Do you keep tarantulas?

[Unthinkable8]

I couldn't sleep last night so ended up Youtubing at 3am as you do...🙄Anyway, this tarantula 'unboxing' came up on my feed and although I'm a bit arachnaphobic I decided to watch it... praying it wouldn't lead to nightmares after Anyway, I thought the chap who unboxed did it wrong - despite my total lack of spidery knowledge, so I'd be interested what tarantula keepers think. The (large) spider was in a foam cup with the lid selotaped down. I should mention the man had a beautiful spider set-up. A whole room full of exquisitely maintained tanks with proper habitats inside them. Must be a serious hobby, there must've been at least 30 tanks in the room. He took the lid off the cup and the spider was quite 'hissy' in his words. Probably pissed off from it's journey. The man then put the open cup into the new habitat & sat there tickling the spider with a long brush to get it to come out. I'd have thought after a long journey, he could just leave the cup there and the spider would come out & explore it's new territory when it felt safe. Then he could just lift the empty cup out. I felt sorry for the spider to have had a stressful journey and then be poked to come out of it's cup. Am I wrong?

We have 2 spiders. Well I say we. My husband mainly. It depends entirely on the species. With some it's almost impossible to get back into the tank so its best to get them in and get what needs to be out. They can be quite aggressive and if you disturb the web or the environment can lead to nasty bites or a refusal to eat.

Tickling the legs or the body encourages them to move. There usually transported very well so travelling doesn't usually bother them.

Depends on the species. We usually do the same. Our newest js currently very small so is in a tank in a smaller tank and when it comes to it we will get it into the bigger tank the same way as the guy in the video

I think it was a Thailand tarantula but I don't think that's the proper name. It looked really mature though as it was as big as a man's hand.

Asked husband. I too was curious. He says the bigger they are the better it is to get them into the tank and then leave. Gives them time to get out and chill before the first feed. Smaller ones can be left in their initial environment until they are bigger but again it's easier to get them out if they can't escape from the permanent enclosure
We don't really handle ours. We could but we don't. It stresses them out and they don't like it. Getting them in and out of the tank is a nightmare

Finally a subject I can answer!

That is the normal way to do it. Usually tarantulas are packed tight in tissue that's slightly damp, this means the humidity is maintained and the packing stops the spider being shaken about too much in transit. They can't usually 'escape' without help as they're often so tightly packed, so the paint brush method you described would be normal. Had it been just an empty cup, then yes, leaving it there and waiting would be the ideal way, so it sounds like he was just being inpatient.

It is also very species dependent. In broad terms there are old world tarantulas and new world. Old world (the way I see it) are the countries Columbus could get to by walking... Europe, Asia, Africa. Tarantulas from these areas are more 'primitive' and as such are far more aggressive, far faster and the venom is far more potent. New world (Australia and America, but more America)... in general, are far more docile. They have developed urticating (itchy) hairs that they flick at you as a defence. Think of it like asbestos fibers which float off into the eyes. As they have a means of defence, they are generally a bit more bold and 'sluggish'.

A good keeper would treat the old world tarantulas with great care and respect, and would no doubt jump the second it bolted out of the cup.

I wish I hadn't read this haha now I know they are fast and aggressive.

*impatient (doing this on my phone!)...

I like this thread!

I've got a dog! That's as far as my pet life goes and I would be so interested to know why people keep spiders. What do they do all day? In terms of caring for them what is involved?

@Rockingcloggs sit by the heat mat mainly. Our newest one is a massive web maker and seems to enjoy organising his web. He is still little so getting fed a little more than we usually feed them and he is pissed when we have to open his tank to feed him.
The bigger one tends to sit pressed on the glass with her body to the heat lamp. Eats once a week unless she's shedding

@jadedinsomniac Do you know why they sometimes die after shedding?

I'm finding this interesting!

Our last one died after shedding. We didn't notice he was shedding. You can usually tell. They go paler and tend to stop eating a week or so beforehand but he didn't. And he got stuck in his shed. Usually you can help by spraying the tank or in some cases you can help them with tweezers by holding the shed open for them almost.

We keep several Tarantula’s (around 16 of them) from tiny slings to fully mature male & females. Old and New World ones

it sounds like the video shows he’s doing the right thing, you don’t want to keep a tarantula in its packing for too long, and it’s best to get the out and settle into their new homes asap, once we have unboxed and moved them into a new enclosure we leave for 7-10 days before feeding.

I recommend Dave’s Little Beasties if you want to learn me he’s a fantastic keep and really knows and loves his spiders

The main reason they won’t survive shedding is dehydration & sometimes it’s just fluke & particular tarantulas are more prone to dying

Some tarantulas have more needs than others eg humidity, enclosures

I kept and bred tarantulas for years. No, personally I wouldn’t have done it like that. They are quite stressed after travel and really should just be left in peace, not tickled with a brush, but I’m guessing it doesn’t make for an interesting end to the ‘unboxing’ video.

They can die after moulting due to dehydration (before moult) or if something doesn’t quite happen properly during the moult/they are disturbed or stressed. It’s a very vulnerable time for a spider.

Why do you wait so long to feed @MistyIsland ? Surely they're starving by that point?

I saw a David Attenborough film once where a native man went out collecting tarantulas to eat. He wiggled a stick by their burrow to get them to scoot out and the second they did, the man put a finger on their back, pressing them to the ground. With his other hand, he gathered up the legs, one-by-one, until he had them all in his grasp above the spider's body. He then tied the legs with twine and added the spider to a pouch made of a very large leaf. When he got back to camp he toasted his morning's gatherings over hot coals and everyone ate them! 😳

@Unthinkable8 my adults get fed every 7-10 days anyway, my juvies every 7 days and slings every 5 days, (I’m sad and have a spreadsheet on when they were fed, what I fed and if they ate) I’ve not seen the video, but if you feed right away in a new environment they tend to not eat in my experience. Slings are the only ones I feed within a few days as they are kept in smaller vials and I tend to wait before I move them if the vial is big enough to hold them for another moult.

can safely say I’d never eat one even roasted can’t imagine they have much nutritional value and I would eat most things 🤮 I don’t even pick mine up (not from fear but most have urticating hairs and they irritate my skin)

They don’t need feeding as often as you think, they aren’t something you can domesticate as they have very simple biology and brain function , in the wild they would eat every day

I'm quite fond of my dh goliath birdeater..she is very docile and loves being out of her tank and sitting on our arms.

If allowed, would they run as fast as house spiders?