New to tarantulas and need advice!!!!!!

[new2tarantulas]

Ok so Ive done alot of research before purchasing my first tarantula, but I have found some conflicting info on the web and wanted to be sure I am providing my pet with a good habitat!She is a Chilean rose hair! Here is what I have her setup in! A medium sized round low profile critter keeper. For substrate Iam using coconut fiber( i couldnt get it to expand for some reason...I did follow the directions) So it isnt moist. Is that a problem? I have a peice of cork bark in there with a small bottle cap full of water! My question is do i need to provide heat? If so what do I use? Also do I need to be misting? (some sites said this is isnt required) If so how often? I fed her 4 crickets when I got her home and she ate all of them! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!!

 

[Nada]

They are a dry species. No humidity/misting outside of a waterbowl is needed.
Unless your house is below 60* you don't need any additional heat.
scale back on the feeding. One cricke at a time once a week is plenty.

 

[new2tarantulas]

Ok great! I really like her! I have always been a bit freaked out by them but they are actually very cool! I wanted the mexican fire leg at the pet store but it was expensive so i went with the rose hair! Thx for ur help!

 

[Nada]

Boehmei (firelegs) are great, definitely worth the coin

 

[new2tarantulas]

Well if i get another I was thinking of going to a repticon show! I hear they have some good deals! Pet store wanted $80 for it but it was of decent size!

 

[Nada]

$80 is a pretty good deal. Especially if it's a sexed female.

 

[new2tarantulas]

Iam not sure if it was sexed! I believe mine to be a female chilean... I paid $26 for it! Also how would I keep the humidity at 70-80% without misting (thats what it said on several sites I looked at)?

 

[Nada]

Iam not sure if it was sexed! I believe mine to be a female chilean... I paid $26 for it! Also how would I keep the humidity at 70-80% without misting (thats what it said on several sites I looked at)?

70 is waaaaay to high. They're a desert species. They like it dry.

 

[new2tarantulas]

Good to know thanx! Maybe the sites I looked at were generalizing tarantula together as a whole????

 

[Nada]

Unfortunately, South America as a whole has a stigma of being tropical, so a lot of Tarantula Care Sheets for South American Tarantulas are for tropical Tarantulas..

 

[new2tarantulas]

Ok good so what iam doing is right! Also can u have a light on their enclosure as long as they have somewhere to hide? I bought the little thing that fits into the door on the top of the critter keeper but I havent used it yet!

 

[Nada]

They don't like light. I would advise against it.

 

[Tgirl1010]

http://people.ucalgary.ca/~schultz/roses.html