Worried about my new T!

[scottyw33]

Hey everyone! I’m new to the hobby. I got my first T (a healthy GBB) about a week ago. The online shop I went to ended up being a terrible experience. Their site had a listing for confirmed females supposedly 2” in size and I went ahead and placed the order. When she arrived, after no communication or specifics on shipping until the day of pick up, it turned out she is more like 4-4.5” in size. I built out a medium tarantula cribs slider 8x6x6. With a small hide and some fake plants and a water dish. She, to me, seems too big for this enclosure. She can’t fit in the hide, I had to remove some of the plants and decor I had in there to try to give her some more space. Watching her over the last week, she barely moves. She doesn’t have a proper place to hide away. In hindsight sight I should have had extra supplies and maybe an extra enclosure on hand but I trusted the online shop and it didn’t work out that way. I’m wondering if I should leave her be or build a new enclosure or redo her current one with an appropriate sized hide and move things about to maximize space. I know she’s still settling in, is it bad to rehouse her right away if it’s for her benefit in the long run? Should I wait longer and see how she does? She just doesn’t seem happy, but again I’m sure she’s stressed about the shipping and being in a new space. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Ratmosphere]

The enclosure is too small for a spider of that size. Try to find a better option as soon as you could.

 

[scottyw33]

Okay I will, what size do you think is most appropriate?

 

[scottyw33]

I see one on Amazon with good reviews that I can get shipped by tomorrow. It’s 12x8x6 or the next size up is 16x10x8

 

[Ratmosphere]

The 12 x 8 x 6” will be plenty of space. Keep dry with a water dish.

It will take her a while to get used to the enclosure so don’t stress.

 

[scottyw33]

Really appreciate you’re input

 

[m0lsx]

In hindsight sight I should have had extra supplies and maybe an extra enclosure on hand but I trusted the online shop and it didn’t work out that way.

No, the shop should have sent what you paid for & it should have communicated with you. A simple phone call or email to say, it's going to be larger, is that an issue for you? Would have taken moments & made a big difference.

 

[scottyw33]

Worst experience I’ve had with an online store. They must interfere with their google reviews to make them look better because after I dug deeper they have horrible reviews. It was a place called Snakes at Sunset so steer clear!

 

[Ratmosphere]

Never heard of them but I’ll for sure keep this in mind!

Do you think they confused body size with DLS?

 

[scottyw33]

No I just think they don’t care. There was zero communication, when I did get ahold of someone they blamed me. I literally heard nothing from the company until fedex sent me a text saying the package was ready for pick up. The spiders abdomen was tiny for her size as well, making me think they don’t care for the animals very well. She ate right away luckily and is looking much healthier.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Glad you are taking good care of her.

I looked at the site and it doesn’t seem like they care about their spiders. All of them are housed on wood chips. They even have a B. boehmi listed as a B. smithi.

 

[scottyw33]

Also every in single picture of all their species shows they’re about 2” which makes no sense. In the description it says “pictures are an estimate of size”. Should say “could be two to three times larger”.

 

[scottyw33]

Also to top it off she was shipped in a catch cup with damp moss in it. She was probably shifting all around in the cup. Everything I've seen from reputable stores shows that they are shipped in paper towel to cushion the spider. Plus the GBB is an arid species, I don’t know if damp moss is a great thing to pack with them

 

[Ratmosphere]

I’ve had some success receiving tarantulas packed in moss. One of the biggest breeders on the east coast packs in moss, and is highly reputable. It’s really bad when people use dirt or coco fiber, that’s when most deaths occur.

I do prefer to ship everything with the paper towel method.

 

[scottyw33]

Okay well that’s good to know at least. Are you a seller?

 

[Ratmosphere]

Yes.

 

[m0lsx]

It’s really bad when people use dirt or coco fiber, that’s when most deaths occur.

I do prefer to ship everything with the paper towel method.

My wife had a T delivered from a facebook trader who sent it with coco fibre in the tub. He is certainly not someone we would ever use again.

 

[scottyw33]

I got her rehoused! I learned that I’m terrible at rehousing and she was a very feisty little one but she’s in the new enclosure and we both came out unscathed. She has plenty of room now.

 

[scottyw33]

My wife had a T delivered from a facebook trader who sent it with coco fibre in the tub. He is certainly not someone we would ever use again.

What can happen to them if they’re shipped like that?

 

[m0lsx]

What can happen to them if they’re shipped like that?

Imagine being transported in a cement mixer for hours at a time, over & over again. I would imagine it is an extremely similar experience.

I used to drive HGV's & have done many what are called trunk runs. These are nighttime runs between local delivery depots & regional hubs. Local parcels are collected & then sent to the hub. Each local truck delivers, then waits for all the parcels for your area to be sorted & loaded so you can return with tomorrows deliveries. In the UK a hub normally covers an area of about 4.5 hours driving in all direction. As here, 9 hours is the maximum that an HGV driver can drive for per day, (24 hour period.)

I have seen packages marked fragile used as a step. Or placed at the bottom of a big pile. I have seen trucks loaded floor to ceiling, with no order, or care, beyond fitting them all in. Now add in that as a night trunk driver your main job is to get a load to & from that depot within your legally allowed driving limit, regardless of things like fog, ice, roadworks, speed limits etc etc. And yes, some companies are slightly better than others. But all are very similar.

Ever ridden in a trailer? The suspension is not great. A truck driver has air suspension on his seat. Your T will have a bare floor & tons of other parcels around it. 4.5 hours at 58mph in a trailer is not a pleasant journey. As an HGV driver my role was to get the load there & back. Thus my driving was very different to when I did bus & coach work. Heavy breaking & pushing through corners is fine, as long as I get there & back in 4.5 hours & don't damage the truck. Now double that 4.5 hours for the return journey & then add the hours that the parcel spends in a van after being collected. Plus the hours in a van as it is delivered.

Now imagine the above whilst you are in a container with substrate constantly moving around you.