care of a collection...

[Faye Sweeney]

following on from the latter part of the 'sexing' thread, could someone please give me an indication of the amount of care/time involved in keeping a collection of slings, juvies and/or adults (I know it will vary depending on the no.s and spp. involved, but would just like a rough idea before I commit).
I spend most of my time caring for my animals as it is, so am not put off by intensive work, just want to know what would be involved before I decide what to take on next...
Ta muchly!

[James Box]

it really does depend on alot of factors, ie some people feed twice a week, some people feed once.
i tend to do my sling feeding on Saturday or Sunday, as it takes me a few hours. i have around 80-90 slings.
i do a midweek watering which doesn't take long but allows me to have a look in and make sure they're all doing ok.
not something i like to rush, so times can vary.
also i am tending to a non-eating cambridgei sling at the moment (well it's eating prekilled, if i push it into its mouth), so that makes the time increase quite alot as that's an exercise in patience.
the adults and subadults (20-ish?) and scorpions are alot quicker to deal with, but i can easily spend loads of time peering in on them and making sure they're responsive to food etc. or that they've got water if more thirsty sp.
so unfortunately your answer is "as long as a piece of string!"
but on average...5 hours a week spread out for slings, another couple for adults for me anyways.

[Faye Sweeney]

Thanks for your reply James, that is the kind of time frame I could easily handle - although i'm not planning on reaching those kind of numbers any time soon, but it's good to know what I'm letting myself in for!

[Peter Lacey]

Compared to other animals I've had Tarantula don't seem to take much time up. As James says a once a week feed is adequate and you'll benefit from not having to change substrates or clean bowls - a check for food debris, a little mould, uneaten food items is sufficient.
Of course that's where the problem lies, "well, these are easy, I think I'll get a few more" bleats out and before you know it you've gone past the 50 mark, 100, 200! eeek!

[jason holland]

i own 2 T's, a smithi juvi and a versicolor s'ling. id say it takes me aobut 20 mins (max) a week to feed, check and water both. plus i always glance in when ever im in my bedroom. but yeah not very long. depends on how many you have.

[SylviRigden]

Hi, I've got about 28 total, a mix of slings, juvs and adults.
I peer at them once or twice aday - about 5 mins; water mid week and check for mold etc - 15 mins or so; and they get fed and have a good go over once a week - 1 hour or so. Then once in a while I really indulge and clean some out, move some about etc which can take all morning

[mary walters]

I have a couple of 100 and feeding goes over 3 days when I can get it in with working and other household commirments.

So you see Faye, everyone is different according to circumstances.....

[Peter Roach]

I have 289 T's from slings to adults, the whole lot takes me about 4 hours to feed and water them with most of the time taken up with the slings.

[Kirk McNulty]

Hi Faye, I have 12 t's, mainly slings to juveniles they take up about 20 mins of maintenance per week , but as James said you end up spending alot more time observing them! You will get varied answers, if you think you have time go for it!

[Faye Sweeney]

Thanks for the replies, I have my next Ts lined up - will be getting them next week

[Guy Edwards]

Hello faye,

What are your next spiders going to be?? if you don't mind me asking!

tata

Guy

[Faye Sweeney]

Hello faye,

What are your next spiders going to be?? if you don't mind me asking!

tata

Guy

Hi Guy, I'm getting the M. robustum juvenile + B. smithi sling from John Boyd, I'm just waiting for a delivery from the spider shop for the set-up and equipment til I can take them... and I might have ordered 5 x A. versicolor slings as well while I was there
Looking forward to my new little challenges!

[michaelmckinney]

Hi Faye,

Good choice on the M. Robustum, it's definately on my wish list!!! LOL.

You will get a rough idea of every fanatic on this site LOL, but until you a have more in your collection you won't realise how much you want to watch them.

For instance 2 of my slings, and 2 of my juvies shed yesterday at once, and I was bitting my nails just hoping everything would go smoothly!!

And my girlfriend said to me earlier today, "Who was that on the fone??"
I told her I wasn't on the fone, and I couldn't think why she thought I was on the fone.

Then it dawned on me I was talking away to the Tarantulas!! LOL!

Michael..

[James Box]

lol! you do that too, Michael? never mind that they can't hear it lol
but then my mum talks to her plants, so this can't be any odder than that
Faye, nice T's indeed. i just got a robustum off the spider shop, and she (i hope she anyway) is a cracking spider, really beautiful.

this is a really interesting thread actually, cool to hear how people do their routines.
Sylvie, i know what you mean by the word 'indulge', it does feel like an indulgence to have a good sort through and look in on everything.

i also tend to have my slings in large boxes etc and i take them up to the lounge and sort them while watching telly. of course you do risk the odd runner, but i'd have that in my room too. at any rate it's relaxing most of the time!

Peter also what you said: "these are easy, i'll get more!" that is so true!

[Nicola Dolby]

For me its a maggot (dead) every other day until 3cm, then a small cricket twice a week until 6-7cm, then normal cricket twice a week. Adults tend to get 3-4 crickets a week, which keeps them happy and there is always something in there if they want a snack. I make it 2-3 crickets with Brachys though, they just want to eat everything and make themselves as fat as possible as quickly as possible!!! Hearing of all these tarantulas I'm beginning to feel like a poor relation at my meagre 43, though I won't be buying any more soon thanks to the recent increase in gas & electricity prices (I'm trying not to swear).