tarantula

[proudmary]

anyone know anything about tarantulas?????
got my daughter one and its lovely but it may sound stupid it has spun a web of sorts is this normal????i know its a spider but i cant find anything in the books or on line that says if its normal or not

[Rabelais]

If it's spun a web you can safely assume it's normal. It will depend on the type as to the conditions you need to keep it in. You'll have to do a little back ground research on it, knowing the species would help enourmously.

[Cetti]

This particular one (link below) is supposed to be the best for a novice - but I would be inclined to read IAP's post very carefully, just in case...

http://www.exotic-pets.co.uk/chile-rose-tarant ula.html

[Avatar]

I really can't believe that people will buy a pet without doing any research whatsoever into its needs and what will be needed to keep it happy before buying it.
I suppose the shops that happily sell off exotic creatures to numpties are to blame also.

[Kleiber]

I agree with avatar, but having said that, you've got it now, so please try & do your best by it. I kept tarantulas for many years and had no problems There are things that you should know, though :
1) Don't handle it - if it is dropped or falls, it could die.
2) They need live food. When they're small, fruit flies are ideal and as they grow, progress to maggots, then on to crickets in varying sizes. You could feed them on frozen mice (defrost first!!), but it may not eat it if it isn't moving. It is absolutely illegal to feed a tarantula (or a snake, for that matter) with live mammals.
3) If it has spun a web that looks like a little hammock, it's about to moult. It will lie on its back during the moult, and push its old skin off. Do not, under any circumstances, disturb it while it is moulting, or it will die.
4) Some tarantulas spin other webs - best to find out what species it is.
5) Look up the website for the British Tarantula Society- very helpful.
6) Get a fine aerosol bottle (like the ones you get for plants in garden centres), fill it with water and give the spider a spray with it every day. Don't overdo it, but just so's the tank is humid. Their legs work on a hydraulic system and they need this to be able to get around and to hunt.
7) Make sure it doesn't get too cold. You can buy a heat mat, which you put under the tank, but leave a bit that isn't over the mat, so's it's comfortable.

I hope this helps.

[proudmary]

Many thanks for all your responses, no, I am not a numpty!! My daughter is 16, we have kept snakes for many years and of course have all the equipment we need for the tarantula, I thought I was asking a simple question about the spider spinning a web and whether this was normal, fortunately I asked the sme question on another site and was given an answer to the question not ciricism from people who have nothing better to do.

[Kleiber]

Sorry, proudmary - I was only trying to help. The way your Q was worded made it sound like you didn't have any experience of this sort of thing. Anyhow, maybe it's going to moult. What sort of spider is it?

[proudmary]

HI, thanks for trying to help it's a chillian rose, she has spun a web on the sub straight and seemed to sleep on it all night, she has been quite active tonight though and seems content now, do they sometimes spin a web when they are ready to moult?

Cheers

[Kleiber]

'morning, proudmary! Thanks for your reply! That explains it - Chilean Rose spiders do spin webs more than other tarantulas. They are more arboreal, so they like to have a branch they can climb on, in their tank (prop it up in a corner for her & you'll have one happy spider!). I guess they spin as a safety measure when they're climbing. Also, watch out for her going into moult, as explained previously. She'll moult regularly while she's young, but when fully grown, she might only moult once a year. Good luck with her - lucky devil, I wish I could have another one, but I can't get food for them round here in the winter. K xx

[boojp]

I wish I felt the same way as you two about spiders. I am very frightened of these eight legged creatures.

[Kleiber]

Boojp - you should've seen the size of the monster I removed from my bedroon last night! You would've freaked!