Marcus_Aurelius

I was wondering if anyone has a tarantula as a pet. I just recently got one (Chilean Rose Hair), and was looking for tips on taking care of it. I looked around on the net a bit and couldnt really find much. So does anyone else have one, that could share some info with me?

Thanks,
Marcus

ratbastid

Please don't say "bit" when talking about a spider. Please. :shudder:

pocon1

You could step on it, that would take care of it. Otherwise, I don't have anything constructive to add. Good luck with your new creature.

degrawj

I've been thinking about getting a tarantula for a pet. Rosehairs make good pet tarantulas because they are one of the more complascent breeds. What kind of tips are you looking for?

*Nikki*

I love Tarantulas!!

That is so cool, I don't have one as a pet but good luck with yours!

GoldenOuroboros

just had a quick squiz around the net myself

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homep...rton/page3.htm

http://www.thebts.co.uk/keeping_tarantulas.html

http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/Care/Exotics/faq/01.htm

http://www.mpm.edu/collect/tar.html

Some choice books

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/the.tar...ore/T-care.htm

Hope these help you out in some way

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whocarz

Make sure you're wearing a heavy boot when you do step on it. Wouldn't want the thing biting your foot, now would we?

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yournamehere

I had one as a pet once - unfortunately, I took it to the midwest with me and it died of starvation over the winter. I couldn't find anything for it to eat. That was a long time ago, though. Nowadays, almost all pet stores will have a supply of crickets to feed it. Spiders only eat what they kill, so you've got to have a steady supply of live critters for it to feed on. If you go the cricket route, I would guess that one or two per week would probably do it, depending on the size of the crickets. During the summer, you can complement its diet with roaches, junebugs, etc.

Also - make sure it has a source of water, and keep it warm and dry.

And don't handle it when you're really drunk - they're more fragile than they look.

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ObieX

Yea they are really very fragile, if you pick it up be careful to NOT drop it. They cant take a fall as well as other similar creatures. Always try to let it walk off your hand back into it's tank.

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wolf

That is true all spiders have their skeletons on the outside, so it is easily broken. Just make sure to keep it's tank clean. Always provide fresh water. The rose hairs are supposed to be the most docile.

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raeanna74

Perhaps checking with the pet store where you bought it. Depending on where you go some stores like Petsmart advertize that they have people available to help give advice on caring for you new pets. They know that if they help you take good care of your pet it's more likely you'll be back for more pet supplies sooner or later. It's in their best interest to give you a helping hand.

Also have you checked at your local library or book store? I'm sure there's some handy books out there. You might even find a good one to buy and keep on hand so that you've got a ready rescource to go to when the thing starts acting up in the middle of the night or something.

Personally - I know nothing about caring for a spider.

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JStrider

if you talk to a person at a big chain pet store take everything they say with a big grain of salt... more often then not they dont know what their talking about and are just trying to move animals healthy or not out the door...

finding lots of info on the internet and going with what the majority of sites say is prolly the best bet...

and you really should have done your research before getting the animal... thats ALWAYS preferable to getting an animal and then learning how to care for it...


i found some neet pictures of a chilean rose hair tarantula here... http://backalley.net/rosehair/

a budy of mine had one... it was pretty cool...

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BlueBongo

Be sure you keep a sponge in the water bowl for it, otherwise your spider won't be able to get water. Second, get a small cage, take an empty egg carton and cut it in half, put half of it in the small plastic cage.. put a (small) water bowl in there (also with a sponge if one's available), put a little bit of lettuce in it and then put some crickets in it.

I found it easier to be a cricket breeder when I owned a tarantula because sometimes I just didn't have the availability of going to a pet store to get the crickets. Though as mentioned above you can get them at any large pet store.

The setup I had for mine was all sand (not play sand because that can be toxic) and a small little cave looking thing which the spider enjoyed and spent most of it's time in because naturally they spend a lot of time in holes/the ground. And I put some of the lizard/amphibian(sp?) wood in there as well which helped when my spider laid eggs (was really quite a neat thing to see... kinda scared the crap outta me to see a huge web all over, but it was still pretty neat). And as I mentioned, be sure you use a sponge in the water bowl and make sure it's always moist so the spider can get water.. I would make sure that the sponge is very pourous, they should sell them at the petstore (or you can go to Home Depot and get one of the faux finishing sponges and cut it into bits because it works really well and was awesome for the crickets' water as well).

And amongst all that jizzunk, be sure you keep the spider warm.... not a heated lamp like you would use with lizards and snakes but just a lamp outside of the cage when it's chilly because as long as it has something to bury itself into, the spider should be fine.

I've had a few.. so if you have any other questions please let me know
Hope that helps!

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paddyjoe

Yeah, no doubt about this. Once we were in the 'big chain pet store' and were thinking about buying a parakeet. I asked the little pencil-necked geek what the best temperature was for the bird, and he replied, "room temperature". Didn't buy the bird, and couldn't stop laughing either.

Anyhow, as far as the tarantula goes, my only advice would be to keep them out of same container as your pet scorpion. After a week, all that we ended up with was eight furry legs.

Marcus_Aurelius

Thanks for all the help guys.