yep i'm a newbee...

[RUSS DEAN]

well basicly i wanted to say hi...
and when i say newbee, in my head i'm not exactly, cos i've read and wanted tarantulas for years but i have a wife that doesnt like spider's even little house spiders...
but i had a plan my wife wanted a cat, so i said you have a cat and i can have what ever i want without question..she agreed (oops big mistake)
so as you can probably imagine i bought a couple ish...
C. crawshayi....female-- 6"
G. rosea.....female--3"
H. lividum....female--4"
P. murinus....female i hope 1.5"
i was originaly asking about why my lividum had suddenly gone from being fine, to siting in a corner of her new viv, she moulted 9 day's ago while she was in her small house, i've rehoused her and she stopped eating and didnt move for 3 day's untill she reared up at me while i was removing water bowl today while she was moving (cos i thort she had died) i put in a big fat black cricket and ahe nailed it.. so i got another question now..
1.. what is the best food nutrient wise, and as an average feed how much and how often ???? (lividum)
2.. my king baboon when i bought her i was told she was having 16 black crickets at a time. but he didnt say how often, well i fed her 2 crickets and she ate 1, thats all she's had.is this because she's been rehoused,
or should i try her with a pinky or rat pup's or something..
3.. just want peoples advice or there opinion on feeding.

and lastly i wish i could show you what they look like, cobalt is stunning, and my baboon well she is an impressive size and she's still got more growing to do.(oh when i dug her out to transfer her she showed absolutly no aggression at all ).

well i've rambled on long enough (not well up on these forum's)..
can i just say, i no these are'nt beginner tarantulas especially lividum,and i'm not one of these people who has a spider to show off to his mates and scare his mum with..my darling wife gave me an opening and i took it before she changed her mind.(got 5 more pending)but she doesnt know it yet...

[Adam Walters]

Hey Russ, welcome to the forum and the addiction!

Has your H.lividum established a burrow yet? If not, then this could explain the unpredictable behaviour. I would imagine re-housing so soon after a moult has caused much stress to a species that is already highly susceptible to such. I think the best you could do now is to leave it be, in a dark and undisturbed place for at least a week (you could also make a starter burrow if need be).

As for nutrients/feeding; variety is best. Maybe twice per week for a specimen of that size.

Do you know what size crickets the C.crawshayi was on? 16 per feed seems a little excessive (unless they were tiny). Feed once or twice per week with a suitable sized prey item, ideally no bigger than the size of the opisthosoma.

Although not usually recommended, I cannot see a problem with having these species to begin with as long as you exercise some caution and common sense whilst dealing with them.

Cheers,
Adam.

[RUSS DEAN]

Hi Adam..
yeah there's a lot of caution when i'm anywhere near them, and when i'm not they are all locked up.. there all housed in exo-terra viv's which has a combination lock through the doors apart from the chilli rose which has sliding doors with a lock..
when i'm changing water or removing food from my blue's (lividum)tank i wont let any my son (who has a keen interest too) near the front at all. if it is faster than me and gets out, so long as it bites me and not my son i'm not bothered... but yes a bit of common sence till i learn more about her and things will be fine , i hope..
so as for the burrow she has'nt made one at all, she's just sat on moss in a corner, i placed a hollow bark in and made it into a bit of a cave style but she aint gone in yet.. i did the same with the baboon and since i wrote that first post she's finally gone inside and burrowed bit further down so thats good, i'm not sure what size crickets she's been having, if you base it on largest black crickets bout 3/4" long ish, how many do you think then..

[Neil Richardson]

For large crickets, i'd say about 3 crickets, once a fortnight would be enough. (never kept crawshayi myself, i'm basing it on other large specimens that i have)

I believe roaches have a better nutritional value than crickets, but it depends on what you feed them. Our roaches get fed on cat biscuits, and cereal (usually weetabix ) If good nutrition goes into your live food, it'll pass on into your spiders as well.

[sarah Smith]

Sounds like you dont have your lividium set up in the best way for that kind of taratula they are deep burrowers and need a good 11 to 12 inches of substrate to dig in. Depending on her size a very tall sweety jar, plastic tub or if you want a display tank a tall one from custom aquaria or those tall ones you see in reptile shops would be better for her. whatever you use you need to make sure it drains well and has good ventalation and that the substrate is soaked lividiums like it very damp. To ensure good drainage make sure there are some drainage holes at the bottom of the tank as well as those at the top of the tank for ventalation.

[RUSS DEAN]

hi..
only just got round to getting on pc...
well my crawshayi is in a tank which is 18" square, substrate is bout 7" deep, she's made a nice burrow in one corner under a large log...temps around 27, humidity is around 75% she comes out when the lights are dimmed and has a good wander...
my lividum is in a 12" square tank substrate is about same as baboon's she still sit's on a web.. but i have noticed she started to burrow then stopped, but i've seen her at night wandering about, and she's feeding now, locusts.. temp same 27, humidity is around 78-80...

[Ray Hale]

Hi Russ just to let you know we are in the process of sorting out your membership. Should be with you soon. I will PM the access codes to the site .

Welcome on board.

Ray

[RUSS DEAN]

thanks ray