New Mexican Red Knee

[Andrea Tebble]

Please help! I am about to purchase my 2nd Tarantula approx 1 year old Mexican Red Knee. I noticed that she has quite a large bald spot on her opisthosoma. The guy in the pet shop said that she had been flicking hairs and that it would grow back, is this correct? I asked if she was pre-molt and he said it would be quite a while before she molted again. Also he was misting her tank, not sure he should be doing this with a Mexican Red Knee? Lastly does anyone know how much she should cost? Appreciate any help. Many thanks

[Colin D Wilson]

Hi Andrea and welcome.

You haven't said what size the spider is, age is a varient with spiders as they can grow at different rates (dependent on the sex, food and temp) throughout their life and one spider at a year old could be far bigger than another. If you measure the spiders leg span (from tip of the first leg on one side to the tip of the rear leg on the other side (diagonally as it were) then a price could be offered by following posters for the size it is. pet shop prices are normally very much inflated to online prices and "for sale ads" by fellow hobbyists, but if you're comfortable paying the price they ask then thats fine and up to you really.
Brachypelma are quite a flicky genus in general so loss of hair isn't a total problem, when the spider moults it will have a full set of urticating hairs to be launched all over again so don't worry on that part, again spiders will moult in accordance with how much they've eaten and the environmental conditions so to say a spider will moult at a certain time would be largely a guess on past records, as the shop will have only had it for a few days/weeks i would say they couldn't be definite there.
The genus does like a dryer environment, we dampen one corner of the tank (or use a waterbowl and over flow it occaisionally to maintain the correct humidity for our Brachypelma here, all seem to be ok with that.
If you get a suitable tank then fill it with a fair amount of substrate as they like to dig and burrow, also if a heat mat is to be used then attach this to the side of the tank and not the bottom as spiders naturally dig to get away from the heat.

hope this helps a little.

[Jimmy Burridge]

If you get a suitable tank then fill it with a fair amount of substrate as they like to dig and burrow, also if a heat mat is to be used then attach this to the side of the tank and not the bottom as spiders naturally dig to get away from the heat.



all my T's have heat mats under viv...... but not under borrow dose that matter?

[Colin D Wilson]

all my T's have heat mats under viv...... but not under borrow dose that matter?

Well its not a golden rule set in stone that you "have to" place the mat on the side, it's more in line with what the environmental conditions would be like in their natural habitat, the sun would heat ground level so the spider would instinctively burrow (or seek shelter) to regulate its temperature.
Placing the mat below the tank means that when the spider burrows, its heading for the heat which is not natural. if you place the mat on the side then the spider has a warm end and a cool end to thermoregulate. if it wishes to burrow then there would be more a natural temp reduction in theory.
If you search the internet concerning this you'll probably find some info where some keepers have aquired obligatory burrowers and have run experiments with mats on side top and bottom of tanks, the spiders heated from the bottom showed reduced burrowing and remained at surface level and/or just dug shallow "scrapes". Not saying that the spiders will not survive in this environment but most keepers try and simulate "natural" as close as possible.

[Jimmy Burridge]

had a bit of a mission to day and put all heat mats on side of viv's now
cheers :0)