Feeding

[Richard Shah]

I don't think I said "it will most likely die", if I did I apologise. What I meant was, as this is your first T its probably worth getting something a little larger than what you seem to be focussed on at the moment. The younger the T the more vulnerable it is and the more of an issue food is, especially if it takes a week to order! Spiderlings come in a variety of sizes, and my initial reply to your interest (when you were considering an adult) was to get a sling of a size that's easier to care for so that you can watch it mature. A 4th instar sling shouldn't cost more than £10 yet it would be sturdy enough to suffer a few mistakes as well as take small crickets rather than pinheads. Its enclosure and requirements wouldn't be too large or demanding and you'd have the joy of watching fairly regular molting.
You may get a sling that's younger than 4th instar and have no problems at all, one thing for sure you've certainy consumed a lot of info so you should be off to a good start whatever you choose as your first.

BTW, I notice you're from Greater London, whereabouts?

No, I'm sorry for putting words in your, well - post lol! I didn't mean you specifically but that is just a general feeling from a lot of sources I seem to be getting, for instance different sites have said what you said about getting a larger T., using the fact that a spiderling may die after a bad malt.
Food really isn't an issue in the fact that my local pet store sells it straight to you; although it takes a few days for certain foods as they are less popular, however crickets aren' an issue, they are a very decent size and can be bought at an there and then. Also, I'm sure about killing it now too lol!
I would love to get something like a fourth instar tarantula, but I for some reason have decided (and will not change my mind) that I will buy from the Spider Shop, and they are most likely first or second instars. I have consumed a lot of information, so I pray nothing will go wrong! I can't wait to watch it feed on live crickets, malt and then as it reaches a certain age, devour baby mice once in-a-while!

I am from North West London - Colindale. I take it you are from Greater London too?

Thanks,

Rich

[Richard Shah]

I don't think you would kill a spiderling mate.
You don't need that much experience to not kill a spiderling and you have been researching this lots.

From my experience, the top tips I'd give you when you get your spiderling is:

-make sure your container has about 10 small holes for ventilation. Ventilation is important

-ideally you want the container set up and heated before you get the spider. This gives you a rough idea of how moist you should be keeping your soil(condensation on the sides means you could do with a drier soil). I find about 5ml of water per week to be good for slings in small containers.

-don't feed your spiderling for the first week, leave it somewhere fairly dark and quiet and disturb it as little as possible
(this last tip is going to be the hardest one to follow but any stress to the spiderling should be avoided till it has settled in, just check on it quickly every once and again and then leave it be)
Another reason why it is good to have the container set up in advance to avoid having to wipe away excess mositure with a tissue because your soil is too wet(this happened to me, wasn't the end of the world but still try and avoid it lol.)

Thank you .
I have a container set for the spiderling, with about 35 + holes (all less than 6mm however), and I will probably use the tube they send 'Sam' in as well if (and it probably is) better than the container I have already set out.
The container will not be heated as it isn't necessary. Water is something I've pretty much sorted out in my head (a soaked piece of tissue so I can see the spiderling is drinking from it, and damp substrate).
My bedroom is pretty dark; the tank (which will house the container) is in a dark place. Are you sure I shouldn't feed it for a week though? Can I perhaps try to give it a cricket and observe if it eats it? It def. does sound pretty hard to follow, I do see the logic though lol!
I may order the T. with the substrate, which should actually come together; so I will quickly set things up (I do understand your point though!) and place it in its home.

Thank you,

Rich!

[Peter Lacey]

Colindale is a distance from me, shame as you'd probably benefit from seeing some Ts and I was going to suggest a visit. However, if you're set on the Spidershop, and many people give it plenty of praise, then fine. You might be surprised how small a 1st instar will be:

http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/2152/img0018tv9.jpg

I have no experience of such a small sling, but I wish you luck and please do let us know how you get on.

[James Box]

Richard, hate to sound harsh, but slings are too delicate to start with.
i've lost slings to factors beyond my knowledge or control, and it's horrible every time. if you buy one single solitary sling, and it dies, you are going to be so disappointed!
get something a bit older (ie a sub-adult), there's no sense taking the risk now with a sling. think of it this way: it's the spider's life at stake, not yours!

most T dealers will sell slings for bulk deals. why? because you don't know at that age what is male or female, and because they are delicate and you're bound to lose some!

maggots are disgusting, but as a food source, they can be useful for the right sized T. and the T is all that matters...not what we find disgusting or cool.

[Oli Dodds]

Colindale is a distance from me, shame as you'd probably benefit from seeing some Ts and I was going to suggest a visit. .

Visit to see a pet hole, a sling and 2 juves?


Richard; listen to James, he knows what he is talking about.

Oli

[Peter Lacey]

Oli, I find your replies to my posts strange, but perhaps I should make myself clearer.

A visit to an exotic pet shop to see an array of Ts, although you'd have to get past all the other exotics first

[Oli Dodds]

Oli, I find your replies to my posts strange, but perhaps I should make myself clearer.

Peter, sorry, what i thought you meant was to go to your house to see your little ones hoho
Oli

PS No matter how tempted, DO NOT FEED YOUR T'S HOUSE SPIDERS!

[Nicola Dolby]

Actually if you feed your T's crickets then house spiders are pretty good to have around. If any crickets escape then the house spiders will eat them! (at least mine do) Richard its up to you what size spider you start with and at the risk of upsetting people I started with a sling as well (P. metallica). However they do take a lot of looking after so if you can spare the time great, if not then I'd contact the Spidershop and get one of their adult Grammastolas. At the end of the day its what you've set your heart on and there will always be us lot here to advise you if you need it!

[Peter Lacey]

Peter, sorry, what i thought you meant was to go to your house to see your little ones hoho
Oli

PS No matter how tempted, DO NOT FEED YOUR T'S HOUSE SPIDERS!

I learned the hard way about feeding my G. rosea a house spider after reading this was an acceptable food source on a variety of other forums. It seems some of our British spiders are very predatory and have a painful bite (12 known species are capbable of biting humans). The house spider was 1/3 the size of the G. rosea but despite the difference in size the house spider was clearly winning the battle. There's a thread in the BTS forum that explains more. Suffice to say its not a good idea, although my rosea survived because I intervened. I also learned that the term house spider is attributed to the Tegenaria species and not a generic term referred to all those lovely creepies that decide to share your home with you

[Richard Shah]

Colindale is a distance from me, shame as you'd probably benefit from seeing some Ts and I was going to suggest a visit. However, if you're set on the Spidershop, and many people give it plenty of praise, then fine. You might be surprised how small a 1st instar will be:

http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/2152/img0018tv9.jpg

I have no experience of such a small sling, but I wish you luck and please do let us know how you get on.

Lol I more or less realized the size, but seeing them like that scares me! I would like to have a visit lol; do you live around Finchley (I go to a school around there), I would be happy and thankful to have a visit.
They (TSS) say I should buy about five of them, and the postage is the same price (rounded up £7) - that is £17. I can also buy one of their smaller adults (they say they will pick out a sub-adult for me, although it isn't listed on their site) for just under £20.
That increases what I'm going to spend on the T. (from £30 to £40), but do I really want a dead sling??? Ten extra pounds is worth it!
Arrghhhhhhhh!!!

Richard, hate to sound harsh, but slings are too delicate to start with.
i've lost slings to factors beyond my knowledge or control, and it's horrible every time. if you buy one single solitary sling, and it dies, you are going to be so disappointed!
get something a bit older (ie a sub-adult), there's no sense taking the risk now with a sling. think of it this way: it's the spider's life at stake, not yours!

most T dealers will sell slings for bulk deals. why? because you don't know at that age what is male or female, and because they are delicate and you're bound to lose some!

maggots are disgusting, but as a food source, they can be useful for the right sized T. and the T is all that matters...not what we find disgusting or cool.

Not harsh at all mate. I really wanted experience with raising my own sling - but you, Peter, Oli and everyone else are right. I'm better off buying a more secure adult, or SA.
But one reason I wanted to buy a sling was cuz I wanted the a sling to settle into the one place for all its life, not having to keep on moving. I'm calling up TSS now for a little bit more information on purchasing the adult tarantula.


Thank you very much,

Rich.

[Oli Dodds]

I learned the hard way about feeding my G. rosea a house spider after reading this was an acceptable food source on a variety of other forums. It seems some of our British spiders are very predatory and have a painful bite (12 known species are capbable of biting humans). The house spider was 1/3 the size of the G. rosea but despite the difference in size the house spider was clearly winning the battle. There's a thread in the BTS forum that explains more. Suffice to say its not a good idea, although my rosea survived because I intervened. I also learned that the term house spider is attributed to the Tegenaria species and not a generic term referred to all those lovely creepies that decide to share your home with you

Hehe I was browsing through threads started by you last night Peter, and I was reminded of your little house spider episode LOL.
Needless to say, the people who have met me in real life off these forums know I like to pull peoples legs a little, I'm glad you didnt misconstrue my comments in a negative way, and gave a legitamite, educated response
If you ever meet me at any shows, you will soon learn im a joker hehehe
Peace, Oli

[Richard Shah]

Actually if you feed your T's crickets then house spiders are pretty good to have around. If any crickets escape then the house spiders will eat them! (at least mine do) Richard its up to you what size spider you start with and at the risk of upsetting people I started with a sling as well (P. metallica). However they do take a lot of looking after so if you can spare the time great, if not then I'd contact the Spidershop and get one of their adult Grammastolas. At the end of the day its what you've set your heart on and there will always be us lot here to advise you if you need it!

How is your sling? And I think I'm getting an adult; there's just a lot of people with experience telling me to get an adult - but I did want the experience of raising a sling.
I'm going to make a call, check a few things. I'll reply back soon with a conclusion.

EDIT: I'm getting the smallest adult possible, for £13. Apparently if a combine shipping with the substrate, the postage price is about eight pounds.
I'm getting a sub-adult. Great!

[Oli Dodds]

Not harsh at all mate. I really wanted experience with raising my own sling - but you, Peter, Oli and everyone else are right. I'm better off buying a more secure adult, or SA.
But one reason I wanted to buy a sling was cuz I wanted the a sling to settle into the one place for all its life, not having to keep on moving. I'm calling up TSS now for a little bit more information on purchasing the adult tarantula.

Lee at thespidershop.co.uk is a good guy, very helpful to the new and experianced alike.
And if you do want to try out slings, why dont you get 5 g.rosea slings (£2 each) and let Lee choose a suitable sub-adult for you, that way you get the best of both worlds. Plus, the roseas grow slow, so you would have them as slings for longer, and also they are pretty difficult to kill unless you remove them and step on them LOL.
Also, dont worry about moving the spiders around through their life, their brains are the size of a grain of sand and i doubt they would remember anything about being in a few different places at all anyway lol. Hope this helps,
Oli

[James Box]

How is your sling? And I think I'm getting an adult; there's just a lot of people with experience telling me to get an adult - but I did want the experience of raising a sling.
I'm going to make a call, check a few things. I'll reply back soon with a conclusion.

EDIT: I'm getting the smallest adult possible, for £13. Apparently if a combine shipping with the substrate, the postage price is about eight pounds.
I'm getting a sub-adult. Great!

Richard, good call! i'm not saying you shouldn't get a sling ever, just maybe not to start!
as Nicola says, it doesn't always mean death to the spider, and perhaps i'm being paranoid. however, i think you've made the wisest choice.
seeing as a few of us live not too in or not too far from London, perhaps a meet-up at Cold-Blooded would be a good idea?

[Richard Shah]

Richard, good call! i'm not saying you shouldn't get a sling ever, just maybe not to start!
as Nicola says, it doesn't always mean death to the spider, and perhaps i'm being paranoid. however, i think you've made the wisest choice.
seeing as a few of us live not too in or not too far from London, perhaps a meet-up at Cold-Blooded would be a good idea?

Cold-Blooded?? Where is that at? lol
What I dnt understand is how getting an adult T. would give me more knowledge so I can raise a sling - does it?