Introductions!

[kelly murray]

Thank you both Very Much.
Not normally about aout things that much but as soon as i see little things i get Paranoid. The cage is always kept clean anyway, but i have replaced the substrate and have managed to catch a few for the little slings.
Again Thank you
Kelly

[Lisa Baines]

firstly welcome to Dale, hope you enjoy the forum, loads of great people on here.

And kelly, we get breakouts of crickets in the tanks, we use woodlice to do all the cleaning up but you will find that the young crickets, as peter said, will not last long.
Particularly in a dry enclosure with a water bowl... they go for the water and usually end up drowning! We keep both tarantula's and scorpions and unless there is a severe breakout we usually just leave them.

one method we use is to put some egg crate next to the heat mat. it's dark and warm and they all gather in the domes underneth, but the food trick works just as well

but i think we all got a little panicky when we saw little crawly things in the tanks when we first come into the hobby.

[John Hays]

Hello, my names John, I recently bought an Adult Female Chili Rose after wanting to get a Tarantula for years, she (Lola) lives in what used to be a Fish Tank (Its very clean BTW) I've had her for about 4 weeks, but I'm already getting the bug to get anouther one!

Other than spiders my "things" are Books, Films, Football, Socialising (not being able to spell very well), Poker and even more Spiders!

It may be off to ask advice from the off, but I want to ask some experts...Lola hsnt eaten since I bought her, I've asked the guys at the place I bought it, and I've looked online and both areas suggest there is nothing to worry about, she looks healthy and is reactive and alert, she seems comfortable in her tank, so much so she has started spending more and more time out of her Log. As far as food, I've tried Locusts, Medium Crickets and Large (read Noisy!!!) Crickets and she seems uninterested in any of them...should I be worried?

Thanks in advance and I look forward to getting to know some fellow Spider people (do we have a name)

[Mark Pennell]

Hello, my names John, I recently bought an Adult Female Chili Rose after wanting to get a Tarantula for years, she (Lola) lives in what used to be a Fish Tank (Its very clean BTW) I've had her for about 4 weeks, but I'm already getting the bug to get anouther one!

Other than spiders my "things" are Books, Films, Football, Socialising (not being able to spell very well), Poker and even more Spiders!

It may be off to ask advice from the off, but I want to ask some experts...Lola hsnt eaten since I bought her, I've asked the guys at the place I bought it, and I've looked online and both areas suggest there is nothing to worry about, she looks healthy and is reactive and alert, she seems comfortable in her tank, so much so she has started spending more and more time out of her Log. As far as food, I've tried Locusts, Medium Crickets and Large (read Noisy!!!) Crickets and she seems uninterested in any of them...should I be worried?

Thanks in advance and I look forward to getting to know some fellow Spider people (do we have a name)

John
Welcome to the forum!
As for your tarantula, well its not uncommon for Chilean Rose's to fast for long periods, and as long as they seem healthy I.E. the abdomens seem firm and round with no wrinkles all should be well.

Of course other factors could be at work and your tarantulas could be approaching a moult, it is again not uncommon the recently purchased tarantulas once re housed in better conditions are spurred into a moult cycle. Remember to remove any crickets should this be the case as live food can often take a few bites out of a moulting spider and this usually kills it.

All the best
Mark

[Yvonne Woolley]

Welcome

Welcome to the B,T.S forum John.all the help you need will be in here somewhere from someone just ask.

[John Hays]

Hi Guys, thanks Mark, is there anything else I should be looking for if she is Moulting?

lol, am I asking questions in the right place, still trying to negotiate the forum (bit different from the other ones I use)

Thanks for the welcome Yvonne

[Andy Wood]

Welcome to the Forums John.

As has been mentioned Chile Roses can stop feeding for long periods, and do
ensure you take out uneaten crickets, I think we all have horror stories of
Tarantulas being killed by crickets when they're defenceless immediately after
a shed. My worst was a juvenile Goliath killed by a cricket that was hiding
under a stone in the tank and I never spotted it till too late........

AndyZoo

[Mrs Linda Street]

Hi John, Welcome to the forum, hope you find lots to interest you

[kelly murray]

Hi John and welcome
yep probably moulting just keep the humidity up and you'll be fine.
Any idea what you want to get next.

kelly

[John Hays]

Thanks for more warm welcomes.

@Andy Zoo, that sounds terrible, I had no idea that Crickets would do that, safe to say I removed the little sod the second I read that!

@Kelly, I read that they need a tad more humidity when moulting so I have been doing that. As for getting more, I would really like to own a Gooty Sapphire (I dont know the latin name) but from what I remember reading they are "Old World" and harder to look after, not too mention very expensive, I think I need more experience before looking after one of them. I also like Scorpions and Snakes, my Local Pet Shop has a beautiful Cobalt Blue Scorpion that I'm tempted to get.

[Yvonne Woolley]

Cobalt blue scorpion?

Welcome Jonh, But I am a little confused Cobalt Blue Scorpion? Unless I am mistaken surley not, there is a Cobalt Blue Tarantula - Haplopelma lividum. Better check that out as I have only just stared to keep Scorpions myself and Imay be wrong but it is the first time I have heard of it. Come on you Scorpion collectors help us out will you please?

[John Hays]

Welcome Jonh, But I am a little confused Cobalt Blue Scorpion? Unless I am mistaken surley not, there is a Cobalt Blue Tarantula - Haplopelma lividum. Better check that out as I have only just stared to keep Scorpions myself and Imay be wrong but it is the first time I have heard of it. Come on you Scorpion collectors help us out will you please?

It was first I had heard of it. The guy probably made it up, thinking it made it sound more exciting. The Scorpion itself was a very, very dark blue(ish) colour, with pretty huge Pincers and a massive Stinger (I dont know the proper names sorry) it was probably about 4 or 5 inches long and extremely aggresive. I asked the guy if i could pick it up, he demonstrated what happens when you try, he merely moved near the Scorpion with his hand and it reared back, pincers up in that pose that Scorpions adopt when threatened, very pretty though.

[James Box]

welcome John!

the joys of arbitrary common names!!!
just to hazard a guess, google Heterometrus cyaneus...that's a scorpion that's got a touch of blue in it in the right light (though probably not the only one!).
the problem is that Heterometrus is made up of alot of (superficially) fairly similar looking big black scorpions, with individual colouration varying sometimes...so it could be any of a large number of them, and just happens to be quite a blue specimen.
UV light can sometimes exagerate the blue-green qualities of scorpion colouring as they ALL flouresce under black light. this can be a touch misleading, so make sure it's natural light and not just a trick to talk you into buying it at a higher price.
i don't know a heck of alot about this genus myself, and only owned a few...you can check an online article about them with pictures and descriptions, though it's a bit techy here: http://www.science.marshall.edu/fet/...s/p2004_15.pdf
i found that through http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/, which is to date one of my favourite scorpion sites, with a great gallery and links.

[Yvonne Woolley]

Pick your brains

I still have another large tank James jut right for a large Scorpion, Could do with some ideas when we see what is a at Kettering if you wouldn,t mind.

[James Box]

No! they're all for meeeee!!!
especially since i've not yet forgiven you for buying all Martin's cavimanus!