• Are you a Tarantula hobbyist? If so, we invite you to join our community! Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your pets and enclosures and chat with other Tarantula enthusiasts. Sign up today!

got a new baby Grammostola pulchra

mindburner

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
42
Location
N Ireland
just about 2.8cm

I have her in a small 30oz tub with some coconut substrate and a small plastic leaf. She has some micro crickets to munch on and she seems to have come alive since I have placed her on the edge of the heat mat.

Are there any special tips for theses spiderlings or is it just a matter of decent temps and food. The adults look spectacular

DSC_0261.JPG
 

kormath

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
3,565
Location
Idaho
Mine is about that size, or just smaller. Housed in a 4x4x5 ish amac box, about 3 or 3.5" substrate so he can burrow. Substrate is moist, he has a hide and a water dish. Had started burrowing under the hide within the first 30 minutes of being in his new home. I don't expect to see him for 6 months or so until he's 1.5" or more. That's seems about the size they start coming out into the open and not hiding in their burrows 24/7. Or at least i hope so, that's what my Brachy's have done so far.
 

mindburner

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
42
Location
N Ireland
hi all many thanks for the very helpful replies. The coconut substrate I had was a bit moist, I was worried about that but now i'm fine with it. It's not soaking just a little bit of condensation. I have the enclosure half on a small heat mat on temp control. He/she is already digging holes which is really cool. This species is what got me into T' in the first place. A bloke a a big G pulcura in the lobby of Ikea of all places to showcase exotic pets. The T was qute a beauty. Now I juts have 4 but I can see how 44 can become the norm
 

Scoolman

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
1,091
Location
New Mexico
You shouldn't need a heat pad for these, they do fine in the mid 70s F range.
Yes they will do fine with average room temps.
The species does like to bask though. Even in the heat of summer when my T room hits the 80s, mine will climb the side of their enclosures to get right next to the fluorescent lights I use on my shelves, or they will stand under the beam of light, stretched up on their toes.
 

kormath

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
3,565
Location
Idaho
I don't use hides in my sling habitats anymore. most of them ignore the hide and burrow down in. the ones that did use the hides block the entrance full and burrow down, then open the tunnel somewhere else in the enclosure. With the last 5 or 6 habitats i set up i just made a starter burrow in the corner for them. Didn't take them long to find it, couple laps around the box exploring and then to digging they went in the starter.
 

mindburner

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
42
Location
N Ireland
hi thanks for the reply. Mine has now dug lots of trenches and tunnels. I think it's getting bigger, which is good. My main issue is trying to keep the mini crickets alive. A couple of days and they're toast. I think they are getting dehydrated, so will try and re house in a bigger container with better airflow
 

MassExodus

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
5,547
Location
Outside San Antonio, TX
hi thanks for the reply. Mine has now dug lots of trenches and tunnels. I think it's getting bigger, which is good. My main issue is trying to keep the mini crickets alive. A couple of days and they're toast. I think they are getting dehydrated, so will try and re house in a bigger container with better airflow
Might I suggest roaches? Long lived,easy to care for and breed, endless supply of nymphs for slings,(or scorplings, if you're cool and have those as well.. :D ) doesn't matter if you have 4 spiders right now, either, you'll have more soon:)
 

kormath

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
3,565
Location
Idaho
never tried fish food. whatever the crickets eat goes into the T. most people use ground dog food. I buy cricket/roach food and give them veggies once or twice a week depending how fast they eat them.
 

Phil

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
3,919
Location
UK.
never tried fish food. whatever the crickets eat goes into the T. most people use ground dog food. I buy cricket/roach food and give them veggies once or twice a week depending how fast they eat them.
I usually feed my crickets veg/fruit. Had never really subscribed to the protein feeding/dusting but following a suggestion from @LC72, I also offer fish flake as have loads of that for my tropical fish.:)
 

kormath

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
3,565
Location
Idaho
I usually feed my crickets veg/fruit. Had never really subscribed to the protein feeding/dusting but following a suggestion from @LC72, I also offer fish flake as have loads of that for my tropical fish.:)
I'll have a ton of that here soon also. I'm down to one fish now and is going to have to go so I can drain and move the tank when they replace the floor in the next couple weeks.

My son thinks it would be a fitting end for the fish to feed one of the larger Ts. Good way to transition from one hobby to the next maybe but it won't happen for no other reason than the largest one he wants to feed is in premolt.
 

Aint

New Member
3 Year Member
Messages
11
Hi. I too have a new "sling". A Chilean rose hair. This is the smallest T I've ever had. It's smaller than a dime. It's the T in my avatar. Awesome! I get to really see it grow.

In the past (last century) a small one for me was silver dollar size. That was big enough to feed small to mediumish size crickets. I have tiny crickets for it now. What do y'all think of feeding it wingless fruit flies? That's a new feeder insect to me. Petco said it would work. The gal who was working the "creepy crawlies" seemed really up on things. What about stunning or killing tiny to small crickets? I've never fed anything other than live and well insects before.

Thanks.
 

Rmac88

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
160
Hi. I too have a new "sling". A Chilean rose hair. This is the smallest T I've ever had. It's smaller than a dime. It's the T in my avatar. Awesome! I get to really see it grow.

In the past (last century) a small one for me was silver dollar size. That was big enough to feed small to mediumish size crickets. I have tiny crickets for it now. What do y'all think of feeding it wingless fruit flies? That's a new feeder insect to me. Petco said it would work. The gal who was working the "creepy crawlies" seemed really up on things. What about stunning or killing tiny to small crickets? I've never fed anything other than live and well insects before.

Thanks.
I've heard of people using FFF as feeders, but also heard they are a pain the arse and don't really have the best nutritional value.

It's usually recommended to either prekill a tiny cricket and leave it in the enclosure for 24 hours, you will probably see it dissappear. Or get a large cricket and take the back legs off, and feed those. Sorta like drumsticks! [emoji1]

Sent from my SPH-L520 using Tapatalk
 

Kymura

Well-Known Member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Messages
3,315
Location
Alabama
Petshops manage to sound very knowledgeable, the entire time they are selling you things you don't need and shouldn't use. ie: heat mat, lights, screen covers, hygrometer, natural sponge for the water bowl, etc, etc, etc.
Some of them mean well but few actually know anything about arachnids. Bought my juvenile avic from LPS. She was in a large reptile enclosure with about a dozen large crickets plaguing her. Under the lights. Not a twig to climb on. She was listed as a Chilean Rose tarantula.
Look, slings are little scavengers.
pinhead crickets, or pre-killed as @Rmac88 said.
Chop a nice juicy mealworm in half or quarters. (Always squash the head) FFF from my understanding are more bother then they are worth.
My smaller babies took exceptional delight in eating my Porcellio scaber. :/
 

VanessaS

Well-Known Member
3 Year Member
Messages
540
Location
Ontario, Canada
Petshops manage to sound very knowledgeable, the entire time they are selling you things you don't need and shouldn't use. ie: heat mat, lights, screen covers, hygrometer, natural sponge for the water bowl, etc, etc, etc.
You know it!
I have 1/4" crickets that I squash - sometimes not meaning to, they're just so small! Most of the time I prefer cutting up mealworms. I cut their heads right off and sometimes I will cut them in half for the really tiny tykes... like my 1/4" Euathlus sp Red.
 

Aint

New Member
3 Year Member
Messages
11
Not to thread jack mindburner, but...

So I put my little smaller than a dime T in a 10 gal vivarium. That's what I'm keeping it in, so that's what I put it in. I've read where people put them in smaller keeps because:

1. Easier to keep track of.
I can see that being a benefit. I can't find the little bugger anywhere in the 10, and don't want to overturn the whole thing just to satisfy myself to see it. So says, these tiny ones will stay very well hiden until they get some size to them.

2. They just don't need the space.
Well, if they are going to stay hidden, I guess they don't. But I know Ts go on the prowl. They do explore their surroundings, and sometimes even modify them. I feel good about having it in a bigger space.

3. A bigger keep will stress a smaller T.
This time around isn't the first I've read this. I still don't buy it. In the wild, which captivity is not, but, even new born Ts live in a space the size of planet Earth, because it is planet Earth. Given enough hiding spots, I just don't see a bigger space being a stresser. My concern is always that the space isn't big enough.

Thoughts?

And how often should I go looking for my little sling? I'm careful to not go all bulldozer, and put things back just like they were.
 

Latest posts

Top