Since I started with one of my other pasttimes, shaking cocktails at my home bar, brought along an unexpected increase in the numbers of visitors at my home I've been looking for a way to decrease it again to a level that I have under control. An exotic pet like a tarantula seemed to be an adequate counter action.
After informing myself with books, the internet and in pet shops I made the final step a short time ago. I am now a proud owner of a female grammostola rosea.
Unfortunatelly, owning a tarantula does not have quite the desired effect on the constelation of visitors in my home. Instead, the more thirsty guys still visit me as often as before or even more ("Yo, can I take a look at your tarantula? And by the way do you have a Mai Tai on today's menu...???") whereas the girls aren't too keen on visiting me anymore ("I won't go into a house in which such a beast is living! What if it gets on the loose...? Eeeeek!!!").
Since I understood that, I'm very eager to educate people about tarantulas. What astonished me was the fact that most folks were of the opinion a tarantula could kill a man. That is absolutely not true. In fact an attack of a tarantula is comparable to be hit by a bee. True, when bitten by such a spider some bacteria might get into your bloodstream which might or might not cause far bigger problems than the poison itself. That's because tarantulas are not quite gourmets and so they use their teeth usually to kill various sorts of bugs that are suitable as pray. This may contaminate the teeth. Therefore I'm serious about keeping my vaccinations up to date. But since I'm the only one who has the right to put his hands inside the terrarium I am also the only one in danger of being attacked and all the others don't have to bother about that possibility. The terrarium is equipped with a lock so nobody besides me can reach inside.
When I was a kid my father owned a saltwater aquarium for many years. Inside that he had some fish that really could harm a human being with its poison.
What's funny is that nobody ever was afraid of these fish ("Wow, that one looks cuuuute...!"), but my harmless tarantula is expected to be a monster...
But I found out that after folks have seen pictures of my tarantula then all of a sudden they are quite eager to get face to face with the real thing.
The terrarium is sized 16 x 10 x 10 inches and is equipped with about two inches of soil (a mixture of pine bark humus and peat), back wall made of cork, a water pot and a small cavern made of wood.
To make it more comfy there's also a plant, a little red rock and a decorative tree root.
The terrarium is also equipped with a timer that controls two 12V / 20W halogen lamps. During the day these lamps are automatically switched on an besides giving light they also function as a heating system. So during the day it has around 25°C and at night about 20°C. The humidity is between 60% and 70%. These environment is quite suitable for a grammostola rosea. Most other tarantulas like it warmer and more humid. Temperature and Humidity can be checked by an instrument installed in the terrarium.
Tarantulas are active in the dusk. To be able to watch the spider even when it is dark I put a red light lamp besides the terrarium. Tarantulas cannot see light of that wave length so they are not bothered by it.
My first tarantula was a female Grammostola rosea.
When the tarantula has moved into my home she first inspected every corner of her new terrarium (mostly she felt around since tarantulas can't see very good) and afterwards she took a healthy gulp of water from the pot.
At first she was quite afraid and reacted very nervous on every disturbance. But meanwhile she became much more comfortable and keeps her cool when I work inside the terrarium. Only when during watering the plant accidentally she gets hit by a drop of water she feels quite insulted and hides herself in the cave. Then you won't see her again for at least half an hour. That is even though she doesn't seem to be afraid of water on other occasions. When she is drinking she puts her first pair of legs even inside the pot.
My second tarantula is a female Brachypelma boehmei. This one has currentliy a body length of about 2 inches, as an adult she might have a length of up to 3 inches. This kind belongs to the 'real' uricating tarantulas, meaning that she uses her uricating bristles in order to defend herself instead of biting. These bristles itch quite a lot and one has to be careful not to get them into ones eyes. I say she's a 'real' uricating spider because generally almost all New World tarantulas possess these special bristles but not all of them actually use them (the above mentioned G. rosea for example is a very gentle one that normally flees when she is bothered. Only in very tough situations she actively defends herself but in these cases she normally doesn't use her uricating bristles. Instead she bites).
The Brachypelma boehmei is a quite nervous spider that uses her uricating bristles quite fast.
My next two tarantulas are a Cyclosternum fasciatum and an Aphonopelma texensis. Both species belong to the relatively small sorts of tarantulas, adult females reach a maximum body length of about 1.5 inches.
The Aphonopelma texensis is, like her name lets you already guess, native to the United States, mostly to Texas. There she lives in relatively dry habitads and therefore one shouldn't keep her in a too humid cage. As soil I use a mixture of sand and peat in order to get close to the natural habitads in the half deserts of the US.. She is a very active spider that strolls around in her cage very often and only sometimes hides in her little cave.
The Cyclosternum fasciatum is native to central Costa Rica. She is webbing quite a lot and also integrates some soil into her web. In this way this species is building tunnels to live in that you can't see through. Usually this sort of tarantula lives very hidden but mine often sits on a open spot in her cage where you have a very good sight of her.
The next one who moved in with me was a miniature tarantula native to Trinidad: Holothele incei. I own an adult female with a body length of about 1 inch. This species is to be handled with care since it is a very nervous and an unbelievably fast kind. One really can't imagine how fast they are as long as one hasn't seen them running with own eyes. As I brought her home from my local breeder and moved her from the small transport box into the cage I only touched her once very lightly and gone she was. It was like lightning and it took her about 0.3 seconds to get from the box into the farthest away corner of the terrarium. I was quite lucky she started in the right direction, in case she wouldn't have run into the terrarium I'm quite shure I wouldn't have been able to catch her. This kind of tarantula is webbing even more than the above mentioned C. fasciatum and is also digging quite a lot. Unfortunatedly this spider lives a very hidden live and you don't get to see her very often. Despite that I got the chance to take a picture that shows her in all her beauty.
Some pics of my other tarantulas:
Theraphosa blondi
Citarishius crawshayi
Grammostola pulchra
Psalmopoeus irminia
Acanthogonatus franckii
(this is actually no Tarantula but a Nemesidae)
Besides the above mentioned tarantulas I care for several more specemen. As of now I have about fifty spiders in my collection.
0.1.0 Aphonopelma bicoloratum
0.1.3 Aphonopelma burica
0.0.1 Aphonopelma caniceps
0.1.0 Aphonopelma chalcodes
0.0.2 Aphonopelma spec.
0.1.1 Brachypelma emilia
0.0.1 Brachypelma ruhnaui
0.1.0 Chaetopelma gracile
0.1.0 Chilobrachys andersoni
0.1.2 Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens
0.0.1 Citarishius crawshayi
0.1.0 Cyclosternum fasciatum
0.1.0 Eucratoscelus pachypus
1.1.0 Grammostola actaeon
1.0.2 Grammostola alticeps
1.0.2 Grammostola iheringi
0.0.2 Grammostola mollicoma
0.1.0 Grammostola pulchra
0.0.1 Grammostola pulchripes
0.1.0 Grammostola rosea
0.0.2 Grammostola spec. "formosa"
0.1.0 Heterothele villosella
X.X.X Holothele incei
0.0.1 Linothele megatheloides
0.0.1 Metriopelma spec. "orange"
0.0.3 Monocentropus balfouri
0.0.1 Nhandu carapoensis
0.0.1 Nhandu coloratovillosus
0.0.1 Pamphobeteus nigricolor
0.0.1 Phlogius spec. "Sarina"
0.0.2 Phormictopus atrichomatus
