My first tarantula a Curlyhair (Brachypelma albopilosum) HF

While out taking my mother-in-law on her bi-weekly doctor appointments today, I spent some of my free time waiting at a nearby pet shop. I came across a few tiny tarantulas, and thought it was a interesting find. Well my mother-in-law gave me a $20 bill as a birthday gift a week early when we were done, so I decided to go back and rescue one of the little T's.

I say rescued due to the huge sized crickets they feed them compared to the little T's (see the first photo). I went ahead a snapped a few photos of my little Curlyhair (Brachypelma albopilosum) T, before letting it settle in for the night with some appropriate sized prey. With it's legs fully stretched it comes close to maybe 1/2" at most right now.

Interesting enough my family is fascinated with my new pet, they only request I don't let it out around them, but other than that think it's so small it's cute hahaha.

The last photo is one I snapped when I finally got it coaxed out of it's container, but by that time it was on the move and didn't pose for any pictures. So I'll have to try and get some shots of it in a few days once it gets use to it's new surroundings. I'm really excited about the species, as it was one I was debating originally in getting, so I'll just have to find some Euathlus sp. red later on. I also saw a Mexican redknee tarantula (Brachypelma smithi) so I may have to go back soon and rescue it too lol.







Not my photo below - just shown to show what it will look like when it grows up. My first photo above (with the cricket) shows my little one already has it's curly hair well underway.

Yay! I'm so glad you finally got one. B. albopilosum are great, they were the tarantula that started it all for me. My girl is getting huge now, and her curly hairs are looking wild and adorable. I'm sure this little one will bring you years of enjoyment, and I anticipate that if your family allows it your t collection will grow pretty quickly.   I told myself I would only have one or two, but now nearly two years later I've got nine spiders living with us. 

Edit: A B. smithi would be another great choice if you can go back and get it. I've never had one, but they are so pretty as adults! 

@ashleenicole Thanks Indeed I will be getting several more as time and money permits.

I got my little T out for a decent photoshoot, overcast sky though (said to be more accurate in colors anyway). On a green lid the abdomen still looked overly red, but on my hand the colors were more true to life.

Nice glad you got one  B. albopilosum are very good to start with. I agree with ashleenicole about the B Smithi they grow into beautiful tarantulas they are a little flicky with there hairs but still on my wishlist I would try to get it too if the price is right. Besides I here it calling your name CosbyArt come save me take me home where are you. LOL  just kidding.

You will have more soon enough.

Tonypace2009 said:

Nice glad you got one  B. albopilosum are very good to start with. I agree with ashleenicole about the B Smithi they grow into beautiful tarantulas they are a little flicky with there hairs but still on my wishlist I would try to get it too if the price is right. Besides I here it calling your name CosbyArt come save me take me home where are you. LOL  just kidding.

You will have more soon enough.

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Thanks. She is doing great in her little 8oz deli cup I setup for her. She made her home in a burrow under a piece of bark in there - I had to go looking to find her.

I just got my first paycheck from my part-time day job (deposited just a few hours ago). I ordered 2000 crickets from Ghann's with overnight shipping already to restart my breeding colony, and now I'm looking at what else I can find to finish it off (perhaps another pet or two, and if PetCo was closer likely a few more of the baby T's).

CosbyArt said:

Thanks. She is doing great in her little 8oz deli cup I setup for her. She made her home in a burrow under a piece of bark in there - I had to go looking to find her.

I just got my first paycheck from my part-time day job (deposited just a few hours ago). I ordered 2000 crickets from Ghann's with overnight shipping already to restart my breeding colony, and now I'm looking at what else I can find to finish it off (perhaps another pet or two, and if PetCo was closer likely a few more of the baby T's).

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They pretty much stay in their burrows most of the time until they get bigger at some point it will block the entrance to molt this is the frustrating part wondering if its alright. This is why most people end up getting more tarantulas so we always have something to look at all the time. Another good tarantula is the gramastola pulchripes they are one of the best all around tarantulas I have raised they have a great feeding response and are true little bulldozers when it comes to digging up substrate and usually at a good price.

I also just accumulated another pet  6 young 2" house geckos at least till spring. These little guys kept hanging out within reach of my outdoor cat Edward so I decided to try raising them at least through winter. 

Tonypace2009 said:

They pretty much stay in their burrows most of the time until they get bigger at some point it will block the entrance to molt this is the frustrating part wondering if its alright. This is why most people end up getting more tarantulas so we always have something to look at all the time. Another good tarantula is the gramastola pulchripes they are one of the best all around tarantulas I have raised they have a great feeding response and are true little bulldozers when it comes to digging up substrate and usually at a good price.

I also just accumulated another pet  6 young 2" house geckos at least till spring. These little guys kept hanging out within reach of my outdoor cat Edward so I decided to try raising them at least through winter. 

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Thanks, interesting to know my T is behaving normally, and even more so what to expect when she molts. Looks like another species to add to my growing list then. I noticed Peter (at BugsInCyberspace) actually has them in stock and the Brachypelma albopilosum too. Looks like I know where part of my next paycheck is going haha.

Speaking of tarantulas and what to expect, I picked up a great new Barron's tarantula book yesterday (here it is on Amazon) from my local pet store for only $6 (as the first few pages top corner areas had water damage). At nearly 400 pages in length it really seems to cover everything from buying/digging one up to emergency care, breeding, and everything inbetween. It's one of the few books I've been impressed with on any hobby.

Was you the one last year that had the geckos living under your stove? I ask as I remember someone made a post about them and their cat. I don't blame you, I bet it will make a interesting pet, and you have about everything for them already from your other pets (heck you may have a heat source already too). If I could find them local I would have already had some of those too, I've looked at them at the pet stores, but those there tend to be the fat tailed variety.

CosbyArt said:

Thanks, interesting to know my T is behaving normally, and even more so what to expect when she molts. Looks like another species to add to my growing list then. I noticed Peter (at BugsInCyberspace) actually has them in stock and the Brachypelma albopilosum too. Looks like I know where part of my next paycheck is going haha.

Speaking of tarantulas and what to expect, I picked up a great new Barron's tarantula book yesterday (here it is on Amazon) from my local pet store for only $6 (as the first few pages top corner areas had water damage). At nearly 400 pages in length it really seems to cover everything from buying/digging one up to emergency care, breeding, and everything inbetween. It's one of the few books I've been impressed with on any hobby.

Was you the one last year that had the geckos living under your stove? I ask as I remember someone made a post about them and their cat. I don't blame you, I bet it will make a interesting pet, and you have about everything for them already from your other pets (heck you may have a heat source already too). If I could find them local I would have already had some of those too, I've looked at them at the pet stores, but those there tend to be the fat tailed variety.

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The author of the book used to pop in on the arachnoboards. I read some of the book through the library but had to turn it in.The book is very well detailed. I think he is working on a new book $6.00 is a good deal.

I don't remember posting anything about Geckos last year but I sometimes don't remember things that happened a hour ago. LOL

We have geckos living in our house and on our house and under our house . I counted about 12 adult geckos out in one day.The 6 little geckos I collected were just hanging out in a bad spot so I decided to give raising them a try they are doing very well so far. I have pretty much everything to raise these for now but I may have to make a couple more enclosures if they start getting territorial but so far no issues.

I think you will like gramastola pulchripes They do get large but are very laid back and best of all not realy hair flickers and have a great feeding response easy to care for.

My little girl molted on Friday (November 11th), but I didn't bother her until yesterday to dig out her exuviae (she molted in her burrow that is on the containers edge so I saw it the next day - I don't know how she managed to molt in such a small tunnel) and to get some new photos of her since her molt, to ensure she had some time to harden a bit. She is really quite fast when she wants to be, but finally gave in for a few photos.

Here are a few of my better photos of her since her molt, and of her old exuviae that I have saved in a 2oz container...

Tonypace2009 said:

The author of the book used to pop in on the arachnoboards. I read some of the book through the library but had to turn it in.The book is very well detailed. I think he is working on a new book $6.00 is a good deal.

I don't remember posting anything about Geckos last year but I sometimes don't remember things that happened a hour ago. LOL

We have geckos living in our house and on our house and under our house . I counted about 12 adult geckos out in one day.The 6 little geckos I collected were just hanging out in a bad spot so I decided to give raising them a try they are doing very well so far. I have pretty much everything to raise these for now but I may have to make a couple more enclosures if they start getting territorial but so far no issues.

I think you will like gramastola pulchripes They do get large but are very laid back and best of all not realy hair flickers and have a great feeding response easy to care for.

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Sorry for the late response Tony.

Your right, I did some searching and I have the 1998 (2nd Ed.) book version, Amazon has the 2009 (3rd Ed.), and the authors site (husband and wife) announced they began work on a 4th edition in 2014. So hopefully they will be releasing it the beginning of next year, and I will have to buy a copy to see what all has changed. In many areas of the version I have they raise questions about various aspects of the tarantulas, and perhaps in the 16+ years since my book they have more answers to fill in.

No problem not remembering, I do the same on many things haha. So how are your Geckos doing?

The G. pulchripes do sound great and are on my have to get list, the large size isn't a turn off for me, if anything makes them more interesting as they are so docile. Currently I have 5 species I want to try eventually, and figure if I get a few each of about three species for now that I'll be happy for awhile.

Your little one is looking great! Has anyone offered any suggestions on species now that it has molted again? I'd imagine it's still too early to tell what it might be, but you never know!

ashleenicole said:

Your little one is looking great! Has anyone offered any suggestions on species now that it has molted again? I'd imagine it's still too early to tell what it might be, but you never know!

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Thanks. I didn't update my thread at Arachnoboards yet, I figured I would wait another molt to see if she is keeping the same coloration before asking them again.

Well my girl is in premolt stage and has developed a shiney hiney as they say. I offered her some killed prey just in case she is still eating at the moment, but judging by the size of her opisthosoma (abdomen) she doesn't need any.

Hopefully soon after this molt she can be properly identified, but she is still so small I doubt it.

CosbyArt said:

Well my girl is in premolt stage and has developed a shiney hiney as they say. I offered her some killed prey just in case she is still eating at the moment, but judging by the size of her opisthosoma (abdomen) she doesn't need any.

Hopefully soon after this molt she can be properly identified, but she is still so small I doubt it.

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Just now catching back up I haven't  raised this species from slings so I cant say for sure if this is or isn't a B. albopilosum hard to tell until it develops more of the adult appearance it may be awhile before you will know for sure. Looks very healthy and I  agree looks like you will have a molt coming up. 

So far I have only lost one of my geckos when I get a chance I thinking about posting some pictures of my set ups for feedback for now they seem to be doing well.

Tonypace2009 said:

Just now catching back up I haven't  raised this species from slings so I cant say for sure if this is or isn't a B. albopilosum hard to tell until it develops more of the adult appearance it may be awhile before you will know for sure. Looks very healthy and I  agree looks like you will have a molt coming up. 

So far I have only lost one of my geckos when I get a chance I thinking about posting some pictures of my set ups for feedback for now they seem to be doing well.

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Thanks, yeah she is eating great apparently, and has been hiding herself back in your borrow lately.

Sorry to hear that, but as with all wild caught specimens it is hard to say if it reached the end of it's life naturally or a problem occurred - that is of course unless something obvious happened. Great, I'd be interested to see how your geckos are setup and doing.

CosbyArt said:

Thanks, yeah she is eating great apparently, and has been hiding herself back in your borrow lately.

Sorry to hear that, but as with all wild caught specimens it is hard to say if it reached the end of it's life naturally or a problem occurred - that is of course unless something obvious happened. Great, I'd be interested to see how your geckos are setup and doing.

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sounds like she is going to disappear for a short time. She will come out one size bigger.

The gecko was the runt of the small ones just couldn't get it to eat.

Tonypace2009 said:

sounds like she is going to disappear for a short time. She will come out one size bigger.

The gecko was the runt of the small ones just couldn't get it to eat.

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That is great and glad she is doing so well.

Ah, health related problems happen for sure with runts of any species and likely the feeding issues cause.

Aww the second pic is absolutelt adorable.. 

@mantisfan101 Thanks.

She has been growing like crazy and is over 2" DLS now. I'm in the process of moving her into a larger home, waiting for the substrate to dry a bit first. Once I do I'll have to post some updated photos.

I got Georgena moved into her new home earlier tonight and snapped a few photos. She is roughly 2 1/2" DLS in size, and her coloration has been consistent in between molts now. Looking at photos online she does appear to be a Curlyhair (Brachypelma albopilosum), as she was originally listed; however, I updated her photo on the arachnid owners forum to see what they think.

Hopefully I'll get a positive ID, and perhaps with a fresh molt I can get confirm a gender.