new to the hobby

[rothio12]

hi there im new to the hobby of keeping tarantulas and have just got my first one an L.para sling. any tips on feeding, sexing, housing and molting habits. any other help would also be great. thank you

[Zoomer428]

No offense but you shoulda knew all this before you got him..... I dont have this species but seeing how its a sling power feed it so it can grow i think u feed them dead crix. Find out what humieity it needs to be. Also if it is aboreal put some FAKE plants in there.And when you power feed they will molt faster so you can get him to where he can attack crix

---------- Post added 05-07-2012 at 06:57 AM ----------

Also a pic of the enclosure would help he needs a hide and. A water dish no sponge. And no heatpad/lamp

[Curious jay]

As its a sling skip the water dish, dampen the substrate instead.
I keep my L.parahybana on a dry sub with a water dish personally but she/he is 4".
You could powerfeed but LPs grow fast anyway plus they eat any and everything from my experience.

But yea as zoomer said... This is very basic info readily available from a simple google search, which should have been researched before purchasing the T.

[SamuraiSid]

KISS.

Keep It Stupid Simple: after 3 years of caring for inverts, Im going back to basics.

For most of my slings Im in the process of moving them to twist n' lock ziplok containers. But I get the cheap brand from the dollar store. Nothing but peat and vermiculite substrate. I also highly reccomend you buy a hygrometer. When your at the store, test out as many as you can. None of them, no matter how expensive (unless your an HVAC tech) are accurate, or will remain accurate for long. Find the most accurate one and place it in.... your room, not the enclosure. My house has a relative humidity of 60%. That means that even my sling containers can remain dryer than most would think, and its totally fine. You throw in a pop bottle top and keep it filled with water, and humidity goes up.

As long as your T has a 1" DLS a pop bottle top is fine for it, especially an Lp.

Enjoy your new speciemen

[1hughjazzspider]

I also highly reccomend you buy a hygrometer.

Don't buy a hygrometer. Unless you're attempting to care for a species that requires CONSTANT higher humidity, such as a T. blondi for example, then buying a hygrometer is a waste of money, especially with a T as hardy as an LP. If you ever need to increase the humidity, then just add a bit of water. OP, have a look at this link. It gives a nice little caresheet for an LP.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/show...arahybana+care