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Unexpected Birthday present....my first A. avic

hopeful_tarantula

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
59
Location
Bedfordshire, England, UK
Hi there,
Well as the title says, I received my first ever A. versicolour species as a slightly early and unexpected birthday present. It's a lovely little thing and I've named "her" Trixie-Martini lol.

I do have a few questions about Trixie though...

1) I'm guessing that Martiniquez Pink Toe is the more common name for Avicularia avicularia?

2) Regarding the housing. Trixie's currently in a tall(ish) deli cup that has some sort of soil (guessing Coir, but could be wrong), some tiny pieces of ever green tree and (for some extremely strange reason) a Magnum ice cream lolly stick...which I will be taking out soon.
My concern is though with the soil, as it's pretty much drenched and it has caused a lot of condensation which has "steamed" up the cup itself, so I can barely see the T inside. Should I try to rehouse her into a new cup with some drier Coir, or is the humidity right for Trixie like that?

3) How do I feed crickets to Trixie as she has put webbing up on the lid of the cup and spends most of the time up there? If I open the cup, she's going to make a run for it!

4) Instead of the Magnum stick and evergreen tree pieces, what do I need in there?

5) How can I put a bowl of water in the cup, as Trixie is arboreal?

I know these seem like very newbie questions, but as Trixie is my first arboreal T, I want to make sure I have things right from the start. Trixie is gorgeous and I love the metallic blue sheen s/he has.
Many thanks in advance.
Julia xx
 
Last edited:

Enn49

Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
3 Year Member
Tarantula Club Member
Messages
10,891
Location
Malton, UK
What a lovely surprise. There is a great thread here that will answer most of your questions.
 

tarantulaguy1994

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
173
How big is the tarantula? if it is less then 2 inches do not put a water dish in yet. As for feeding your A. avicularia put a small enough prey item in there it can not hurt her, leave it in there 24 hour and if not eaten remove the prey. If the spider is showing any sign of pre-molt do not leave the prey in there longer then you can some what keep an eye on it. The prey cold hurt her if she molt and it is in there. I would change the bedding to ether coco fiber or potting soil with no pesticides or fertilizer. A. aviculaira need about 70% humidity so it could fog up at that, but the fog tells me the deli cup need more air vent for better air flow. As far as instead of the stick and evergreen, a tube piece of cork bark well work,there are also other thing that would work; but if she is less then an inch and it is a small deli cup the cup with just bedding in it would be fine. I would also suggest changing the deli cup as evergreen puts out toxin that could hurt your spider, even after it is removed if it is not a new or very well cleaned deli cup.
 

hopeful_tarantula

Member
3 Year Member
Messages
59
Location
Bedfordshire, England, UK
Thank you both for your very quick responses. I thought I was right about there being too much moisture in there for Trixie. I managed to put Trixie into a temporary container....which was fun lol...and dried out the cup, poked some holes in and put some dry substrate, a piece of cork bark and a coke bottle cap in for water.

Trixie is about the size of a 10p UK coin - so still only a little T at the moment.

Just checked on him/her - s/he's done some webbing on the cork bark, and has currently got his/her cricket stuffed in its mouth lol....guess it's settling down then lol.

Julia xx
 

tarantulaguy1994

Active Member
3 Year Member
Messages
173
The substrate should not be dry from her, it should be moist, just not so much moister that it is sobbing wet. Also for a small on like her it is good to put water droplet on the sides of the deli cup. It will help keep the humidity up, and she will drink from them. Even my adult A. avicularia well not go to the ground and drink from her dish. I only keep it in there to help with humidity.
 

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