Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New media
New articles
New media comments
New article comments
New profile posts
Latest activity
Articles
New articles
New comments
Search articles
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Navigation
Install the app
Install
More options
Light Theme
Contact us
Close Menu
Are you a Tarantula hobbyist? If so, we invite you to join our community! Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your pets and enclosures and chat with other Tarantula enthusiasts.
Sign up today!
Forums
Tarantula Forum Topics
General Tarantula Discussion
Uh oh, looks like mold!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Tortoise Tom" data-source="post: 153120" data-attributes="member: 27883"><p>One thing I've learned after decades of caring for all sorts of animals is that lots of different strategies will work. Despite this, some people seem to have pretty strong opinions about one way or another. Sometimes this is based on something they've read, and sometimes its based on first hand experience. This can make it difficult for a new keeper to sort through and discern the "correct" info. One nice thing about most tarantula species is that there is a wide margin of error. 10 people can tell you how to do it 10 different ways, and all 10 can be correct and lead you to success. I've been keeping tarantulas since the early 90s, but only a few individuals from a few common species for most of that time. Only in the last year or so, did I branch out and try dozens of new species. Man, there was a lot to learn, and so much more still to go. We did so many things "wrong" back then, yet I still never had any problems and none of mine ever died prematurely. We had sponges in the water, the wrong substrates, substrate that was too wet or too dry, not enough ventilation, over feeding, underfeeding, wrong temperature info and products to help correct this misperceived "problem", etc... The point is, with these Internet forums, current books, and so many helpful people, this is the golden age of tarantula keeping from where I'm sitting. It really can't get any easier or simpler. We know so much more now both as individuals and collectively.</p><p></p><p>Food: I prefer roaches as feeders. They have a higher meat to shell ratio, and are very nutritious. They won't harm the tarantula even during the molting process, they are easy to handle, easy to house, and easy to propagate. I don't like mealworms as a food source and don't feed them to anything. They are mostly chitin and have a terrible calcium to phosphorous ratio. Crickets are better than mealworms, but I hate crickets. They stink, they are noisy, they are difficult to breed in quantity, they escape and infest your house, or they all die off for no apparent reason. No thank you. Roaches are easy, safe, and good food.</p><p></p><p>About the drinking: First, they don't need to drink a whole lot. Second, most tarantulas (possibly all of them...) are most active at night. I sleep at night. I don't have any idea what my tarantulas are doing while I sleep. I do know that when I go into the reptile room at night with a light, they are all out and about doing tarantula stuff. My best guess would be that they do their drinking at night. Kind of like most humans. </p><p><img src="https://tarantulaforum.com/images/beeremoji.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":beer:" title="Beer :beer:" data-shortname=":beer:" /></p><p></p><p>About moving the Caribena: The nice thing is that they are not usually aggressive, nor exceedingly toxic if a bite did somehow inexplicably occur. Here is a tip: Arboreals tend to go UP when you mess with them or try to move them. Hold your catch cup accordingly. There are a million ways to move a tarantula. I found value in watching Youtube videos of people re-homing the species I was interested in. I learned not only how each species moves and behaves, but also saw many useful techniques and bits of kit that were helpful. I also saw what not to do. A few minutes searching and watching a few videos will probably put your mind much more at ease.</p><p></p><p>Keep asking all your questions. We are all here to talk about spiders, and your questions will fuel the conversation. Chances are good that other people have the same questions, and that other people reading will also learn from the answers given by some of our more experienced members. I have learned a ton from some of the members here.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tortoise Tom, post: 153120, member: 27883"] One thing I've learned after decades of caring for all sorts of animals is that lots of different strategies will work. Despite this, some people seem to have pretty strong opinions about one way or another. Sometimes this is based on something they've read, and sometimes its based on first hand experience. This can make it difficult for a new keeper to sort through and discern the "correct" info. One nice thing about most tarantula species is that there is a wide margin of error. 10 people can tell you how to do it 10 different ways, and all 10 can be correct and lead you to success. I've been keeping tarantulas since the early 90s, but only a few individuals from a few common species for most of that time. Only in the last year or so, did I branch out and try dozens of new species. Man, there was a lot to learn, and so much more still to go. We did so many things "wrong" back then, yet I still never had any problems and none of mine ever died prematurely. We had sponges in the water, the wrong substrates, substrate that was too wet or too dry, not enough ventilation, over feeding, underfeeding, wrong temperature info and products to help correct this misperceived "problem", etc... The point is, with these Internet forums, current books, and so many helpful people, this is the golden age of tarantula keeping from where I'm sitting. It really can't get any easier or simpler. We know so much more now both as individuals and collectively. Food: I prefer roaches as feeders. They have a higher meat to shell ratio, and are very nutritious. They won't harm the tarantula even during the molting process, they are easy to handle, easy to house, and easy to propagate. I don't like mealworms as a food source and don't feed them to anything. They are mostly chitin and have a terrible calcium to phosphorous ratio. Crickets are better than mealworms, but I hate crickets. They stink, they are noisy, they are difficult to breed in quantity, they escape and infest your house, or they all die off for no apparent reason. No thank you. Roaches are easy, safe, and good food. About the drinking: First, they don't need to drink a whole lot. Second, most tarantulas (possibly all of them...) are most active at night. I sleep at night. I don't have any idea what my tarantulas are doing while I sleep. I do know that when I go into the reptile room at night with a light, they are all out and about doing tarantula stuff. My best guess would be that they do their drinking at night. Kind of like most humans. :beer: About moving the Caribena: The nice thing is that they are not usually aggressive, nor exceedingly toxic if a bite did somehow inexplicably occur. Here is a tip: Arboreals tend to go UP when you mess with them or try to move them. Hold your catch cup accordingly. There are a million ways to move a tarantula. I found value in watching Youtube videos of people re-homing the species I was interested in. I learned not only how each species moves and behaves, but also saw many useful techniques and bits of kit that were helpful. I also saw what not to do. A few minutes searching and watching a few videos will probably put your mind much more at ease. Keep asking all your questions. We are all here to talk about spiders, and your questions will fuel the conversation. Chances are good that other people have the same questions, and that other people reading will also learn from the answers given by some of our more experienced members. I have learned a ton from some of the members here. [/QUOTE]
Verification
Post reply
Forums
Tarantula Forum Topics
General Tarantula Discussion
Uh oh, looks like mold!
Top