Tank set up questions (and first post)

[Anne-Marie Bryant]

First of all Hi! Im Anne-Marie and i live in Northampton and im venturing into the fascinating world of spiders!

Im getting a chillie Rose for my birthday in a few days and want to make sure i have the tank setup real nice for her when she arrives! Its a 25 gallon hexagonal fish tank that i have scrubbed clean! Im hoping to make a natural habitat for her ith plants and a hiding place from bog wood or rocks. Basically, I dont know where to start on the planting side! Are tarantulas allergic to anything? Anything that they like? Should i plant into my substrate or keep them in pots?

Ive kept fish for many years succesfully so i understand how sensitive some creatures are to certain things. I just want to make sure i do my absolute best to make my new spider as comfortable as i can in a naturalist tank!

Thanks for any help and once again Hello!

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi Anne-Marie, welcome to the world of Tarantulas. The only bit of advice I would offer you is that as it is your first spider I would not be too adventurous, just go for the basic set up, substrate, hide, and water dish, and if it's juv. T it may not be a good idea to put them in large tall tanks, it can make them feel insecure and difficult to catch prey.

[Colin D Wilson]

First of all Anne-Marie wlecome to the forum.

G rosea like a very dry tank which can make having natural plants difficult.
I have seen several examples of planted tanks for Grammostola and they have mainly had succulents (or spineless cactae) which need little water themselves.
The most common idea for the plants seemed to be to contain them in pots sunk into the substrate.
At the end of the day you can get some very authentic looking plastic plants which, in my opinion, look just as effective.
Plants used should obviousely not be the sort to have natural insectacides.

As far as the tank is concerned for an adult rosea a 12 x 8 (floorspace) tank is quite sufficient, if the floor area is much larger than this then i find if you add a lot of decor (such as you have mentioned like driftwood) the spider doesn't "feel" as "lost" in the tank.
Substrate should be deep enough for them to be able to dig around and make their own "hide" as they are an opportunistic burrower (but will make use of pre-made holes, crevices and burrows). the substrate should be kept dry with either a small water bowl or a corner of the tank dampened occasionally to raise the humidity to assist in moulting.
There shouldn't be anything too high in the tank that they can climb on where they may fall and cause damage to themselves, which is why its a good idea for very deep substrate as they will climb the glass occasionally and a fall of 6 inches or so onto a rock or log can break legs or rupture abdomens.

If you get the tank made up why not post a couple of photos for us to look at and offer any further advice.

Hope this helps a little

Colin

[Lisa Baines]

Hi Ann-Marie

Welcome to the forum, be warned once you get your first T you want more lol!

Anyhow... here's a picture of our rosie set up, simple and she's perfectly happy in there, she's dug out slightly under the cork bark but thats about it. The water dish end has a little overspill but that doesn't seem to bother her. Sometimes she sprawls in the 'damp' end and other times she sprawls in the 'dry end'
She looked funny last night she was sprawled that flat she looked like she had been squashed... funny to see!

[Anne-Marie Bryant]

Thankyou for all the information! Perhaps then the hexagon tank i have is too tall for her? It is quite a tall tank i guess for a spider if a 6" fall will hurt! I just assumed that a spider would do what my house spiders do!

As for plants, If it is easier for plastic plants i may look round for some decent ones, or see what succulents there are my garden center! Just investigate the possibilities i guess!

As for wanting more....well i dont even have this one and love the goliath bird eaters and the colbolt blue ones!

And sorry for the late reply, I needed to have my rat put to sleep yesterday afetr a couple of days struggle. She'd had a stroke and was fitting badly so the decision needed to be made

[Lisa Baines]

lol dont run before you can walk! tarantula's like the cobalt blue are absolutely beautiful (we have two females, one adult and one juvi) but they are very defensive and will strike several times when provoked!
And the T.blondi's are defo for advanced keepers!

Work your way up, thats what we have done. Although i must admit it didn't take us long to get onto the various earth tigers We got our's as slings and juvi's.

And sorry to hear about your loss.

[Peter Lacey]

Hi Anne-Marie, and welcome to the forums.
You haven't said what size your chili rose will be but there's good advice above. You may find this a worthwhile read too: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/roses.html

[Colin D Wilson]

I agree with Lisa about maybe "jumping in the deep end" with an adult blondi or lividum but if you were to purchase one as a sling and observe it as it grows then you wil become accustomed to the "behaviour" of the spider as time passes.

Shame about your pet rat, if you're in the Leicstershire area, you could come and pick a couple up very cheap, my daughter breeds them...hooded and self coloured...wild genes every third generation so they live for 4+ years easily on the right diet.

[Dee Pluck]

i dont think that getting one of the more 'advanced keeper' tarantulas
is a bad idea. one of my first was a H. lividum.
but i do agree that getting a sling/juvie is a great idea as you can watch
it grow (not in the case of H lividum cos you'll never see it, lol)
each spider has it own requirements that you cant learn from keeping
something different. get a blondi, they are beautiful and active and
i think a wonderful Spider.
good luck what ever you get. and you will get loads more.

[Anne-Marie Bryant]

Lisa, I had no intention of running I just love the look of them and they are so fascinating to watch....especially at feeding time!

Peter, The girl in the shop said she will be about 4-5 inches across when fully grown, at the moment she is about 2.5-3"

Colin, what do you mean by sling? Is that a baby one? Im not familiar with any of the terms used still nor the latin names of them! I will get there eventually! Oh and im not planning on replacing the rat yet, I will wait untill my other, her comapinion passes before getting another pair. May even get a breeding pair as my best friend owns a pet shop (handy for me as im totally addicted to all animals) and any babys she will take off me!

Dee, what are Blondi and H lividum?? I will google but it mostly comes up with pictures and not very good care advice! :s

[Peter Lacey]

Anne-Marie, that's a good size T, all the danger zone's are behind it and yet you'll have plenty of years worth of your new friend.
Most people will suggest starting with one of the more docile and less demanding Ts to provide you with a basic knowledge of how to look after the environment they are in. Rearranging the set-up, getting the temperature sorted, amounts to feed, removing debris etc it makes good sense to learn this with a T that's not going to be too demanding, defensive or fast. It doesn't mean you can't start off with the more advanced species but to use an analogy, you wouldn't learn to drive in a Lambourgini!

Haplopelma lividum is commonly called the Cobalt Blue. Its a defensive species from Thailand that likes to burrow deep into substrate and prefers high humidity. Its often referred to as a pet hole as you're not likely to see it much, however some hobbyists claim to see there's quite a lot. It's fast and packs a strong bite but its certaily beautiful.

Theraposa blondi is commonly known as the Goliath Birdeater, which holds the record for the largest T recorded, at 12" legspan, although there are claims that the T. apothysis has reached 13"! Its from Guyana and neighbouring tropical rainforest countries and comes equipped with fangs similar to a cat and reputedly the most irritant hairs of all Ts which it will readily flick at you. Due to its size it also requires a much larger enclosure than most other species.
Both these species require more attention to their environment than Chili Rose, Mexican Red/Flame Legs/Knees and the more readily available species of tarantula. Ultimately it depends what you want from your tarantula, and the joy is finding the variety of species available to suit your tastes.

[Lisa Baines]

oh one more thing ann-marie, it pays to remember the scientific names because the common names can overlap and some species have a couple of common names... which can get confusing.

The names may seem daunting at first but once you start using them you soon remember them

[Colin D Wilson]

Sling is just a shortened form of "spiderling" ....a bit quicker to say and easier to type
Terms like Sling (spiderling)...Juvi (juvenile)... Sub-adult..and mature male or female (MM & MF) are what many hobbyists use to refer casually to the different stages of size, and growth, of a spider.

[Anne-Marie Bryant]

Ahh, i see! So use latin names as much as possible and spiderling is a young one Thanks!

Peter, i find the spider world fascinating, much like some people find sport fascinating to watch. Im too bothered about being able to handle the spider, just watch them/it in its natural enviroment (so to speak) doing its thing, spinning webs and feeding! I have enough cuddly pets to not need to handle it!

So basically the chillie rose would be a good start then.....easy and good to watch?

[Peter Lacey]

Definitely a good starter and one that stays in many people's collection because they seem so individual. You'll find chili rose appreciation threads in many forums.

As a good starting position, most people refer to the scientific (Latin, Greek, describer, place etc.) names in abbreviated form. eg. instead of Gramostola rosea they'll use G. rosea and you'll find these are used in whichever language is being used, something not true of the common names. You'll also be forgiven for mis-pronunciations and misspellingks