Australian Tarantulas - One Australians Journey

[Dave Jay]

I like to get slings as well but usually aim for an initial size of 1" to about 2". The real little ones are hard to feed.

The faster growing ones seem to also be more hardy. Still, you gotta keep that water dish full. Don't worry. Anything that can run upside down on a ceiling can't drown but you can always prop a stainless steel screw or a small stick half in half out of the water dish just to make sure.

Actually, I ended up feeding these two small crickets that were close to comatose from being refrigerated for 10 minutes, one grabbed his as soon as it hit the substrate and subdued it straight away, the other one grappled his straight away but it broke free leaving him munching a leg, once the leg was done with it took the cricket down fairly easily. The crickets bodies were about the same size as the slings bodies, these two have much more 'guts' than the first one, that just sat hunched up pretty much till it died, I don't think it was in great shape when I got it, these two are much livelier.

 

[Dave Jay]

The tiny crassipes were munching their crickets for two full days, one was still going back on the third day before wrapping up the remains, that ones butt is now almost a third bigger than the others, but I don't expect they'll need another meal until after they moult.

3rd April

Received 1 Phlogius rubiseta
7 Selenotypus sp.2

After 7 days in transit my other order finally arrived, the guy posted Tuesday rather than Monday and didn't realise it was easter with a four day weekend .
Luckily all 8 were okay, two of the Selenotypus sp. 2 had moulted on the way, one had the moult stuck to its butt, I rehoused it with it still attached and it dragged it around for a bit. I held the moult with the tongs as it was walking about and let the spider free itself without me pulling or tugging, just me holding the moult still and letting any sort of force come from the spider itself. Hopefully it is alright, I had no way of knowing it was moulting until I unearthed it and it started moving around, I just let it walk out of the tub into the new one.
The other that moulted had deposited the moult on the surface, I couldn't see the spider so I just put the whole tub into an enclosure without disturbing it.
The Phlogius rubisetta was supposed to be around 3" , but was only about 1.5", it was supposed to be our biggest yet so all we had ready was a small hexagonal fish tank I'd been hanging out to use. Being so long in the post, and not knowing if it was alive until we disturbed it, I didn't want to spend time preparing another enclosure so we put it in the one we had ready, but added several small crickets rather than one larger one to improve the chances of interaction. Food was added for the crickets so they wouldn't annoy the spider and to keep them gutloaded.
I have never seen such a thin abdomen on a spider, reflecting back now I wish I'd put it in a temporary tub to feed, but once disturbed it wanted out! I was half expecting it to be dead to be honest, but I bought it to be a special spider for my wife and she was doing the unpacking, so at that moment it seemed best to get it housed asap.

 

[Dave Jay]

I just checked the rubiseta, it has eaten 3 small crickets and 2 smaller medium crickets by the looks, no problem hunting in the bigger tank at all. I overflowed the water dish, it was still full, and sprayed because the top inch or so of the substrate was still very dry. I need to add more water to the false bottom, it didn't suck up as far as I thought, but better to need to add more than have the tank too wet. Natural instincts would cause the tarantula to burrow for moisture so it would have found the moisture if it was too dry in the tank. Anyway, when I sprayed it was startled and ran to the front of the tank and I could see it's abdomen has filled out to a normal, if skinny size. Tuesday (1.30am Thursday morning now) it looked so skinny I that I thought it might be too far gone to even hunt, but I'm pretty sure it'll be okay now. Phew!

 

[Whitelightning777]

Dehydration is far more dangerous then being underfed. Keep that water dish full!! If the T is in a bad way, there's nothing wrong with guiding him or her right into the dish face first.

I recently had to do that with my Versicolor. That resulted in face planting for a few minutes and returning to normal.

 

[Dave Jay]

Dehydration is far more dangerous then being underfed. Keep that water dish full!! If the T is in a bad way, there's nothing wrong with guiding him or her right into the dish face first.

I recently had to do that with my Versicolor. That resulted in face planting for a few minutes and returning to normal.

The sphagnum moss was still very damp in the shipping tub luckily, although there would be no free water to drink dehydration should have been minimal. I know the guy wheels and deals, he gets stock in and ships it off the next day sometimes, so it might have been a while between feeds for this guy. It was lively enough when unpacked so I sprayed a bit of the decor and walls for easy access to water, the substrate was very dry on top so it needed it anyway. Then instead of a medium cricket we added a few small crickets so it would find one quickly. All good now though , it's had 7 crickets already! It's the 'zoomiest' tarantula yet, even in the larger tank I worry that it'll bolt before I can close the door, which is more of a flap really, I'm sorta glad I didn't use one of the smaller tanks now! When it moults the tank it's in will seem a more suitable size , so I'm saving on rehousing really.

 

[Dave Jay]

Wednesday 11th April
The 7 new Selonotypus sp.2 were given small crickets, all gone by Friday.
The 2 Phlogius crassipes "kuttabul" given small crickets, taken straight away. Note - S. sp.2 #7 & #8 moulted in transit, this is cricket 1 between moults.

Friday 13th April

P. 'pq113' number 2 given medium cricket, taken straight away. That's 4 medium crickets since moulting.

 

[Dave Jay]

The Phlogius rubiseta on the 3rd when it arrived, I swear it looked skinnier in the flesh, especially from the side.

When I can I'll post recent pictures of it. It has been eating well, about 10 small/medium crickets so far. It doesn't even look like the same spider. Belinda is keeping proper records as I bought this one for her.

 

[Dave Jay]

17th April

Phlogius crassipes 'kuttabul' found dead. It ate well on the 11th and seemed fine all week , although not as visible as the other. It still looked plump and full. Both are in identical enclosures, the only difference being I added slightly more water to the enclosure of the one that died on the 11th as it was hard to fill the tiny water dish. A bit too wet but not a swamp.

19th April

Fed all spiders 1 cricket according to size. 'stents' number 1 given 2 small crickets, killed both and stashed them in it's burrow.
Blue Legs 2 given a small cricket which it took immediately, I put a medium in a couple of hours later, it dropped what was left of the small one and took the medium down within a minute of it being there.

Selenotypus sp.2 :

Sp.2 number 1&2 not fed, volcano shaped burrows completely closed.
Sp.2 number 3 has burrow closed. It is one that already moulted since I've had it. If it is moulting it has only had 1 small cricket and possibly a piece of mealworm. It was still very plump after moulting so maybe it didn't need much. No volcano, just a bump. The weather
had cooled as is usual for the time of year, but the last week has been around 30c and sunny, maybe the weather encouraged burrowing.
Number 5 burrow blocked, no volcano.
Numbers 4 & 6 burrows open, but spiders not visible, each given one small cricket. Number 6 had a dead cricket in its enclosure, so has not eaten since moulting.
Number 7 living under sphagnum moss and has not used burrow. Given one small cricket. Seemed reluctant to take it so I squished it a bit.
Number 8 given small cricket.
Number 9 blocked burrow.
Number 10 given small cricket.
Number 11 has burrowed to the very bottom of the enclosure, the only one to do so. Strangely , its enclosure is more moist above the substrate than the others. This could be due to it bringing the wetter substrate to the top, usually burrowing deeper would be a sign of the top drying out. Only 5ml of water added via syringe rather than 10ml. Burrow blocked.
Number 12 given small cricket.
Number 13 given small cricket.

 

[Dave Jay]

A few pictures of the second batch of S. sp.2 from when they arrived on the third of April.

 

[Dave Jay]

24th April
Gave "Geoffrey", the little P. crassipes "kuttabul" a prekilled extra small cricket.
Blue Legs 2 - given one small cricket.
Blue Legs 3 - removed last cricket (dead) and replaced with one small cricket.
S. sp.2 -
8 - given small cricket.
9 - burrow unblocked, presuming it moulted in the last week for now . Given one small cricket.
10 - given squished small cricket.
11 - burrow blocked.
12 - given small cricket.
13 - burrow mostly blocked but given one small cricket.
All stents given small crickets.
Blue Legs 1 given small cricket.
plumipes still has a live small cricket from last week so not fed.

25th April,
sp.2 number 13 was out, it's one of the smallest sp.2, due for a moult. No sign of the cricket but it seems it's starting a new burrow so the cricket has probably scared it out of its home. Will squish the cricket if I see it.

26th April
sp.2 number 13 back in burrow and blocked off. The cricket was still alive so I took it out, I guess the sling is ready to moult soon.

 

[Dave Jay]

26th April
Another 5 sp.2 arrived meaning I now have 18. I will be selling most of them at various sizes over time, but it's a good opportunity to try a few different husbandry techniques and different enclosure types.

 

[Whitelightning777]

Are Australian tarantulas fatal to only dogs or any mammal? Specifically, can they harm cats? If they were cat safe, getting one might be in the cards for myself.

I was researching the medical side. It turns out that cat and dogs differ from each other just as much as they differ from humans in terms of drugs they react with.

 

[Dave Jay]

Are Australian tarantulas fatal to only dogs or any mammal? Specifically, can they harm cats? If they were cat safe, getting one might be in the cards for myself.

I was researching the medical side. It turns out that cat and dogs differ from each other just as much as they differ from humans in terms of drugs they ready with.

I'm not quite sure, I think the study by Raven was only concerned with dogs, I really should chase it up and download it.

 

[Whitelightning777]

I'm not quite sure, I think the study by Raven was only concerned with dogs, I really should chase it up and download it.

Nyx is what some people call a murder cat, high prey drive + a warped sense of humor. In this one she's playing is there a God?

Touch the paw and you'll find out!!

 

[Dave Jay]

I thought I'd better sort more photos and try to get the thread up to date.
Firstly,this is the Phlogius 113 Blue Legs number 2, this is the one that moulted on arrival.

This one spends most of it's time at the front of it's tank,but bolts into it's hide behind the "rock" if disturbed.
Interestingly, this is the only spider that reacts to the red torch, all the others act oblivious but this one bolts. Perhaps there's a reflection or the different plastic allows a different spectrum to be visible, I don't know.

 

[Dave Jay]

This is the Phlogius crassipes "kuttabul" and the enclosures I set up for small slings. The enclosures are 5cm (2") in diameter and 4cm high, without the lid. I tried to incorporate as many elements as I could. I added a straw to enable me to add water into the bottom of the substrate using a syringe rather than adding water to the surface. You'll see in the pictures that I sprayed the enclosures after setting them up both to clean the sides and settle the substrate which was barely moist when I added it. The water dishes are 1cm end caps for tubing.

This last one is more recent, for some reason "young Geoffrey" popped into my head feeding it one night as it ran around the work tub after escaping once again. I'm not really sure these enclosures are usable even though they are about the size of a shorter specimen vial, rather than hiding the slings just pop out of the top, especially young Geoffrey!

 

[Dave Jay]

These are the larger size I set up earlier but people advice online led me to down size. These are 9cm diameter and 9cm deep. With these I added a layer of polished gravel on the bottom along with a straw. Some of the Selenotypus "sp.2" have burrowed to the bottom and deposited stones onto the surface. The stones are smooth, so there's no danger to the tarantula. I assume if it's too moist at the bottom they would sit higher in their burrows but I only add 5ml of water at a time every week or two so not enough to flood them. My experience with scorpions means I know how important it is to measure water added and how little is actually needed to keep it moist at the bottom and have it only damp or even dry at the surface. With my slings I'm using the sphagnum moss as a guide, if I see it start to have dry tips I know it's about right.

And a little S. sp.2 . In this size they just go down their hole or under the sphagnum moss, in the smaller ones they run over the side.

 

[Dave Jay]

When I unpacked the sp.2 on the 3rd April number 7 had moulted and the moult was on top of the container so I just put it in the enclosure and let it come out on its own. Number 8 I dug up and didn't know it was/had moulted until it took off dragging the moult. It looked like it was stuck somewhere on the bottom of the abdomen and a couple of rear legs. As it went under a plant the moult got snagged so I held it with the tongs and the sling struggled free.

This is Number 7s' moult. The next pics are Number 8.

 

[Dave Jay]

30th April
P. crassipes given small cricket

S. sp.2 -
Fed the 5 new sp.2 small crickets.
Numbers 1, 2, 5, 13, 11, burrows blocked.
Numbers 3, 4, 6, 7, 12, 10, 9, fed small crickets.
Number 8 not looking happy, I removed a dead cricket from the last feed and didn't replace it. I also removed most of the sphagnum moss as the whole enclosure seems too moist. Most of those enclosures seemed okay, but maybe they need to be spread out instead of stacked so they all get the extra ventilation via the lid but the main problem is the water dishes wicking out I think. It's hard to know how I'd stop that in a small enclosure because it's not just the moss, it's also the peat deposited on the surface from burrowing.

 

[Dave Jay]

2nd May

Killed all crickets in the new sp.2 enclosures, only 2 crickets missing but they might be hiding, I haven't seen these slings eating.

All stents given small crickets, only Num5 had a dead cricket.
Removed dead cricket from P. 'stents' 5s enclosure, I assume from the 24th April, replaced with small cricket.
Blue Legs 3 has moulted some time after the 24th April. No dead cricket visible so I guess it ate it. I'll wait a couple of days before feeding just to be safe. Even though this one is right next to me I haven't seen it out since I got it so it's hard to tell when it might have moulted.
Blue Legs 1 and 2 given small crickets.
Plumipes has blocked it's burrow but the cricket from the 24th April is gone. No cricket given today.