Im very new at this, my 1st time. i have a 10 gallon tank and the guy at the pet store told me to use sand and a heating pad at the bottom of the tank, i also have a fairly large peice of bark propped up safley for the spider to crawl under if so. i also have a small water dish in the tank. along with a small desktop lamp over top the cage for lighting , if anyone could help on any good advice? im just curious as the right way to set up my spideys enviroment
Rose Haired Chilean Trantula help
- Thread starter phillip s
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Jeremya972
Arachnopeon
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You don't need the light.. T's can handle cold better than heat.. It could cook them if it got too hot.
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Don't use sand.
Remove the light.
Remove the heat pad.
Use this site's search and read the stickies.
Remove the light.
Remove the heat pad.
Use this site's search and read the stickies.
Jeremya972
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2011
- Messages
- 23
coconut fiber is what i use and it goes a long way..
Try to find coconut fiber, great stuff...
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First...
WELCOME TO THE HOBBY!
AND WELCOME TO THIS FORUM!
I urge you to read:
1> Stan's Rant. Pay particular attention about not trusting pet shops and Internet Care Sheets. And take everything that you read on these forums with a grain of salt. If the opinions aren't backed up by some reputable source by wary. Very wary!
2> Care and Husbandry of the Chilean Rose Tarantula. It needs rewriting (maybe later this winter), but it's still substantially correct.
1> There are lots of problems with that rule of thumb. All rules of thumb are only crude approximations, and many people violate them every day with no bad results. There are always a few unlucky souls, however... We push "rules of thumb" for the newbie. After you've gained a little experience you'll make up your own mind about how to care for your pet.
2> DLS is a very imprecise way of describing a tarantula's size. It gets us into the ball park, but doesn't win any games.
3> Tarantulas smaller than about one-third grown are usually light and nimble enough that a larger fall will do them little or no harm. And, the other contingent of tarantuladom, the arboreals, are evolved to live at altitude and the height restriction isn't important.
Fact: Several decades ago enthusiasts used aquarium gravel almost exclusively in their tarantulas' cages with almost no difficulties whatsoever. (The only significant exception was with curlyhair tarantulas, B. albopilosum, but that's another story.)
Fact: There are a nearly endless number of different kinds and flavors of sand.
So, we can draw these conclusions: Sand, per se, is not bad. Unless you're using one of the bad kinds. Our experience has been that the only really bad kinds are:
1> Fine blasting silica because when a tarantula belches up a little fluid out of its mouth (and they do this relatively often) the silica gets pasted around their mouths and dries. After that they can't eat until and unless they can clean it away. I've also heard of tarantulas that got the silica pasted around their anus, but it's unclear whether this was merely an unsightly mess or had any real significance.
2> Sharp sand, usually that made by crushing larger rocks, is at least hypothetically capable of puncturing or lacerating the tarantula's bottom side (the "venter" in formal parlance), and this can be a serious problem.
We have used "red flint" which is a river sand that has had all the sharp points and edges worn off, with reasonably good results. Rounded, colored aquarium gravel also works okay as long as it's old enough that the petrochemical smell of the coloring layer has evaporated. However, these opinions will be contested by all those who have never tested or used aquarium gravel.
The two most popular substrates in the hobby today are horticultural peat (NOT potting soil!) and shredded coconut husk. While both have slightly different properties, they are in fact very similar in performance and work well for almost all species. I would urge you to use one or the other. You can experiment with sand and gravel after you've gained enough experience with tarantulas to be able to assess the results.
Horticultural peat is available in small packages for a relatively higher price in virtually every well stocked house plant and garden department in North American stores, maybe the world. A few enlightened pet shops also sell it in smaller packages. It is available in larger bails from landscaping and garden centers relatively cheaply for those who have a bunch of tarantulas.
Shredded coconut husk is commonly sold in pet shops in smaller packages and for higher prices under any number of trade names. It is also available from landscaping and garden centers in larger bricks or bails at considerable savings.
Perform a search on this forum ("Search" link in the bar at the top of the page) for these products to learn how best to use them.
The basic rule for temperature and tarantulas is:
IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO WEAR A PARKA OR A WOOL SWEATER BECAUSE IT'S TOO COLD...
OR YOU DON'T HAVE TO RUN NAKED BECAUSE IT'S TOO HOT...
ANY TEMPERATURE YOU'RE COMFORTABLE AT IS JUST FINE.
A major criticism of a heating pad under the cage is that tarantulas instinctively dig to avoid too much heat. So, the cage gets too hot and it digs closer to the heat source. And, you come home later that day to the smell of well done tarantula. Bummer!
I major myth about tarantulas is that since they are cold blooded they require some sort of compensatory heat source. The facts are that, because they are cold blooded, they can TOLERATE low temperatures far better than we can! WE'RE THE FRAGILE LIFE FORM! NOT THE TARANTULA!
Lastly, on the temperature subject, added heat in a tarantula's cage tends to dry out both the cage and the tarantula. While Chilean rose are desert tarantulas and normally like their cages quite dry, even they have limits. Ixnay on the heater!
The rock is used as an escape ramp for one of God's dumbest creatures, the house cricket. If you don't use the rock they simply lie on their backs and drown. This fouls the water. And, it costs you money. Both are bad things.
Be aware of the "Hemisphere Shift" problem mentioned in Care and Husbandry of the Chilean Rose Tarantula. One of the best ways to reduce your tarantula's problems with it are to reduce room lighting to a minimum and allow it to "float" on natural lighting as much as possible. (But, ALWAYS avoid direct exposure to direct sunlight!) And, the other trick is to keep the tarantula in a room that experiences cool temperatures in winter and warm temperatures in summer.
Both of these give your pet something to entrain its normal physiological rhythms to.
Lastly, read the four books mentioned in Stan's Rant. They will give you a very broad base on which to judge whether many care sheets and forum responders really know what they're talking about, or are just blowing hot air.
Enjoy your newfound, little 8-legged buddy!
WELCOME TO THE HOBBY!
AND WELCOME TO THIS FORUM!
RULE NUMBER 1: NEVER TRUST A PET SHOP WHERE TARANTULAS OR ANY OTHER ARACHNID IS CONCERNED!
I urge you to read:
1> Stan's Rant. Pay particular attention about not trusting pet shops and Internet Care Sheets. And take everything that you read on these forums with a grain of salt. If the opinions aren't backed up by some reputable source by wary. Very wary!
2> Care and Husbandry of the Chilean Rose Tarantula. It needs rewriting (maybe later this winter), but it's still substantially correct.
A ten gallon tank is a bit too big, but it will work if you add more substrate to it. The basic rule of thumb is that for one-third to half grown or larger, terrestrial tarantulas the space between the top of the substrate and the top of the cage should not exceed 1-1/2 times the diagonal leg span (DLS) of the tarantula. (For really big, fat tarantulas cut this to only one times the DLS.) DLS is defined as the distance between the tip of one front leg to the tip of the rear leg on the other side when the tarantula is in a normal, resting pose.
1> There are lots of problems with that rule of thumb. All rules of thumb are only crude approximations, and many people violate them every day with no bad results. There are always a few unlucky souls, however... We push "rules of thumb" for the newbie. After you've gained a little experience you'll make up your own mind about how to care for your pet.
2> DLS is a very imprecise way of describing a tarantula's size. It gets us into the ball park, but doesn't win any games.
3> Tarantulas smaller than about one-third grown are usually light and nimble enough that a larger fall will do them little or no harm. And, the other contingent of tarantuladom, the arboreals, are evolved to live at altitude and the height restriction isn't important.
Fact: Tarantula evolved and live in the ground where sand is a common component of the natural substrate.
Fact: Several decades ago enthusiasts used aquarium gravel almost exclusively in their tarantulas' cages with almost no difficulties whatsoever. (The only significant exception was with curlyhair tarantulas, B. albopilosum, but that's another story.)
Fact: There are a nearly endless number of different kinds and flavors of sand.
So, we can draw these conclusions: Sand, per se, is not bad. Unless you're using one of the bad kinds. Our experience has been that the only really bad kinds are:
1> Fine blasting silica because when a tarantula belches up a little fluid out of its mouth (and they do this relatively often) the silica gets pasted around their mouths and dries. After that they can't eat until and unless they can clean it away. I've also heard of tarantulas that got the silica pasted around their anus, but it's unclear whether this was merely an unsightly mess or had any real significance.
2> Sharp sand, usually that made by crushing larger rocks, is at least hypothetically capable of puncturing or lacerating the tarantula's bottom side (the "venter" in formal parlance), and this can be a serious problem.
We have used "red flint" which is a river sand that has had all the sharp points and edges worn off, with reasonably good results. Rounded, colored aquarium gravel also works okay as long as it's old enough that the petrochemical smell of the coloring layer has evaporated. However, these opinions will be contested by all those who have never tested or used aquarium gravel.
The two most popular substrates in the hobby today are horticultural peat (NOT potting soil!) and shredded coconut husk. While both have slightly different properties, they are in fact very similar in performance and work well for almost all species. I would urge you to use one or the other. You can experiment with sand and gravel after you've gained enough experience with tarantulas to be able to assess the results.
Horticultural peat is available in small packages for a relatively higher price in virtually every well stocked house plant and garden department in North American stores, maybe the world. A few enlightened pet shops also sell it in smaller packages. It is available in larger bails from landscaping and garden centers relatively cheaply for those who have a bunch of tarantulas.
Shredded coconut husk is commonly sold in pet shops in smaller packages and for higher prices under any number of trade names. It is also available from landscaping and garden centers in larger bricks or bails at considerable savings.
Perform a search on this forum ("Search" link in the bar at the top of the page) for these products to learn how best to use them.
Obviously he was either completely ignorant about tarantulas, or he was trying to pad the sale so he would get a bigger commission! And yes, pet shop employees do that!
The basic rule for temperature and tarantulas is:
IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO WEAR A PARKA OR A WOOL SWEATER BECAUSE IT'S TOO COLD...
OR YOU DON'T HAVE TO RUN NAKED BECAUSE IT'S TOO HOT...
ANY TEMPERATURE YOU'RE COMFORTABLE AT IS JUST FINE.
A major criticism of a heating pad under the cage is that tarantulas instinctively dig to avoid too much heat. So, the cage gets too hot and it digs closer to the heat source. And, you come home later that day to the smell of well done tarantula. Bummer!
I major myth about tarantulas is that since they are cold blooded they require some sort of compensatory heat source. The facts are that, because they are cold blooded, they can TOLERATE low temperatures far better than we can! WE'RE THE FRAGILE LIFE FORM! NOT THE TARANTULA!
Lastly, on the temperature subject, added heat in a tarantula's cage tends to dry out both the cage and the tarantula. While Chilean rose are desert tarantulas and normally like their cages quite dry, even they have limits. Ixnay on the heater!
A far better "hide" (used as a noun) for your rose would be anything that represented a small, dark cave. A 6" (15 cm) piece of 3" (7.5 cm) black, plastic plumbing pipe would work well, but others have used scenic rolls of cork bark, aquarium ornaments, and a truly unbelievable number of other things. Your tarantula doesn't appreciate art in the same way that you do, so WHAT it looks like is only important to you. The tarantula only wants to get out of the sight of predators.
Good. But you should install a small rock or chip of slate so that part of the rock protrudes above water level. Be careful that the tarantula has room around the rock to drink. This is NOT to prevent the tarantula from drowning, as many have incorrectly guessed. Tarantulas are covered with a waterproof, waxy layer that prevents them from getting wet. When they get into water they become covered with a single large air bubble, float like a cork, and do not drown. (And as soon as I post this someone is going to jump up and yell that their tarantula did. What can I say? Even among tarantulas, some are lucky, and some aren't.)
The rock is used as an escape ramp for one of God's dumbest creatures, the house cricket. If you don't use the rock they simply lie on their backs and drown. This fouls the water. And, it costs you money. Both are bad things.
Ixnay on the lamp too. It isn't needed by the tarantula. Normal room lighting will probably be enough.
Be aware of the "Hemisphere Shift" problem mentioned in Care and Husbandry of the Chilean Rose Tarantula. One of the best ways to reduce your tarantula's problems with it are to reduce room lighting to a minimum and allow it to "float" on natural lighting as much as possible. (But, ALWAYS avoid direct exposure to direct sunlight!) And, the other trick is to keep the tarantula in a room that experiences cool temperatures in winter and warm temperatures in summer.
Both of these give your pet something to entrain its normal physiological rhythms to.
Lastly, read the four books mentioned in Stan's Rant. They will give you a very broad base on which to judge whether many care sheets and forum responders really know what they're talking about, or are just blowing hot air.
Enjoy your newfound, little 8-legged buddy!
Smaughunter
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Jul 3, 2010
- Messages
- 21
Nevermind.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2010
- Messages
- 1,309
He was probably talking about the guy at the pet store.