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I need help fitting this enclosure !!
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<blockquote data-quote="Stan Schultz" data-source="post: 226226" data-attributes="member: 28438"><p>You're fretting too much over little or nothing! Because almost all tarantulas now available are cage bred, babies to spiderlings in size (i.e., with DLS - Diagonal Leg Spans - of less than 2" (5 cm), just about anything that you're likely to get will fit in that cage for now. In fact, you should be more concerned about getting a cage that's so large that most of your tarantula's food gets lost and dies before it's eaten!</p><p></p><p>Second consideration: While these values are subject to wide variation, among the shortest lived tarantulas are the <em>Avicularia</em>. Males often/usually mature in two to four years, and die within six months after that. Female <em>Avics</em> will typically live five to eight years, a few even longer.</p><p></p><p>Among the longest lived tarantulas are some of the <em>Brachypelma</em> and a few kinds of North American <em>Aphonopelma</em>. We had a <em>B. emilia</em>, for instance, that lived an estimated 35 to 40 years! And, the now late, and once President of the now defunct American Tarantula Society, Dr. Robert Gale Breene III, once captured a gravid female of unidentified species from the Artesia, New Mexico area that subsequently produced an eggsac. (So he knew exactly how old the offspring were.) He managed to hatch the eggs and ended up with a few hundred babies. While he either sold or traded most of them off, he'd kept a small number as personal pets. He told me that he'd had them for five years and they were still only about the size of an American (or Canadian) nickel in DLS. This was in spite of the fact that they'd never been subjected to a seasonal, Winter cold spell that presumably would have retarded their growth, and in spite of the fact that they were fed in captivity far more than they would have gotten in the wild. Based on this admittedly thin evidence he stated that it was conceivable that their kind of tarantula might live as long as 60 years in the wild!</p><p></p><p>Now, why am I telling you all this? Because keeping tarantulas is a years long, if not long decades long, endeavor. Depending a lot on what kind of tarantula you're keeping, how well you care for it, and pure chance, any tarantula you're likely to acquire is not going to outgrow your cage for literally years! You have plenty of time to rehouse it if and when necessary. By that time you'll have gained a lot of the knowledge and experience in the hobby that you now lack, and you'll smile knowingly as you think back on this conversation. So will your long-legged, fuzzy, little buddy!</p><p></p><p>Stan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Stan Schultz, post: 226226, member: 28438"] You're fretting too much over little or nothing! Because almost all tarantulas now available are cage bred, babies to spiderlings in size (i.e., with DLS - Diagonal Leg Spans - of less than 2" (5 cm), just about anything that you're likely to get will fit in that cage for now. In fact, you should be more concerned about getting a cage that's so large that most of your tarantula's food gets lost and dies before it's eaten! Second consideration: While these values are subject to wide variation, among the shortest lived tarantulas are the [I]Avicularia[/I]. Males often/usually mature in two to four years, and die within six months after that. Female [I]Avics[/I] will typically live five to eight years, a few even longer. Among the longest lived tarantulas are some of the [I]Brachypelma[/I] and a few kinds of North American [I]Aphonopelma[/I]. We had a [I]B. emilia[/I], for instance, that lived an estimated 35 to 40 years! And, the now late, and once President of the now defunct American Tarantula Society, Dr. Robert Gale Breene III, once captured a gravid female of unidentified species from the Artesia, New Mexico area that subsequently produced an eggsac. (So he knew exactly how old the offspring were.) He managed to hatch the eggs and ended up with a few hundred babies. While he either sold or traded most of them off, he'd kept a small number as personal pets. He told me that he'd had them for five years and they were still only about the size of an American (or Canadian) nickel in DLS. This was in spite of the fact that they'd never been subjected to a seasonal, Winter cold spell that presumably would have retarded their growth, and in spite of the fact that they were fed in captivity far more than they would have gotten in the wild. Based on this admittedly thin evidence he stated that it was conceivable that their kind of tarantula might live as long as 60 years in the wild! Now, why am I telling you all this? Because keeping tarantulas is a years long, if not long decades long, endeavor. Depending a lot on what kind of tarantula you're keeping, how well you care for it, and pure chance, any tarantula you're likely to acquire is not going to outgrow your cage for literally years! You have plenty of time to rehouse it if and when necessary. By that time you'll have gained a lot of the knowledge and experience in the hobby that you now lack, and you'll smile knowingly as you think back on this conversation. So will your long-legged, fuzzy, little buddy! Stan [/QUOTE]
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