Help for a new Pink toe owner

[Jane Mitchell]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I bought a pink toed tarantula a week ago and would welcome any advice you could give us on making him a happy spider.

Firstly, we have no idea what sex it is, but as we've named it Mike to us he's a 'he'! We were told he was about 2 years old (he hasn't got pink toes yet) and apart from a bald patch on his abdomen where he's shed hairs, he looks in good shape.

We've got him in a glass vivarium (12" x 12" x 12") with a good 2 - 3 inches of vermiculite at the bottom. He's got a shallow water dish with stones in, a piece of cork to climb behind and a little succulent plant to sit on.

We've put a heat mat under one half of the tank and the stick-on thermometer is pretty much always reading between 22 - 24oC. We've also put in a hygrometer and it's reading between 60 - 70. We're spraying the inside of the tank with a water spray every couple of days.

We hope that so far we've done the right things but our main concern at the moment is that he doesn't show any signs of wanting to eat. We've tried him with crickets and left one in for a couple of days and he showed no interest at all. We took it out and since have tried to 'feed' him a cricket by putting it right in front of him on tweezers but again he showed no interest. Do they have a 'settling in' period where he won't eat or is there something we're doing wrong??

If you could give us any helpful tips and please, tell us if we're doing something terribly wrong. We're really attached to him already and want to make sure we're doing everything we can to make him happy.

Thanks in advance,
Jane

[michaelmckinney]

Firstly Welcome to the B.T.S,

Now would it be possible to see a pic of this "Pink Toe", I have never seen an arboreal species with a bald patch on their abdomen (maybe others have then I will be wrong). If it dosen't have pink toes at 2 years old, then there is something a miss, as my Avicularia's get them from about 4 molt onwards. And yes there is usually a settling in period when you re-house a tarantulas, let them acclimatize to their new enviornment before you offer any prey.

Michael.

[Craig Mackay]

Hi Jane and welcome to the forum . First of all don't worry bout it not eating. It can take some time for them to settle in and the T will eat when it's ready. What size is he/she? Enclosure sounds about the right size a for a larger T. Decor wise it sounds as though you've done a good job although I personally use coconut fibre as a substrate. Some say that vermiculite can cause the T's some respiration problems although there seems to be some debate on this. Also it's best to put the heat mat on the back of the tank rather than underneath so the substrate doen't overheat. I'm sure some people on here with pink toe experience will be able to offer you some more advice. Welcome to the hobby and good luck with your T .

[Alexander Ramsey]

Sounds good

Hi, I don't have a pink toe but it sounds like you have set up a reasonable environment for him. I understand that pink toes have a habit of setting up a web "perch" off the floor so if he does this, take that as a good sign of him settling in. As for feeding, Ts can often go several weeks without eating, so don't worry on that one. If he doesn't take the food in a day, take it out and try again in 5 days or so. When he's hungry he'll eat. Don't forget also that when a T is getting ready for a molt it won't eat for a good while before. So if you find him hiding or on his back you know thats why. 2 of my Ts molted within 5 days of me housing them and the younger they are the more often they molt.
Lastly a pic will help others get an idea of age etc to give you better advice. If you struggle to attach pics (like I did, you have to resize them) send me a private message and I'll try to explain it to you.

[Matthew Baines]

I have never seen an arboreal species with a bald patch on their abdomen (maybe others have then I will be wrong)

New world arboreal tarantulas flick hairs as well as poo all over the place as a defence mechanism allegedly. Old world arboreal species such as poecilotheria and some baboon species etc etc dont possess hairs but have a far stronger venom

[Mark Pennell]

Hi Jane

Welcome to the forum.....
As stated already sometimes it takes a few days or so for the tarantula to settle in. The lack of eating could mean its approaching a molt, as long as the abdomen is not dishevelled or wrinkly looking all should be fine.

Try posting a picture as at 2 years old it should have pink toes by now.

Regards
Mark

[Phil Rea]

Welcome to the forum

Spiders can take time to settle in, and some spiders hate pure vermiculite, and refuse to walk on it. I have a spider that was on pure vermic to begin with and she just would not walk on the floor of the enclosure. Pure vermiculite can just stick to the spider's legs. Most people ether use a mixture of vermiculite and potting soil, or coconut coir (which can also be mxed with vermiculite).

The bald patch on the abdomen does sound suspect for an Avicularia sp. which are the spiders most commonly referred to as pinktoes, but as has been mentioned, a picture would help greatly

Assuming the spider is not what you think it is, then if the bald patch is very dark, the spider could be coming up for a moult, which again could explain the not eating

[Jane Mitchell]

Wow! Thanks so much for all the replies!

To be honest, when we bought him, we didn't have much faith in the guy at the pet shop and we made sure we researched T's thoroughly before we bought him. If we haven't got a pink toe, it will be interesting to see what we do have.

I'll try to post a photo over the weekend. The only one I have is a bit blurred and doesn't really show his abdomen. At the moment he's hiding behind his plant so I'll wait til he's out. He's not particularly active so that may be some time - is that a sign that he may be due for a moult too?

Thanks again guys!

[Craig Mackay]

To be honest, when we bought him, we didn't have much faith in the guy at the pet shop

Yeah, a lot of pet shop owners don't really know much about the T's they're selling and will do anything for a sale. Their prices are often inflated aswell due to the above and the costs of running a shop. There are some great online shops you can buy T's from like www.thespidershop.co.uk or by looking in the classified sections on this and other forums.

What size is your T? You may find it's a lot younger than the shop are claiming which could explain the abscence of 'pink toes'. I don't know much about pink toes and have never owned any so I'm not sure when the pink becomes apparent. Not eating, hiding and inactivity could all point towards a moult but could aso point to settling in. If its hiding a lot you should leave it be as moulting can be a stressful time. You'll find it'll be less active during the day though. What colour is the skin where its hairs have been shed? If its a dark to black colour a moult will more than likely be imminent.

[michaelmckinney]

New world arboreal tarantulas flick hairs as well as poo all over the place as a defence mechanism allegedly. Old world arboreal species such as poecilotheria and some baboon species etc etc dont possess hairs but have a far stronger venom

I thought only New World terrestrial species were equiped with urticating bristles on their opisthosoma??

[michaelmckinney]

These hairs are only present on some New World species of the subfamilies of Ischnocolinae, Aviculariinae, Grammostolinae and Theraphosinae

O.k maybe I was a bit misdirected LOL!!!

[Mrs Linda Street]

pink toe

Hi Jane and welcome, we have a pink toe we had her when she was quiet small but her pink toes were clearly visible. They are usually steady and good tempered, ours moulted in its web retreat and neatly packed it to one side. They can ususally be handled if you are that way inclined. Ours has never flicked hairs or shown any agression but sometimes will go a couple of weeks without eating. Good luck

[Peter Lacey]

Now this sounds like an interesting puzzle. Last week I was in a shop where one of the assistants claimed to have a poecilotheria species and I instantly recognised it as an Earth Tiger. This was from a very well stocked and educated shop but there comes a point where the knowledge stops and the information provided by the original keeper is the only indicator. So, its not too surprising that your shop may have fallen into the same situation.
The main arboreals are Avicularia (pink toes), Psalmopeous (eg. suntigers), Poecilotheria (ornamentals) and a few individuals including Eather Tigers, some baboons etc. With the exception of the Avics all these come with a warning, don't get bitten, and all of them tend to be quite fast.
Until you get an image up its a little hard to give accurate advice. You can post images using the advanced window and attach image or preferably by opening an account from the likes of photobucket and using the html code to copy and paste.
If it turns out to be an Avic I wouldn't worry too much about the substrate as its likely to stay off the ground for the majority of the time. Vermiculite is a great way of helping to raise humidity by slow release of moisture in a warm environment, ideal for most arboreals. But some arboreals do seem to enjoy a little burrowing just to confuse us all.
You might want to check the BTS gallery of Avicularia, Psalmopeous & Poecilotheria to see if any of these look similar to your own.

[Mrs Linda Street]

pink toe

A good point Peter, we notice the amount of wrongly named T's for sale especially in pet sections in large garden centres is common. Also the conditions in which these spiders are kept, sometimes leaves a lot to be desired, and it is something to be remembered when purchasing some of the more expensive T's

[Alexander Ramsey]

How can you all put down shop keeps?

I was in my local pet shop today buying some crix and I saw the same 2 Rosea that seem permenant residents there, (if I had the space, I'd buy them out of sympathy - tiny little plastic vivs stuck out the way on a back shelf). Any way I asked the young lady if there were any others to which she replied "oh yeah...loads".
"Great" I said "where are they?"
"Oh, we don't stock them but we can get just about anything"
"What haplopelmas?" I asked
"what, what, what? What are they when they're at home?"
Thinking they might refer to them by the comon name I said
"You know, cobalt blue or....."
"Cobalt what?!"
"Is there a list?" I asked
I was presented with a sheet of paper that read: ROSE, RED KNEE, CURLY HAIR.
"Thanks" I said, "I'll just take the crix for now"