Caring for a Pet Tarantula
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Keeping A Tarantula
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It’s fun to keep tarantulas. If you decided you want one, you’ll need to set up its habitat properly. Get a large bug bottle and put sand, gravel, sticks and stuff in it. Find a cap to those water bottles, and a clean cotton ball. Put the cotton ball in the cap and get it wet. Then put it in the habitat. This is your spider’s source of water. Remember to keep it moist!
Now you can get your pet. They sell tarantulas in pet stores. You can bring a smaller bug bottle to transfer it home. Then carefully put it (you can just shake it out of the bottle into it’s new home if you’d like.) into it’s new home.
Feed your pet big crickets. If your tarantula is big, and if you can do so, feed it a pinkie occasionally. What is a pinkie? It’s a very young mouse or rat. They are thumb-sized, pink with no fur, and I do believe they are blind. I don’t think they look much like mice or rats at that age. Of course some people would not want to do this. It’s not required. Tarantulas can live off of crickets fine.
If you get tired of having your tarantula, you can give it back to the pet store. Letting it go may not be a good idea. Tarantulas may be common in some places, but in others they do not live, such as a suburban area with no tarantulas. You don’t want to introduce a new animal, for it may disrupt the whole food chain and all the animals living there.
Tarantula Care
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CopyrightThis page provides the 'basic' care for tarantulas. There are many species, each of which require their own unique type of living conditions, this guide will work well for Grammastola rosea (Chilean Rose)--
Housing Enclosures
Most species should be kept singly in a given enclosure. Arboreal tarantulas (tree-dwelling tarantulas), prefer enclosures that are larger vertically, whereas burrowing or ground dwelling tarantulas prefer a wider based enclosure. I use plastic cages with locking lids or plastic shoe boxes. I stay away from cages with nylon screening because I have had spiders that were actually able to chew through the screen! Kinda scary when you sleep in the same room with your spider collection.
Ground Cover
The ground substrate I use most vermiculite or a mix of 50% vermiculite 50% peat. I think that a mix is better for burrowers because it holds its shape better. My Hysterocrates gigas creates large burrows and likes to dig around . When I was using straight vermiculite it would cave in on him all the time. When I switched to a mix the burrows were stronger. I would not recommend using anything with fertilizer in it, try to find sterilized peat or potting soil. I've heard that you can sterilize substrate by microwaving it but I have never tried this. I change the substrate after about 4 - 6 months of use..or until it starts to get nasty.
Humidity and Airflow
Humidity is an important factor in keeping your spider alive and healthy. Air flow plays a factor in keeping down molds and fungus. For most species misting the cage a few times a week will be adequate. Some species from wet tropical regions will require a higher humidity level. If the amount of humidity is too low there is a chance that when the spider molts it could split it's exoskeleton(skin) and bleed to death. Don't keep your cage wet, just humid. Usually misting the cage every few days with a spray bottle will be sufficient. Hydrometers can be used to ensure a more acurate measure of the relative humidity. Some plastic enclosures I've bought had over-ventilated lids which I scotch taped (from the inside so the spider can't get stuck to it) to keep the humidity up to exceptable levels. This doesn't always work because some spiders will chew it off within a few days.
Temperature and Heating
Most tarantulas should be kept at temperatures between 75-84 degrees F. In the summer I don't worry about heating except for especially cold days. In the winter I use a small space heater to heat my spider/computer room. If you don't need to heat an entire room, heat rocks and heat pads are a way of heating a single
enclosure. Don't leave your spider in direct sunlight for any extended period of time. A spider's enclosure can overheat rapidly!
Shelters
Tarantulas should be provided with some type of shelter. Even though you won't see your prized pet all of the time, it will be much happier. Spiders like to hide in the wild and leaving them in a bare setup is very unnatural for tarantulas. I provide all mine with rigid plastic tubing (PVC) 3" - 5" or pieces or cork bark.
Molting
Molting is the most critical time for your tarantula. Your spider will become seem more sluggish and stop feeding prior to molting. Most tarantulas will molt on their back or on their sides. When molting, a tarantula should be left alone. If you find your spider on it's back, IT'S NOT DEAD! Dying tarantulas usually curl their legs up underneath them. When you find your tarantula beginning to molt sit back and watch for a while, it's a fascinating thing to watch and it can take a few hours so be patient. You should see the legs pulsating as the spider attemps to slip out of its old skin. Make sure there are no crickets in the enclosure with your molting spider as it is very vulnerable and even a miserable little cricket could kill your pet. If stressed, a tarantula could have a 'bad molt' and bleed to death. Don't offer food for about a week after a molt, to make sure that the new skin has hardened as well as its fangs.
Tarantula Care in Captivity
[Source from: http://www.mpm.edu/collect/spiders.html]
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by Jody T. Barbeau and Martin J. Blasczyk
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is reprinted from LORE magazine, a benefit of
museum membership. © 1996 Milwaukee Public Museum, Inc.
Handling Your Spider
Inevitably, some owners have a "need" to hold their spider. Handling is not recommended for all but the most docile species, and even then caution is advised. The Mexican red rump (Brachypelma vagans (Ausserer)) as well as the common Chilean make likely candidates. However, these animals are new world species meaning that they originate from South America. New world tarantulas can cause a skin rash to develop if handled either frequently or improperly. The rash is due to the urticating hairs on the spider's abdomen. The hairs are frequently raked off by the hind legs of the spider as a defense mechanism against predators in the wild. In captivity the tarantula will "kick" them off when it is stressed or feels threatened. Handling is also risky for the spider because a drop from even a relatively low height may rupture the fragile abdomen and means almost certain death for the spider. Unless it is absolutely necessary, tarantulas should not be handled. Tarantulas are fairly undemanding creatures to keep, provided that their basic requirements are met. A good suggestion in their captive husbandry is to find out the tarantula's native region and try to duplicate the environment found there. In effect, this will give almost all of the information required to maintain it and to have it flourish in captivity. When all preconceived notions are put aside, tarantulas can make fascinating display animals.
Which Tarantula?
[Source from: http://www.sbox.tu-graz.ac.at/home/k/kircher/tarantul.htm]For your first tarantula you don't want an aggressive, difficult to keep or very expensive specimen. The following are ideal species:
Chilean Rose Grammostola spatulatus or G. cala
Entre Rios Grammostola inheringii
Curly Haired Brachypelina albopilosa
Red Rump Brachypelina vagans
White collared Pterinopelma saltatorRemember there are many different species of tarantulas so you may want to ask your local pet store for any special type of information need to care for your type of tarantula.