issue. I took time yesterday to answer someone's question on FB pertaining to an issue they were having training their dog. Supposed to be a service/assistance dog prospect. I included a lot of niceties, because puppies can be stressful as it is, and I was hoping they might be more inclined to listen. I explained the problem, and how to fix it. Important to note that she said in her post that she'd never known of/seen this occur before, indicating a very common and actually normal issue was weird and unusual, and included a lot of details that strongly suggested she didn't have a clue what she was doing - and was likely going to end up screwing things up. I didn't say that, I just highlighted those other bits and mentioned alternatives, and why those choices might become an issue. The response I got started with (gist) "well I knew what the issue was, I just wanted advice on how to fix it". So I knew right away she was taking it poorly - again, I explained the problem because somehow a totally normal dog behaviour had never been witnessed by this person ever, but also told her the fix. She just didn't like it. And then she went on to defend her other actions. Capped it off by saying that it was all fine because they'd had a great day the previous day so clearly she had fixed everything without doing anything, and definitely didn't need help from a trainer who has studied this stuff their whole life alongside doing it, and has an owner trained assistance dog - not just a 4 month old puppy who was a bit more tired one day so got less distracted as a result.

People...

I have tried to do a search and so has my friend who gave it to me. She suggested trying here. It is a very new species to collectors so there isn't much info out there. I am sorry to have bothered you. You could have just moved on and not said anything. I was looking for information. Not a troll.

Just wanted to explain this, though you may have realised based on another response.

viper was likely not telling you to *just* do a Google search. Those are usually personalised to some degree. They meant searching on this site. So you still get answers from people on these forums, but use ones already there. Google can still be used for this, and honestly is a little more user-friendly than the native search function on this site (start the search with site:arachnoboards.com, and then put the search terms - with a space between the site and terms, to hopefully be more clear).

I would strongly recommend reading the pinned posts in the forums, by the way. Particularly the ones pertaining to overviews of tarantulas and their care. It will eliminate the need to search for every species you might acquire to find out how to care for it properly.

To give an idea of the issue that comes from trying to help someone without images, by the way, your sling *may* have been not eating due to premolt. A picture could well have been enough for that to be visible to a user here. Yet there are plenty of slings, tarantulas generally, that are happy to take food the day before a molt occurs. When a tarantula gets used to a new space - this can be within the same enclosure, some can understandably need to adjust following a change to how their enclosure is exposed to light/sunlight (as an example) - they may be less likely to take down prey they would normally be fine with. When care changes, and everyone has their own ideas of what 'moist sub' and 'dry sub' are, that can cause its own issues - some tarantulas are positively averse to touching the substrate if its 'wrong', and might not do so even for food.

Then there are other enclosure issues that exist - some outright problems, some more likely to contribute to others. Due to things being relative, a picture covers this snag and means not having to checklist things that should or shouldn't be there (plus people lie, egos and all that, believing they know better). It's not about catching anyone out. It's about helping to ensure these fascinating creatures can live long captive lives instead of falling victim to husbandry errors that never should have occurred, and were avoidable or correctable. These boards see, as one example, a considerable number of terrestrial tarantula enclosures that are woefully lacking on substrate depth - for one, to ensure that a fall doesn't become fatal.

 

[moricollins]

Here are good instructions on how to search on AB (if I do say so myself...)

https://arachnoboards.com/threads/searching-on-arachnoboards.336009/