My sister made the first mistake when she gifted me a tarantula when I was terrified of spiders. I knew it couldn't go back so I spent from that night forward gathering information to provide the best I could for my baby boy! With your help and others I've been able to provide him a good home. I love him to death and I'm constantly researching to make sure I give him the best life I can.
OH DANG... I honestly would've just thought it would've been bad in total to gift someone a spider who's terrified of them... I know STILL A BAD IDEA overall to gift someone one, but damn... That would be like someone gifting me a dog😭. I am borderlining cynophobia and they TERRIFY ME. I say borderline since I'm not quite there but close. Cynophobia is the fear of dogs. Gifting someone a tarantula with arachnophobia is just... Idk...
I work at a chain pet store and it’s so hard to keep Ts in the enclosure options we’re given :/ I bend the rules as much as I can to give them what they need, but fortunately I’m in charge of picking what we order so I can do my research beforehand and make sure they get proper care when they’re purchased and go to a good home!
No doubt they need a raise. Iv seen the bad examples and it's awful. Being in a store where not one person there knows anything or feeds them or cares if they get out and get hurt or worse it's ridiculous.
Oh my god thank you for doing this! I made the mistake of buying my first tarantula at petsmart, and the worst thing looking back is seeing how horribly they’re kept, I’m glad there’s someone who’s awesome enough to do this for them :)
Speaking of petco being over priced,before I heard enough people and sources saying don't go there ,I was looking for my first T, both were around 100 dollars. Went to an actual reptile store and got the Tarantula, enclosure, 2 bags of substrate and water dish for the same price I would've paid just for the spider at petco.
I really appreciate you putting the names of the spiders in your videos. For a newbie like me, it's very helpful. 🖤 I am sure it's a lot of work and makes editing take longer.
It is mainly how time consuming it can be is why i havent, but I think I am going to try and start doing it a lot more in videos. people seem to appreciate it.
This is a much needed video. Something else bugs me about pet stores is them selling ow T's and not informing their customers about their venom levels. I was telling an associate working in a pet store I use to live close to about a spider they had that they were calling an Indian ornamental, lol. I told them they were pretty venomous and should label it as such and I was telln them about their speed and that they could be quite defensive.. All I got was an oh yea?? He said they wasn't allowed to put labels😳. I tried to no avail to convince him. I was in there one day and just as I feared, they were getting ready to sell it to this guy who was getting it for his little girl, who wanted a spider she could handle and play with😳😳😳. I said whaaaaa??? I told dude, look, don't mean to be in your business but I am anyway. You don't play with any spiders, they bite and this one is a level 4 spider venom. He says, what's that mean. I said, it means if it bites either of you you're probably going to the hospital and if it bites one of your pets, it will probably kill it. Before you get into spiders, find out more about them plz, and plz, don't play with them, it more than likely won't end well. I referred him to a few keeper channels and a couple vendors. He left that spider in the shop. But they finally sold it to a keeper needing a male for his lady. They wasn't happy with me for that but they got over it lol. Sorry for talkn to much lol. Tyfs God bless you
I just got my first Tarantula last week, an avicularia avicularia, and I’ve been bad about the helicopter parenting. I’ve been worried because they won’t explore their enclosure right away, but I just need to be more patient. I was also concerned about it not wanting to eat for the passed two days, but I’m sure that has to do with me helicoptering the T. I’ll definitely be taking this advice and just leaving them be for awhile, so they can get adjusted. Thank you for your always wonderful advice.
Dont worry the helecopter side passes after a while and worrying about them not eating passes like my obt when I first got it was a ferocious eater and since the last molt hasnt came out of it web cave haha and has molted again since without eating and that's been around 6 months the way I deal with feeding is if I see them waiting in an ambush sort of position I try them with food if they take it there hungry of not i take the food away and leave em
Another thing you can do is try to talk to the pet care associates/manager at a chain pet store and let them know their husbandry is not right. They typically wont give them enough substrate to burrow in because they want the T somewhat visible to sell it but they'll change anything else they can. Sometimes youll get a receptive person that didn't know anything about tarantulas and theyre happy to do what they can to make their Ts more comfortable while there and tell customers what you told them. Just be civil about it. It wont always work but it can help the situation. I used to work at a chain pet store (not in that department but they knew i had reptiles and Ts, and they listened to me when i told them they werent housing a species of snake correctly, they also had heavy fish decor in their T enclsoures on top of wood chips mixed with coco fiber and they changed those things when i told them it was potentially harmful.
Sometimes the issue is that they get animal inspection agencies coming in and forcing them to change their ways to another way. Like, they'd get in trouble if they are seen without any water bowls in a bearded dragon tank. When having water bowls is actually VERY bad for their health as they give off too much humidity and they can catch illnesses like respiratory diseases and such... So gotta keep that in mind as well as some people will harp on a pet store cause they don't know anything and the inspectors don't know anything either... They will assume and think they're being abused for doing proper care for certain animals and it's downright sad.
I can accuse myself of hovering over my first T. I kept her on my desk and was always into the enclosure to straighten up after she bulldozer the substrate everywhere. After doing more research I learn this behavior is not only typical for that species but for tarantulas as a whole. So I started to just leave her alone and let her do her thing. Now I have 13 T's from adults to slings. My five slings had been in their 2oz deli cup since they were separated back in May, and I only rehoused them into an 8oz deli container just last week. Now all my T's are in separate room and I check them after I get up in the morning and just before I go to bed. And only add more water or just feed them when needed. I may go into their room, occasionally, during the day to see how they are doing. But right now mostly they stay in their burrow and I rarely see them out. A couple look like they are pre-molt and some I haven't seen at all like my A. chalcodes, she's covered both exit holes entirely for a few months now. Also, my nearest Pet Smart is in another county and by law cannot sell venomous pets. The nearest Petco is a two hour drive, and the one pet store here in my small town will order what you want at a great price and no shipping. Any way between watching various videos from you, Tom Moran, Petko, Dave from Dave's Beasties, Kat, and Alex in Florida, I new what to expect and was able to wait until I had gathered my supplies and tools before I got my first T's. So, thankfully, I can say I haven't done 4 out of 5 bad keepers problems. Thank you Richard for all your time and videos to learn and keeping my fuzzy legged babies healthy, happy, and hearty. I've had my T's for almost a year now, and I love them. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
I work at a local Petco in the town I live in and I know what you mean. When I first started working there we had a tarantula die and I explained to them what happened and what needed to be done next time. They weren't aware of the species they had and the lifestyle that they needed to thrive and survive. So the next time we had a tarantula come in I tried to educate everyone on the type that was coming and the methods that need to be taken to make sure that it will survive. Like you said it is a business, but lucky for me I work with people willing to learn and take care of the animals and learn about them. You don't see that often in pet stores. My crew at work seems to be good and they have a basic idea of tarantula care and what they need to do if they have questions they aren't afraid to ask and are confident in learning new information. I will say that all the information that you have said is very valuable and I have lost tarantulas by putting them in adult enclosures thinking that it will work and it doesn't work out the way that I wanted it to and they are lost or burrowed. I think you did a great job illustrating this throughout your video. You did a great job keep up the great work!!!
All the chain pet stores I go to they always have great husbandry with their tarantulas but I’ve seen local pet stores that keep full grown tarantulas in small deli cups
I like how you emphasize having multiple sources of info. I've received contradictory info from YT channels: both were super experienced keepers, and neither was wrong, just telling me what worked for them. But I think in such cases the truth is more complicated than we know, and lots of people just have a piece of it.
I used to keep many Ts and guilty of helicopter keeping at first. Luckily I was able to find a collector to take most of my Ts when my lifestyle changed. I kept a couple of terrestrials and they’re about 17-18 years old now. Think of them as a pet rock. Feed once in a while and just look at them. My Grammostola pulchripes fasted for over one year.
I've also seen a ton of videos on tiktok where they don't even know what kind of animal they're getting, flexing that they have such animal just to make people think he/she is cool.
I really enjoyed the editing you did in this video. I can’t place my finger on what you did specifically, but I can tell you’ve been experimenting again lol. Man, I was definitely guilty about freaking out over mites and mold in the past and you are absolutely right about just waiting it out and drying out the substrate. On the rescuing tarantulas part, I feel like chains near me have been stepping up their species game. They still keep them poorly, but they are getting in things like GBBs instead of curly hairs which is crazy and definitely on purpose to catch people’s attention with those colors.
Love your videos! There amazing. Pretty much the main channel I watch. Even if I have watch them over and over the quality is like animal planet it’s awesome! Tarantula planet haha
About 20 years ago I walked into a place called pieces pet emporium, in Calgary Alberta and bought my first tarantula, a adult rose hair ☺️Because it was primarily a fish store I was given little to no husbandry advice. This was pre internet, and I remember saving up allowance to buy a tarantula keepers book from the same store. Now all this valuable husbandry advice and wicked upclose footage is right at our fingertips 🕸🕷 This channel has given me the confidence to raise up slings and wander into old world territories!
Some pretty awesome ideas there. The one about getting more sources of information is a good one. When I got my first tarantula there wasn't that much information out there, but books. Now it's so readily available now, and I tend to sit and make comparisons to see each idea. Anyway as always cool information. Hope yourself and family are starting to recover. Get well soon and take care.
Oh yeah. I remember getting my first tiny G pulchra sling. It tried to run away so I used a catch cup, got her leg stuck under it and it broke. I was absolutely traumatized, now I re-home by letting them crawl onto my hand so I can have that control, or I wait until they wander into their carry cup and place my palm over it. Though, I only do it once I test their mood and if they aren't having it, they aren't moving that day - this is generally my rule of thumb for my gooties.
I visited a Petco for the first time in my life (I’m Canadian) a couple of months ago when my truck broke down in MA. They had 4 C. Cyaneopubescens all labeled differently but more importantly, they all had dusted crickets strolling around the enclosure. DUSTED. CRICKETS. ALL OF THEM. Aside from how gobsmacked I was after finding out that they dust crickets for tarantulas to make sure they get enough calcium for healthy bones (Seriously Petco?), I was devastated when I saw some 11-12 leopard geckos of various sizes dumped together in a small, SMALL enclosure beside 4 bearded dragons that were all black bearded and done up to the nines with stress marks. I have never seen such horrific living conditions on display for the public to observe. If that were in Canada, the store would have been shut down for investigation within a week. Maybe that’s why there aren’t any Petco’s here? Unbelievable.
You've become so comforting to my ptsd I can't explain my gratitude to you and people like Kat who share my passions and truly help me through a hard time (testifying against my r*p!st.
Great video as always 🖤 Especially when you're getting your first spiders it's so hard to leave them alone and not stress they might not like the enclosure. But best to just follow them through the glass. Tarantulas arent picky and they make sure themselves to decorate the enclosure the way they like it. I'm def still nervous to rehouse my pokie even after having her for two years 🤣 But so far her most rehouses have gone well!
Guilty of “rescuing” a tarantula recently and you’re right about these stores just restocking them. I sent for two from underground reptiles, always good Ts. For those who have larger enclosures, I provide two water dishes on opposite sides and give them food wherever they make their burrows. Makes it easier to make sure they eat. Still learning and its true, you need to educate about your specific tarantula. Even told this to someone who has tarantulas. The more you know, the more you can properly care for your tarantula
@@NeuroticLobster whats wrong with underground reptiles?? Im not saying that in a sassy way, im just curious why you're face palming at them for buying from that place. I've never bought from them, so i'd like to know why i shouldn't
yea, I did the same recently with a little A. avicularia when I was picking up some coco bricks and looking for tanks on sale... an employee was trying to tell the difference between it and what he was calling a "red toe" tarantula... which was in fact just the same species with a little different look. I just fell in love with the little shit and had to take it home. S/he's been absolutely lovely so far and I don't regret it for a second, but I have to force myself not to do it again.
My first tarantula was a H. pulchripes juvenile that I put in a 10 gallon tank. I also dumped a whole cup of mealworms on the soil so it could hunt as it chose to. I wanted it to be like my own nature show.. Found out spiders don't eat as much as I thought and the mealworms started eating the cork bark tube the T had moved into. I looked in and saw worms all in the tube and a few biting the T. I did a emergency re-house into a smaller enclosure and it was able to molt the next day. I'm glad was able to fix it and save the spider, she is still the jewel of my collection. Thank you for making these vids, they really helped me out when I first got into it and they give me food for thought on how to always improve.
My friend did #1 to me. She had a Texas Brown and gave her to me cause she couldn’t care for her. As soon as I had her, I researched nonstop, still am. So, thank you so much for all the information you give us!
I posted about that on my FB page about all exotics. Cause alot of them require special care and are advertised as "easy pets" like hermit crabs, Tarantulas, Hamsters, parrots, gecko's, snakes, etc. I also got money to get a T for Christmas, I got a P. Metallica. ❤️
Christmas pets upset me when they're bought for people that didn't want them or don't know how to care for them. And within a year the animal is being rehomed or has passed away due to poor husbandry.
I do check in on my tarantulas twice a day, but I don't disturb their enclosures unless there is a major issue. I save watering and cleanup for feeding day. Old worlds are far easier to rehouse for me, so far anyway.
I went to petco the other day before I started doing research into getting a T because I just wanted to make sure I would be terrified of it before I even got to into the idea. I asked if I could see or maybe handle the T and the person open the enclosure and picked up the T and let me hold it. In hindsight, she was wearing gloves but never even offered or suggested for me to have gloves and this Brachypelma hamorii was kicking hairs all over them and in hindsight I got really lucky it didn't kick while I was holding it and only at them. I would not have been happy to have expeirenced that lol
Thanks Richard . "Rescued" a B boehmei sling from Pet co about a month ago . Obviously in pre molt with half a dozen crickets running around in a five gallon tank that you could barely see through because of condensation . Couldn't help myself .
I used to be a helicopter keeper but mostly because my first tarantulas burrows weren’t holding. After having it for about two years I changed it from just coco fiber to reptisoil and hasn’t collapsed yet. Luckily I bought a tiny bad of coco fiber so it was used up. Now I got two more tarantulas from fear not tarantulas and they’re both doing great! One is a GBB and the other is a Mexican red rump. I rarely see the latter but every so often I’ll see tiny feets waiting for food. Right now two of the three had covered the entrance to their burrows for winter. It’s not freezing here but still chilly. I don’t worry about my first tarantula because it’s native to where I live. It’s cool because last year during monsoon season it just suddenly stopped coming out of its burrow at night (it always comes out and kinda just chills by the burrow entrance) and every time it did that it rained either that night or the next morning.
Talk about escaping!!! Had a Goliath bird eater get out and my daughter spotted her on the wall saying it looked like a hand on the wall....😬. Great information 💥💥💯.
I love your videos you know what you're talking about Good job brother good job I just recently joined your Facebook group I'm super excited to see what's in store And I look forward to seeing many more of your videos Keep up the good work
Thank you for making videos about tarantulas, and thanks to you and Tarantula Kat making videos about tarantulas my husband finally let me have my first tarantula, very happy! So thank you I really appreciate the time you take out of your day to make videos for everyone Richard and Tarantula Kat.
I got interested in tarantulas about 35 years ago and picked up half a dozen old females from a couple of breeders. They were inexpensive and big but I knew they had lived most of their lives already. I just wanted to give them a happy retirement and enjoy their company. I was surprised that one was super friendly and would run to get into my hand for petting. I had so much contact with her I forgot about her hairs. I never had a problem. Then a woman friend wanted to pet her and I allowed her to. All she did was pet her in my hand with her finger tips. I got a call the next day, she had to go to her doctor for a steroid cream. Apparently she scratched her neck after touching my spider and her entire neck was now covered in a rash. Oops. After that I let her (and anyone else) pet the spider with a toothbrush.
I've tried doing research but there is a lot of do this or don't do that so usually I watch a lot of your videos cuz I feel comfortable with your opinions and ideas
I'm afraid of spiders. On a scale from 1 to 10 I'm cringing at the video but same time...I'm learning so my fear is slowly loosening up. So thank you for the educational on these spiders. Maybe one day I'll grab a tarantula just to type have as physical reminder that you can get over a fear of spiders if you just listen. Sayin all that to say I'm not even a spider love but I fcks wit ya channel.
I recently discovered a local petshop a few towns over that not only has proper enclosures for all its pets, including a large array of reptiles and invertebrates, but also has the option to buy said enclosure with the pet, sometimes with their food of choice included! Very impressed.
Thank you for this video man! We have kept jumping spiders and wolf spider but we just got our first tarantulas a couple weeks ago after months of research. Lasiodora parahybana. Ordered one little sling and two arrived! Our daughter named them Cutie Pie and Cuteness Overload. They are about a half an inch and one of the things my husband and I constantly debated about is your #1 keeping them in an adult enclosure first. I'm happy to say they have been living in their deli cups for now with substrate, sphagnum moss, and circle lego pieces as water dishes but it is a relief to have everything we wondered about answered so clearly in this video. Looking forward to learning more. Take care!
Love this type of content You've been posting lately. It's great for everyone to hear and be reminded of some common and not so common tips. Thank you Sir keep up the great work=]
Thank You so much for adding the scientific name to Your video! As a viewer not nativ to the US it is often unpossible to know which species is meant in the video,not knowing the common name.
I finally understood why they have different sizes of enclosures in their stages of life. I was wondering about it. I'm a first time tarantula keeper and i choose to have slings so i can learn how to care for them along the way. I was wondering if once they becomes juveniles if i can transfer them to a bit bigger enclosures to give them more space to roam. I guess i should choose something just enough so they won't have problems finding their food. Thank you for teaching us the proper tanrantula husbandry. I only follow a few of you in youtube to learn. I used to only admire them since i know i am not ready to care for them. Now in my 40s i think it's time or i will never have this oppurtunity again.
Great Videosss, I’ve been watching a lot I’m thinking of getting a tarantula myself hopefully it will get me over my fear of spiders😂 very informative especially for beginnersss good work bro👊👍💯
I love every thing you post on Carabina versicolor and everything else as well but I think as a new owner of a common sold T at shows is the anitlles pinktoe would you please do a few more videos on it based on its early through adult life? so far I got mine as a 3/24 sling and its now gone 2 maybe 3 molts in 8 months I think 2 its front to back legs are just about 2.5inches and from last molt went from all blue black to showing red in the butt. You are my favorite and most trustworthy Handlers and I recommend your page to everyone that comes and sees me at my booth when I do shows at the shows in Van BC
Man thats one of the biggest mistake iv made buying from a petstore to save a T. Its hard not to think your helping but your so right, dont complete the circle. It is tough tho.
Great info! My first T’s are a sling OBT, and Gifted juvenile Nhandu chromatus. Kinda feel like I’m helicoptering them, but have soaked up a lot of info, and have been housing them very well. I love getting to open their enclosures to feed, add water, and hydrate their enclosures. One of my favorite creatures now!
My local Petco actually does a good job with tarantulas. They’ve taken out the sponges after I let them know about the bacteria that can grow on it, and now only use water dishes. Also, the person who works there keeps tarantulas, so the care is spot on. I know most chain pet stores aren’t lucky enough to have a employee that’s knowledgeable about them, but hopefully that will change.
Just got my first T today! It's a G. pulchra juvi and I'm glad I can now use what I've learned from watching your vids all the time! One thing I've learned from keeping reptiles and other arachnids is that every source usually has some little tidbit of info that's different from the rest, so finding a credible source is important for sure! Thanks for all these amazing informative videos!
I'm getting a tarantula in a few months so I'm researching them like crazy to help me learn how to take care of them. This is an awesome channel, especially for new keepers like me! Thank you for this
@Richard hope you are starting to feel better and a bit more energetic. Great video! Lol I am waiting for you to mention one of my first mistakes I did when I got my first slings, not taking my time to drill holes properly and accidentally melting holes to large with a soldering iron and spending the whole day and many hours of the night looking for a 1/8 inch brown sling on a tan and brown apartment rug and fearing one of my cats eat it. Found it with a UV flashlight once it got dark as UV light makes camouflage moot by differentiating materials based on the UV reflective index, if they are not made out of similar materials they appear slightly different in UV.
I am hoping that I don't have to do a complete substrate change for my C. albostriatus. There's a mold outbreak going on in there, but I just dumped and absolute truckload full of springtails in there so I'm hoping they'll be able to do something about it!
I remember I made the last mistake with my one T I have, first one I got and had no idea she'd be the size of a quarter. 10 gallon I was reusing from a friend who got rid of their aquarium- filled most of it with substrate, she always hid under one specific bit of dry moss. I put her little water dish next to it and prekilled her mealworms at first since she always would run away if they moved rather than eat! Never knew you were supposed to rehouse them until waaaay later. Thankfully she's all grown up and A-OK these days! Something I will def be more mindful of next time. (Note: she's a Brachypelma boehmei! Also learned the hard way she had a skittish personality just opening the tank to feed her, many, many u-hair rashes later 😅)
I am guilty of being a helicopter. I have my first 2Ts. I don’t mess inside their housing but I find myself constantly looking at them or for them and looking at their temp and humidity, making sure they have water etc. so I guess I am an outside helicopter keeper. I am panicked about molting. I just don’t want anything to hurt them in any way. Love this video. I always learn so much from you and others and could not do this without you!
I just rehoused my OBT, about 3" i was nervous before i started. The obt came out when i took the lid off, no threat pose, it just wanted to see what was going on. I remained calm, took two tongs and carefully detached its web borrow from the sides of the amac box and lifted the webbing into the new enclosure with the obt riding on top. The obt was super calm and went right to work fixing up his borrow. No threat pose. No ground slapping just a great easy rehouse. My obt of all my Ts.
It made me feel bad at first but my curly hair just never used the pre dug burrow. He made his own but I left his enclosure alone since he hadn't been in there long. It was kinda awesome to see him dig his own home.
You give such great advice! I bought my curly hair from petco and they didn’t know if it was male or female or what type of curly hair he was. They also kept it in a brightly lit critter carrier with about a centimeter of rough bark like substrate. No hideaway, no nothing. I felt so bad I bought it.
Guilty of two things here, being a helicopter parent and not getting my information from different places. You are my only source of information besides Google
I am a new keeper with my first lasiodora parahybana. (I have had many reptiles my whole life). Bought it as a tiny sling and took your advice in a previous video on re-programing myself to just let it be and stop moving stuff around looking for her more often then I should. After almost a month has passed and I still haven't seen her, I had to do a wellness check. I pushed back some shrub and OMG, I jumped out of my chair, Dam she got soooo big in a short period of time and looks very content. Thank You for all of your advice. Love the channel.
I got my LP about a month about at about 6cm. He or she was feeding well, although I never saw the LP take the prey. About a week ago it closed off its burrow. Is this the similar sort of thing you have experienced? Should i just leave the LP to it now?,
@@nicwil90 I named my LP - "Dozer" because he is a freakin bull-dozer. He has dug so many holes and tunnels, sealed off certain entrances and really has made his enclosure customized to his liking. Your LP is just nesting and setting up his living space. It is fascinating to watch. As far as prey goes, Dozer drags them into the tunnels where I am sure he has a meat locker set-up.
Love the list but pet stores are more accessible and cheaper than dealers online. You can either get a sling for $20 plus a $40 to $50 shipping fee that probably will die a week later or get a $30 adult from a pet store which would last ya.
It's nice that the time was taken to make a video to cover this topic. I'd probably be the helicopter keeper otherwise. I do however like the idea of keeping the Ts in an enclosure that is no more than is necessary. I plan on starting off with small slings of the more beginner friendly variety. And I also think that getting 4 or 5 at once will decrease the urge to loom over a single enclosure. Thnx for the video.
The first topic happened to me.. My younger sister bought me two adult balfouris and one sling c cyaneopubescens as a surprise for my birthday.. But fortunately I know how to take care of tarantulas..
Biggest mistake i have seen happen this year was someone who tried to help a T out of a bad molt. The T had a leg stuck but the rest of it was out. Instead of leaving it be for the t's leg to ether drop off or for the molt to they tried to intervene. The T unfortunately died as the owner was attempting to remove the molt from a freshly molted still soft T manually by pulling at it. I don't get why people think this is a good idea.. When mine have got a leg stuck i normally leave it a day unless its causing huge problems, the molt will dry out and normally fall off might have a tiny bit attached that will come off the next molt anyway or over time. At worst if its dragging its old molt around just snip it away without any drama leaving a small bit attached. I have seen people just snip/pull the actual stuck leg off also rather than stress the T by pulling at a molt. Seems to work, and probably lower risk than pulling at the molt as the leg will likely fall off anyway. (id advise against this last bit cutting/pulling leg off though they could bleed out! But its better than freaking out and chucking the T half way across the room or something when it chucks a threat pose as you stress it for hours in end trying to gently remove a molt.)
Once again I thought handling was going to be on the list as an idea, rather than a bullet point, lol. I was also expecting a little playful jab towards Kat during the "each keeper has the experiences and such" bit.
Thank you for your informational and cativate videos! You are my 1st fount of information in this hobbye . But i search for another persons too , so i can have more information possible about my T 😊
Hey I just wanted to say that when I first got my avic I didn't have anything for it. I have since gotten things looking pretty good, I started out as a helicopter just wanting to try to hold her but have found that the more I just leave her alone she just seems to hang out. I try to watch videos from everyone on TH-cam and some other things online. I do appreciate all of you guys and ladies, thanks !!
So please keep in mind reading this that I am no expert in theis feild. But I just finished rehoming my young Stromatopelma Calceatum. It was in one of the small critter keepers. And I saw it the other day. Thought to my self "oh dear. You are nearly the width of your little box...this will be a not so fun experience now." But the main thing I needed to deal with, and this can go for a lot of people keep in mind I am no expert by any means was just myself. Because I told myself "yo if you are to scared of this spider to rehome it, why do you have it my guy?" And so i got my stuff ready. I had 2 things of water to use to gently and slowly flood her out as she was still in a dug out den (the young are fossorial or burrowing animals while they become arboreal with age, rather like the H Mac) I had one of those paint brushes with the big fan like tips I had a catch cup and lid handy in the event of it running away. And a set of tongs. And as such i got to work, and as it turned out being calm having a clean and open work area and even letting the little samp run a tiny bit was best for it. And for me. It was open, easy to catch and became lower stress for me once i realized it would be easier to contain if no longer in a flooded tank. And the move whent well. So for any aspect of tarantula keeping my best advice. Is to just chill out. Try to act like the animal you interact with. It will teach you lots. But in handling them, act like a sand boa. Calm slow unthreatend and most if all trust the animal. It will help you all so much. Peace, and happy keeping. Note i am not saying handle your taranulas. Especially something like the S. Calceatum i meant handling as is if you need to kove them to rehome or other such things.
That Number 2 is legit. New keepers posts on social media why their slings died without any apparent reason. And you'll see a 1cm size sling in a 10-15gallon terrarium. And saying "wow in the wild there are no enclosure". Smh
Was guilty with the enclosure part. When I bought my first sling I went and bought two insect boxes both different size and is perfect to keep a tarantula. But when I open the package I realized that they are too small and can easily fit threw the holes. Luckily the breeder packet the sling in a nice small container which is perfect for them in their size. But have trouble with my second tarantula (juvenile). When I first got them I was a bit shocked that she is bigger then I though and I have planned on putting her on the smaller enclosure but it is way too small for her and I did not have enough soil for the bigger enclosure (not enough for the tarantula to have a nice own tunnel at all.) So the trouble is mostly I underestimate their size and not having enough soil. Love your video BTW! ❤🕷❤
What i appreciate is people like this with years of experience making those bad decisions for us so they can teach the next generation of keepers. It's been really helpful to me since 2018 and I've made better decisions since. This year will be my 4th year since getting my Chaco Golden Knee and it had been great. I think the worst decision i made was digging for my Chaco on a few occasions but its been fine since i stopped. Also it may be a mature male soon and unfortunately people don't want to do breeding of it since it's common (even though I've rarely seen it being sold). So maybe a couple years left with it
If you would like to support the channel, please consider joining my Patreon for as little as $2 a month: www.patreon.com/The_Tarantula_Collective
My sister made the first mistake when she gifted me a tarantula when I was terrified of spiders. I knew it couldn't go back so I spent from that night forward gathering information to provide the best I could for my baby boy! With your help and others I've been able to provide him a good home. I love him to death and I'm constantly researching to make sure I give him the best life I can.
the good ending :
OH DANG... I honestly would've just thought it would've been bad in total to gift someone a spider who's terrified of them... I know STILL A BAD IDEA overall to gift someone one, but damn... That would be like someone gifting me a dog😭. I am borderlining cynophobia and they TERRIFY ME. I say borderline since I'm not quite there but close. Cynophobia is the fear of dogs. Gifting someone a tarantula with arachnophobia is just... Idk...
I work at a chain pet store and it’s so hard to keep Ts in the enclosure options we’re given :/ I bend the rules as much as I can to give them what they need, but fortunately I’m in charge of picking what we order so I can do my research beforehand and make sure they get proper care when they’re purchased and go to a good home!
This person here needs a raise.
No doubt they need a raise. Iv seen the bad examples and it's awful. Being in a store where not one person there knows anything or feeds them or cares if they get out and get hurt or worse it's ridiculous.
Oh my god thank you for doing this! I made the mistake of buying my first tarantula at petsmart, and the worst thing looking back is seeing how horribly they’re kept, I’m glad there’s someone who’s awesome enough to do this for them :)
@@richardwentzel8941FOR REAL
Yes, once I bought an anatillies pinktoe from petco for $200 and it’s living really well I guess I got lucky
Speaking of petco being over priced,before I heard enough people and sources saying don't go there ,I was looking for my first T, both were around 100 dollars. Went to an actual reptile store and got the Tarantula, enclosure, 2 bags of substrate and water dish for the same price I would've paid just for the spider at petco.
Saw a greenbottle blue there for 150.
My son and I got a curly hair for 39 bucks and got a nice enclosure there for $25. Not too bad. We named her Maria. She just molted
I really appreciate you putting the names of the spiders in your videos. For a newbie like me, it's very helpful. 🖤 I am sure it's a lot of work and makes editing take longer.
It is mainly how time consuming it can be is why i havent, but I think I am going to try and start doing it a lot more in videos. people seem to appreciate it.
This is a much needed video. Something else bugs me about pet stores is them selling ow T's and not informing their customers about their venom levels. I was telling an associate working in a pet store I use to live close to about a spider they had that they were calling an Indian ornamental, lol. I told them they were pretty venomous and should label it as such and I was telln them about their speed and that they could be quite defensive.. All I got was an oh yea?? He said they wasn't allowed to put labels😳. I tried to no avail to convince him. I was in there one day and just as I feared, they were getting ready to sell it to this guy who was getting it for his little girl, who wanted a spider she could handle and play with😳😳😳. I said whaaaaa??? I told dude, look, don't mean to be in your business but I am anyway. You don't play with any spiders, they bite and this one is a level 4 spider venom. He says, what's that mean. I said, it means if it bites either of you you're probably going to the hospital and if it bites one of your pets, it will probably kill it. Before you get into spiders, find out more about them plz, and plz, don't play with them, it more than likely won't end well. I referred him to a few keeper channels and a couple vendors. He left that spider in the shop. But they finally sold it to a keeper needing a male for his lady. They wasn't happy with me for that but they got over it lol. Sorry for talkn to much lol. Tyfs God bless you
It’s true, I was the little girl
I just got my first Tarantula last week, an avicularia avicularia, and I’ve been bad about the helicopter parenting. I’ve been worried because they won’t explore their enclosure right away, but I just need to be more patient. I was also concerned about it not wanting to eat for the passed two days, but I’m sure that has to do with me helicoptering the T. I’ll definitely be taking this advice and just leaving them be for awhile, so they can get adjusted. Thank you for your always wonderful advice.
Dont worry the helecopter side passes after a while and worrying about them not eating passes like my obt when I first got it was a ferocious eater and since the last molt hasnt came out of it web cave haha and has molted again since without eating and that's been around 6 months the way I deal with feeding is if I see them waiting in an ambush sort of position I try them with food if they take it there hungry of not i take the food away and leave em
Another thing you can do is try to talk to the pet care associates/manager at a chain pet store and let them know their husbandry is not right. They typically wont give them enough substrate to burrow in because they want the T somewhat visible to sell it but they'll change anything else they can. Sometimes youll get a receptive person that didn't know anything about tarantulas and theyre happy to do what they can to make their Ts more comfortable while there and tell customers what you told them. Just be civil about it. It wont always work but it can help the situation. I used to work at a chain pet store (not in that department but they knew i had reptiles and Ts, and they listened to me when i told them they werent housing a species of snake correctly, they also had heavy fish decor in their T enclsoures on top of wood chips mixed with coco fiber and they changed those things when i told them it was potentially harmful.
Sometimes the issue is that they get animal inspection agencies coming in and forcing them to change their ways to another way. Like, they'd get in trouble if they are seen without any water bowls in a bearded dragon tank. When having water bowls is actually VERY bad for their health as they give off too much humidity and they can catch illnesses like respiratory diseases and such... So gotta keep that in mind as well as some people will harp on a pet store cause they don't know anything and the inspectors don't know anything either... They will assume and think they're being abused for doing proper care for certain animals and it's downright sad.
I can accuse myself of hovering over my first T. I kept her on my desk and was always into the enclosure to straighten up after she bulldozer the substrate everywhere. After doing more research I learn this behavior is not only typical for that species but for tarantulas as a whole. So I started to just leave her alone and let her do her thing. Now I have 13 T's from adults to slings. My five slings had been in their 2oz deli cup since they were separated back in May, and I only rehoused them into an 8oz deli container just last week. Now all my T's are in separate room and I check them after I get up in the morning and just before I go to bed. And only add more water or just feed them when needed. I may go into their room, occasionally, during the day to see how they are doing. But right now mostly they stay in their burrow and I rarely see them out. A couple look like they are pre-molt and some I haven't seen at all like my A. chalcodes, she's covered both exit holes entirely for a few months now. Also, my nearest Pet Smart is in another county and by law cannot sell venomous pets. The nearest Petco is a two hour drive, and the one pet store here in my small town will order what you want at a great price and no shipping. Any way between watching various videos from you, Tom Moran, Petko, Dave from Dave's Beasties, Kat, and Alex in Florida, I new what to expect and was able to wait until I had gathered my supplies and tools before I got my first T's. So, thankfully, I can say I haven't done 4 out of 5 bad keepers problems. Thank you Richard for all your time and videos to learn and keeping my fuzzy legged babies healthy, happy, and hearty. I've had my T's for almost a year now, and I love them. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
I work at a local Petco in the town I live in and I know what you mean. When I first started working there we had a tarantula die and I explained to them what happened and what needed to be done next time. They weren't aware of the species they had and the lifestyle that they needed to thrive and survive. So the next time we had a tarantula come in I tried to educate everyone on the type that was coming and the methods that need to be taken to make sure that it will survive. Like you said it is a business, but lucky for me I work with people willing to learn and take care of the animals and learn about them. You don't see that often in pet stores. My crew at work seems to be good and they have a basic idea of tarantula care and what they need to do if they have questions they aren't afraid to ask and are confident in learning new information. I will say that all the information that you have said is very valuable and I have lost tarantulas by putting them in adult enclosures thinking that it will work and it doesn't work out the way that I wanted it to and they are lost or burrowed. I think you did a great job illustrating this throughout your video. You did a great job keep up the great work!!!
booping the snoot is also a bad idea, even though it's tempting
All the chain pet stores I go to they always have great husbandry with their tarantulas but I’ve seen local pet stores that keep full grown tarantulas in small deli cups
I like how you emphasize having multiple sources of info. I've received contradictory info from YT channels: both were super experienced keepers, and neither was wrong, just telling me what worked for them. But I think in such cases the truth is more complicated than we know, and lots of people just have a piece of it.
Yep! Made the #1 mistake twice and have an OBT and Birdeater somewhere in my house. 😂😂
I used to keep many Ts and guilty of helicopter keeping at first. Luckily I was able to find a collector to take most of my Ts when my lifestyle changed. I kept a couple of terrestrials and they’re about 17-18 years old now.
Think of them as a pet rock. Feed once in a while and just look at them. My Grammostola pulchripes fasted for over one year.
I've also seen a ton of videos on tiktok where they don't even know what kind of animal they're getting, flexing that they have such animal just to make people think he/she is cool.
I really enjoyed the editing you did in this video. I can’t place my finger on what you did specifically, but I can tell you’ve been experimenting again lol.
Man, I was definitely guilty about freaking out over mites and mold in the past and you are absolutely right about just waiting it out and drying out the substrate.
On the rescuing tarantulas part, I feel like chains near me have been stepping up their species game. They still keep them poorly, but they are getting in things like GBBs instead of curly hairs which is crazy and definitely on purpose to catch people’s attention with those colors.
Love your videos! There amazing. Pretty much the main channel I watch. Even if I have watch them over and over the quality is like animal planet it’s awesome! Tarantula planet haha
About 20 years ago I walked into a place called pieces pet emporium, in Calgary Alberta and bought my first tarantula, a adult rose hair ☺️Because it was primarily a fish store I was given little to no husbandry advice. This was pre internet, and I remember saving up allowance to buy a tarantula keepers book from the same store. Now all this valuable husbandry advice and wicked upclose footage is right at our fingertips 🕸🕷
This channel has given me the confidence to raise up slings and wander into old world territories!
Some pretty awesome ideas there. The one about getting more sources of information is a good one. When I got my first tarantula there wasn't that much information out there, but books. Now it's so readily available now, and I tend to sit and make comparisons to see each idea.
Anyway as always cool information.
Hope yourself and family are starting to recover. Get well soon and take care.
Oh yeah. I remember getting my first tiny G pulchra sling. It tried to run away so I used a catch cup, got her leg stuck under it and it broke. I was absolutely traumatized, now I re-home by letting them crawl onto my hand so I can have that control, or I wait until they wander into their carry cup
and place my palm over it. Though, I only do it once I test their mood and if they aren't having it, they aren't moving that day - this is generally my rule of thumb for my gooties.
Glad you are feeling better!
I visited a Petco for the first time in my life (I’m Canadian) a couple of months ago when my truck broke down in MA. They had 4 C. Cyaneopubescens all labeled differently but more importantly, they all had dusted crickets strolling around the enclosure. DUSTED. CRICKETS. ALL OF THEM.
Aside from how gobsmacked I was after finding out that they dust crickets for tarantulas to make sure they get enough calcium for healthy bones (Seriously Petco?), I was devastated when I saw some 11-12 leopard geckos of various sizes dumped together in a small, SMALL enclosure beside 4 bearded dragons that were all black bearded and done up to the nines with stress marks.
I have never seen such horrific living conditions on display for the public to observe. If that were in Canada, the store would have been shut down for investigation within a week. Maybe that’s why there aren’t any Petco’s here? Unbelievable.
You've become so comforting to my ptsd I can't explain my gratitude to you and people like Kat who share my passions and truly help me through a hard time (testifying against my r*p!st.
I am so sorry to hear about that, but I am glad my videos can bring you some relief...even if only momentarily.
Great video as always 🖤 Especially when you're getting your first spiders it's so hard to leave them alone and not stress they might not like the enclosure. But best to just follow them through the glass. Tarantulas arent picky and they make sure themselves to decorate the enclosure the way they like it.
I'm def still nervous to rehouse my pokie even after having her for two years 🤣 But so far her most rehouses have gone well!
Guilty of “rescuing” a tarantula recently and you’re right about these stores just restocking them. I sent for two from underground reptiles, always good Ts. For those who have larger enclosures, I provide two water dishes on opposite sides and give them food wherever they make their burrows. Makes it easier to make sure they eat. Still learning and its true, you need to educate about your specific tarantula. Even told this to someone who has tarantulas. The more you know, the more you can properly care for your tarantula
Underground Reptiles 🤦♂️
@@NeuroticLobster whats wrong with underground reptiles?? Im not saying that in a sassy way, im just curious why you're face palming at them for buying from that place. I've never bought from them, so i'd like to know why i shouldn't
yea, I did the same recently with a little A. avicularia when I was picking up some coco bricks and looking for tanks on sale... an employee was trying to tell the difference between it and what he was calling a "red toe" tarantula... which was in fact just the same species with a little different look. I just fell in love with the little shit and had to take it home. S/he's been absolutely lovely so far and I don't regret it for a second, but I have to force myself not to do it again.
My first tarantula was a H. pulchripes juvenile that I put in a 10 gallon tank. I also dumped a whole cup of mealworms on the soil so it could hunt as it chose to. I wanted it to be like my own nature show.. Found out spiders don't eat as much as I thought and the mealworms started eating the cork bark tube the T had moved into. I looked in and saw worms all in the tube and a few biting the T. I did a emergency re-house into a smaller enclosure and it was able to molt the next day. I'm glad was able to fix it and save the spider, she is still the jewel of my collection.
Thank you for making these vids, they really helped me out when I first got into it and they give me food for thought on how to always improve.
Hey! I also have a TH-cam channel related to invertebrates and biology!!! Feel free to subscribe...
Thanks for all the info! New Tarantula owner just picked up a juvenile Green Bottle Blue so far alot of fun to watch. Thanks again for the content.
Thank's. Good night!
My friend did #1 to me. She had a Texas Brown and gave her to me cause she couldn’t care for her. As soon as I had her, I researched nonstop, still am. So, thank you so much for all the information you give us!
I posted about that on my FB page about all exotics. Cause alot of them require special care and are advertised as "easy pets" like hermit crabs, Tarantulas, Hamsters, parrots, gecko's, snakes, etc.
I also got money to get a T for Christmas, I got a P. Metallica. ❤️
Christmas pets upset me when they're bought for people that didn't want them or don't know how to care for them. And within a year the animal is being rehomed or has passed away due to poor husbandry.
Great video as always. Hope yall feel better soon. 💓
I do check in on my tarantulas twice a day, but I don't disturb their enclosures unless there is a major issue. I save watering and cleanup for feeding day. Old worlds are far easier to rehouse for me, so far anyway.
Hey! I also have a TH-cam channel related to spiders and other invertebrates!!! Feel free to subscribe...
I'm with you old worlds are much easier to deal with I cant stand some of my flicker species when I've had to rehouse
I went to petco the other day before I started doing research into getting a T because I just wanted to make sure I would be terrified of it before I even got to into the idea. I asked if I could see or maybe handle the T and the person open the enclosure and picked up the T and let me hold it. In hindsight, she was wearing gloves but never even offered or suggested for me to have gloves and this Brachypelma hamorii was kicking hairs all over them and in hindsight I got really lucky it didn't kick while I was holding it and only at them. I would not have been happy to have expeirenced that lol
Thanks Richard . "Rescued" a B boehmei sling from Pet co about a month ago . Obviously in pre molt with half a dozen crickets running around in a five gallon tank that you could barely see through because of condensation . Couldn't help myself .
I used to be a helicopter keeper but mostly because my first tarantulas burrows weren’t holding. After having it for about two years I changed it from just coco fiber to reptisoil and hasn’t collapsed yet. Luckily I bought a tiny bad of coco fiber so it was used up. Now I got two more tarantulas from fear not tarantulas and they’re both doing great! One is a GBB and the other is a Mexican red rump. I rarely see the latter but every so often I’ll see tiny feets waiting for food. Right now two of the three had covered the entrance to their burrows for winter. It’s not freezing here but still chilly. I don’t worry about my first tarantula because it’s native to where I live. It’s cool because last year during monsoon season it just suddenly stopped coming out of its burrow at night (it always comes out and kinda just chills by the burrow entrance) and every time it did that it rained either that night or the next morning.
Talk about escaping!!! Had a Goliath bird eater get out and my daughter spotted her on the wall saying it looked like a hand on the wall....😬. Great information 💥💥💯.
I had a sling escape last week and still haven’t found her 😭
#3 is SO hard! I am new to the hobby, a month in, and a definite helicopter keeper...something to work on.
I love your videos you know what you're talking about Good job brother good job I just recently joined your Facebook group I'm super excited to see what's in store And I look forward to seeing many more of your videos Keep up the good work
Thank you for making videos about tarantulas, and thanks to you and Tarantula Kat making videos about tarantulas my husband finally let me have my first tarantula, very happy! So thank you I really appreciate the time you take out of your day to make videos for everyone Richard and Tarantula Kat.
Thanks Richard. Great video. Hope you're feeling better soon.
I got interested in tarantulas about 35 years ago and picked up half a dozen old females from a couple of breeders. They were inexpensive and big but I knew they had lived most of their lives already. I just wanted to give them a happy retirement and enjoy their company.
I was surprised that one was super friendly and would run to get into my hand for petting. I had so much contact with her I forgot about her hairs. I never had a problem. Then a woman friend wanted to pet her and I allowed her to. All she did was pet her in my hand with her finger tips. I got a call the next day, she had to go to her doctor for a steroid cream. Apparently she scratched her neck after touching my spider and her entire neck was now covered in a rash.
Oops.
After that I let her (and anyone else) pet the spider with a toothbrush.
That is amazing. My grandmother had 2 brazillian blacks like this, as ajoke she had a ''beware of the tarantulas'' sign as they were so lovely.
Brilliant Richard, very enjoyable and very good advice 👍 for new and experienced keepers alike.
I've tried doing research but there is a lot of do this or don't do that so usually I watch a lot of your videos cuz I feel comfortable with your opinions and ideas
Glad to hear that!
I'm afraid of spiders. On a scale from 1 to 10 I'm cringing at the video but same time...I'm learning so my fear is slowly loosening up. So thank you for the educational on these spiders. Maybe one day I'll grab a tarantula just to type have as physical reminder that you can get over a fear of spiders if you just listen. Sayin all that to say I'm not even a spider love but I fcks wit ya channel.
I recently discovered a local petshop a few towns over that not only has proper enclosures for all its pets, including a large array of reptiles and invertebrates, but also has the option to buy said enclosure with the pet, sometimes with their food of choice included! Very impressed.
Thank you for this video man! We have kept jumping spiders and wolf spider but we just got our first tarantulas a couple weeks ago after months of research. Lasiodora parahybana. Ordered one little sling and two arrived! Our daughter named them Cutie Pie and Cuteness Overload. They are about a half an inch and one of the things my husband and I constantly debated about is your #1 keeping them in an adult enclosure first. I'm happy to say they have been living in their deli cups for now with substrate, sphagnum moss, and circle lego pieces as water dishes but it is a relief to have everything we wondered about answered so clearly in this video. Looking forward to learning more. Take care!
Love this type of content You've been posting lately. It's great for everyone to hear and be reminded of some common and not so common tips. Thank you Sir keep up the great work=]
Thank You so much for adding the scientific name to Your video! As a viewer not nativ to the US it is often unpossible to know which species is meant in the video,not knowing the common name.
I finally understood why they have different sizes of enclosures in their stages of life. I was wondering about it. I'm a first time tarantula keeper and i choose to have slings so i can learn how to care for them along the way. I was wondering if once they becomes juveniles if i can transfer them to a bit bigger enclosures to give them more space to roam. I guess i should choose something just enough so they won't have problems finding their food. Thank you for teaching us the proper tanrantula husbandry. I only follow a few of you in youtube to learn. I used to only admire them since i know i am not ready to care for them. Now in my 40s i think it's time or i will never have this oppurtunity again.
Great info. Another awesome upload 👍
Great Videosss, I’ve been watching a lot I’m thinking of getting a tarantula myself hopefully it will get me over my fear of spiders😂 very informative especially for beginnersss good work bro👊👍💯
Just got my first tarantula 2 weeks ago and started watching you last week and now a big fan of your channel.
Awesome! Congratulations on your first tarantula and welcome to the channel, it is great to have you!
I love every thing you post on Carabina versicolor and everything else as well but I think as a new owner of a common sold T at shows is the anitlles pinktoe would you please do a few more videos on it based on its early through adult life? so far I got mine as a 3/24 sling and its now gone 2 maybe 3 molts in 8 months I think 2 its front to back legs are just about 2.5inches and from last molt went from all blue black to showing red in the butt. You are my favorite and most trustworthy Handlers and I recommend your page to everyone that comes and sees me at my booth when I do shows at the shows in Van BC
Great information for a new keeper. Thanks for getting this out there.
Man thats one of the biggest mistake iv made buying from a petstore to save a T. Its hard not to think your helping but your so right, dont complete the circle. It is tough tho.
Great info! My first T’s are a sling OBT, and Gifted juvenile Nhandu chromatus. Kinda feel like I’m helicoptering them, but have soaked up a lot of info, and have been housing them very well. I love getting to open their enclosures to feed, add water, and hydrate their enclosures. One of my favorite creatures now!
My local Petco actually does a good job with tarantulas. They’ve taken out the sponges after I let them know about the bacteria that can grow on it, and now only use water dishes. Also, the person who works there keeps tarantulas, so the care is spot on. I know most chain pet stores aren’t lucky enough to have a employee that’s knowledgeable about them, but hopefully that will change.
Just got my first T today! It's a G. pulchra juvi and I'm glad I can now use what I've learned from watching your vids all the time! One thing I've learned from keeping reptiles and other arachnids is that every source usually has some little tidbit of info that's different from the rest, so finding a credible source is important for sure! Thanks for all these amazing informative videos!
Hey! I also have a TH-cam channel related to invertebrates and biology!!! Feel free to subscribe...
I must say I completely agree with you on #2 mistake. Think deeply how the business works or you may simply encourage the business with your money.
I'm getting a tarantula in a few months so I'm researching them like crazy to help me learn how to take care of them. This is an awesome channel, especially for new keepers like me! Thank you for this
@Richard hope you are starting to feel better and a bit more energetic. Great video! Lol I am waiting for you to mention one of my first mistakes I did when I got my first slings, not taking my time to drill holes properly and accidentally melting holes to large with a soldering iron and spending the whole day and many hours of the night looking for a 1/8 inch brown sling on a tan and brown apartment rug and fearing one of my cats eat it. Found it with a UV flashlight once it got dark as UV light makes camouflage moot by differentiating materials based on the UV reflective index, if they are not made out of similar materials they appear slightly different in UV.
I am hoping that I don't have to do a complete substrate change for my C. albostriatus. There's a mold outbreak going on in there, but I just dumped and absolute truckload full of springtails in there so I'm hoping they'll be able to do something about it!
I remember I made the last mistake with my one T I have, first one I got and had no idea she'd be the size of a quarter. 10 gallon I was reusing from a friend who got rid of their aquarium- filled most of it with substrate, she always hid under one specific bit of dry moss. I put her little water dish next to it and prekilled her mealworms at first since she always would run away if they moved rather than eat!
Never knew you were supposed to rehouse them until waaaay later. Thankfully she's all grown up and A-OK these days! Something I will def be more mindful of next time.
(Note: she's a Brachypelma boehmei! Also learned the hard way she had a skittish personality just opening the tank to feed her, many, many u-hair rashes later 😅)
My Petco dude knows his stuff and takes care of the tarantulas they get in really well.
Great info as always! 🕷
I am guilty of being a helicopter. I have my first 2Ts. I don’t mess inside their housing but I find myself constantly looking at them or for them and looking at their temp and humidity, making sure they have water etc. so I guess I am an outside helicopter keeper. I am panicked about molting. I just don’t want anything to hurt them in any way. Love this video. I always learn so much from you and others and could not do this without you!
I just rehoused my OBT, about 3" i was nervous before i started.
The obt came out when i took the lid off, no threat pose, it just wanted to see what was going on.
I remained calm, took two tongs and carefully detached its web borrow from the sides of the amac box and lifted the webbing into the new enclosure with the obt riding on top. The obt was super calm and went right to work fixing up his borrow.
No threat pose. No ground slapping just a great easy rehouse. My obt of all my Ts.
It made me feel bad at first but my curly hair just never used the pre dug burrow. He made his own but I left his enclosure alone since he hadn't been in there long. It was kinda awesome to see him dig his own home.
You give such great advice! I bought my curly hair from petco and they didn’t know if it was male or female or what type of curly hair he was. They also kept it in a brightly lit critter carrier with about a centimeter of rough bark like substrate. No hideaway, no nothing. I felt so bad I bought it.
Informative video thanks Richard
Great program! By chance do you have Ts that you sale?
I have definitely learned patience and stopped hovering over my T’s. Great vid 👍
Cheers Richard
Scotland here, great info ❤️
I absolutely love your videos and your groups on Facebook.. So helpful and informative.. Everyone in your groups are so helpful and very friendly 😊 ☺
Guilty of two things here, being a helicopter parent and not getting my information from different places. You are my only source of information besides Google
thank for the tips for what to do and what not to do just got my 2 new slings
You name drop Scotland alot bud. ,,, we love it 👌😂🏴 keep up the awesome videos man
It is because I wish I lived there...lol. my sister and I are always talking about packing up our families and moving there.
We. Would be delighted to have you and all your collection here ,( can bring. Your whole family as well bud 🤣
I like keeping tarantulas in naturalistic enclosures, when my t albo is a grown-up, I'm keeping it in a 15 gallon naturalistic terrarium!
Love the video mate ☺️
The way I work out my care is researching the actual area in the world they're from, working out average temps and humidity etc.,
I am a new keeper with my first lasiodora parahybana. (I have had many reptiles my whole life). Bought it as a tiny sling and took your advice in a previous video on re-programing myself to just let it be and stop moving stuff around looking for her more often then I should. After almost a month has passed and I still haven't seen her, I had to do a wellness check. I pushed back some shrub and OMG, I jumped out of my chair, Dam she got soooo big in a short period of time and looks very content. Thank You for all of your advice. Love the channel.
Hello mate, can I ask you a couple of questions about your LP please?
@@nicwil90 Sure, What would you like to know?
I got my LP about a month about at about 6cm. He or she was feeding well, although I never saw the LP take the prey. About a week ago it closed off its burrow. Is this the similar sort of thing you have experienced? Should i just leave the LP to it now?,
@@nicwil90 I named my LP - "Dozer" because he is a freakin bull-dozer. He has dug so many holes and tunnels, sealed off certain entrances and really has made his enclosure customized to his liking. Your LP is just nesting and setting up his living space. It is fascinating to watch. As far as prey goes, Dozer drags them into the tunnels where I am sure he has a meat locker set-up.
Love the list but pet stores are more accessible and cheaper than dealers online. You can either get a sling for $20 plus a $40 to $50 shipping fee that probably will die a week later or get a $30 adult from a pet store which would last ya.
It's nice that the time was taken to make a video to cover this topic. I'd probably be the helicopter keeper otherwise. I do however like the idea of keeping the Ts in an enclosure that is no more than is necessary. I plan on starting off with small slings of the more beginner friendly variety. And I also think that getting 4 or 5 at once will decrease the urge to loom over a single enclosure. Thnx for the video.
The first topic happened to me.. My younger sister bought me two adult balfouris and one sling c cyaneopubescens as a surprise for my birthday.. But fortunately I know how to take care of tarantulas..
Hi,could you make a video on how to work or rehouse very Aggressive spiders if possible?I enjoy your content and it's amazing.
Get a bigger catch cup 🤣
Biggest mistake i have seen happen this year was someone who tried to help a T out of a bad molt. The T had a leg stuck but the rest of it was out. Instead of leaving it be for the t's leg to ether drop off or for the molt to they tried to intervene. The T unfortunately died as the owner was attempting to remove the molt from a freshly molted still soft T manually by pulling at it. I don't get why people think this is a good idea.. When mine have got a leg stuck i normally leave it a day unless its causing huge problems, the molt will dry out and normally fall off might have a tiny bit attached that will come off the next molt anyway or over time. At worst if its dragging its old molt around just snip it away without any drama leaving a small bit attached. I have seen people just snip/pull the actual stuck leg off also rather than stress the T by pulling at a molt. Seems to work, and probably lower risk than pulling at the molt as the leg will likely fall off anyway. (id advise against this last bit cutting/pulling leg off though they could bleed out! But its better than freaking out and chucking the T half way across the room or something when it chucks a threat pose as you stress it for hours in end trying to gently remove a molt.)
A bad idea I was almost guilty of is buying too many too fast and I was definitely too new
Once again I thought handling was going to be on the list as an idea, rather than a bullet point, lol. I was also expecting a little playful jab towards Kat during the "each keeper has the experiences and such" bit.
I made a whole video discussing the pros and cons of handling and why it may not be the best idea:
th-cam.com/video/0LhT5_SNRO8/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for your informational and cativate videos! You are my 1st fount of information in this hobbye . But i search for another persons too , so i can have more information possible about my T 😊
Ayy you mentioned my region, Appalachian foothills
Hey I just wanted to say that when I first got my avic I didn't have anything for it. I have since gotten things looking pretty good, I started out as a helicopter just wanting to try to hold her but have found that the more I just leave her alone she just seems to hang out. I try to watch videos from everyone on TH-cam and some other things online. I do appreciate all of you guys and ladies, thanks !!
So please keep in mind reading this that I am no expert in theis feild. But I just finished rehoming my young Stromatopelma Calceatum. It was in one of the small critter keepers. And I saw it the other day. Thought to my self "oh dear. You are nearly the width of your little box...this will be a not so fun experience now." But the main thing I needed to deal with, and this can go for a lot of people keep in mind I am no expert by any means was just myself. Because I told myself "yo if you are to scared of this spider to rehome it, why do you have it my guy?" And so i got my stuff ready. I had 2 things of water to use to gently and slowly flood her out as she was still in a dug out den (the young are fossorial or burrowing animals while they become arboreal with age, rather like the H Mac) I had one of those paint brushes with the big fan like tips I had a catch cup and lid handy in the event of it running away. And a set of tongs. And as such i got to work, and as it turned out being calm having a clean and open work area and even letting the little samp run a tiny bit was best for it. And for me. It was open, easy to catch and became lower stress for me once i realized it would be easier to contain if no longer in a flooded tank. And the move whent well. So for any aspect of tarantula keeping my best advice. Is to just chill out. Try to act like the animal you interact with. It will teach you lots. But in handling them, act like a sand boa. Calm slow unthreatend and most if all trust the animal. It will help you all so much. Peace, and happy keeping.
Note i am not saying handle your taranulas. Especially something like the S. Calceatum i meant handling as is if you need to kove them to rehome or other such things.
That Number 2 is legit. New keepers posts on social media why their slings died without any apparent reason. And you'll see a 1cm size sling in a 10-15gallon terrarium. And saying "wow in the wild there are no enclosure".
Smh
Was guilty with the enclosure part. When I bought my first sling I went and bought two insect boxes both different size and is perfect to keep a tarantula. But when I open the package I realized that they are too small and can easily fit threw the holes. Luckily the breeder packet the sling in a nice small container which is perfect for them in their size. But have trouble with my second tarantula (juvenile). When I first got them I was a bit shocked that she is bigger then I though and I have planned on putting her on the smaller enclosure but it is way too small for her and I did not have enough soil for the bigger enclosure (not enough for the tarantula to have a nice own tunnel at all.)
So the trouble is mostly I underestimate their size and not having enough soil.
Love your video BTW! ❤🕷❤
Another bad mistake keepers make is feeding their T's sliced banana. It's a common myth spiders love bananas.
What i appreciate is people like this with years of experience making those bad decisions for us so they can teach the next generation of keepers. It's been really helpful to me since 2018 and I've made better decisions since. This year will be my 4th year since getting my Chaco Golden Knee and it had been great. I think the worst decision i made was digging for my Chaco on a few occasions but its been fine since i stopped. Also it may be a mature male soon and unfortunately people don't want to do breeding of it since it's common (even though I've rarely seen it being sold). So maybe a couple years left with it
Top notch tips man!
I loved watching this video Richard