- Caring for your Tarantula
Keeping a Tarantula
Before you buy a tarantula you should think about the conditions
it will need to live a long and healthy life. Many tarantulas
die in the first few days because their new owner hasn't prepared
a suitable home for them. First decide what you want to buy because
a small spiderling will obviously require very different accommodation
to a large grown specimen. I will assume you are buying a medium-sized
tarantula in which case you will need to provide the following.
Housing
Pet shops will sell suitable tanks in glass or plastic and the
size should not be less than about 25cm by 15cm by 15cm high.
If you want to create a tank that tries to provide the spiders
natural conditions (for example rain forest with leaf litter,
logs etc.) then you will need a much larger tank, but you won't
see your spider very often! I would suggest that you begin with
the simple tank without unnecessary contents so that you can
watch your tarantula's activities.
Substrate (Ground cover)
A 2cm layer of Vermiculite should cover the bottom of the tank
and a thin layer of chipped bark or cocoa fibre placed on top
of that. These can be purchased from most garden centres and
should be kept damp to keep up the humidity levels in the tank.
Peat or potting compost should not be used as they really need
to be sterilised and changed frequently.
Heating
A temperature of 21-24 degrees centigrade is required for most
of the tarantulas that you should buy as a beginner. If you have
a centrally heated room which stays at that temperature all the
time then you won't need extra heating during the winter, but
you will between spring and autumn when the heating is switched
off. A good pet shop that sells reptiles and spiders will have
a variety of thermostatically controlled heating devices including
underground cables, heating mats and hot rocks. Tell them the
size and type of tank that you are using and they will recommend
a suitable heater for you. An alternative is a seed propagator
which can be purchased from garden centres. You can keep your
tank inside it. Red light bulbs are not very suitable for heating
spider tanks.
Humidity
The humidity in the tank should not be less than 50-60% and you
should buy a little humidity gauge to stick on the inside of
your tank. If the humidity drops below 50% your tarantula may
die during its next moult.
Food and Water
Crickets and locusts are usually available from pet shops that
sell tarantulas and reptiles and you can try other livestock
which you catch yourself, such as moths and caterpillars. Some
will even eat earthworms. A tarantula of about 3-4cm in body
length will eat 8-10 crickets each week although it will survive
on less. Water is vital to your tarantula. It can survive for
weeks without food but quickly die without water. A small container
such as a coffee jar lid half-filled with water will provide
drinking water and help keep the humidity up.
Moulting
As your tarantula grows it will regularly moult (shed its skin),
2-3 times a year in the case of the half grown individual. Signs
of an approaching moult are darkening of the colour and stopping
feeding. When feeding stops, remove any live food in case they
irritate the spider, or worse, nibble it while it is helpless
during the moult. Normally the spider will turn on its back to
moult and lie still in that position for several hours. Do not
disturb it in any way at this time as activity may prove fatal.
Feed it about 4-5 days after moulting when its new skin has hardened.
Which Tarantula?
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 saltator
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- by Stan Sparks
gordon@earthlife.net
© Earth-Life Web Productions
Bringing Insects to the World http://www.earthlife.net/insects/
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