Care sheet needed

[paul charlton]

As anyone got a good basic care sheet for Sericopelma? I have had a good search but only found bits of stuff?

[Stanley A. Schultz]

As anyone got a good basic care sheet for Sericopelma? I have had a good search but only found bits of stuff?

Even if you could find such a beast, it would probably have so many errors in it that it would be next to worthless. Read Caresheets.

Babies are cared for like every other baby tarantula.

Adult Sericopelma are cared for using the generic "arid species" stereotype like most other tarantulas.

Now wasn't that a lot simpler?

Here is a general overview of tarantula care as they progress from baby to adult. If I can find time, I plan to turn it into a webpage on my Spiders, Calgary website.

CAVEATS: Note that the following rules of thumb apply to nearly all tarantulas except a few obligate swamp dwellers, and to the arboreal species, and those are addressed towards the bottom.

BABY TARANTULAS: Those younger tarantulas with a diagonal leg span (DLS) of about 1.5" (3.8 cm) or less should be kept in a relatively closed container that heavily restricts ventilation. The substrate should be kept slightly damp. All this maintains a constant, elevated (but not excessive) humidity. Do not mist; instead, reread the last few sentences carefully. Do not spend a lot of time, energy, effort, or money on fancy containers. Like humanoid babies, these will outgrow their containers soon, thereby wasting all your finest efforts over and over again.

SPIDERLINGS TO ADULTS: Those younger tarantulas with a DLS of about 2" (5 cm) and larger should be kept in cages with dry substrate and supplied a water dish with clean water. Keep almost all of these as arid species. (See the exceptions below.)

TWEENS: Those tarantulas BETWEEN the aforementioned two sizes should be gradually acclimatized to a dry cage over a period of 2 or 3 molts. Gradually allow the container/cage to dry out, but be very sure to supply a water dish with clean water. You're gradually removing the higher humidity and substituting a water dish as the primary water source. In response, the tarantula develops a thicker, more impervious waxy layer to prevent excessive water loss from its body. All it needs is a little time to adjust.

Note that many tarantulas from semi-arid and arid places like the American Great Plains and the Kalahari Desert can make this transition much earlier in life than these recommended times. But, it does them no harm to wait a little longer either.

SWAMP DWELLERS: These are tarantulas like the species of Theraphosa, Ephebopus, Hysterocrates, Megaphobema, and a few others. These do not have the impervious, water retentive exoskeletons of the other tarantulas and require a constant, high humidity. Keep these in "baby" style cages for their entire lives, adjusting for increased size of course.

Enthusiasts are discovering that wild caught "swampers" will gradually develop a somewhat greater resistance to slightly drier conditions if the transition is done slowly and over an extended period of time. And, those swampers that are bred in captivity fare much better and can tolerate drier cages much better than their wild caught brethren.

ARBOREALS: Wild caught arboreals (assumed to be adults), particularly members of the genus Avicularia often fare poorly when first brought into captivity, partly because of "shipping shock" and partly because of the sudden change in environmental conditions. To combat this, they should be initially set up and cared for as babies for the first few weeks (initial recovery period), then quickly switched to a "Tweens" care regimen (secondary acclimatization period) for the first one or two molts. Thereafter keep them as adult, arid tarantulas but maintain a slightly elevated humidity by slightly restricting ventilation. Always supply them a water dish. (In the middle of the night as they hunt for food they'll pussyfoot down to the water dish and take a sip. And being sound asleep, you'll never, EVER know it happened!)

Captive bred arboreals (assumed to be babies or very young spiderlings) usually do not suffer the acclimatization problems that the wild caught ones do, but sometimes suffer shipping shock from bad treatment during transportation. When first received they should be kept as babies (see above) for two or three weeks, then they can be quickly changed over to whatever care regimen is appropriate according to the schedule given here, depending on their size and age.

EDIT: The "blued" text above has now been turned into a webpage and posted at Growing Your Tarantula.


Hope this helps. Enjoy your little 8-legged stereotype!

[paul charlton]

Thank you very much.

[Peter Roach]

I keep mine exactly like I keep Brachypelma's, it seems to work for me

[Ray Gabriel]

Adult Sericopelma are cared for using the generic "arid species" stereotype like most other tarantulas.

OH NO So how does this take into accout the montaine/cloud forest species, sp "Boquete", sp "Lost and Found 1, 2", sp " Rio Sereno"where the ground dries out for sometimes (if you are lucky) 4 weeks at a time (lived in these conditions numerous times for up to 7 months at a time so know what I am talking about) if you keep these as an "Arid" species you will kill them.

Other species such as sp "Santa Catalina", so "El Cope", sp "Isla Coiba" sp "Isla Taboga" sp "la Chorrera" etc have distinct wet and dry season(s)

I am working on a piece for the BTS Journal on keeping Sericopelma sp so watch the pages

RayG

[Stanley A. Schultz]

OH NO So how does this take into accout the montaine/cloud forest species, sp "Boquete", sp "Lost and Found 1, 2", sp " Rio Sereno"where the ground dries out for sometimes (if you are lucky) 4 weeks at a time (lived in these conditions numerous times for up to 7 months at a time so know what I am talking about) if you keep these as an "Arid" species you will kill them.

Other species such as sp "Santa Catalina", so "El Cope", sp "Isla Coiba" sp "Isla Taboga" sp "la Chorrera" etc have distinct wet and dry season(s)

I am working on a piece for the BTS Journal on keeping Sericopelma sp so watch the pages

RayG

If you're keeping these in your backyard somewhere in Central America, by all means. Just be aware that in nature you don't have to pay for them, and better than 99% of them die before they have a chance to reproduce. Life in captivity is a different story entirely. You pay good money for them, and you want better than 99% of them to survive. It's a whole different set of rules in a whole different game.


Enjoy your little 8-legged conundrum.

[Ray Gabriel]

If you're keeping these in your backyard somewhere in Central America, by all means. Just be aware that in nature you don't have to pay for them, and better than 99% of them die before they have a chance to reproduce. Life in captivity is a different story entirely. You pay good money for them, and you want better than 99% of them to survive. It's a whole different set of rules in a whole different game.

Nope in a spider room in the UK (but yes i do have the remains of a colony behind my house in Panama) with minimal dead because i house them prop based on what i have found them in and where, not based on care sheets, books or websites. This trip i had one male arrive dead from al the specimens i returned with and that male was destined for alcohol anyway, so not sure what you are driving at with 99%dead NO in nature you do have to pay for them, permits, transportation to sites, accomodation while working sites etc etc I have paid £150 for a few days at one site and come back with a 2cm juv unidentified sp,

Nope i work on keeping the spiders under similar rules to where i find them with minimal problems, I find if you follow what the people who actrually work in the field rather than books, websites etc who only have people who guess your spiders will live a lot longer.