Care Sheet For New People?

[Tortoise Tom]

I found this forum a few days ago and love it. I've been reading through tons of old posts and info links for hours a day and find most of it to be great reading.

I found "Stan's Rant" from a link here explaining how tarantulas can and do survive a wide range of conditions and how most care sheets came to be. http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/stansrant.html He goes on and on about how care sheets can be wrong, sometimes harmful, and often inaccurate, but I can't find anything explaining in plain terms to a noob what should be done. Ok. I get that some websites are old, outdated and possibly wrong, but where do I find what is right? There are tons of YouTube videos from kids and adults, but who to listen to?

Here is my issue: I started keeping inverts back in the mid 80s. I learned how to do it all back then. Same with reptiles and birds. Now in the case of tortoises, we've recently discovered, after decades of trial and lots of error, that most of the recommended care for them has been wrong for decades, and frequently leads to disfigurement and the death of a large percentage of CB hatchlings. Most of the reptile community still hasn't caught on and still argues for the old ways that we all learned decades ago. Its been an uphill battle to put it nicely.

Is it similar with tarantulas? I've always been sort of casual, low key keeper of spiders. Never got heavily into it or had more than a few at a time. I don't want to make the same mistakes of ignorance with my tarantulas that I've made with other animals. I've been keeping them for decades. I've raised a couple dozen slings and cared for a few dozen adults of the more commonly available species from the pet trade, but that doesn't mean I've been doing it "right".

I've still got my old books:

This one is from 1991! And its not my oldest one...

I've got 10 new pulchra slings coming soon and three new curly hair adults coming on Tuesday. My current plan is to care for them in the same way I always have, since it seems to have worked okay for me, but if there is new info, or better info, I want to learn.

I typically, use damp coir for substrate, a shallow bowl for some water, a hide of some sort, and maybe a small plastic plant piece to make it look nice. I feed them roaches primarily and have several species to offer and sizes to accommodate any size spider. I keep them in my reptile room and temps in there are pretty warm, but it seems to have always suited all of my older spiders, mantids, centipedes, roaches, and other inverts. Room temp ranges from 75-80 in winter to as high as 96 on a hot summer day. I think most would consider these upper extremes way too high, but they are all alive and well. They grow from 1st or 2nd instars all the way up to adulthood in that room. My current adult female pulchra was raised from a sling in this room, with these techniques, since around 2008. My hissing roach colony has been in there since 1996.

Some of you guys have a lot of years and a lot of experience. What can I do better? What can I read to learn more? Where would you send a noob who was looking for the basic, but current, correct care info? Conversation, corrections, questions and tips are welcome.

 

[Enn49]

It sounds as though you've been doing alright. Yes, many care sheets are out of date now and the best info usually comes from some of the experienced keepers on forums like this, it's where I have learnt and am still learning about the wonderful creatures.

Grammostola and Brachypelma tend to prefer dry substrate although overflowing their water bowls occasionally won't go amiss.

 

[PanzoN88]

Stan Shultz is writing an updated tarantula keepers guide, because of the outdated information. Yes care sheets kill tarantulas. Most care sheets say you have to monitor humidity and keep it at a certain percentage,. That may have been the case years ago, but now tracking humidity is exclusively a reptile thing and a big waste of money. room temperature is perfect. For a B. albopilosum deep coco fiber, a water dish, and a hide are all that is needed. Dubias, cut up mealworms and prekilled crickets will be perfect for slings. For juveniles and adults, you can add superworms to the list with live prey. As slings, a few drops of water for the species listed, will fulfill any moisture requirements. overflowing the water dish from time to time will take care of moisture for B. albopilosum, a just a full water dish will suffice for a G. pulchra.

 

[Arachnoclown]

I don't read care sheets. I've been raising Ts the same way for decades...since the 80s. They all get the same thing, 68-80 degrees( depending on what time of year) and a over flowed water dish once a week on pretty much dry substrate. I dont add artificial heat or worry about humidity...ever. However I do add more moisture to Theraphosa species and a couple others that like it wetter but that's about it. Never lost a T due to temperatures or humidity in almost 40 years...not something to worry about or waste time with unless you live in an extremely cold area of the world. The thing is most care sheets are written about the climate where the Ts species originated from. Most Ts are captive breed no where near where the species originated. Ts can adapt to live anywhere...they are not as delicate as most people think. It's like saying someone from Florida can't live in Alaska...its just silly nonsense.

 

[Tortoise Tom]

Where would you guys tell a new person to the hobby to go to learn more about the details? Or are the basics you've shared here all there is to it for most species?

Is that what's happened with tarantula care since I started in the 80's? Its gotten MUCH simpler?

 

[PanzoN88]

Where would you guys tell a new person to the hobby to go to learn more about the details? Or are the basics you've shared here all there is to it for most species?

Is that what's happened with tarantula care since I started in the 80's? Its gotten MUCH simpler?

It is way simpler, though i wasn't even thought of in the 80s (born in the 90s). Most can get by with the care already mentioned, but there are some out there that may need extra moisture, which is fulfilled by pouring more water on half of the substrate to make it damp, or all of the substrate for dampness. Some of the more advanced moisture loving species, need jmoust substrate throughout, but the key is ventilation, cross ventilation is a must or else the air will become stagnent. Let's use an example for one of these moisture requirements. Say you just got a shiny, new Avicularia geroldi, and you read that they require a lot of moisture, but in reality it needs dry substrate, a water dish, and a LOT of cross ventilation. I should've probably mentioned that a space heater is the safest way to heat tarantulas, if you need to heat them. Heat mats can be used in some instances, such as a micro climate, but they are probably the worst next to heat lamps and any other device that costs more than the cheapest space heater.