Stressed Giant Bird Eating Tarantula

[Sara Brown]

While browsing in Petco today for dog toys I was looking at the tarantula they had there. I've seen it several times before. Usually hiding and hard to spot though. They were selling it for quite a lot. The manager saw me looking and asked me to buy it, jokingly. I said I totally would if it wasn't so expensive. He offered me 20% off because he said the tarantula had been there a long time and needed a good home and was stressed out. I declined, but couldn't say no when he then offered me 50% off.

So, now I have this new tarantula. I'm unsure of the age and sex. If anybody could give me an idea of the sex, that would be great.

And any ideas on if he/she looks overly stressed? And what to do (other than a calm quiet enclosure) to help if he/she is stressed?

Thanks!

I can upload more pictures if needed.

(And when I put him/her in the new enclosure they spent about 20 minutes fully body in the water dish.)

 

[TabithasMom]

Looks like a T. blondi, and appears well fed. Hanging around the water dish suggests s/he is dehydrated, but that can be easily treated, as s/he did it him/herself. If it is a blondi, better prepare for a very large spider, and provide it with ample space. Also, be prepared to feed it larger prey (like mice or frogs) when it reaches maturity. Crickets won't satisfy it, unless you drop at least 6-12 at a time. I'm surprised Petco had a blondi for sale. I normally see roseas or a. avics. Wonder how they got their hands on one.

 

[TabithasMom]

How much did you wind up paying for it, if I may ask?

 

[Sara Brown]

I ended up paying $75.00. I have her (I've been calling it a her for now as there are currently no hooks) in a 10 gallon tank right now. If she needs bigger later I'll size it up. I understand they can get quite large. Feeding her other things besides crickets doesn't bother me. I'm just not sure at what size I need to start feeding her other things. Petco was feeding her crickets, so I'm going to continue on with that while I learn more about her. Any info/suggestions would be very welcome. I wasn't planning on buying this particular species as my second tarantula. She just kind of fell into my lap when they really wanted to sell her to me. I don't think they get many tarantula enthusiasts in there and were excited to find someone who might be willing to take her. She'd been there quite a while.

 

[Ghost]

Hi Sara,congrats on your new addition.
I'm going to stick my neck out and say I'm 99.9% certain that's a T.stirmi you have there and not T.blondi which is a good thing as T.stirmi are bit more hardier than T.blondi.
I'm not sure how much research you've done on keeping these but there's a fair amount of misinformation out there regarding how to keep them,so I'll give you a quick run down of how I keep mine.
Substrate I use top soil mixed with some vermiculite and keep it moist not wet or soggy,some keepers put gravel underneath the sub but in my opinion it's not needed you don't want it that wet in there,ventilation holes in the upper sides for cross ventilation I don't put air holes in the top as it lets out the humidity and ruins the microclimate effect keep a large water dish full at all times between that and the moist sub that will keep the humidity at a suitable level,temps 75-80 Fahrenheit is fine.
One thing to remember is don't mist the enclosure as it kicks up hairs and these are some of the worst you don't want them on your skin,to keep the sub moist just randomly sprinkle water over it that way you won't get the hairs airborne.
When it comes to feeding crickets,roaches,superworms are fine even although theses T's get quite large you don't need to feed them mice or anything like that,I feed mine once a week and give 5-6 large roaches at a time and their all big and healthy looking without feeding them mice or any larger prey.
Anyway I hope this give you an idea of how to keep these T's thriving if you have any questions just ask and enjoy your new T.......

 

[Therasoid]

Hello Sara and congratulations on the new addition. $75 is a real good price for its size.
Ghost gave you excellent advice on keeping this species. I'll agree with it being T. stirmi and the feeding of roaches or crickets and occasionally super worms as their diet. [emoji6]

 

[Sara Brown]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the advice. I'm glad you warned me about misting. I don't think she has many hairs to shed or throw. She's pretty bald right now. I'm thinking it's probably from stress.

This is how she has been for the last 3 hours.

She's pretty docile right now. Easily persuaded to move without showing any aggressive behaviors.

 

[Sara Brown]

Seems she was preparing to molt.

 

[Sara Brown]

Molted.

 

[Tomoran]

Have you sexed it? I took a look at the molt, but when I tried to blow it up it looked too dark and blurry.

Gorgeous tarantula!

 

[Sara Brown]

I have not sexed it yet. Honestly I can't remember how from the molt, so I need to figure it out and and try.

 

[Sara Brown]

I have a question. Before she molted she was Brown. Now she's black. Will she stay black? Or once hardened will she once again be Brown?

Hi Sara,congrats on your new addition.
I'm going to stick my neck out and say I'm 99.9% certain that's a T.stirmi you have there and not T.blondi which is a good thing as T.stirmi are bit more hardier than T.blondi.
I'm not sure how much research you've done on keeping these but there's a fair amount of misinformation out there regarding how to keep them,so I'll give you a quick run down of how I keep mine.
Substrate I use top soil mixed with some vermiculite and keep it moist not wet or soggy,some keepers put gravel underneath the sub but in my opinion it's not needed you don't want it that wet in there,ventilation holes in the upper sides for cross ventilation I don't put air holes in the top as it lets out the humidity and ruins the microclimate effect keep a large water dish full at all times between that and the moist sub that will keep the humidity at a suitable level,temps 75-80 Fahrenheit is fine.
One thing to remember is don't mist the enclosure as it kicks up hairs and these are some of the worst you don't want them on your skin,to keep the sub moist just randomly sprinkle water over it that way you won't get the hairs airborne.
When it comes to feeding crickets,roaches,superworms are fine even although theses T's get quite large you don't need to feed them mice or anything like that,I feed mine once a week and give 5-6 large roaches at a time and their all big and healthy looking without feeding them mice or any larger prey.
Anyway I hope this give you an idea of how to keep these T's thriving if you have any questions just ask and enjoy your new T.......

 

[leaveittoweaver]

I have a question. Before she molted she was Brown. Now she's black. Will she stay black? Or once hardened will she once again be Brown?

She will be brown again once hardened up.

 

[MassExodus]

Thirded on T. stirmi. Blondies have very obvious long hairs on the patella, otherwise they look identical. Also, Ghost's advice for care was perfect. It's most likely wild caught, but that doesn't detract from the spider, just the dealer. Congrats, very nice pick up, and thanks for sharing

 

[MassExodus]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the advice. I'm glad you warned me about misting. I don't think she has many hairs to shed or throw. She's pretty bald right now. I'm thinking it's probably from stress.

This is how she has been for the last 3 hours.

She's pretty docile right now. Easily persuaded to move without showing any aggressive behaviors.

I've noticed that stirmis and blondies often have that bald spot, it's not necessarily from stress, though it could be. I'm of the opinion that they just like to throw their urticating hairs all over around their domain, as a warning, or a defense. I could be wrong though. It's hard to judge why tarantulas do what they do...I owned a mature male wild caught stirmi that died naturally, about a year after I got him. He never kicked hairs at me, but he did stridulate if my hand got too close and he was in a mood..I always thought it was cool when he did that I miss that big boy.