This is very disturbing, concerning so-called T 'experts'

[De_Bunk]

In my web journey to find information about the Chile Rose,as a species, i have found something that bothers me...

It soon becomes apparent that...

1. The Chile rose makes burrows
2. The Chile rose never makes burrows
3. The Chile rose needs a humidity of 65%
4. The Chile rose doesnt need any humidty
5. The Chile rose needs feeding 2/4/6/8 crickets per week/month/year etc..
6. The Chile rose walks for miles at night
7. The Chile rose hardly ventures far from wherever it lives
8. The Chile rose needs heat of 70+degrees F
9. The Chile rose can tolerate sub-zero temp
10.The Chile rose never lays a web
11. The Chile rose never comes out in daylight

Etc...etc...etc...etc...

You get the point im trying to make here..

Now, the majority of this information came from dedicated pet shops / online Tarantula dealers / pet shop care sheets

A very small percentage came from other Tarantula board 'experts'

This board has 'real' Tarantula keepers...

This board doesnt claim to be the definitive guide..

But this whole subject matter on the diversity of the information thats available, surely needs addressing...

Its occuring to me that each spider has very base needs that it needs to survive...a kind of general rule for the particular species..

Because after that, it appears 'anything goes'

I made a whole load of mistakes, all due to reading these 'care sheets'...

Why shouldnt i trust them..They are the 'experts' right..???

I had my Tarantula in a tank far too big for it...Thanks to one sheet..

My Tarantula didnt like 'brown' crickets...For 10 months, it didnt eat..

I changed to 'black' and its eaten 4 this week...as it would in the wild...

This board was created for Tarantula owners, so people can get advice, and a general meeting place. It now has a duty to ensure that the correct advice is being given. It needs to collate the information from its members to make its 'own' care sheets...

I have had some excellent advice from this board... and from a dealer who actually watches and observes his stock...

He showed me some Chile rose T's that he had...

And this is what he said...

" Look at this Chile rose...Its normally a calm species...Here's a nice, calm one...and now look at this other Chile rose...Its psychopathic"

I swear..This 'aggresive' adult Chile rose was practically in the raised 'threatening' position for a long as we were in the room...

People think they have poor eyesight..not this one...

He opened the lid and put in the tweezers...and it instantly attacked..

So i have decided that three quarters of advice from certain care sheets, is total garbage and i'd be better off going it alone...and stick to this board for any advice i need...

You can see my point tho'...( i hope )

DB

[Ray Hale]

Some good points made DB. There are a lot of sites out there and there is a lot of rubbish. In my experience there is no definitive way to keep any particular species. I agree with the comments on the Chile Rose.My first spider was a pscotic Chile.

Someone asked me recently what the BTS has to offer. The answer is a simple one. ................experience.

[De_Bunk]

RayHale..

Thanks..

This board needs to show that there is no 'hard and fast' rule...

My Chile rose likes to climb over everything...including up the side of the tank...and hanging upside down on the ventilation holes...

I have a 'normal fluctuation in temp...70F during the day...down to whatever the room temp sinks to, during the night...

The humidity is kept, naturally, between 30-50%...it doesnt go more...and its never been lower than 30% ( and it pays to get a 'good' humidity and temp gauge..)

My Chile rose is quite nasty...it doesnt like to be touched...It doesnt flinch..or run away..it just plain and simply, attacks..

I use a 15watt bulb to heat the tank, when it needs it...and the spider is quite happy to sit underneath it all day...until it IT decides when its had enough...and it walks back to its darkened shelter...

It also like to put down web...everywhere...up the side of the tank...in its shelter...across the gauges that are fitted to the top of the tank...

And it loves to burrow..If its not eating or walking about laying web..its digging...6hrs one time...it never stopped...

It gets to the bottom of the glass...and then removes everything it can grab and dumps outside...

I regularly find huge piles of what it has excavated during the night...

It seems to dig for fun..but always returns to its shelter....

I once found it standing in the water bowl...just standing...it was raised...like it was having a bath...

(Like i said previously..the temp is never higher than 70F...and the humidity is always between 30-50F )

Anyways...

After about an hour it decided to get out of the water bowl...and then defecate...after 10 minutes of trying to find the right spot...

So there, you can see...Tarantulas are practically a law unto theirselves...

All this board can do is say.." Try this...see if this works..."

Experience counts...experience from 'real' owners who have Tarantulas...

To me it seems, apart from the basic needs, food / heat / water... that every spider does what ever it feels like doing..regardless of species...

There can never be a definitive guide...its a creature that ticks over on pure instinct...nothing else...a spider doesn't have a brain as we know it...and instinct is unpredictable...

Who knows what a spider is feeling...no one can...we aint spiders...

I think i'll stay with this board for any help i may need..

As for handling...well...i wonder how many times, in the wild, that a Tarantula suddenly flies upwards ( like it does when being handled)...

The sensitive hairs must sense that its suddenly moving through no action of its own...and that is totally unatural...and that can only mean two things to the spiders base, miniscule brain / nerve endings / instinct..

1. Its falling to its death
2. Its been picked up by a predator

Both , i guess, would cause extreme panic...whether or not it acts on it...

Handling a spider is not natural...not for a human...not for the spider...

Thats a base instinct in both species...

Handling spiders can be construed as being slightly cruel...unless its absolutely neccessary...

I will never see how anyone can possibly think a spider 'doesnt mind' being handled...Its just not natural..

And thats the whole idea of keeping Tarantulas...Isn't it..??...To try and keep it as natural as possible...???

DB

[Gayle E. Anderson]

yeah for all they may be purely instinctual all tarantulas are complete individuals.
I don't handle my 3 at all, never have.
I handled my first 2 tarantulas, a cobalt blue(!! though I did only have it a few weeks) and an A. Avic. but I've not handled any since.
When I got my 2nd lot (3 Pamphos, 2 G Calas) I tried handling them.
My male Pampho was totally laid back, I never actually handled them as such but cleaning around him he just sat there. Same with the other 2.

The Calas, well I tried to handle one of them once, encouraged it on to my hand and on it calmly walked only to raise up them chelicerae and expose some nice shiney fangs, all slow likes gave my plenty time to move my hand. I never tried to handle any tarantulas again