Cora (B. Smithi) and her first time keeper

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

Hi,

My captive-bred juvenile female Mexican Red Knee Tarantula, Cora, was a lucky choice I think. I've been told B.Smithi flick hairs like crazy, but she has never done so with me. I'll put my hand in the terrarium and she just sits there. Even nudged her gently and she sits still. She does flick hairs at nothing sometimes though, and has a tiny bald patch coming. If I open her cage too fast she gets nervous and scuttles off in fright into her den. She never did that on her first few weeks. She was a clumsy but determined climber, always moving about at night, but now she has an established den, she does nothing all day and all night. Even changed her substrate a while back so she was able to burrow into it, but no soap. Must be the most lazy spider on the planet. I think she is a couch, or cork bark should I say, potato. She has an enormous appetite, never refusing a meal, from a fat locust, to a fat cricket to a fat mealworm every two or three days, sucking them dry and leaving nothing left! She tried to go under the cork bark and was too big! I wish I had some pics to show you guys, but I don't have a digital camera. Beautiful creature, but one of my friends thinks she is scary! My family is scared of the livefood and always complain about crickets chirping. My sister wouldn't even let me put my mealworms in the fridge. When I get more money, I'm gonna buy a Brazilian Black. Cora ate up all my money, I need a job. My family just don't understand tarantulas. When she goes on her climbing expeditions again, I'm gonna let her climb all over my hands, and tickle me with her urticating hairs.

[karl]

Hi Sirunus,

when a spider flicks hairs seemingly at nothing it can be a sign of irritation. Take a torch and closely inspect the sides of the tank, the substrate, and the water bowl for mites. It may be nothing, but it's worth checking.

You mention that when your spider eats she leaves nothing, this is highly unlikely. Just about every food item has some undigestable parts which the spider will deposit somewhere in the tank. These need to be removed as soon as possible to prevent a mite population explosion. Again, inspect the tank closely and remove anything that looks like left overs.

Also, urticating hairs do not tickle. They are beautifully designed to irritate, which (trust me on this) they do like nothing else on earth. If you get them in your eyes or nose this can be nothing short of a disaster that you won't forget in a long while.

I won't get into the whole handling debate, but you should remember that your spider is not a pet that has been bred for generations in order to instill a love of being petted, that animal you are caring for is to all intents and purposes completely wild ... remember that next time you consider taking it out of the tank for a petting session.

Those points aside, B.smithi are wonderful spiders ... as long as you don't expect them to perform too much

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

Well, she keeps dragging all her prey into her den, so I wouldn't know. Should I just lift up her cave and check for remains? I know this'll stress her out, but should I do this or is there a better way? And if there are mites, are there any treatments I can give Cora? I checked everywhere else, including under the cork bark, but I can't find anything. I spotted one or two tiny flies flying around in there and that's it.

And I found out the reason for the flicking of urticating hairs: there was a tiny fly flying around on the cork bark she was sat on, literally right next to her, and we all know how irritating flies are, and they spread a lot of unwanted things, so I squahsed the B***ard. Hehehe.

I was just joking about the urticting hairs tickling, I've never felt the irritation of urticating hairs I must've gotten lucky with this bute because she hasn't kicked hairs at me... Well, not yet.

And I fed her a couple of locusts since they sent me those instead of crickets. A little big for her, but at least she'll dine well. Maybe I should pull the legs of the locust before feeding them to her. But I got some crickets the other day so she can go back to eatng them.

And as for handling, I would never physically pick her up unless I had to do a "check up" or something. Just let her walk on my hand or hold her just outside her cage, gently poking her behind to usher her onto it. I tried that on her once and she just sat there, not bothered or interested. I'd never want to unnecessarily stress or agitate her though, never.

Right now she's probably sat on the cork bark, basking herself against the side of the heat mat

[sarah Smith]

Its part of genreal tank maintaince to look in the lairs of any spider for remains tho obviously its easyer with some than others. I still have not got round to doing so with my blue fang or fassie tho I know I should do so soon while my chille, white knee and zebra beauty are all done. I have also after careful inspection found that at times my spiders dont leave any remains but I always check each time after a feed to be sure.

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

I'd hate to stress her, though, because checking her lair, that would mean ripping her cave from under the substrate and destroying any webs that are attached to it. She always takes shelter in there when she gets nervous too, so I will never, ever do it when she is in there.

[karl]

I have never known a spider to dump rubbish in it's hide. They are pretty clean animals. Don't disturb her hide, just check the rest of the tank.

[sarah Smith]

karl I wish my kiwi knew that, she never dumps remains anywhere that I can find and the couple of times I checked she had left stuff in her lair. If her lair is compleatly under the soil then no dont disturb her I thought she had her cork lair on top of the soil and had dug into the soil under it abit. In that case all you would need to do to check would be to look into the lair with a tourch depending on the light.

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

I've never found any remains anywhere else. All I ever found was half a mealworm, and that was when she dumped that one in the middle of eating it for a better one (one that appeared out of the substrate that it had buried into.)

[karl]

Hi Sarah,

I'm not sure what a '"kiwi" is, pet name? In my experience any spider that makes a home in one particular part of a tank, be it a burrow or a webbed up spot, makes a point of keeping it clean.

I guess that this can all be summed up in a simple(ish) sentence ... give the spider a good place to live and allow it to own it, while that goes on make sure you take care of the surrounding area.

[karl]

Hi Sirunus,

If your spider has been eating locusts and you can't see any remains then you aren't looking hard enough. Locusts are tough as old boots, they leave a lot behind.

[Neil Richardson]

Hi Sarah,

I'm not sure what a '"kiwi" is, pet name? In my experience any spider that makes a home in one particular part of a tank, be it a burrow or a webbed up spot, makes a point of keeping it clean.

I guess that this can all be summed up in a simple(ish) sentence ... give the spider a good place to live and allow it to own it, while that goes on make sure you take care of the surrounding area.

Kiwi is mine and sarah's E.Cyanognathus. Named as she's brown/green and hairy like a kiwi fruit.

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

I really don't know what she's been doing in there, but her lair is where she drags her prey and eats them. If she dumps them outside then surely I would've seen them. Maybe she's making a food storage somewhere, just eating what she needs, wrapping them up in silk and saving it for later. Or maybe she's a hungry tarantula, as she did go for almost a week without food. Surely I would've seen all the prey remains clutter the place up by now, even if they were all in her den. The cave is partially buried into the soil, but I think I could get a peek inside.

[sarah Smith]

Nods kiwi is left to her own devices and has her burrow how she wants it Karl. I am just saying that no matter how I look, and I look hard I dont find any remains anywhere except once in her lair before she burrowed. Infact all our spiders dont make a habbit of leaving remians tho only kiwi has not learnt to keep her home burrow clean. Guess she's just a bit of an odd spider.

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

A book I'm reading mentions that many tarantulas are very ravenous when coming into a new home for the first couple of months. She has a massive appetite at the moment. Maybe, just maybe, she has devoured all of her food. If not, maybe she wrapped it in silk, stuck it in her lair and save it for later. If that's not the case, then it's almost certain that all the remains are in her hide. She dosen't use it all the time, she uses it to feed and hide in. Most of the time she's basking herself against the heat mat. My book also mentions, even if there is just a few microscopic remains in the tank, that's enough to attract mites. I hope they never get in the house in the first place.

[karl]

I have never known a T to store food. They either eat, or they don't.

I have known them to kill a 'food' item in order to make it less of a pest, but they never store them for later use.

You seem to be working too hard to understand your spider. Treat her like an alien, and just give her a good place to live, then leave her alone.