Need help with buying my first T

[Katsura9000]

Hello everyone!

So the past few weeks I've been getting myself familiar with Ts and now I'm quite ready to buy my first T.

I am from Austria/ EU and I have a hard time finding a shop/ breeder that can sell one.

I contacted a lot of breeders/online shops from Europe/Germany and UK. Unfortunately most of them said they do not ship in the cold season and that I should wait for spring. All but 2 breeders said they can ship for an extra price and include heatpacks.

Locally I found 2 shops that sell The and visited both of them yesterday but left with a huge disappointment.

For a starter T I want to get a B. Smithi or hamorii that said I want it to be female and mature or close to maturity since they're a slow growing species.

Shop nr.1 had a 3 year smithi 6cm for sale ( at least he told me so) when I visited his shop he seemed quite fishy because he couldn't provide me with information of the T s origin. Second ,when he took me to her he opened the terrarium and started to poke her with his finger, it didn't look like the T liked it at all. The T itself looked very skinny and the knees that were supposed to look bright orange or red from pictures I've seen looked more like a washed out orange, almost more white/grey than orange. Inside the shop things were better , it was very " dirty" in general. With an excuse I have to visit yet another shop I left. - the price of that T is 100 euro.

Second shop said they have 3 female smithi aged 3 months/ 6 months and 2 years. The Ts were kept in 5x5 cm plastic containers, both the small ones and bigger ones. The price for the 2 year T was 99euro and the 6 months one was 49 euro. I told him I want a bigger/ mature one , he then proceeded to take me to a terrarium with a blue T ( didn't catch the name ) he couldn't find her so he went on destroying the webbing in the terrarium. I stopped him and pointed to a corner where the T was resting on a branch ( was an arboreal tarantula I guess) . Like before I left with an excuse and that is get back if I decided I want one from his shop.

Basically what I learned about treating Ts with a lot of care and making sure they're happy living in their enclosure was busted by these 2 shop owners. I felt very angry.


My current option is to travel 150km away where I found 2 breeders that have Ts for sale, or order online from 2 UK shops that dispatch with heating packs. Else wait for spring where more shops will start selling.

I'll be very grateful to receive some opinions about my situation, and sorry for any mistakes as English is not my native language.

Have a great day all,

Sebastian.

 

[Katsura9000]

Thank you Shampain, that's very nice of you. spidershop.pl will start shipping in spring unfortunately. I'll do some research on the orange bands.

 

[Enn49]

spidershop.pl and spidersworld.eu will courier by van if you ask them, at least they do to the UK so it's worth asking them.

 

[Entity]

I would have bought all of them to rescue them for their crappy situations.....but that's just me. lol

 

[Katsura9000]

Thanks Enn, I messaged both shops about courier van option.

@Entity I felt bad for them. But for my first T I want it to be healthy and come from trusted breeders. I heard this hobby is addictive, so who knows maybe in the future I'll rescue some of them

 

[Whitelightning777]

While it's probably best to not support pet shop that neglect animals, in many cases people do get Ts that are under fed or dehydrated and bring them back to health.

I'd suggest providing the correct substrate, a large hide, a water dish big enough for the T to jump into but shallow enough for it to easily climb out of.

A hungry spider will usually eat after a few days getting it's bearings. After unpacking my latest sling, it ate within 72 hours, a disabled cricket with rear legs and all legs on one side removed.

Just get the enclosure up and running stable with proper conditions well before introducing the spider.

While probably not always necessary, using some extra heat to get the cage to 80 degrees Fahrenheit may be beneficial. The heat source should be at least 8" away from the lid in my opinion. I've done this with all my inverts and have had zero fatalities or issues of any kind. I use a variable voltage controller, start low and slowly go up.

A hardy less defensive species will probably be most likely to succeed. Usually these are new world tarantulas.

Good luck.

Tom Moran's channel on YouTube is an excellent resource.

Here are some of mine. The addiction will set in!!

 

[Arachnoclown]

I'm with @Entity ...I would have grabbed all of them.

 

[Whitelightning777]

If you have the money and will NOT go cheap on the enclosures or supplies, go for it. There's a petstore like that in my area, but they have fully grown really nasty OW or defensive advanced high maintenance Ts that I couldn't house safely to the level of confidence I want to achieve.

They are improperly kept, examples Cobalt blue on paper towels and T. Stirmi in low humidity critter keeper on paper towels. I'd have to design totally new enclosures and then wrangle them into said enclosures. I have a cat and an ex girlfriend with Fibromyalgia who has a million really weird allergies to damn near everything.

The ones I already have are very well behaved, and captive bred from reputable breeders with the exception of my first one a versicolor, who by the way is thriving.

 

[Enn49]

@Entity and @Arachnoclown I would too. Thank goodness there are no shops near me that sell Ts otherwise I'd be completely overrun with them.

 

[MassExodus]

While it's probably best to not support pet shop that neglect animals, in many cases people do get Ts that are under fed or dehydrated and bring them back to health.

I'd suggest providing the correct substrate, a large hide, a water dish big enough for the T to jump into but shallow enough for it to easily climb out of.

A hungry spider will usually eat after a few days getting it's beatings. After unpacking my latest sling, it ate within 72 hours, a disabled cricket with rear legs and all legs on one side removed.

Just get the enclosure up and running stable with proper conditions well before introducing the spider.

While probably not always necessary, using some extra heat to get the cage to 80 degrees Fahrenheit may be beneficial. The heat source should be at least 8" in my opinion. I've done this with all my inverts and have had zero fatalities or issues of any kind. I use a variable voltage controller, start low and slowly go up.

A hardy less defensive species will probably be most likely to succeed. Usually these are new world tarantulas.

Good luck.

Tom Moran's channel on YouTube is an excellent resource.

Here are some of mine. The addiction will set in!!

View attachment 27796 View attachment 27797 View attachment 27798 View attachment 27799 View attachment 27800 View attachment 27801 View attachment 27802

What is that last spider?

 

[Whitelightning777]

M balfouri sling after previous molt. It was a real lucky picture because usually she's underground most of the time, runs from the light.

It's the bottom most picture.

From top to bottom:

L Klugi 2 molts ago
L Klugi most recent molt
C versicolor, most recent molt still unsexed
M balfouri, just after last molt
P Striata sling
H spinifer adult female scorp

& Of course the M balfouri once again.

 

[MassExodus]

Ahh, so that's what the slings look like, tyvm hadn't seen one yet.

 

[Whitelightning777]

It's amazing to watch them grow and change. The M balfouri sling has gotten huge. I'm probably gonna rehouse her into the 3 gallon Terra Blue enclosure that used to be for the Klugi. I think she'll love the skull with a premade burrow in the center. I could do it now, but she'd be less visible. Once I got a web, cage size won't cause any issues.

 

[Katsura9000]

Ok so I'm not sure why but I didn't receive any notifications about my post after my last reply, my apologies...

Update as of today :

I got a 4.5cm Female B smithi/hamorii today.

After trying several online shops and local ones I couldn't find what I was looking for or breeders won't ship during winter.
A friend from work told me there was an event/gathering for a lot of cat/dog breeders from EU and that there was a chance to find some more "exotic" pets too. Well he was right.

I had the enclosure ready for weeks now, It is full dry coco fiber and tonight I also managed to improvise a temporary hide ( I'm not sure about the bark but for sure it is not cedar or anything similar - since I heard that's toxic for Ts).

The bowl is also temporary and is quite big I think, it is not deep though , I plan to change to a smaller one about half the size of the current one.

Moving the T into her new home was a bit of struggle...
I opened the small box she came with, and put it in the enclosure a bit tilted, then with a soft paint brush I started to push her gently.
When she had like half of her body in the new enclosure she raised the front legs as if she was trying to touch some invisible wall, she did so for a few seconds then she turned a bit, did the same then she turned and fully climbed back in the box she came in.

I gave her some 15-20 minutes break and tried again, this time after touching her the 3rd-4th time she did the " flicking hair move " so I left her be for another one hour.

3rd attempt was successful ,she didn't really move on the substrate but on her bark hide.

Since then, about 2 hours she changed position about 2 times but didn't leave the bark, is it possible that there's something wrong with my substrate?

I did in fact drop some water when I put the water dish, as of the time of writing the temperature is 22C / 71.6 F and humidity is 71%
If I'm right I should leave her get familiar with the new home before trying to feed her, 5-7 days as I read on different care sheets - please correct me if wrong.


One thing that bothers me is that I bought a plastic box from amazon, it has the following size :
370 x 220 x 250 mm 14 1/2” x 8 1/2” x 10”

At the event I saw 15 x 15 x 12 inch glass enclosure for quite the same price , I hope she will be ok with plastic for now.

Some pics bellow.

 

[Dave Jay]

Great looking Tarantula! Nice size too by the looks. I can't help you much with care advice unfortunately, but there's no doubt you'll get plenty later. I have read that some won't walk on loose substrate so it needs to be packed down firmly, in the pics I can't tell about yours one way or another, it's just a thought.
I'm very jealous!

 

[Arachnoclown]

I'd feed her now...I hate care sheets. I only wait a day or two with slings...a big girl like that doesn't have much to worry about. Temp sounds fine don't worry about humidity...but 71% is too high for this species. Just let the substrate dry out and overflow the water dish a little once a week. 40-50% for this species is good. Don't worry too much about it though. Beautiful spider .

 

[Katsura9000]

@Dave Jay Thanks, I did packed down the substrate as much as I could, it's mostly dry so it still feels a bit "loose" .

@Arachnoclown I worked on the humidity, replaced the water bowl with a smaller one, now the humidity is in the 50% range and should get a bit lower once all the substrate will completely dry out.

I will try to feed her tomorrow, should I just place a cricket in her enclosure or try and place it somewhere near the tarantula?

And an update, looks like she went into her hide and webbed the entrance, not sure what that means but since then she didn't really move, just chilling from what it looks like , pic bellow :

 

[Whitelightning777]

When mine web up, it's hands off & no food. I do remain super vigilant about keeping the water dish full. I don't think they care about glass or plastic, not sure which is slicker should they walk on it.

She's a beauty!! Generally the only humidity they need is the water dish. If they get seriously dehydrated, they'll just go and get a drink. It's a rare moment indeed when you observe this.

Humidity gauges, if you use them at all, can be used to detect excessive humidity not to boost it.


I suspect all of mine drink at night because occasionally I see a bit of substrate in the water dish, consistent with them placing a leg or a pair of fangs or standing over the water.

You scored good on getting that one.

 

[Katsura9000]

@Whitelightning777 Thanks for the information, guess I'll leave her be until she decides to come out by herself.

Yeah I still can't believe it I was about to leave then I saw this small stand and that's where I found her, along with like 8 more B smithi aged from 6 months to 2 years. She was the biggest and prettiest

 

[Whitelightning777]

Awesome!!