Feeding

[James Box]

an adult is more hardy then a sling, so it's easier to start with. it is less likely to suddenly drop dead for apparently no reason.

Cold-Blooded is a shop in Rainham.

[Richard Shah]

an adult is more hardy then a sling, so it's easier to start with. it is less likely to suddenly drop dead for apparently no reason.

Cold-Blooded is a shop in Rainham.

Sounds kl, but Im always busy, as is my mum to take me there. I'm sure something cd b arranged tho! I take it that shop sells T.s?

I understand about the sling dropping dead - but do u think that an adult wud give me a little more experience with any future slings I may have?

Rich

[James Box]

yeah, they sell T's and loads of other cool animals.
it probably wouldn't be for a while, as finding a spare Saturday is very hard.

yes, any experience with a T is good! you'll get a feel for how challenging and stressful adults can be, and get a vague idea how much more slings can be! you'll also be more used to the routine of feeding etc.

[Richard Shah]

yeah, they sell T's and loads of other cool animals.
it probably wouldn't be for a while, as finding a spare Saturday is very hard.

yes, any experience with a T is good! you'll get a feel for how challenging and stressful adults can be, and get a vague idea how much more slings can be! you'll also be more used to the routine of feeding etc.

#
It sure is hard finding a spare Saturday!
Now feeding is something I cannot wait to watch! Feeding and malting are probably two of the most fascinating things about T.s!

Hey James, have you ever had any experience with scorpions???????
Lol!

[James Box]

i've not been lucky enough to see mating, but for me the best thing is seeing a healthy T grow up. eating is ok, but in a parental way.

yes, a bit of experience with scorps. have about 11 or so species now..some pet holes but all amazing nonetheless. probably easier to maintain overall than T's, though apparently moulting is harder for them.

[Richard Shah]

i've not been lucky enough to see mating, but for me the best thing is seeing a healthy T grow up. eating is ok, but in a parental way.

yes, a bit of experience with scorps. have about 11 or so species now..some pet holes but all amazing nonetheless. probably easier to maintain overall than T's, though apparently moulting is harder for them.

Whoa 11 species!
BTW I meant moulting, but I swear the spelling variates a lot?? I'm pretty sure that I've seen it spelt in books as malting a number of times; well I do not know lol!
Going back to your scorp.s - 11 species is a lot (for me anyway)! What types have you got; any dangerous ones??

I'm off to bed, so I'll reply tomoz after school.

Cya and gud night,

Rich

[Peter Lacey]

As stated above, having an adult will give you some experience keeping Ts. They are quite easy to look after but as with everything the younger they are the more prone to mishaps and with a 1st instar I don't think you'd get away with too many mishaps. As I said before a 4th instar, juv or sub adult would be ideal and provide a valuable learning curve. G. rosea are very slow growers so what ever you go for don't expect to see sudden changes. If you look at any sling purchases you'll often find people buy more than one as nature tends to take its course of natural selection.
Cold Blooded is an exotic shop in Rainham, a short drive from where I live. I've been visiting the place for nearly 2 years but only made my first purchase just under a year ago. Its like a little zoo and the owner, Paul, is like an enthusiastic school boy. Full of knowledge and eager to talk but not pushy. He offers me the keys to the T shelves but often has specimens dotted around the shop. He also has a great selection of lizards and snakes plus some truly impressive shop pets eg. a large albino python, huge african bullfrog, huge snapper turtle and a couple of the endangered Fiji Iguanas, oh and don't forget the crocs!
Pete Roach (a visitor to this forum) is often there on a Sunday which is my favoured day as its open til 5pm.
If anyone plans a visit to CB I'll gladly meet up.
There's also another exotic pet shop, Jungle Phase, just walking distance from my house which sells Ts but it doesn't possess the same charisma as Cold Blooded.

[James Box]

Richard, i don't believe any of my scorps to be dangerous, though all of them would hurt! Colin Wilson here has told me about being stung by a Pandinus (cavimanus?), which isn't that bad, but the infection that followed was no fun!
i haven't been stung (touch wood), and hope to continue that trend!

Opistophthalmus wahlbergi
Iomachus politus
Bothriurus coriaceus
Bothriurus keyserlingi
Caraboctonus keyserlingi
Hadogenes sp (sold to me as troglodytes, but bicolor, i think)
Hadrurus arizonensis (pretty sure, could be spadix though)
Vaejovis spinigerus (scorplings, tiny and cute)
Heterometrus spinnifer
Pandinus imperator
Pandinus cavimanus

if you're curious about looks, google those scientific names.
i will be getting more, as well, as soon as i can. bit of a scorpion fanatic. the only problem is not a single species enjoys being in the open for long, so most will hide or dig a burrow, and i don't see them all that often.

Peter's right!

as for Cold Blooded, if Sunday's work better, i can try to take a trip out some weekend soon...i can't do late afternoon, but should be able to get there earlier. would be good to meet Peter Roach as well, of course.
let's try to agree on a weekend soon! of course, i'll have to bring money and buy some new crazy creatures...

[Peter Lacey]

As I'm sure you're aware James, he has a selection of Scorps and Centi's too. Did I mention geckos, roaches, tortoise, frogs, mantis, chameleons...

[James Box]

haha i figured he had scorps, and i've seen the centi's (he labeled them "evil" lol!)
yes, will have to do this soon. i have a mate who tends to go there anyways, maybe can talk him into coming as well.

[Tom Forman]

I started with slings too and do not regret it at all even though I did lose 2 out of the 6 greenbottle blues I ordered.

My nhandu chromatus and brachypelma auratum slings are all fine.

The only way the spiderlings are going to die is from stress if you ask me.
One of my GBB died the day I got them, obviously stressed from the post and another one died 2 days after that.

It would be disapointing to only buy 1 spiderling and have it accidentally die but like I said, the other 5 spiderlings I have got all did fine.
GBB are more delicate and I was not that surprised that one died...

It's a shame you have been talkd out of getting a sling but then again a sling does look like a regular house spider for the first year you would have it and a sub-adult would be more interesting looking. You might have already lost interest in spiders in a years time and all that time you just had a little brown thing lol..


Edit: Ok James, I am editing my post for you, what I really meant to say was that spiderlings are more likely to die from stress whereas an adult most likely would not if exposed to the same stress. Mould, mites, bad airflow etc are going to kill an adult as much as a spiderling...

[James Box]

I started with slings too and do not regret it at all even though I did lose 2 out of the 6 greenbottle blues I ordered.

My nhandu chromatus and brachypelma auratum slings are all fine.

The only way the spiderlings are going to die is from stress if you ask me.
One of my GBB died the day I got them, obviously stressed from the post and another one died 2 days after that.

It would be disapointing to only buy 1 spiderling and have it accidentally die but like I said, the other 5 spiderlings I have got all did fine.
GBB are more delicate and I was not that surprised that one died...

It's a shame you have been talkd out of getting a sling but then again a sling does look like a regular house spider for the first year you would have it and a sub-adult would be more interesting looking. You might have already lost interest in spiders in a years time and all that time you just had a little brown thing lol..

with all *due* respect, slings can die for a large variety of reasons. stress can undoubtedly be one (though i doubt it's as often as you think), but dehydration, mites, mould, phorids, bad moults and wrong temperatures are just SOME of the reasons slings can die. this doesn't even address the issue of genetic weakness, which we can't measure. the results are death, which in nature is acceptable, but if you've just got one sling, and it's your first spider, and you're quite young and all your support is on the internet, you'd be LUCKY to have it survive, to he honest.

[Tom Forman]

To make your decision a bit easier Rich I have taken some pictures of my Flameknee and Nhandu.

The one out and about is Furio, my flameknee.

The other one is Stan and yes it looks like a pile of dirt but look closely and you will see him.

I wouldn't be put off getting a sling because people are telling you you are going to kill it, but if you are only getting the one, chances are you will be looking at a pile of dirt like in my picture alot of the time

[James Box]

To make your decision a bit easier I have taken some pictures of my Flameknee and Nhandu.

The one out and about is Furio, my flameknee.

The other one is Stan and yes it looks like a pile of dirt but look closely and you will see him.

I wouldn't be put off getting a sling because people are telling you you are going to kill it, but if you are only getting the one, chances are you will be looking at a pile of dirt like in my picture alot of the time

and i wouldn't be encouraged to do something blatantly careless just because generally most slings survive. it's the fate of the spider that's important.

[Nicola Dolby]

Hi everyone,
hope you enjoy what you've decided to buy Richard. In answer to your question, my first spider lived happily to adulthood but then died about a year ago from dyskenetic syndrome. I don't have any spiderlings at the moment, though I should be picking some up at the lectures in a couple of weeks. My spiders are mostly adults now except for a couple of juvies, B. bohemi and A. purpurea. I have a T. apophysis but its difficult to tell if she's a juvie or sling as they're so big anyway! all the rest are larger.