Newbie mistakes

Does anyone have any experiences from when they were a novice that they'd like to share? I was thinking back to some of my days when I was first starting off with tarantulas and some of the incredibly dumb things that I did. Some of them I am admittedly embarrassed to even mention, for fear of people thinking I'm a moron who has no idea what the hell he's doing. Everything I am going to mention here happened at least five years ago. Thankfully, being on this forum has taught me a lot about proper methods of caring for tarantulas. Now, I realize that most advice that people give is at least somewhat subjective, and can be debated. Everyone has their own methods of care, so in my eyes, as long as it's not harming the spider, then it's not what I'd consider "wrong". However, there are just some things that don't make any sense to do.

Like feeding a Rose hair deli turkey because you didn't have any crickets at the moment, and read somewhere that tarantulas can be fed raw meat as a substitute. Whether this is a good idea or not, I apparently missed the part that said RAW.

I also remember my first experience with an Old World species. It was a P. regalis sling that I received in the mail. When I opened the vial, the spiderling was curled up. I panicked and assumed it had died. So, like an idiot, I decided to poke the thing with a pair of tongs. In a split second it had ran out of the vial, up my arm, and had jumped onto my bed. I again panicked, and grabbed the thing with my bare hand and released it into its enclosure, and slammed the lid shut.

Wow, Bob! YOU are the funny guy! But, you know...I've admittedly done a few things very similar to your P. regalis incident, so I've been there. Looking back on it, it is funny. Haha! The things we do when we first start out.

I forgot to mention that feeding the Rosie turkey actually worked. Well... sorta. She picked it up and started eating it, then eventually dropped it about 10 minutes later. Probably wondering why she was eating turkey in the first place and thinking I'm an idiot for attempting to fool her.

What? A Poeci ran up your arm? I am pretty sure an expert just told me no such thing could ever happen. A pox on you, sir.

I had a similar experience with an H lividum as my third T. I.tried removing a bolus with tongs, and she gripped them and ran up the tongs and my arm. I had to lean slowly over til she made.it back in the enclosure. But since.these.things cannot happen, I imagine this is some sort of mass delusion we share. Probably for not starting with OBTs.

BobGrill said:

I forgot to mention that feeding the Rosie turkey actually worked. Well... sorta. She picked it up and started eating it, then eventually dropped it about 10 minutes later. Probably wondering why she was eating turkey in the first place and thinking I'm an idiot for attempting to fool her.

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Haha! Likely..."What the deal is this?!"

hah im not embarrassed to share my stories i have a few times.. tho iv never fed a T cooked turkey [tho i did have a emerald tree boa who couldnt digest bones ,long word for it cant remember, so she ate raw chicken breast but that was for her own good she was a pet and is now with a zoo]

i started with arachnophobia. and to to doa and a mistake by a shipper.. wiel i waited for better weather on the sellers side i got a few more animals as i grew fond of my little a.avic. i bought some scorpions that came with a little b. albo. this little guy grew and grew and ate up a storm.. i knew id need to rehouse him soon. and i wanted some things to do so.. so i ordered from jamies.. i had already researched for many months on what sp i thought fit my needs and abilities so looked at jamies as i heard she had great prices as ppl say. well tho i wasnt impressed she had a sale on some fem G.roseas. sweet 20bucks for a spider and 2 of mine i ordered cost me 40? heck yea im jumping on a 4-5inch T so i know if this hobbies right for me [plus already had like 30 bucks in other stuff so was gona be same shipping anywho

once i got her to my door i was scared.. s***less when i seen the 16oz deli i put on a leather glove and sat her down in tub... i took of lid.. picked up the top layer of paper towel.. and put lid back on... whent and got my welder gloves.. got back in there used my paint brush to tap her leg and she walked right out onto my glove as i ddint wana risk her fallin from the xl kk and getting hurt i hovered the cup under my hand.. i wasnt shaking but was actually a little less scared then i thought id be.. i put my hand in the kk and she walked right off... kept her in a dry quarantine kk for a month and had to do the same thing when i moved her to her 10g planted tank.. god was so scary back then.. i cant believe i thought shes bite thru a welders glove XD

We all made mistakes, I'm pretty sure. When I started out with my first couple T's (3" juvie Phaedra and 2.5" juvie Adena - P.irminia and B. smithi) I got my first lesson taught the moment I wanted to house them. The smithi went as smooth as can be, but the irminia showed me immediately not ever to underestimate them. Granted, my first mistake was thinking I could just rehouse her in the living room, on the couch. Well, didn't go as planned: Prodded her once gently to get her moving and she teleported out of the transport container, over the couch. Luckily, she didn't went behind it and I caught her with the catchcup I had ready. Which, was something I had read on AB before by the way and I'm so glad I did. However after that particular experience, I never had any problems with her ever again. Much less, since she displayed a high threshold for disturbance once she made herself a home in her enclosures.

Another one was receiving some Poecie slings (actually the ones I'm still raising currently and are now at ~3") and one of them didn't move at all. Eventually I assumed a DOA after 5 minutes of carefully getting it into its container. Stupid me decided that since I didn't get any reaction whatsoever (essentially I gently shoved the T over the papertowel it was sitting on with no reaction or movement) I would pick it up and take a pic of the deceased one. Again - STUPID me. I nearly got tagged that time - the moment my finger touched the T, she came to live and slapped me! Lucky for me, she only slapped, didn't bite, but threatened afterwards for a full 5 minutes in which I just let her be. In the end, I simply put her on her papertowel in the new enclosure and removed the same a couple hours later when she had went off it and behind her corkbark.

Goes to show, mistakes happen and I'm one lucky guy that my utter wrong assumption didn't end with getting tagged.

I assumed that because my rosie was fully grown(6"DLS) she wouldn't molt again. I had no clue what premolt looked like. I gave her a cricket, she refused. I thought there'd be no harm to leave it in there for a while to see if she'd eat later. 3 hours later I come home to find the T in molt position. PANIC!!!. I located the cricket in her hide but didn't want to stress the T by trying to get at the cric so I had to seal up the entrance of the hide with cardboard to lock the cric in. Everything went ok and I managed to get the cricket out the next day.
I felt so stupid but experience is the best teacher.

Back in the 1970's, when there were a handful of collectors worldwide, and no way to find them or talk to them, I used to keep my T's on pure, dry sand, builders sand. I didn't give them any hides, not knowing they needed a place to feel secure. There were no books available then, no internet, nothing to go on for husbandry. The hobby's come a long way.

Poec54 said:

Back in the 1970's, when there were a handful of collectors worldwide, and no way to find them or talk to them, I used to keep my T's on pure, dry sand, builders sand. I didn't give them any hides, not knowing they needed a place to feel secure. There were no books available then, no internet, nothing to go on for husbandry. The hobby's come a long way.

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Similar issues I had in the 80's. There were no decent books (or at least none that I had access to at the time), no internet, and nothing to go on for husbandry. I remember initially keeping emperor scorpions on fine aquarium gravel. By word of mouth I got the phone number for some guy who lived in Chicago that knew his stuff better, I had to call him long distance to get some better husbandry tips. On a land-line home phone, of course...there were no cell phones. :laugh:.

I've mentioned this before but: that time, maybe a month or two into keeping Ts, I insistently held an A.avicularia sling I'd just brought home and it bit me. It also molted the very next day so it had been in pretty deep pre-molt when I decided to harass it. Lesson learned: pay attention and don't assume a tarantula isn't pre-molt just because its container comes filled with molts. And to not hold or pester tarantulas in the first place for that matter. I still feel bad towards that one for doing that to it.

I still consider myself a novice, but I'll bite. I'd only seen a few tarantulas in person prior to getting into the hobby myself. And they were either G. rosea / G. porteri or very long ago a B. smithi in LPS that were most likely WC and already had good size on them (5"). SO when I decided to get my second T, I ended up buying two 3" specimens. I had a very different idea on what a 3" tarantula was -going- to look like vs. what it actually looked like.

.....Long story short, I ended up running out and buying two small KKs since the 10g and XL KK I set up were obviously not going to work out well.

Well I got an Heteroscordra maculata as my fourth tarantula. It didn't do so well once it hit the 3/4" mark (I got it as 1/4") because i kept it like a G.rosea/porteri. About a year later after doing some research I bought a 1/3" sling which is now breaching the 2" mark.

Well I'm still new. I've accumulated a LOT of knowledge here and from 4 different books in the past 4 months. But I started out like a moron. And to folks who've been in the hobby for years and years, I'm probably one of those guys you still shake your head at. At leas I'm aware that I've jumped in quick and research research research. Most of my Ts are slings.

Anyways. Dumb things. First off I'm that guy who went from 1 to 16 tarantulas in like just under 4 months. So call that as you will. I feel up to it. But I certainly catch criticism for it.


But my real dumb stories are from me and my first T. My G. porteri. Who's a regular GBT. (Grey bitey thing)

Anyways I bought her impulsively at a convention after being lied to by the exotic animal booth guy about how much fun me and my tarantula would be having together for the next 20 years. Not that tarantula keeping isn't enjoyable. But Dee (her name) and I aren't exactly hanging out together like this guy claimed. He had one on his hat brim. So I googled Stan Schultz' care page and saw they weren't hard to keep, and saw the price for this 5" tarantula was a steal. And she came home with me that day.

And the next day I poked her with my finger to make sure she was alive because she didn't move a centimeter for 3 days. (I'd NEVER poke her with my finger now, or any of my Ts for that matter)

Finally I decided to handle her. With double thick leather gloves! I did this a few times. After many tarantula videos I realized there was a whole wide world beyond rose hairs. And they would be "more exciting!" (Still didn't quite what tarantula keeping really was all about". 5 days after buying my Rose hair, I had acquired an A. avic. Not even because Avics interested me. In fact they didn't. I bought it simply because it was something other than a rose hair for sale at a pet store and it was maybe 3.5 or 4" and affordable. (I love the little bugger now though.)


I put it in a way too small KK. It was all I had. I knew I had to rehouse it. It had too much substrate it there too. I handled it first day as well. As well as my Rosie. For pictures! It was this day I finally bought TKG. The 1998 edition :/

I handled the Avic again one day and it pooped on me. Then again another day and it and it almost escaped. That was the last tarantula handling I ever did.

Maybe 2 weeks after getting my Ts, I had both rehoused in nice new big houses. The Avic in his permanent home now. Which he FINALLY made a web retreat in and settled after 3 and a half months. And the rose hair in a way too big enclosure with substrate that didn't dry yet. She hated it.

After 2 more weeks I had 2 juvie L.P.s come in thru mail. Because I'm impulsive. And I used my porteri's new home for the bigger L.p. I had a more appropriate sized home for my porteri set up. I had a little more knowledge now. But what I didn't know was this rehousing would be the last straw. My porteri took a little fall after being real calm through all of it. She fell a couple of inches into her new home. She immediately went into threat posture and started crab walking around with her legs up and fangs exposed. Kicking hairs at the paintbrush.

Since that day, she bites anything in her enclosure that moves or touches her.

I've learned a lot. I have lots of catch cups. 6",10",and 18" tongs. I take no chances. I've read 4 books. Read tons of threads. Taken scolding from the masters here, but also stick around and don't argue, just ask for info anyways on the best course on how to go from here. I also ave a backup home for my OW if they are indeed too much for me one day. But I think I'm going to be on. I love these animals and I know now exactly what they're supposed to be, and why I love them.

And now it's time to enjoy the ones I have. NOT BUY ANYMORE. Sit back, learn, grow, and participate in the hobby.

This is sort of biographical as well as a tetament to a few fumbles and misconceptions i used o have.

Okay, first off a nod to the posters that mentioned keeping them in the 70's and 80's. It was a lot more challenging back in those days. I got my first, a B. smithi adult in the 80's

Water source? A soaked sponge. Still it seemed to use it. I had found the spider for 20 dollars at a pet store. It was the first tarantula I had ever seen offered for sale. It actually did alright, but it moulted male. It was only then that I learned that you really shouldn't get overly attached to an adult T that turns out to be a male. It lived another six months maybe.

My appetite whetted, I asked the guy where I bought the smithi if he could order a spider for me. I had read of a spider called a "Honduran black velvet" and asked him to order one.
Well, he got me a black spider, and it was also sort of velvety, though not quite what I expected. I had anticipated velvety, but for it to also to have a thin layer of hair as well., but it did not. Yup, you guessed it. It was an old world species, though I did not know the difference at the time. All I knew was that it certainly not the easy-going spider I had envisioned. It was a menace, and I was totally ignorant of the fact that if I had gotten tagged, it might have been a little more uncomfortable than the "bee-sting reputation I thought most tarantulas had. it has been too long to remember precisely what it looked like and
to this day, I'm not exactly sure what species I had. I think there is a very strong chance it was a H. minax. In any case, I kept it like I thought any other tarantula should be kept. Shallow substrate, and scrub-land level humidity. It did not last a very long time.Another pair of newbie mistakes. Not doing thourough research (though in my defense, that was difficult back then) and not relying on scientific nomenclature, instead using a common name.

I got better at the spider keeping thing, especially upon gaining access to the internet, and had a couple G. roseas, and each one moulted male and eventually succumbed, but at least I was getting the hang of keeping them. but I sort of gave up for awhile

Back in 2003, a chain pet store opened, and they advertised rose-hairs at 12 dollars. I decided to take another swing at it. I went and chose one. This was around the time that sexing them via moults was beginning to catch on. So, when the spider moulted, I checked it out, and determined that it was a female. Apparently I was correct, as I still have that rosie today.

However, while I desired other T's,I could never bring myself to make the investment. I had some trepidation about ordering on-line, I've never exactly been rolling in dough, and the notion of failing with s'lings plus the cost of shipping just made me shy away.
But recently, a joint effort between a former AB member and my nephew determined that I was destined to give baby tarantulas a shot.and just a couple weeks ago they conspired to have some shipped to me as a slightly early birthday gift.. well, not really conspired, I didn't just go to the door to be handed a box of spiders, I was informed that I was going to be gifted with an A. geniculata ( Spiders I much admired as soon as I learned of their existence) from Swift's Inverts.However, after the order was placed, my friend messaged me telling me to expect it, and she mysteriously added that she hoped that I "have some extra containers kicking around".

When the shipment arrived, there was not just the A. Genic and a freebie as I had originally anticipated before she dropped that hint. There were six species. The 1.5 inch A. geniculata I expected, plus 5 other very nice assorted s'lings. So, back I am to being a newbie again, this time in regard to raising babies. This time however, thanks to spending years hanging out here and to much improved info via the internet and publications, I'd rate their survival odds a lot higher than those original spiders. I won't discount the possibility of a newbie mistake, but I'm a lot more informed about the biology of tarantulas and their care than I was back in the day, and I hope there will be no casualties.

I listed them in another thread, but for anybody interested in what species I received, the shipment contained "A. geniculata, B. smithi, E. campestratus, L. parahybana, G. pulchripes, and a rather surprising Hapalopus sp. Colombia "Pumpkin Patch Large.v And not a tiny sling, but a strapping 1"+ specimen. My friend knew I had some doubts concerning my ability to successfully raise very small s'lings (and it is my understanding that te pumpkin patch slings sold are usually VERY small) and so she took efforts that I received at least half-inch inch specimens of all the spiders.All are eating pre-killed cricket chunks well, and most are outgoing and seem content. The E. campestratus is a burrower and I don't see a lot of it currently. The G. pulchripes is a little on the shy side too. I'm sure they will both grow out of that stage, though.

My 2 biggest newbie mistakes were.....

Mistake #1

Using the bricks of coco fiber and not letting it dry out enough. I had to rehouse many times because of mold. Finally figured out that stuff takes FOREVER to dry out. That's why it's so much cheaper...LOL! I've since come up with a coco fiber and potting soil mixture.

Mistake #2

Only buying one sling at a time. Why on earth do I need more than one of each species....Doh!! Now I know better.Hopefully I'll luck out on a few females but now I try and buy a minimum of 3 slings....sometimes more depending on the cost.

SpiderMan1975 said:

My 2 biggest newbie mistakes were.....

Mistake #2

Only buying one sling at a time. Why on earth do I need more than one of each species....Doh!! Now I know better.Hopefully I'll luck out on a few females but now I try and buy a minimum of 3 slings....sometimes more depending on the cost.

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I hear you on this one. I wish I had a little more disposable income.. I'd ideally like to purchase at least 5 but up to 10 at a time and sell the males as they mature out but even for some of the cheaper slings, 5 at a time can be a pretty good chunk of change. LOL I pretty much refuse to just get one though. I've settled on 2. LOL

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My first sling order was for ONE B. albo sling. :|

I have 4 now. Should be 5. Ones MIA. Oh yeah.... there's my other newbie mistake! Usng anything other than a pin sized hole for a 1/4" B
albo sling enclosure for ventilation!

Anyways. I now have at least 2 of every species except my Avic and rose hair. Both of which I'm pretty sure are female. And I have 4 B. albos and 3 OBTs. :I

So yeah stock up. But now I wonder if I really need 2 of everything and wouldn't it be cooler to have 16 different species?? Males need love too. And them dying quicker means empty enclosure which means you have an excuse for a new species!

But I also think getting 2 of each is cool because you see what a contrast in personality they can have. Even sac mates.

gobey said:

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But I also think getting 2 of each is cool because you see what a contrast in personality they can have. Even sac mates.

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Indeed. I just received four P.cambridgei slings late last week, and I'm already noticing some variation in defensive behavior between them. One of them is actually rather mellow (for now), while two of them are very skittish, but seem to prefer flight over fight. Of course that could change to the complete opposite within a few molts. One of the slings has already appears to be quite defensive, as it threw me a threat pose while I was feeding it. Seeing a 3/4 inch spiderling baring its fangs at you is rather cute in my opinion.

Definently still consider myself a novice but there are a few point s I got to learn from my stupidity.XD I remember about a year ago i decided to get some food scraps out of my .5 inch B Vagans enclosure. The t was wandering around in its enclosure so me being afraid of it bolting decided what would it hurt for it to be in a seperate vial for 5 minutes while i get the food scraps. Put the enclosure on my desk as well as the vial as soon as I try to gently prod it into the vial my worst fear comes true and it bolts. Got to see just how small of a crevice they can fit into as there is a little gap in my drawer of my desk that he decided was safe. lol Took me 2 hours of dismantling my desk with a screw driver to get that spider back. Another time last year with me not thinking stuck two on my fingers in my juvie B albo's closure to grab something and immediately almost got tagged. Definently some learning experiences.