Advice on water for B.smithi sling

[Viki Clark]

Hello,
Am very new to T keeping, last month after much research I took the plunge and purchased my beautiful B.smithi baby. Now having a few beginner worries I would really appreciate some advice on!
When I bought her (or him...no idea!) she was in a film cartridge with a bed of peat/vermiculite mix and nothing else, I moved her into a container about 3" square soon after as I was worried she would moult and get stuck (?!) but then the container (which is half on,half off a little heat mat) started getting very condensation-ey (sp?), I've read in some places that condensation is good so that they can drink off the walls, then read another place its bad and shouldn't be there at all. Now I'm worried that, having put a few more ventilation holes in the tub to get rid of condensation, she will not get enough water? I have been advised by the pet shop to use 'bug gel' which I have, but she doesn't seem interested. Please could someone let me know if I am depriving my little spid and what I should be doing for the best??
Thanks!!

[James Box]

Welcome Viki! well this is a topic of much debate lol!

the consensus is that most T's get moisture from their prey, though they do appreciate a little drink.

i personally try not to let my containers get to dry while they're growing, but i think i'm a bit too spray happy.
ventilation is good, even if it means drying out sooner, as i believe it cuts down on mould growth.

i believe B smithi is a relatively dry species, but i'd assume they'd need slightly higher humidity as spiderlings, like most other species i'm aware of. so a bit of condensation is ok, but maybe don't go crazy with it.

if you feed every few days, she/he should be fine with not alot of condensation, i think! just my guess, though, others can correct?

[Oli Dodds]

Viki,
I keep a fair few spiderlings, and have done for a while. Here are some pics of the condensation level i keep them at (and have done for a long time with no problems). Some of these do not requite high humidity, yet I have kept them at this for many months with no problems.

Oli

Pic 1- P.Cambridgei
Pic 2- N. Coloratovillosis
Pic 3- L.Parahybana
Pic 4- Yamia sp. 'Koh Samui'
Pic 5- H.Rangunensis
Pic 6- B.Albopilosa

[Peter Lacey]

Perhaps a good idea would be to place a small piece of cork or slate for her to climb on. I found my G. rosea avoided the moist substrate that I purchased her in, in favour of the cork.
Good ventilation should prevent most problems of condensation and slowly bring it back to more acceptable levels. Perhaps the condensation is caused by the heat mat providing too much heat. If your house is normally comfortably warm it could be argued you don't need a heatmat. However many collectors prefer to supply some kind of heat. I'd suggest finding a remedy where the enclosure is kept inside a larger tank and that tank gets the heatmat. You'll then have a heated environment in which you can add other spiderlings
B. Smithi prefer drying conditions but as mentioned spiderlings prefer things a little more moist, something which also helps them to molt.
One of the problems of substrate being too moist is fungus and mites, neither of which are great environments for most Ts.

[Phil Rea]

Oli, if you keep certain species like H. maculata that wet as spiderlings then you'll likely open the lids to find dead curled up fungus covered spiders.

[Oli Dodds]

Oli, if you keep certain species like H. maculata that wet as spiderlings then you'll likely open the lids to find dead curled up fungus covered spiders.

Im fully aware of this Phil. I check them everyday, and whenever prey items are introduced, i make sure to remove anything for the fungus to grow on.
As I previously stated, these have been kept happily like this for months with no complications thus far.
Although I fully understand what you are trying to say, I wouldnt keep things such as pokies at this humidity.
Oli

[Tom Forman]

Hi Viki,
it is very likely that your substrate is very moist at the moment and is thus causing alot of condensation.
It cannot hurt to add more ventilation holes, especially in the side of the container too to have a better air circulation however.

High humidity is not going to kill your spider but stagnant air especially when really humid can.
In my opinion alot of the sudden unexpected T. deaths are due to poor ventilaton.

When I first started reading up about tarantulas I thought a high humidity is vital at all times but now I instead believe that good air circulation is vital at all times and a high humidity period should be provided on a regular basis but not all the time(I water the soil once a week and let it dry out to varying degrees depending on species).

Once your soil has dried up, start wetting only one corner of the soil and let the soil soak up the water. This way the top stays relatively dry whereas the bottom is really damp. That is how it is like in nature most of the time. It doesn't matter too much if the humidity is too low in the enclosure as long as the spider has got a damp burrow to go to if it needs more moisture.

Like I said, as long as air circulation is adequate then a higher humidity, causing condensation is alright but I would personally not recommend it as it might encourage mould to grow and fungus gnats to breed. Yes, you will be sure that your spider will not get dehydrated but the fungus gnats will eventually appear causing all kinds of nuissance. I believe the spiders are also happier when their webs are not covered in dew drops all the time.

Hope that helps.

Regards,
Tom

PS: I have heard alot of bad things about bug gel. I would not use it myself. Also, your spiderling will receive all its liquid needs from prey at this young age. Make sure the flies or whatever are really juicy and had access to plenty of water and that your soil is always damp when looked at from below and you will be fine.
If your spider should get dehydrated, it is easily spotted by it curling up its legs and is just as easily fixed by adding a bit more water in future. I would not worry about your spider getting too little moisture until you see your spider acting strangely in this way.
Just like a plant will wilt to retain more moisture, a tarantula will curl up. As long as it gets more moisture in the next few days it will perk right back up to normal just like a plant would, it will not die from dehydration straight away without you noticing. One should however of course avoid the "death-curl" if possible as a dehydrated spider will have moulting difficulties if it stupidly decides to moult at that time that could still result in an untimely death.

[Stanley A. Schultz]

... last month after much research I took the plunge and purchased my beautiful B.smithi baby. Now having a few beginner worries I would really appreciate some advice on! ...

First visit:

http://atshq.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14286

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/show...7&postcount=12
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/show...4&postcount=15
http://www.atshq.org/forum/showpost....9&postcount=13
http://www.atshq.org/forum/showpost....80&postcount=9
http://www.thebts.co.uk/forums/showp...09&postcount=6
http://www.thebts.co.uk/forums/showp...1&postcount=18
http://www.thebts.co.uk/forums/showp...6&postcount=11


for my highly opinionated and often controversial view of caring for tarantulas.

In addition, you need to read several good tarantula books to get a firm idea of how to care for these bizarre creatures. There are now three good tarantula books on the market. They're all available for FREE check-out from most public libraries. If you like what you see they're available for sale "off the shelf" from many of the pet shops in your area, by special order from any bookstore and by order over the Internet from places like amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, alibris.com and BooksPrice.com. I list them here in alphabetical order by author.

Breene, RG. 2005. QUICK AND EASY TARANTULA CARE. TFH Publications. An almost painfully simple book with all the basic information. Even though it is extremely inexpensive it has no gross errors. A good starter book.

Marshall, SD. 2002. TARANTULAS AND OTHER ARACHNIDS. Barron's Educational Series, Inc. A somewhat more advanced book than Breene's, but very, very good.

Schultz, SA and Schultz, MJ. 1998. THE TARANTULA KEEPER'S GUIDE. Barron's Educational Series, Inc. Written for the advanced beginner as well as the novice, you'll want to read this book over and over as you discover more and more about these fascinating creatures.

None of these books costs as much as a tarantula, but any one of them could save you a bundle in wasted time and money on useless stuff and dangerous care regimens, not to mention dead spiders. It would not be too surprising to find that you had a copy of each in your personal library within the next few months.

Reading several good books is necessary because that's the only way you'll have the science and art of arachnoculture presented to you in an ordered and structured manner. These forums are okay for filling in details and answering questions that aren't covered in the books, but they will only give a spotty, disjointed view of the topic. You'll miss important aspects and fail to make important connections and cross references.

Also, the three books I've mentioned are North American books, there may be others available to Europeans that I'm not aware of, so perhaps others who read this can make further suggestions.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your newfound buddy!

[Mark Pennell]

Hope this helps. Enjoy your newfound buddy!

As always, wise words from Stan.

Also worth checking out are the BTS Guides, the links used to be here on the side of this forum but are currently off line due to the updates to the BTS site.

If go to the new look home page http://thebts.co.uk and click on the menu at the top - BTS GUIDES there are few things that will help you on your way.

The Questions Matrix is very helpful indeed for beginners.

Having successfully breed and raised B, Smithi for many years I find they are as spiderlings extremely easy to bring on.

I use small film pots to start, these are half filled with substrate (coir or other peat substitute) the tops have several holes in them and a few round the top of the actual pot.

When I feed them I just add a few drops of water on the inside of the lid before closing. This then runs down into the pot and is enough to keep all just right inside.

As they grow they are moved to larger pots and eventually small tanks. All my Brachypelmas are kept on 3-4 inches of dry substrate with a heavy water dishes made of glazed terracotta.

They all have good ventilation and are water every few days, I allow the water dish to over flow a little and this keeps one side of the tank slightly damp. There are other things I do when breeding but that's not the questions here.

I never use vermiculite on its own, and certainly never for spiderlings in film pots. All the small containers are kept in a large viv with controlled heating.

Also remember that what you going through everyone did at one point. Your on the right track, but don't use BUG GELL!


Regards
Mark

[James Box]

Also remember that what you going through everyone did at one point. Your on the right track, but don't use BUG GELL!

hey Mark, just wondering why not? i've used it, and while it's expensive, some of my animals really seem to like it.

[Viki Clark]

Thank you!

Thanks everyone for all your advice I really really appreciate it, I can see this is going to be a very useful forum to me!

Also thanks Stan for the recommended reading, I bought 'the tarantula keepers guide' before buying my T and found it extremely helpful, so on your advice I will get the others to add to my library!