New to the hobby

[Casey K.]

Nothing will have changed for European sellers selling direct to the US but CFTN are in N. Ireland which is no longer part of the European Union. The problem arises between the UK and Europe. You and Austin should be able to order direct from Europe.

I've contacted spiderworld.eu and they no longer ship to the US.

 

[Enn49]

I've contacted spiderworld.eu and they no longer ship to the US.

Have you tried Global Tarantula Market - One of the biggest spider shop in the world

 

[Jeremy-psychonaut]

Hello and welcome

 

[Casey K.]

Have you tried Global Tarantula Market - One of the biggest spider shop in the world

Ohhh no. I will try them! Thank you!

 

[menavodi]

Welcome to TF! Enjoy

 

[ilovebrachys]

Hi and welcome to the forum
If you want a heavy webber go for a chilobrachys fimbriatus.. Beautiful Ts that do a hell of a lot of webbing

 

[octanejunkie]

OBT (if you like to be scared) and M. balfouri will web the place up as well

Harpactira pulchripes will web quite a bit, too

 

[HeavyFuel]

Finally found a GBB, I will be getting it from the spider shop. Thank you for all your help.

Couple of last questions, as I have had mixed results on Google.

1. What size enclosure would you recommend for a GBB that will be 5 - 7 cm?

2. Dry or humid enclosure? I don't want my first T to get ill off of silly mistakes that can be avoided. I have been told by one site to keep it dry and another at around 60% humidity.

Research first. (I made that mistake before with a carpet python, bit off way more than I could chew at the time. Actually it bit me and I still have the scar to prove it. Lol).

 

[Phil]

Finally found a GBB, I will be getting it from the spider shop. Thank you for all your help.

Couple of last questions, as I have had mixed results on Google.

1. What size enclosure would you recommend for a GBB that will be 5 - 7 cm?

2. Dry or humid enclosure? I don't want my first T to get ill off of silly mistakes that can be avoided. I have been told by one site to keep it dry and another at around 60% humidity.

Research first. (I made that mistake before with a carpet python, bit off way more than I could chew at the time. Actually it bit me and I still have the scar to prove it. Lol).

Enclosure probably only needs to be about 15 to 20 cm at that size. When adults a 30cmx20cm is perfectly fine but anything over a 30x30 when adult is tbh, a waste of space.

The UK humidity is usually circa 60% naturally and so all you need is dry substrate and an open water dish. If the humidity gets too dry then there is no harm with an occasional misting but I keep my GBBs dry as a rule.

 

[HeavyFuel]

Enclosure probably only needs to be about 15 to 20 cm at that size. When adults a 30cmx20cm is perfectly fine but anything over a 30x30 when adult is tbh, a waste of space.

The UK humidity is usually circa 60% naturally and so all you need is dry substrate and an open water dish. If the humidity gets too dry then there is no harm with an occasional misting but I keep my GBBs dry as a rule.

Perfect. Thats what I was aiming at. Second guessing my own judgment. I just don't want to harm the little bugger. Lol

Any other recommendations you can think of that I may (as a newbie to Tarantula's) make a mistake on?

 

[Phil]

Perfect. Thats what I was aiming at. Second guessing my own judgment. I just don't want to harm the little bugger. Lol

Any other recommendations you can think of that I may (as a newbie to Tarantula's) make a mistake on?

GBB are pretty bomb proof tbh and they are usually very hardy.

Here is a general care guide I have prepared for new keepers (some of which already covered but handy to have in one place to copy and paste into your phone notes)

1. Enclosures
These should be size appropriate not too big and not too small. For the terrestrial species, length is more important than height, for arboreal species, height is more appropriate. I have had best results when the substrate is coco fibre (coir). This should be kept mostly dry for most species with a more slightly moist area no bigger than 50% of the surface so the spider has the option. I usually put the open water dish that is also needed in the 'damp' area.

One if the most important things to understand is that cross ventilation is better than holes on the top of an enclosure. For this reason, plastic storage boxes are often better than the more expensive glass vivariums.

2. Food
Live Food is always best as they are hunters. The size of prey (whether that be crickets, meal worms, locusts, roaches etc) should ideally not be larger than the size of the abdomen of the spider. It therefore stands to reason that as the spider grows, as does the size of the prey. Spiderlings will often eat twice a week but I feed my juveniles and adults once a week so as not to cause weight/health issues (e.g. if the abdomen is too big on a large spider, it can drag and become injured) If you cannot find live food small enough for the spiderlings, you can cut up the prey into pieces and they will scavenge.

3. Heating and humidity
Right off the bat, just remember that probably 99% of all spiders available are captive bred, so even though the species may have originated from Mexico for example, there is no need to replicate the conditions found in that country. In my 32 years of looking after tarantulas I have observed best results when temperatures are about 22/23°c and you should always try to make that the room temperature rather than using heat mats or heat rocks which in my opinion are completely wrong for spiders as they can burn themselves and the extra heat often causes the humidity levels to drop which in turn can cause moulting problems. More of that later.

If you do use a heater of any description, if you have a cold room for example, this should be thermostatically controlled and temperatures monitored daily. I have seen stories of whole collections being lost due to overheating. If you must use them, heat mats should only ever be mounted vertically and never cover more than 50% of the surface of the tank/enclosure.

For most species humidity around 60 to 65% is fine (which is typically UKs average btw) so as long as you have an open water dish and a more damp area as described earlier, you should be ok and would only need to light mist once a week if needed.

4. Water
Water dishes has already been mentioned a few times. Many keepers use distilled water or bottled water but I find that cooled down boiled water is absolutely fine for both topping up the water dish and misting. The process of boiling removes any chemicals from tap water as does the fact it has been stood overnight to cool. Any spare water from the kettle just goes in the sprayer. Sorted.

5. Listen to other keepers
Care sheets are all well and good to some extent, but there is nothing like listening to what others have to say.

 

[HeavyFuel]

GBB are pretty bomb proof tbh and they are usually very hardy.

Here is a general care guide I have prepared for new keepers (some of which already covered but handy to have in one place to copy and paste into your phone notes)

1. Enclosures
These should be size appropriate not too big and not too small. For the terrestrial species, length is more important than height, for arboreal species, height is more appropriate. I have had best results when the substrate is coco fibre (coir). This should be kept mostly dry for most species with a more slightly moist area no bigger than 50% of the surface so the spider has the option. I usually put the open water dish that is also needed in the 'damp' area.

One if the most important things to understand is that cross ventilation is better than holes on the top of an enclosure. For this reason, plastic storage boxes are often better than the more expensive glass vivariums.

2. Food
Live Food is always best as they are hunters. The size of prey (whether that be crickets, meal worms, locusts, roaches etc) should ideally not be larger than the size of the abdomen of the spider. It therefore stands to reason that as the spider grows, as does the size of the prey. Spiderlings will often eat twice a week but I feed my juveniles and adults once a week so as not to cause weight/health issues (e.g. if the abdomen is too big on a large spider, it can drag and become injured) If you cannot find live food small enough for the spiderlings, you can cut up the prey into pieces and they will scavenge.

3. Heating and humidity
Right off the bat, just remember that probably 99% of all spiders available are captive bred, so even though the species may have originated from Mexico for example, there is no need to replicate the conditions found in that country. In my 32 years of looking after tarantulas I have observed best results when temperatures are about 22/23°c and you should always try to make that the room temperature rather than using heat mats or heat rocks which in my opinion are completely wrong for spiders as they can burn themselves and the extra heat often causes the humidity levels to drop which in turn can cause moulting problems. More of that later.

If you do use a heater of any description, if you have a cold room for example, this should be thermostatically controlled and temperatures monitored daily. I have seen stories of whole collections being lost due to overheating. If you must use them, heat mats should only ever be mounted vertically and never cover more than 50% of the surface of the tank/enclosure.

For most species humidity around 60 to 65% is fine (which is typically UKs average btw) so as long as you have an open water dish and a more damp area as described earlier, you should be ok and would only need to light mist once a week if needed.

4. Water
Water dishes has already been mentioned a few times. Many keepers use distilled water or bottled water but I find that cooled down boiled water is absolutely fine for both topping up the water dish and misting. The process of boiling removes any chemicals from tap water as does the fact it has been stood overnight to cool. Any spare water from the kettle just goes in the sprayer. Sorted.

5. Listen to other keepers
Care sheets are all well and good to some extent, but there is nothing like listening to what others have to say.

Thats absolutely fantastic. Thank you and thats why I asked on here. The care sheets seem to be a bit mixed on what they recommend sometimes.

 

[Phil]

Thats absolutely fantastic. Thank you and thats why I asked on here. The care sheets seem to be a bit mixed on what they recommend sometimes.

You're welcome. Glad to help

 

[octanejunkie]

Young GBBs will web off the ground and pretty much live in their webs as slings. Feed and water in the webbing so you can ensure they are eating and make sure the water dish is always full with clean water; even if they web over it, provide another one.

I have a quintuplet of GBB slings that are 3cm-ish and live in vials for the time being


As adults they will become more terrestrially inclined but will still climb if given the opportunity.

Great species, enjoy!