Mexican Red Leg help

[Stuart Collins]

hi i don't actually have a mexican red leg yet but i am soon going to be acquiring one and have a few questions :- will a 30cm x 20cm x 20cm (1' x 8'' x 8'') house a B. emilia happily? do you put the hide on the heated side or not? do you put the heat mat underneath or on the back of the tank? with the tank dimensions I've got how deep would i want the substrate (the tank is 20cm deep)? how badly do you have to treat a B. emilia when your holding it for it to bite you? (is it easy?) /\/\/\/\/\ i would just like to say that contrary to what some people might think i am not saying I'm going to try to annoy my T. i would just like to know how to hold it properly and if it scares me will my sudden move provoke it, or if it tickles/itches me and i pick it up to move it will it be majorly ticked off and bite me /\/\/\/\/\ thanks for the help!!!!!!!!

[colin haris]

Hi Stuart

Thats a lot of questions your askin there!
Im no expert but i'll have a go at answering your questions...here goes!
The tank size is fine, I would not bother with a heat mat as long as your room temp is nice and warm, but if you want to use one I would put it on the back of the tank.
As for the substrate I have a similair size tank, and i filled it just under half full,I think it stops the T from falling to far if its a climber,and I dont think you will need to be any deeper as you are using a hide for it to use anyway.
Handling is fine as far as im concerned, its one of the main reasons i got my first T. I was scared of spiders from a young age, but with the help of my new 8 legged friends and my patient wife helping me to overcome my fears, im now addicted to the little guys! The B. Emilia is known for being very docile so is a great beginner spider, if your going to attempt to handle it, my advice would be to sit on the floor till your very comforable with handling them. This way if you, or your T gets scared, it will not fall to far and hurt itself.
Hope I helped and im sure some of the other guys with way more experience than me can help much more....good luck!

Colin

[Guy Tansley]

Hi Stuart,

The tank dimensions sound fine. Place the heatmat (attached to a reliable thermostat) on the back of the tank to provide a more natural heat. Substrate level is up to you but don't be surprised if the spider doesn't burrow at all. You can supply a retreat in the form of a piece of cork bark or half a flowerpot so the spider will have somewhere to hide if needed.

As for handling - the simple answer is don't do it. IME B. emilia can be quite nervous and therefore unpredictable. Every species has the ability to bite and in my opinion, it's just not worth the risk (I've yet to be bitten after nearly 20 years of keeping tarantulas). Handling poses a greater threat to the spider if anything and even more so when the handler is inexperienced and nervous.

Hope this helps.

[Colin D Wilson]

Hi stuart,

I think i read in your other post that you were going to buy a spiderling...

As spiders are lept in enclosures related to size of the spider it will be a long time before it's really big enough to go into your 12 x 8. most slings are lept in containers around the size of yougart pots for the first few months then are moved into progressively bigger containers untill they get to a size where you can show them off in a display tank. (in the case of the slow growing Brachy's a fairly long time !!!)
as far as heating the smaller pots, choose a part of the room that is most constant (around the temp your spider needs) and rear it there.
if you start to get more slings (and you will !!) then you can create a cupboard or similar that can be temperature controlled and you can keep the lot in one stable environment.

As far as handling, well the BTS has a no handling policy at all the meets / shows etc. this is as much for the spiders safety as for the safety of the person as even the most level tempered species can, and probably will, bite at some time or other with no provocation in most cases. this normally causes the average person to fling their bitten arm or hand around and propell the spider into the nearest object...not good.
I know of people that hold pokies, lividium, blondi and other unpredictable spiders without any problems...i wouldn't myself.
I have occasionally in the distant past handled roseas and other Grammostolas before (moving into tanks or exhibiting for educational purposes at home or at schools)...but was always prepared for a bite.

[scott wilson]

handling Ts

hi there,my opinion is after keeping tarantulas for nearly 15 years is its not necessary to handle them,i have 3 of the most unpredictable species a female blondi/a young lividium and a starburst baboon which i would never consider putting my hand anywhere near,but my Chile rose female can be just as unpredictable,all spiders have the ability to strike and its not worth the risk not only to yourself but also to the spider that if it did bite you it could be injured when you react to the strike,tarantulas are great animals to keep/observe but if you want something to have walking over your hand buy a hamster.my own B SMITHI is kept in a similar sized tank as yours on dry vermiculite with a cork burrow set in the middle with a small 7watt heat Matt taped to the back of the tank,on during the day then off at night,,,,hope this helps

[Stuart Collins]

Thanks you guys so much you have really helped but i do still have a few things (this time only 3) that i am unclear about:- if i used a heat mat, which side should the hide be on? if i have a small (up to 2cm according to the shop) what size tank/pot should i keep it in? and does picking a T. up by its rump or in between the front and back 2 legs irritate it and could it possibly lead to biting or don't they care as long as you don't hurt them? thanks Stuart

[Guy Tansley]

Stuart,

As long as you use a thermostat, it doesn't really matter where the hide is placed. Monitor the temp inside the hide and make sure it stays within acceptable levels. With a 2cm spider I would recommend a tub around 6cm diameter. You could place this inside the larger tank until the spider grows large enough to be transferred into the tank. No hide will be required for a small spider in an appropriately sized tub.

Tarantulas should NOT be picked up by the abdomen as this is extemely fragile.
IF you MUST handle your spider then the best method is to gently coax the spider onto your open palm. Be warned though, handling any spider will always have an element of risk to both the spider and you. As I said earlier - why take the risk?

Have you read any of the relevant websites and tarantula care by any chance?

[Stuart Collins]

ye I've been looking around at websites for a number of days now and decided to back up what i have been told with the experts, especially as quite a few of the websites disagreed with each other. when i get my T. i will almost definitely hold it but at first i will probably wear some new, clean, thick gardening gloves to take the risk away from me and will sit down with my hand no higher than 30 cm off the floor to take some of the risk away from the T. now all i have to do is convince my mum its not going to kill her and then set up my tank, when i get everything set up ill post some pictures of everything to show you what you'll all have helped my achieve. thanks a bunch. Stuart

[scott wilson]

handling your spider

one last thing mate...if your new spider is only a 2cm sling let it get to at least 5cm body length before you try handling it,very small slings are extremely fast and trust me on this one before you can blink it will be up your arm racing to freedom!!!i had a king baboon years ago that i bought as a sling in a 35mm film case and it took over a hour to find him when he got out in the kitchen!!.at least when theyre bigger they are easier to find and catch,as for your tank set up get a small heat matt around 10"x6" and tape it to the rear wall of your tank,insulating to side not against the tank glass with polystyrene to send the heat into the tank,put the burrow either a 4" plantpot or a piece of cork bark in the middle with the entrance facing left or right,and create a burrow down into the substrate[vermiculite is best,totally sterile]so the spider can shelter from the light and dig down if he gets too warm,as for temperature 70-75c would be fine with around 70% humidity,this you will get from keeping an open water dish in the tank,but bear in mind if the sling is quite small put a bit of moss in the water dish so he wont drown...hope this helps and do keep us posted how you get on and shout if you get any problems.

[mary walters]

Even a 1cm spiderling can bite. I sent some cambridgei's to Elaine Ross and 1 of them bit her daughter, so they are capable at even that size, just so you are aware Stuart.

[Elaine Ross]

Even a 1cm spiderling can bite. I sent some cambridgei's to Elaine Ross and 1 of them bit her daughter, so they are capable at even that size, just so you are aware Stuart.

Stuart, what Mary says is true lol. My daughter (16yr old) and I are still laughing about it. Who would have thought a sling that small could bite?

BTW Mary, Nibbles is still a feisty little sod. The other 9 tend to head into their webbing but not Nibbles, she shoots right to the top getting ready to make her move lol. Funny wee thing. Oh boy are we in for it when she gets bigger

Elaine x

[James Box]

i must admit i hold some of my spiders at times, though not very often these days. this is mainly due to the urticating hairs on the more docile South American species (and of course, not all of the docile ones are actually docile). i'm quite sensitive to them and seem to itch even after being only walked on by a calm spider.
also, i've had some of my slings run onto my hand while trying to feed, transfer or water them. the other day, one of my P. striata's which is maybe 4 or 5 cm ran onto my hand. it was easy enough to coax back into its container, but it was actually nice to get such a nice view of a gorgeous spider, so i didn't begrudge it it's little run towards freedom.
from what i understand, B. emilia's are not the most calm Brachypelma species, so it may kick alot of hairs at you. i've never been bitten, but i wonder if in the long run, it'd be better than itching for days...so i'd be more scared of that!

[Stuart Collins]

thanks so much you guys you're the reason my T. won't die due to neglect! but how do you know what the humidity is? and what is the percentage based on? will i need some form of device to measure it? will my sling in its 6'' tank need a heat-mat and if its circular should i put the heat mat on the top? (to kind of reproduce the way they get heat from the sun) thanks again for being so patient with me you guys.

[James Box]

i tend to mist the tanks fairly often to keep the humidity up. apparently it's even more important for spiderlings, as they are too small for a waterdish. they take their moisture from the sides of the enclosure and from their prey.
you can buy a hygrometer, i believe it's called, to check humidity.
i think the rule of thumb is that if the water doesn't evaporate fairly quickly, you may need a few more airholes and a tiny bit more heat. mould can set in when water is left standing in the substrate (though vermiculite is fairly non-conducive to mould), especially when bits of prey items remain. at the size you'll be feeding your spiderling, it won't always be easy to see the remains, so extra care to keep mould at bay is needed. they are hyper sensitive to it!

[Colin D Wilson]

I use these to measure humidity.
They're as accurate as you really need to be and even though they're fairly cheap, they are quite accurate when compared to a digital hygrometer.


hope this helps