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My first ever pet Tarantula

ghosthousecorns

ghosthousecorns

Well-known member
I have had a fascination with spiders for a long time but never considered keeping one as a pet before getting into the reptile hobby. However so many snake enthusiasts I know also keep tarantulas that I decided I would try keeping one and had been looking for a while for something that isn't just another chilean rose hair but still a good beginner T. Found this little guy or gal at the Portland Reptile Expo on August 17 and since I sold a few snakes I couldn't resist.
She's a Brachypelma sabulosum or Guatemalan Red Rump. "Sombra" is still not full grown, bigger than a quarter (including legs) but smaller than a silver dollar. She isn't very red, but black and velvety. I haven't gotten really good pics of her but I thought this one was interesting showing how she made a burrow in her substrate.
 

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So cool!
I am considering a tarantula, because I want to get over my horrible fear of spiders XD
 
to neat!
I too have been thinking about geting a tarantula to try and help me get over my fears aswell!

the little ones in my house give me the hebigebies! lol but I think a large one would help!
he/she is pretty cute! :)
 
I have held a tarantula one time and it was awesome! I've thought about getting one, too, but they make me nervous because they seem quite delicate and I would want to hold it.
 
Well I did get some better pics of her... But not with me holding her! I did end up handling her again though, because I went to clean her cage and tried to pick her up with a glove on and she ran up the glove and started running up my arm, which really freaked me out! But I managed to scoop her up with my other (bare) hand and put her back in the viv. Poor little thing, I know she has to be every bit as scared of me as I am of her. But man these things can move fast when they want to.
 

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We held one once at an expo, they have the weirdest/neatest little hooks on their feet, feels really interesting!
 
Excellent, Jen. I have kept, then returned to the wild, many wild-caught in west-central Louisiana. Almost all tolerated holding. Did not like drafts or one blowing on them.

She's a beauty.
 
Spiders are really amazing creatures, I would really like to get some specimens to study them someday and not only tarantulas. Everything is exciting about spiders, the way they eat, the way they mate, the way they live. Hopefully one day I lose fear of spiders... but it's probably going to happen just about the same way I lost the fear from snakes which is by buying one LOL.
 
ghosthousecorns said:
I did end up handling her again though, because I went to clean her cage and tried to pick her up with a glove on and she ran up the glove and started running up my arm, which really freaked me out!
Click to expand...

I think I've had nightmares like that... :eek:

I've thought about getting a tarantula. Doing the research, I worried about the sheds. And like someone else said, I'd want to hold it. Creepy! I have to get one now.
 
Sombra is doing great and has molted a couple of times, here she is a couple of months ago, and then today with a mealworm snack. She is a brat with the water bowl, likes to empty it and then use it as a feeding platform. I keep saying she, but starting to suspect it is a male.


Someone might have warned me how addictive keeping T's would turn out to be! I have acquired several more tarantula spiderlings of easier-care species, most of them are Brachypelmas. Hoping to be able to successfully raise them to adulthood.
 

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From my research, which was several years ago, it really depends on the species. Rose Hair and B. smithi were some of the easier to handle ones if I'm remembering right. But I have no personal experience.
 
I have been trying to keep handling to a minimum, as it seems like handling has no benefit to the spider- they are really not "interactive" pets the way snakes are. Though I don't keep any really dangerous ones, there are a few species of T that have "medically significant" bites.
I have a cat if I want to pet something... these spiders are just plain cool to watch doing their thing- making burrows, hunting prey, etc.
B. smithi are the most handleable from what I have heard.
 
tarantulas can be very exciting to study. and breeding is quiet the treat to watch them thump the ground. can you sex them?

my girlfriend just purchased an aviculars versicolor. her first ever T. and my first time keeping an arboreal species. its been very fun
 
I've had 3 and they were awesome. I had an ornamental baboon, a orange baboon and a regular rosie that could be held. When I brought the ornamental home it got out of the temporary deli cup before I was ready and took off across my kitchen table then went under it and was hanging on the underside. Scared the crap out of me and took me a few minutes to figure out how to catch it without touching it and the nerve to try. Yours is a beauty!
 
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