Crickets or flies are better than mealworms or superworms. Give them water. Your spiders do not need large cages and smaller animals will do better in smaller containers than larger ones.
Keep them on a sterile substrate soil potting soil without minerals added, vermiculite, commercial top soil, pet bark [not cedar], peat — NOT soil from your yard!
Provide retreats and some environmental enrichment bark to climb on, something to hide under. Plants are for your aesthetics, not for the spiders. No sharp cactuses or other plants that can injure the spider. The other hazard of having tarantulas, instead of araneomorph spiders like jumping spiders or orb weavers , is that they cost real money and there is no guarantee that they will survive. Recognize that your animal may not survive for a number of reasons: normal mortality while moulting, some spiders never thrive especially spiderlings , your learning curve, cricket predation, or roommates who leave cages open… With care and good fortune, your tarantula will live for years, but it does not always happen that way.
You can do a wonderful and complex study or have an appealing pet with any number of other free range spiders. Compared to a jumping spider, tarantulas have simple behavioral repertoires. If nothing else, they cost money and the others are free. But if you are interested in keeping a tarantula and willing to spend the money, here are my suggestions:.
You can buy a perfectly fine tarantula at one of the local pet stores. I recommend trying to determine if it is a male in the store. Look for enlarged pedipalps and the tarsal spur.
Once males reach maturity, they cruise for females for 1 year and then die. If it is a male, you will have an active animal for the year he has left to live, but he will certainly die relatively soon. Many of the tarantulas in pet store are males. Prices of spiders in pet stores are comparable or at the high end of spiders from mail order suppliers.
More critically, the tarantula species in pet stores are often very limited and the store employees may not know how to advise you in the care of your species. An alternative is to order a tarantula from an Internet tarantula dealer. There are a couple of reasons why this might be a good alternative for you: 1 It is possible to get much more interesting species this way, 2 you can get younger animals who will live longer, moult more frequently, are somewhat more active, and usually captive born, and 3 you will not get an adult male.
Shop around the Internet to find a good, reputable dealer who will work with you on choosing the appropriate species. Some species are more active and generally interesting than others, some are calmer, some are interesting architects, others are flashy predators, some are just out and out lovely, but others are just plain boring.
So, like the breed of dog, the tarantula species also matters. To choose just the right animal for your needs, try to come up with the right balance between your patience, squeamishness, and budget. If you get scared by fast moving spiders, pick a slower moving species. If you really want to pet your spider occasionally and not worry about it biting you, get a pinktoe.
First, think about what age to purchase:. I have personally found them more gratifying. However, smaller spiders are often more delicate, more likely to die while moulting, are harder to feed where are you going to get small flies or crickets in the winter?
It is easy for that size to be exaggerated on price lists. Depending on the size of your spider, you would start by keeping them in a big pill vial, and eventually move them to larger cages. Remember that tarantulas have terrible vision and will have trouble finding the prey in large cages. Small spiders NEED to start in tiny cages, then move them to larger spaces as they grow larger.
Adults: If you are new to keeping invertebrates, you might want to start with a big, super easy adult or subadult. Adults are easier to feed, do not need quite as regular feeding, have survived to adulthood, and are bigger and easier to see. Adults are fine animals to have. They are also hardier and more likely to survive in a classroom.
Adults that you can afford are generally wild caught, while the spiderlings are generally captive born. All of the species I am recommending are both common and commonly bred in captivity.
Like the spiderlings, all tarantulas need a retreat in their cage to hide under. Adult spider probably prefer to have more space in which to move. You can keep them happily in small cages to gallon tanks — just make sure that it has a secure top on it!
I generally cover most of the tops of cages with plastic wrap or tape because the spider can dry out too much with a totally open screened top to its cage. In all of my cages, I have soldered or drilled cork-sized holes so that I can put crickets in the cage without the need to OPEN the top of the cage.
Think about the life style of your spider. Another thing that might require extra attention is the humidity levels. If the humidity levels are not high enough for your tarantula species then they may suffer from dehydration, which will make them very lethargic and otherwise unwell. Apart from this, their feeding habits may also need extra attention, especially during their growth and moulting periods.
Not feeding enough during their growth can cause them various health problems and hinder their natural growth process. On the other hand, feeding them more than necessary during their moulting period can result in their death.
While keeping tarantula spiders as a pet might be exciting for some people, there are a large number of people who are extremely scared and creeped out just by looking at a spider. Because of this reason, they are not suitable for social environments. If you have a family member or friend who is scared of spiders, then it is advisable not to adopt a tarantula as your pet. Otherwise, it may create an environment that may be life-threatening for itself and very uncomfortable for your family member or friend.
Some larger species of tarantula spiders can also eat pinkie mice and small lizards. Apart from this, their usual eating habit should be kept random like one cricket a week, then two in the next week and three in the next one, and so on.
Also, you need to make sure that the insects you are feeding your pet spider are fully gutted. The crickets should be fed nutritious food and should also be dusted with vitamins, prior to feeding it to your pet spider. Tarantula spiders are venomous and their bites also contain venom. However, most of the time their toxicity level is very low and may just cause local irritation, pain, redness and swelling. However, there are a few species which have highly toxic venom and their bites can be fatal as well.
Apart from this, some people develop an allergic reaction to spider bites, which may not be that toxic, but the allergic reaction may itself be fatal. Honestly, tarantulas can be excellent pets for those who are willing to keep them.
They are unlike any other mainstream pet species. They are intimidating with their looks, but with proper care, they can be absolutely harmless. Another thing that makes pet tarantulas an incredible choice is their requirement for very low maintenance.
Provide water to them once a month and feed them twice or thrice a month. The only thing that beginners need to consider is whether they want a new world tarantula or an old world one. New world tarantulas are well recommended for beginners as they are more docile and can be easily handled.
Moreover, new world tarantulas are practically harmless to humans without any allergies, so they make really good pets. However, for those who wish to own a more aggressive tarantula, old world species are the ones you are looking for. You'll need a reliable supplier of crickets or other live prey in your area to make feeding easier. It's not a good idea to feed wild-caught crickets, as these can be infected with pathogens that may harm your pet tarantula. When pet tarantulas first became popular with spider enthusiasts, most of the tarantulas on the market came from the wild.
As with any exotic animal in demand, over-collecting can soon put a species at risk in its native habitat. Such was the case with a few popular pet tarantula species, including the Mexican redknee tarantula, a vibrant species featured in several horror movies. A few tarantula species are now protected under the Washington Convention agreement, which limits or prohibits the commercial trade of listed species and their export from their native range. You can still obtain these protected species , but you must purchase a tarantula bred in captivity from a reputable source.
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