Quarantine?

Kat Fenix · Jan 23, 2015

so, I know I quarantine all new reptiles for at least 3 months to make sure they have no contagious diseases or parasites before moving them to the main collection. But what about tarantulas?

Do you guys quarantine any new tarantulas before moving them close to your current collections? If so, for how long and what sorts of things do you look for in the new tarantula that tell you it might have a disease or some parasites?

Tarantula Fangs · Jan 23, 2015

Hmm.. Good question, I've honestly never thought about it, but you can never be too safe. I try to do that with my cricket purchases though, unless I really have to feed my T's. I guess it wouldn't be a bad thing to try.

truecreature · Jan 23, 2015

I quarantine for a month or two to make sure it doesn't have mites, nematodes, or bring in phorids. Especially if it's suspected wild caught.

cold blood · Jan 23, 2015

I've never done this for a new acquisition.

Misty Day · Jan 23, 2015

cold blood said:
I've never done this for a new acquisition.

Me neither, seems kind of pointless to me. Unless I know for sure it has mites, I just put them in their designated place.

awiec · Jan 23, 2015

Most of the time I don't but I did get a spider one time that looked like it had some sort of larva in the container so I gave it a clean cage and kept it in my bathroom closet for about a month to keep an eye on it. It ended up being fine but a $35 dollar purchase could have ruined my whole collection. If you want to quarantine I would suggest keeping it in a room away from your T room for a few weeks so you can observe its condition. I quarantine anything that I feel was not kept properly by someone or is a wild caught (something pretty rare these days). But I think most spiders are pretty safe to just bring to your room as soon as you get them.

Ellenantula · Jan 23, 2015

I do it for parrots, but then they are known for more serious illnesses. I've never quarantined a T, just set a new enclosure next to older one, never even thought it might be dangerous/

Poec54 · Jan 23, 2015

I've had owned and worked with thousands of w/c tarantulas over the decades and never quarantined any that I bought, nor saw any signs of disease with the rest of them. As far as I know, tarantulas don't carry anything contagious. Relax. Spiders are nothing like reptiles, in many ways.

viper69 · Jan 24, 2015

cold blood said:
I've never done this for a new acquisition.

I followed Cold Blood's example, and I ended up with mites!

I never have, but wouldn't rule it out.

Poec54 · Jan 24, 2015

awiec said:
Most of the time I don't but I did get a spider one time that looked like it had some sort of larva in the container...could have ruined my whole collection.

There's some big assumptions. The larva didn't necessarily come from the spider. With all of the thousands of w/c tarantulas I've seen and worked with, I've never seen larva on any of them. If there were larva from the spider, I don't think that they would have crawled throughout the room and gotten into other cages. Larva are developing insects placed there as eggs by adults. I have NEVER heard of anything spreading between spiders and 'ruining collections.' These are not reptiles.

darkness975 · Jan 24, 2015

I thought about that once when I was buying an invert. But like others have said I don't really think it needs to be done. I just set up the new enclosure and that is the end of that!

awiec · Jan 25, 2015

Poec54 said:
There's some big assumptions. The larva didn't necessarily come from the spider. With all of the thousands of w/c tarantulas I've seen and worked with, I've never seen larva on any of them. If there were larva from the spider, I don't think that they would have crawled throughout the room and gotten into other cages. Larva are developing insects placed there as eggs by adults. I have NEVER heard of anything spreading between spiders and 'ruining collections.' These are not reptiles.

I'm aware they don't come from the spider's themselves, I was more concerned on if the pupa in the container would hatch. The larva hopping from cage to cage I would not expect either but I as I said the spider was in rough shape when I got it so I decided to keep a close eye on it. Anything else I have bought has been thrown into the main room.

assidreemz · Jan 27, 2015

raisinjelly said:
I quarantine for a month or two to make sure it doesn't have mites, nematodes, or bring in phorids. Especially if it's suspected wild caught.

Dang.
That's a looooooonnggg time esse

Kat Fenix · Jan 28, 2015

wow! So many replies!

I've started to quarantine any T that I didn't buy from a breeder, just in case of mites or nematodes. I mostly just put them on the far side of the room and keep an eye on them for a few weeks then move them to their new spot.
I would have to guess that mites are rather hard to deal with since you can't just use provent-a-mite like you can with reptiles.

Poec54 · Jan 28, 2015

Kat Fenix said:
wow! So many replies!

I've started to quarantine any T that I didn't buy from a breeder, just in case of mites or nematodes. I mostly just put them on the far side of the room and keep an eye on them for a few weeks then move them to their new spot.
I would have to guess that mites are rather hard to deal with since you can't just use provent-a-mite like you can with reptiles.

Mites are easy to remove with a q-tip or spray bottle. If you have adequate ventilation in your cages, mite are rarely a problem.

Quarantine?

Kat Fenix

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Misty Day

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