Just joined

[Kelvin]

Hi all, finally got round to joining, and just thought i'd say hi, I recognise a few names of the usual suspects from other forums ( Hi Mary ). Love the journal and back issues, well worth the joining fee.

I got my first T about 10 years ago, a chili rose called Floyd, but it was only recently that I discovered the joys of the internet and that combined with my friend opening an exotic pet shop sparked off my addiction Ive now got quite a few. Im currently trying my first breeding at the moment (well they are) of N. Cromatus and I hope that it goes well.

Thanks for reading, Kelvin

[Ray Hale]

Welcome aboard Kelvin and thanks for the comments. We are here to serve and if we can help post away. Glad you like the Journal we are all working very hard to make it bigger and better

[Mark Pennell]

Yes welcome Kelvin

Regards
Mark

[Simon Batten]

hey mate welcome

[Kelvin]

Thanks all, look forward to chatting in the future, I am looking for some advice if possible. I'm having trouble getting the N. Cromatus to mate, I put the male in with the female but they just ignore eachother, no drumming or anything so I took him back out, how long should you leave them together? And is the drumming normally an instant thing? Any advice would be great. Thanks, Kelvin

[Samer Mashlab]

Help im a newbie!

Hi all, I have just joined the BTS forum and im not sure if im writing in the correct area. Hope i am!

I have just inherited a fully grown Tarantula, and im struggling a bit to keep her/him happy as i have no info about it. I dont know what type it is or wether its a male or a female. All i know is that its big, hairy and Brown!

I have tried to make it as happy as possible but not sure if it is or not as i have only had it for 5 days. I have cleaned its terrarium and put a mixture of vermiculite and a special earth bought at a pet shop. Humidity is about 80% and temperature is about 27C. But im not sure if these are the right conditions as i dont know what type it is.

I have fed it medium size brown crickets, but it doesnt seem to have much appetite. I might try feeding it with bigger crickets or locusts as i belive its a fully grown T.

Later on today or tomorrow i will post a pic hopefully one of you guys might identify it!!

Thanks
Samer

[Richard Gallon]

@Kelvin,
Remember it's best to try pairing them in subdued lighting and also make sure your room is warm.

If you still can't get them to display (after several attempts), I'd suggest feeding both extremly heavily, particularly the female. Then place both their open tanks within a large plastic storage box, giving them a few cork tiles to walk on and hide beneath. Then leave them together overnight.

This way the pair have a chance to mate when they want, and the male has a fighting chance to escape Sometimes the female will nail him, but that's the risk we sometimes have to take.

@Samer,
You're very welcome here too. Somebody will be able to help ID your spider from the picture on here, so please feel free to post it At the very least we'll be able to say what group it belongs to and what the best houseing conditions are for it.

Cheers,
Richard

[Samer Mashlab]

My unidentified Tarantula!

Hi Again,

Thanks for the warm welcome, here i post the pics of my T, sorry about the quality of the pictures. I also include a pic of the terrarium i have it in. I checked the humidity gauge, its around 90% (i believe this is a bit high), and temperature is 27C (i have a heat mat underneath the terrarium). A lot of water seems to condense on the glass, is there anything i can do to prevent this?
I hope you can help me. Thanks again.

Samer

[mary walters]

Welcome Kelvin and Samer.

Kelvin, you only need to join one other forum and then we will be on all three that I subscribe to, you know which one.

[Andrew climance]

Kevin, from one newbie to another, welcome!

Samer, there are far (FAR) more knowledgable people on here than me and they will be able to ID your T for sure, but it looks to me like a Grammostola Cala (Chilean Rose) or similar... It looks healthy enough.

Forgive me if I'm wrong.

[Richard Gallon]

Hi Samer,
Your spider is a Grammostola rosea (Chile rose). I can see that it's sitting on top of the cork bark, and that strongly suggests it is trying to avoid an excessively damp substrate. G. rosea come from an arid area of Chile and prefer to stand on a dry substrate rather than a moist one.

I'd recommend you aim for a temperature of about 20-25*C (27*C is perhaps a little too hot for this species over the long-term, but isn't harmful short-term). You'll need to reduce the humidity (try increasing the ventilation to help achieve this). What you want to aim for is a tank with a mostly dry substrate, with just a corner kept damp (you can keep your water bowl in this corner too). Reducing the humidity will also reduce the amount of condensation on the glass too. If you position the heat mat under the front section of the base only, this will make the back pane of the tank colder and this is where most of the condensation will form, leaving the front pane clear.

Grammostola rosea is a very tolerant species and it is reported that in some populations the burrows are covered with snow in winter!! So best avoid tropical rainforest conditions (as these will encourage moulds and mites).

Cheers,
Richard

[Andrew climance]

I was close!

[Samer Mashlab]

Thank you for helping!

Hi Richard, and Andrew,

Thank you very much for the information, at least now i have a better idea of what i have and what i have to do to keep it happy. Its true that since the humidity has been high the T has been tip toeing around, so i assume it doesnt want its lower part to get wet.

I have also noticed that it hasnt eaten since i have had it, the 5 crickets i put in there are still happily walking around. I dont know if this is because its stressed due to all the moving around its had lately. It could be that the medium crickets are not that appetising for it as they are too small. What do you think? The previous owner had put in a small garden spider to feed it and this was untouched, when i inherited the T and put the crickets in, the small spider ate 2 of the crickets straight away. Had to take the small spider out after those events! But no luck with the T, still fasting.

Do mature T still continue molting? or do they reach the point were they stop?

Thanks again, very much appreciate it!
Samer

[Adam Smith]

@ Samar

It certainly looks to be a Grammostola most likely rosea ( chilean Rose) it looks very healthy, the temp you mentioned is fine and humidity doesnt need to be that high but isnt crucial that. Humidity is normally between 60%-75% so its not a problem. As for feeding it all depends if its well fed before (inheriting) it looks well fed so may not be hungary plus it is settling into new surroundings.

[Richard Gallon]

Grammostola rosea are well known for fasting - it doesn't harm them in the slightest (so long as their abdomen is not too thin).

One of mine fasted for 6 months and hardly lost any weight at all. In fact I only feed my adult female rosea once every couple of months (if that): she's now 17-years-old and I reared her from a spiderling

Most of my adult tarantulas are not fed routinely. I just feed them "as and when" to maintain a good sized abdomen.

Female tarantulas will continue to moult after maturity (usually once a year, or in some species/old specimens once every 2 years). Males don't normally moult again once they are mature.

Cheers,
Richard