L. parahybana sling questions

CoffinSpirit

Arachnopeon
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May 31, 2008
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6
Seeing as I've never taken care of one of these before (I have a A. versicolor but I assume they're quite different in terms of needs) I could use some answers to my questions. Thanks in advance :)

1. How high should the humidity be? It's quite high now (fogging on the plastic) but I don't want mold to grow in there or anything.

2. How often should he/she eat, and how much?

3. Are they overly agressive/defensive? I don't normally handle my versicolor but I do like to be able to take her out once in awhile, and I was wondering if it would take a chunk out of my skin if I tried to do the same with it :}

I did use google first (been researching these guys for awhile; didn't plan on getting offered a free T today XD), but it was hard to find consistent care sheets and anyway, I figure I'm better off getting my advice from people who know their stuff :)
 

Mushroom Spore

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1. How high should the humidity be? It's quite high now (fogging on the plastic) but I don't want mold to grow in there or anything.
Sounds like you need more ventilation in the enclosure; if the thing is fogging up, something is wrong. If you just moisten the substrate sometimes (don't make mud though) but let it dry out at least once a week, it'll be fine. Give it a bottlecap or water dish when it's big enough.

They don't *need* humidity, you can keep adults bone dry with a water dish if you like. They just seem to like some wet dirt sometimes, even when they're big enough to have a bowl for their water source instead.

2. How often should he/she eat, and how much?
Once a week is plenty often. I'd offer prey items totalling no more than the size of the carapace (head). It's easiest with tiny tarantulas to feed them dead prey, as they can be easily overwhelmed and eaten themselves if they aren't hungry and the cricket is, and if the cricket is too big for them to pin down.

I've always killed my spiderling food with the freezer, it's less mess and work than trying to crush a pinhead's head and you can stock up on spider snacks and store them frozen.

L. parahybana slings will gladly put away a cricket even as big as their own legspan sometimes (I've seen it, when mine was very tiny I couldn't always get super tiny crickets)...but you MUST kill the cricket first. We've had a few too many threads with people coming back to find a cricket in their spiderling enclosure and no spiderling. :eek:

If you feed big meals like that, you can feed every ten days or two weeks or whatever. As long as your spider's got a fat bum (bigger than its carapace), it's in no danger of starving.

Remove uneaten prey (or leftovers if you feed big meals) after 24 hours even if you gave them a dead cricket. Those things mold like crazy.

3. Are they overly agressive/defensive?
Some are nasty, some will tolerate handling, but nearly all of them are hungry all the time. And they don't always wait around to find out whether or not a human hand is edible. {D

EDIT: Also this species LOVES to burrow when they're tiny, so make sure it has deep enough dirt to do so. They usually grow out of that stage somewhere between 1.5 and 2 inches or thereabouts.
 

CoffinSpirit

Arachnopeon
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May 31, 2008
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Thank you! I really appreciate it, I was NOT planning on getting one of these anytime soon, but I fell in love with it the second it was offered to me :eek:
 

Mushroom Spore

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No problem. :)

One other thing that just occurred to me is that you've only had arboreals before, so you might not know this next part. L. parahybana is a terrestrial, a ground-dweller, and that class of tarantulas tends to do badly if it falls from a great height. Ideally you don't want any more than 1.5 times the spider's legspan from the top of the dirt to the top of the enclosure.

Many people claim that very tiny tarantulas are more resistant to falling damage than big ones (though at any size a very fat one runs more risk of a burst abdomen, which is usually fatal). So if you're keeping a little 1/4" spiderling in a plastic vial, having a couple inches of clearance probably won't kill it. But anything over an inch and *definitely* anything over two inches, the height rule starts coming into play.

Also be wary of enclosure openings! We've had a lot of people lose spiderlings because they didn't realize that the little bugs can pretty much escape through any opening they can fit their carapace through. The smallest size critter keeper is especially prone to this mistake, because it's technically a good size for fairly small spiders...but it's got ventilation openings that anything under an inch in size (if not slightly bigger) can probably squeeze out of.
 

CoffinSpirit

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 31, 2008
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6
I've heard that before, but it's not even tried to climb the side of the vial yet, so I'm not too worried. And the holes in the lid are teeny-tiny holes, probably made with a safety pin, so I'm not too worried :)

I hope he/she grows up big and strong ^_^
 

saminthemiddle

Arachnobaron
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Apr 27, 2008
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Don't forget to put holes at soil level and some on the top. If you don't do this air won't flow over the soil and you will get mold. This is especially important with slings because of the limitation on the size of the air holes.

I dampen one side of the enclosure and don't mist the other. Actually, I don't mist, I simply take the spray nozzle off and use the pump to drip the water on. Generally my spiderlings will "live" on the dry side and come over to the wet side to drink.

As a general rule of thumb about aggressiveness and slings: slings are very docile and then develop the attitude later on in life. Usually early to mid juvenile stage. There are some notable exception though, but I don't think that these are among them.
 
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