Category Archives: Feeding

Serj feeding and crickets (photos)

This is Serj, named for my favorite System of a Down frontman and solo artist, Serj Tankian.

She is a 3″ Aphonopelma chalcodes who has been with me since August of 2010.

Here she is  eating a cricket, and looking gorgeous!

Serj eating Serj looking lovely My lovely girl Looking red from glare

Here are the crickets, feeding on orange, and drinking from a wet cotton ball:

Crickets feeding cricket on cotton

Thanks for stopping by.  The zoo is well, and no longer eyeing me, hungrily.

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Highlight-Lasidora parahybana

Mitzy (L.P.)

Meet Mitzy, the 1″ Lasidora parahybana that I acquired in February while getting another tarantula sexed.

Mitzy’s species is the 3rd largest in the world, giving her the reputation of being a “dinner plate” tarantula. In an ironic twist, some  species are used for food. (Although I have been told that the taste is comparable to that of a soft shelled crab.  I think I’ll pass on both, thank you!)

The L. parahybana is an aggressive eater, eating pretty much anything you can throw at it.  Mice and lizards are a wild staple, although my preference is to only feed insects- mostly crickets and roaches.  (For tiny spiderlings of other species, I do occasionally buy flightless fruit flies.)  Which ever becomes your preference is fine, but remember that the LP is a new world species, so  if they feel threatened they will not hesitate to flick hairs.  Take caution to keep these hairs from entering your airways and eyes.  If you do wind up with one of the urticating hairs in your skin, be prepared for an itchy rash.  And yes, I do mean ITCHY.  Also, as if I have to tell you, BE VERY CAREFUL of the fangs of this species!  They can be up to 1″ long, and inflict an extremely painful bite. ALWAYS USE CAUTION WHEN FEEDING!!!

Mitzy may look harmless now, but someday she (I hope for a she, at least) will be extremely large and bulky, and will grow quickly into a nice roomie 20 gallon tank.  If  you acquire one as an adult, be sure to have an appropriate house.  This means no large sided tanks because if your critter falls, it can be fatal.  Also, a shallow water dish, and moderate humidity should be provided.  Keep a spray bottle on hand to fill the dish from above your tank lid (if the LP’s size is too intimidating for you to put your hands in the tank) and to keep the humidity up.  As your LP molts, (flips over and plays dead while shedding it’s exoskeleton) it will need extra humidity and a quiet dark environment. Cover the tank, and do not handle your LP for at least a week to be safe.  This goes for all T’s, and although some people say to only wait 3 days, I prefer safe than sorry methods.  Do not feed your critter at all during this period as crickets like to feed on, and possibly kill, molting tarantulas.  (Even after they molt, tarantulas are very soft  and easily killed by an aggressive keeper or hungry food source.)

Provide a hiding spot (hollow logs for BIG LP’s and film containers, or halved flower pots for smaller ones.)

Mitzy is now a 1″ spiderling, but was only 1/8″ when acquired.  These suckers grow FAST so be prepared by reading a lot of books, blogs, and articles.  Also, never be afraid to ask questions to other hobbyists.  I do and always will, as there is so much to learn.  Facebook, arachnoboards and the American Tarantula Society are great places to start.  Many keepers also recommend a book called The Tarantula Keeper’s Guide as THE BEST BOOK on tarantula keeping.

I hope to have shared some information that may help you in your own endeavors as a tarantula keeper.  The Lasidora parahybana is an excellent addition to any household as it is low maintenance, displays well, and makes for great learning for older children and adults alike.  No walking, peeing on the carpet, or tearing up of your furniture.

Find me on Facebook. and use my resources to jump start your hobby today 🙂 OR, just search for your own.  They are out there, and in the hundreds of  thousands across the world.

I have been keeping T’s for 4 years, and probably will for many to come.  I love the hobby, the tarantulas, and seeing children and adults take one home for the first time.

Good luck, and thanks for reading!

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Questions Answered

I had a few more hits on my blog today than expected.  Being a blog about tarantulas, you can probably imagine that the stats are not stunning.  However, the same questions and searches seem to keep coming up.  Today, I will use the search terms from this blog today, along with some recurring questions/searches to get you to the right info.

Remember that if you do not find an answer here, you can always join InsectGeeks, visit forums, or ask around your social networks to see what their experience is.  Although most information is useful, you will find outdated or unusable info around the web, so SEARCH WISELY!

The FIRST THING I would recommend is to get a copy of the TARANTULA KEEPERS GUIDE by Stanley A. and Marguerite Schultz.  This is considered the “bible” of the keeping hobby, and is recommended by most top breeders/dealers and hobbyists.  GET THIS BEFORE YOU GET YOUR FIRST TARANTULA.

If you already have a T, and still have questions (and you should) GET THE BOOK.

Then, NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK.

I have many friends across insect geeks, facebook, on forums, and elsewhere.  When I see a blog or site that shares information in a readable non-ad flashy way, I contact the webmaster and compliment them.  This opens up a dialogue for future questions, and lets them know that their hard work is helping someone.  (Like ME!)

Now, on to today’s searches:

brachypelma boehmei when will she get the colors:

My boehmei has colors, and she is only a half inch.  Look closely, and if you notice yours getting dark and ugly, then it is probably time for a molt.

 
why is my b. smithi is pacing?

Could be a hunger thing, could be that her soil is too moist, could be that she is looking for a retreat.  Try to fix each of these and see if it helps.  Usually, the pacing stops shortly after the problem is addressed.  My A. avic was doing this, and I realized that I had forgotten to put a climbing branch in after  a cleaning.  When I put the branch back in, Sid climbed up and made a nice new web.  The pacing ceased.

 
parahybana on girls hand

My parabyana is too small to be handled (1″) and I have seen her flick hairs…so I cannot help you there.  Try Google Pictures.
 

aphonopelma sp care sheet

Try THIS
 

n. chromatus care sheet

Try THIS and add enough soil to allow for burrowing!!
 

brachypelma smithi spiderling care

YER KILLIN ME SMALLS!!!!!  Try THIS and if yours is as small as mine (1 1/2″ls approx) use a film canister as a hide.  These are GREAT for any terrestrial spiderling!
 

how fast do rose hair slings molt

I am not too familiar with a rosie as a sling, but I do know that as adults, there is NO TELLING.  Rosies do their own thing at their own pace.  If your sling gets sluggish, gets ugly and darker in color, and refuses food, you are probably headed for a molt.  Hit up some forums for more info.
 

spiderling care sheet

SEE ABOVE ANSWERS!  Please be more specific.  Certain spiderlings (like my E. cyanognathus and P. subfusca require more humidity, and different set ups than other spiderlings.) When you hit the forums, have a species in mind so the community can better assist you.

 

If you have any specific questions for me, please use the form on the right to ask it.  I won’t bite!  If I can’t answer a question. I will be more than happy to find the answer for you because it will probably benefit me and my growing tarantula zoo as well!!

You can always email me directly at 8pinktoes@gmail.com too….

Thanks for looking!

~Tia Marie

NaNoWriMo is my Bitch…well…Days 2 and 3 it was…

First things first:

I have not seen Alee in her jar for about a month now.  This morning, during routine critter check, I noticed that she pushed out a molt through one of the burrow holes.  I will try to measure soon.

We have another addition to the zoo: Lizzy Borden, a Leopard Gecko that needed a new home ASAP.  She got one, and seems to also like hiding.  When I started the zoo (which now sits on the floor of the new apartment) I never expected to have a gecko, or the scorpions that I should be sending the shipping fees for next week.  5 in all, babies.  I am going to need help with these, guys!

All is still well in the zoo, although I am having problems getting crickets.  Luckily no one in this household ever starves, and I can get superworms if necessary.

NaNoWriMo stuff-

Day one I began my quest, we met Ferren andFierre, while getting some of the back story that brought Fierre to where he was at in the Black Lands.

I couldn’t quite get my footing in day one, so I fell behind by about 500 words off the days goal of 1600.

Day 2 came, and I woke up just feeling ready, like I knew that the story was bursting to get out from some far off place.  I typed and typed and typed, allowing it to flow and manages 2,558 words.  Far better than Monday’s 1185.

Then, day 3 came and my mind and fingers were working in such cooperation that I couldn’t stop typing!  I was developing more characters, killing 2 off (one was planned all along) and the other just screamed out of my brain and on to the laptop keys. GONE. VANISHED.

I typed and awesome 3,310!

Now, you may not know this, but most of this typing has been on the hard floor of my old apartment.  My husband sleeps during the day and works nights, so I have had the wonderful task of packing and cleaning.  We moved almost a half hour away, and since I am not able to drive, I have been stuck there, trying to pass the time-or better yet-making good use of it.

The move is almost complete, and today has been my first full day in the new apartment.  The entire zoo is here (including a leopard gecko that was given to me a day before we started moving) and so is the cat-who hates being indoors.  He let me know this all night last night.

This apartment is bigger, has central air and heat, softer carpet (since we now have no furniture beyond a bed and a desk that are still at the old place til tomorrow) and I am typing this to you from the floor as well.

So why is it that I only have 400 words today?

I just woke up from a heavy nap and have devoured a Tiger’s Milk bar.  I have a cup of coffee beside me, and am hoping that (as my NaNoWriMo writing buddy would say) I CAN DO THIS.  Hell, she’s doing it with NO caffeine, and way worse stresses than I have to deal with.

Now that all of this is off my chest, I am off to type for really reals now.

 

Food/Molt Update

Today, once again I write to you as a lazy blogger.  While feeding the zoo, I noticed that Aphrodite (B. boehmei) finally molted!  Took her long enough…

My N. Chromatus (Athene) took on 2 crickets, and is walking around with both of them in her pedipalps (and fangs…)

Zero is being a booger and is still guarding the molt, AND has yet to completely push it out, or emerge from the hide himself.  Perhaps the crickets I dropped in today will entice him to emerge.

Other than that, I am still adjusting to the longer shifts at work (yesterday was 10 1/2 hours of customer service goodness and freight processing…yay 😐 )

Someday I will be able to do more than type….

Blah,

Tia Marie

Another Day, another 1/4″.

Today is Wednesday, which in my world is feeding day (As is Saturday and sometimes Sunday.) All the little spiderlings are brought down to the floor in their jars, deli cups, and now a kritter keeper.  I stack my 2 small roach keepers, and place an empty potato salad cup on top.  I bring down all my tools: Metal and plastic tweezers, empty film container, paint brush, flash light etc.

One by one, each tiny deli cup (2 L. parahybana slings and 1 B. boehmei sling) is placed in the larger potato salad cup so that when I open the lid for feeding, the spiderlings can’t escape far if they get out. I then retrieve a small cricket from the small cricket tank, and put it in the film container.   I gently crack open each lid (one at a time) and lay it on top of its container.  I then grab the isolated cricket with the tweezers, and plop it into the opened spiderling deli cup.

Tonight I found that one of my L. parahybana had molted.  It was Raven, and I have been expecting this for about 2 weeks now.  FINALLY!!

She has also grown from a tiny 1/8″ to a monstrous 1/4″!!  WHOOOO!!

As for the rest of the feeding process, the other spiderlings are in jars so I am able to keep their lids off during feeding.  Serj (A. chalcodes) looks a lot like my Nhandu sp. since yesterdays molt, but I am fairly certain that she will get her Arizona blond markings soon enough.

Tank (Aphonopelma sp.) has not been eating, so I expect his gummy physique to molt out as well in the next week or 2.

So, tonight marked the 3rd molt of September, and everyone was fed pretty well.  Sid (my A. avicularia) tried to climb out of his tank while I grabbed a cricket!  It was pretty cool watching those little pink toes come up over the edge!  I managed to toss him a cricket, which appeared to land right in his fangs. Way to fetch Sid!!  He’s a good boy 🙂

I even updated everyone’s note cards with acquisition dates, molt dates and LS”.  All 12 have cards now, and I am exhausted.  Luckily for me though, not everyone needed to be fed.  Besides the newly molted, I busted Isis with a giant B. dubia roach in her mouth last night.  It was one of the left overs that lives in her soil from my deceased colony. I have a few left in some of the jars, and even catch them from time to time eating the remains of crickets not consumed by the spiderlings.  They must be eating well because this sucker was bigger than the snacker herself!!  (Her abdomen at least) and I know it wasn’t that big when I put it in there several months ago!

Feeding day was a success, and even though I am tired from a long day at work, and then an hour of feeding/record keeping/blogging, I am happy to finally be getting the rhythm of this invertebrate keeping down.  Spider checks in the morning, and in the evening, with Giant Cockroach checks at some point after work.

I am now ready for bed.

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Hissing Cockroaches and Spinach :\

The desktop is excited to announce that there have been 2 new additions made: A pair of Gromphadorhina portentosa.

gromphadorhina portentosa

Blurry, but shows the markings.

Better picture of the (Female?)

Basically, this is one of the largest of the Hissing Cockroaches, and is also the most comon of the keeping hobby.  When I looked at these guys, I was reminded of the scene of Men in Black (Will Smith movie) where the cockroach guy began to fall apart.

Also, these guys (and the Tiger Hissers I have) seem to hate spinach.  Stoopid PICKY roaches 😐

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Holding a spiderling

Aphrodite is the first tarantula spiderling I got from my wish list.  I have had her for about a month, and she is a rather tiny 1/4″.  Since I got her, she has refused all food, but I thought I would give it another go this evening.  I figured that I would try a near dying cricket, as opposed to the freshly killed ones I usually give my spiderlings.  I found, however, that this particular cricket was not as near dead as I had hoped, and that it was a little bit bigger than I had anticipated.

Mexican Flame Leg

So, I opened the deli cup once more, and when the cricket finally jumped out, Aphrodite went missing!  I panicked A LOT on the inside, but remained physically calm, eyeballing the container in which all small deli cups sit when being opened for feeding ( a practice I use for cases like this…)

I slowly turned my hand over, and there was my precious Boehmei, sitting right in my palm! I stared at her for a few minutes, and gently coerced her back into her deli cup with the butt end of a pair of tweezers.  She is absolutely beautiful, and safe with a very dead cricket.

Newbie Tools- Things I have been learning…

Here is a short list of things I use, or have learned over the past few months as a newbie keeper.

1- Naming is important if you don’t want to say proper names over and over again:  EXA- Cyclosternum fasciatum, Brachypelma boehmei (which I had been mispronouncing for weeks!), Aphonopelma (unnamed sp.) “Davis Mountain Rusty” etc…..  Zero, Aphrodite, and Tank are much easier to say, and much easier for my husband to pronounce when he is talking to me.  It is the common place in which he can understand the language that I am speaking…all else leaves him utterly confused….

2-Film containers are the gifts of GODS!!  They can be used for scooping, digging, hiding, transporting and subduing prey.  They are also great for dead cricket removal!

3-A DIG KIT IS NECESSARY!  My dig kit contains the above mentioned film container, a paintbrush, the bottom of a sweater gift box (The kind that lazy people like me use to give sweaters at christmas ’cause I am too lazy to wrap OR get a better gift!) I also have a flashlight on hand at all times, and a spoon.

4-Dig Kits Are Necessary when someone like me wanted a better view of my spiderlings and put them in jars with too much soil. (and then a week or so of NOT seeing my spiderlings at all!,  10 minutes with the jar and a dig kit, and you may  find your spiderling somewhere in the big brown soil void.  I like to use my dig kit on the bed.  My husband likes to sit on the couch at these times.

5-Holding a tarantula in bed is fun- unless your husband is eating. Apearantly he does NOT want to see Sarva, no matter how sweet she is!

6-Tarantulas are a great way to spend the money you saved from quitting smoking!  If your husband does not want the tarantulas, offer to take up smoking again.  Chances are, you will be a master keeper in no time!

7- Tarantulas dance.  I call it the “I Got Food” dance.

8-Forums are useful!  You may look like a newbie, but little do those people know, you are only asking stupid questions so that real newbies won’t have to be embarrassed when they go to ask them!

9- 3 cool tarantulas beat your neighbor’s froofy Bischon poodle yappy thing in the pet department hands down. Your dog wears T- Shirts?  My tarantula does the “I got food” dance.- a 10cents cricket is well worth the spending! …..no Cesar Milan video necessary.

10- Crickets are for quick feeding, or you will surely pack up and leave your home from the stench.

I have many more newbie thoughts…and these are in no random order.  I will keep the list running, and if you have a newbie thought, please share!  Real newbies would hate to feel alone and retarded when it comes to keeping…