Another guide

[Tom Forman]

well I had a bit of time to spare and so I made a compilation of the info I have found on Tarantulas so far.

I did it mainly to keep all my info organised but I'm sure it's a site worth bookmarking for some(well I hope you think so anyway lol)

my third homepage so far:

http://tarantulaguide.bravehost.com/

I'm hoping it will be work in progress. I have already thought of lots to add but not tonight...

[Andrew Ferguson]

Had a quick look Tom and mentioned the dog biscuits to my wife. She said "we are NOT buying dog food!" LOL LOL Luckily my sis in law has a dog so I may borrow one or two biscuits next time I'm down there.
I've got it bookmarked for a decent read when I get the some spare time to myself.

[Tom Forman]

there is alot of info there.

Would take a few hours to read through it all but it's all my top sites. Will be adding a few more shortly.

I want to get into raising caterpillars next. I just need some of the biggest caterpillars we get here in the uk that feed on nettles...

I have found a few small ones so far but nothing great.

Does any1 know if we get hawk moths in the uk?

[Stuart Common]

Yes Tom, we certainly do get Hawk moths in the UK

Not seen any since I moved into the town, but when I lived in the country have seen both adults and caterpillars, they are huge!

[Richard Shah]

Will certainly be good for me!
Cheers!

[Louise~Nichols]

Hiya Tom
I've had a brief look through your page so far, there's a little something I wanted to help you with there (yeah yeah, pernickety knick-knacks strikes again lol).
The temperatures you have shown, ie. *under 15c can kill*...nope, that parameter may need lowering. My Pulchra were at 13c for about 2 weeks to get them laying, which was then increased to 18 to 21c after sac production. During that 2 weeks of real cold time, they all still fed heartily and were plenty active enough.
Also, I use my fridge to chill very aggressive spids with before transferring them to new containers, it works like an anaesthetic...now fridges are a lot lower than 15c!! Incidentally, years ago...I had a *bad memory day*...placed a spid in the fridge and forgot it was there until nearly midnight, which was some 9 hours later...the spid made a full recovery thankfully, and so now if the phone rings and I've fridged a spider, I remove it before I become too distracted!!
The one thing I have noticed is when there is an extreme of temperature, either too hot or too cold, (barring gravid girlies who are a law unto themselves anyway, lol), it encourages more hiding away, whereas mid-range of 75 to 78F seems to have them out and about, being frisky, feeding well etc.

Breeding, some Grammostola like cooling to trigger laying, but Brachypelma like to be cooled before mating. There are certainly a lot of variations, like you said on your site, it's difficult to produce a general guide when there are so many differences, and many are robust enough to just get on with it all without any fuss or bother.

It looks like you're producing a nice page so far, neatly collated information and links, keep it up matey....and I'll nag gently from the sidelines!! LOL

[SylviRigden]

Hi Louise , did you cool your pulchra after mating then?

Tom, I shall have a good read of your info. I copy and paste relevant info myself as what I need to know is sometimes splattered across a multitude of threads from 2 or 3 forums.

[Louise~Nichols]

Hi Louise , did you cool your pulchra after mating then?

Not until they were ready to lay.

[SylviRigden]

Not until they were ready to lay.

How did you know they were ready? size of their abdomen?

ps. you will be cut and pasted lol I'm collecting info which will help me when I get my greedy little fingers on a MM alticeps.

[Louise~Nichols]

They all vary...Alticeps may be different again!! LOL

Certainly Rosea and Pulchra like cooler conditions for laying...must get my fingers into action to do my write-up for BTS journal on Pulchra breeding.
The gestation/gravidity whatever will vary...yup...wait til they look good and fat...Rosea will drop around 10 to 12 weeks, and Madame Miranda (Pulchra) dumped her first sac at a sniff short of 10 weeks. Those first babies had real trouble, and most became deformed and died, we have a 3rd instar however that is growing nicely from that sac.
Second sac is fine, and we have healthy N1's. Juno has just gone into cooling this last week, and is preparing to lay as I type...she's 14 weeks gravid.
They do show signs of needing to be moved to the maternity suite, so to speak...they become withdrawn, and fidgety; rocking their water about, scooping soil and bulldozing, wanton silk laying...to name but a few. It takes varying times depending on the female, temperatures, feeding history etc, but when you see the agitation and lacklustre side of them, then it's time to shift for sure. Hope that helps.

[SylviRigden]

Thanks You've been cut and pasted lol. That is really usefull. I have 2 female adults and a juv female alticeps, and 2 juv males. So if I don't find a MM or close to it, with a bit of patience I'll get there.

[Louise~Nichols]

Alticeps...or are they really Mollicoma?!! hehehehe

[SylviRigden]

LOL! proper mollicoma, no red bums here!

[Louise~Nichols]

Arrrgghhhh...not the dreaded Mollicoma issue again... *runs and hides* LOL

[SylviRigden]

LOL!!! everyone is in bed so they aren't around to start arguing. I'll call mine 'Southern Mollicoma' if it helps, with no mirror patches, apples, red bottoms - only nice fat round velvety black ones - most of them have just molted.