Buying a Chaco Golden Knee tarantula spiderling - could you answer a few questions?

[MantidBro]

Hello. I'm getting a Chaco Goden Knee tarantula, as a spiderling, (Grammostolla pulchripes) as my first tarantula (as I've read it's a good beginner species). I want to ask a few questions. I've gotten a lot of information from caresheets and such, but I'd like to get information from experienced owners and those who are very familiar with the species as well.

1.) Is it true that they don't need a heating pad and don't like direct sunlight?

2.) For juvenilles, should a small bottle cap be used as a water source, or should the substrate just be moist? Should I do both? I'm asking both for humidity purposes and also hydration purposes.

3.) Like mantids, are tarantulas suseptible to falling ill after eating crickets?

4.) How sensitive is this species? Is it one of the more hardy species?

5.) I attached photos of the set up, does this seem good? Is there anything I should add, or change?

Thank you very much.

 

[HungryGhost]

First of all you have picked a great tarantula to start with! What size is the spidering? If it's under 2" that enclosure might be a little big to start with. The substrate is nice an deep but I think it's made from the wrong material. It looks like mulch from outside which is bad for two reasons; 1) it probably contains pine and/or cedar and T's don't like that at all. 2) if it's from outside it may harbor mites and other nasty critters that can harm your T. That goes for the leaves and acorn pieces in the container too, get rid of them. I would go to a pet store and get some Ecco earth coconut fiber substrate. If you want you can mix the Ecco earth 50/50 with organic potting soil. No heating pad is needed, if your house temps don't go below 60 degrees F he will be fine. If you're comfortable with you house temp it will be suitable for a Chaco. A small shallow water dish is a must just not too big or he could drown.

If it's a small spidering, a 24 oz deli cup will work better until it gets bigger. Keep the humidity higher for slings by keeping the substrate moist. Please post a picture when you get him! I hope this helps, any questions just ask and I'll try to answer them if I can.

This is my Chaco, Evita. She's about 4.25" now.

 

[MantidBro]

First of all you have picked a great tarantula to start with! What size is the spidering? If it's under 2" that enclosure might be a little big to start with. The substrate is nice an deep but I think it's made from the wrong material. It looks like mulch from outside which is bad for two reasons; 1) it probably contains pine and/or cedar and T's don't like that at all. 2) if it's from outside it may harbor mites and other nasty critters that can harm your T. That goes for the leaves and acorn pieces in the container too, get rid of them. I would go to a pet store and get some Ecco earth coconut fiber substrate. If you want you can mix the Ecco earth 50/50 with organic potting soil. No heating pad is needed, if your house temps don't go below 60 degrees F he will be fine. If you're comfortable with you house temp it will be suitable for a Chaco. A small shallow water dish is a must just not too big or he could drown.

If it's a small spidering, a 24 oz deli cup will work better until it gets bigger. Keep the humidity higher for slings by keeping the substrate moist. Please post a picture when you get him! I hope this helps, any questions just ask and I'll try to answer them if I can.

This is my Chaco, Evita. She's about 4.25" now.

The spiderling has a 3/4 of an inch leg span the seller said. So smaller than 2". I should start with something smaller then. The substrate is cypress mulch mixed with coconut fiber, both bought at petsmart. Should i use only coconut fiber, no cypress mulch? the leaves and sticks and acorns were baked, should I still remove them? And a small water dish is a must, ok, and ill be sure its not too deep. so does this species not enjoy sunlight, should i keep him/her away from it? Thank you very much for the information. I will certainly post photos when I receive him/her. Wow Evita is beautiful! How long have you had her?

 

[HungryGhost]

I got Evita in November of last year, she was about 3 inches then. A 3/4 spidering only needs a container about 3"-4" across with deep moist substrate. At that size they don't need a water dish either just make sure the sub is moist and they will get water from their food and condensation. I have never had an issue feeding T's store bought crickets. At that size they can eat pinhead crickets to very small crickets. Crickets can bite spiderlings so make sure they are no bigger than the spiderlings abdomin. You can also feed hydei fruit flies and house flies to him. I would feed one prey item a day (fruit flies 5-10 a day) to gets some fast growth. They will eat like crazy at that size. When they go into pre-molt they will ignore the food or run away from it. Take the food out so it can molt in peace. They will flip on their back to molt. A spiderling will probably start eating again about 3 days after molting, so don't offer prey until then.

This is my Salmon Pink Bird-Eater spiderling in its container. Just moist substrate, no decorations, no water dish. It will probably remain in this set up until it's 1.25"-1.5".

 

[MantidBro]

I got Evita in November of last year, she was about 3 inches then. A 3/4 spidering only needs a container about 3"-4" across with deep moist substrate. At that size they don't need a water dish either just make sure the sub is moist and they will get water from their food and condensation. I have never had an issue feeding T's store bought crickets. At that size they can eat pinhead crickets to very small crickets. Crickets can bite spiderlings so make sure they are no bigger than the spiderlings abdomin. You can also feed hydei fruit flies and house flies to him. I would feed one prey item a day (fruit flies 5-10 a day) to gets some fast growth. They will eat like crazy at that size. When they go into pre-molt they will ignore the food or run away from it. Take the food out so it can molt in peace. They will flip on their back to molt. A spiderling will probably start eating again about 3 days after molting, so don't offer prey until then.

This is my Salmon Pink Bird-Eater spiderling in its container. Just moist substrate, no decorations, no water dish. It will probably remain in this set up until it's 1.25"-1.5".

She's a real beaute!

Thanks for the help man. I'll go get pinhead crickets today.

So how's this for a set up? Until he/she gets to be bigger.

 

[HungryGhost]

That looks perfect and it should suit him for quite a while. As spiderlings they occasionally burrow so that will be great! I have a Green Bottle Blue spiderling in the mail on it's way to me now. I kept T's about 12 years ago and since getting into mantids late last year I find myself being drawn to them again. When i last kept T's Chacos weren't even available to the hobby, and Green Bottle Blues were too expensive.

Here's a tarantula forum that I belong to:

http://www.tarantulaforum.com

 

[MantidBro]

Wow awesome! Those are awesome looking. Enjoy your new pet! I'll surely enjoy mine. I started with mantids and have since started moving onto other invertebrates as well. I've been keeping them for the past 3 years. I haven't not owned a mantid since, I've literally had a mantid every single day since. I always had a replacement when one died. I currently have 7. 4 Parasphendale agrionina, 1 Blepharopsis mendica and 2 Popa spurca. Thanks for the link!

 

[HungryGhost]

I currently have 15 mantids of 6 different species and I'm incubating 2 ooths. It's addicting!

 

[MantidBro]

I currently have 15 mantids of 6 different species and I'm incubating 2 ooths. It's addicting!

awesome! it is VERY addicting. its my mission to own as manh different species as i can! im also incubating one ootheca, and selling others~

 

[MantidBro]

Here he/she is! I'm going to post more on the arachnid section here and also on tarantulaforum

 

[DinehCaveman]

Those beta fish cups are perfect for T slings for a few months. They are clearer than deli cups.

 

[MantidBro]

Those beta fish cups are perfect for T slings for a few months. They are clearer than deli cups.

i realized that, i feel bad that the deli cup is a bit blurry! i dont have any beta fish cups, ive never seen them before, i will check around next time i go to petsmart

 

[HungryGhost]

i realized that, i feel bad that the deli cup is a bit blurry! i dont have any beta fish cups, ive never seen them before, i will check around next time i go to petsmart

Don't worry the deli cup won't bother you T at all. I just happened to have a beta cup from a fish I owned once.

 

[MantidBro]

Don't worry the deli cup won't bother you T at all. I just happened to have a beta cup from a fish I owned once.

Oh okay

 

[DinehCaveman]

I also just happened to have one from my son's beta, that I modified. I cut a bigger hole leaving about a half inch from the edge and hot glued some screen. Ask one of the employees at petco for an extra one, they may be nice and give you one.