A FEW QUESTIONS FROM A NEW T. OWNER

[APapaCharlie]

Good Morning,

So I was walking through one of the local pet stores the other day not looking for anything and left with a Red Knee. My wife hates me right now!! This is the first T. I have owned and I have been searching for T. info so I have a few questions that I know one of the many experts on here will hopefully answer for me. My first question is how do I know how old this T. is? I have looked for some kind of chart and all I can really find is one would go by measurement when it comes to age. My second question is when should I swap from crickets to bigger food such as a mouse? And my third question is should I mist? I have read yes and I have read no being as the water dish will give off enough humidity so I haven't been misting. That's all I got for now...Thanks in advance for the answers and I hope your day is great!

 

[menavodi]

Welcome to TF!
Telling the age of a tarantula is never accurate. You can go by size, but some tarantulas are smaller than others, some grow larger.

I am feeding all my tarantulas crickets. If you would have a giant one, you could give a small mouse from time to time.

if you have real plants you can mist more often, but most people use plastic plants. I this case if you overflow your water bowl from time to time, that would be enough...

Enjoy your tarantula. It is a beautiful one...

 

[Enn49]

Hello and welcome to the hobby.

The age of a T is dependent on many things, sex, the conditions in which it has been kept and the food it has been eating.
As @menavodi says they do well on crickets but some people give them roaches too. You can give them a couple of mice a year as a treat but be warned that you will need to remove any bolus (left overs) pretty quickly as they smell awful.
Your T comes from an arid area so there is no need to mist but a full water bowl will be sufficient allowing it to overflow on occasion..

 

[PanzoN88]

1. There are really no determining factors for age. You can have an entire sac that will molt at different rates from one another.

2. Crickets will be fine, but you may find them annoying after a while, I feed all of my tarantulas either superworms, mealworms, and roaches.

3. Misting is unnecessary, a full water dish will suffice.

 

[APapaCharlie]

Thanks for the speedy responses everyone! It seem like I have been doing everything correctly so far in the few weeks I have had the T. I will start overflowing the bowl every now and then and not mist being as I have fake plants. Is there a easy way to tell the sex of the T?

 

[PanzoN88]

Thanks for the speedy responses everyone! It seem like I have been doing everything correctly so far in the few weeks I have had the T. I will start overflowing the bowl every now and then and not mist being as I have fake plants. Is there a easy way to tell the sex of the T?

The best way is ny opening the abdomen portion of the molt. You can try ventral sexing, but it isn't always accurate.