A few questions experienced owners can answer

[twas__brillig]

hello I'm picking up first tarantula tomorrow! It will be a Chilean rose.

1. Can the tarantula be housed in a clear rubbermaid shoebox type box with holes punched in for ventilation? Real question is, is this suitable enough, big enough, etc.

2. Can i use 'Aspen Snake Bedding' for substrate?
Package says: " 99.9% dust free, non-toxic, hypoallergenic, has higher absorpion properties than other beddings and contains no harmful oils."
also says: Can be used for birds, lizards, turtles, tarantulas, and insects."
does this need water added for the humidity?

3. What's a reasonable amount of crickets to get since tarantulas don't eat that much?

What other supplies do I need? Currently have acquired: home, bedding, water dish, place to hide/burrow. Anything else?

I greatly appreciate any help I can receive

[fartkowski]

Hi
Congrats and welcome to the hobby
1. The rubbrmaid should be ok, How much bigger than the T is it?
2. I'm not too sure what that bedding is but I would just use regular peat moss or potting soil. As long as it's chemical free.
3. I feed mine one cricket a week. I buy a bunch at once, and use a smaller gladware container to keep them in.

I think you have everything covered.
Oh yeh in the future you may need more tarantulas
I'll warn you now, this hobby is very addicting

[aracnochicken]

Well your questions depend on many different things .
question 1 , yes it could as long as its not a T that gets huge , somthing like a rosea or something similar would be fine .

question 2 . personaly I prefer to use coco fiber or sterile pete in mine . I've been told most T's don't care for rough substrate .

question 3 again that depends on what your getting , most T's will do fine on 1 or 2 crickets a week . I have a mature rosea and a Haitian brown that I give 2 to 4 a week .

as for your last question that again also depends what your getting , a rosea likes it bone dry were as a blondi or a Lasiodora parahybana (Brazilian Salmon Pink) and many others need to be misted , so you'll need a spray bottle .
Other then that your on the right track , I'm sure someone will chime in with somthing I might have forgotten .

and by the way , welcome to the board and good luck with your first T , but its not likely to be your last ..........trust me

[twas__brillig]

okay thanks! Oh and how long do crickets stay alive, I keep worrying they'll all die within a month or two. They sell 100 for 6.99 here. Is this okay?

[Widowman10]

okay thanks! Oh and how long do crickets stay alive, I keep worrying they'll all die within a month or two. They sell 100 for 6.99 here. Is this okay?

hmmm, for 1 single T, i would just stop by the local petco or whatever you have and get 1 or 2 crickets a week. might be easier for you...

[fishwithoutabik]

lol. buy as few as you can get at a time. crickets stink bad. plus you will be going through them very slowly with only one T. Getting 100 would be like having a cricket colony which IMO is massive overkill. Now, in a few months when you have 47 little fanged mouths to feed, 100 crickets might make more sense

[von_z]

Don't use aspen or any other type of wood shavings. Use coconut fiber or a pete and vermiculite mixture. I prefer the Eco-Earth by ZooMed.

[aracnochicken]

like Widownam said , just get what you need . your not going to need 100 thats for sure and trying to keep them alive for months will be a real pain in the butt . Not to mention crickets STINK!!! literally . I have 3 adult T's and 4 slings and I get 10 adult and 10 small crickts and they last me over a week . I feed mine 1 or 2 crickets twice a week 2 or 3 for the adults and 1 twice a week for the slings .

[Widowman10]

lol. buy as few as you can get at a time. crickets stink bad. plus you will be going through them very slowly with only one T. Getting 100 would be like having a cricket colony which IMO is massive overkill. Now, in a few months when you have 47 little fanged mouths to feed, 100 crickets might make more sense

yep, exactly. specially with a rosie. i can just see it now:

stinky noisy cricket colony with 100s of crix, and the rosie decides to fast for a year...

[twas__brillig]

okay so this is what I gathered so far
1. Buy as few crickets as possible
2. Don't use wood shavings for bedding
3. No misting neccessary for Chilean rose

There is no petxo where I live, but we do have a petsmart. Possibly might have something? Who knows

[von_z]

okay so this is what I gathered so far
1. Buy as few crickets as possible
2. Don't use wood shavings for bedding
3. No misting neccessary for Chilean rose

There is no petxo where I live, but we do have a petsmart. Possibly might have something? Who knows

Petsmart is basically the same thing. And what you have gathered is absolutely correct .

[aracnochicken]

sounds like your a fast learner . did you know what kind of T you were planning on getting ? If you can you should see if your can find a breeder there , you'll get a much better T then you would from a petstore . Most petstore employees don't know a thing about T's , and I stress "most" but not all .

[twas__brillig]

thank you guys so much for the help! I'm so thrilled for what tommorrow brings...a tarantula! Ha ha I will most likely be back with more questions in the future

[aracnochicken]

hhhmmm I guess I should have read the first line to your original post , just realized you said you were getting a rose hair . DUH!!!

[twas__brillig]

I understand that you guys said the shoebox method for housing would be fin but how come every video on youtube, these kids have these giant massive tanks? Of I recall, tarantulas do not need, nor want large enclosures. What's up???