So I'm Tarantula Kat and we're gonna talk a little bit about your first tarantula
today, and how to house it, and what to expect.
I'm Bill. I work here.
So this is the first one we're going to be talking about and this is the Brachypelma albopilosum or
the Curly Hair that's easier to say for most people. And this is a popular one
to start out with, this is what I started out with.
We do sell quite a few of those as first time tarantula, you know first time
tarantula owners, and they're fairly docile, I mean they're handleable, if you know,
you want to handle them. I would be cautious with that because I mean
they can bite. They're easy to set up, they're more dry basically. Normally like
the more dry or desert species I'll use like three parts sand to one part like
Jungle Mix or some kind of Eco Earth. Yeah, anything like that just to get a
little, you know not just straight sand. You can use straight sand but it to me it looks
a little bit more natural. Yeah you can like go fancy with it, and like give it
different textures. I just usually do dry Eco Earth, and that's what I think most
people do because you can kind of make it more humid if you want. So if you want
to house it properly there's a couple different ways. So Exo Terras, these are
cool but they're a little bit more pricey, so even though I prefer these, I tend to
usually get these, these are a lot less expensive. You can fill these up with
coco substrate and all you really need for them is this and a hide and a water
dish, so they're really easy and inexpensive. Yeah, there's basically very, very
little maintenance with them. Like these guys I spot clean them weekly,
you know, I'll pull up take out dead crickets, if there are still live crickets in there I'll take them out
and usually I won't feed 'em that week just in case they're getting ready to go
into a molt, and some tarantulas it's really easy to tell when they're going
to molt, their abdomen turns black, especially like this species, they'll lose a little patch of hair and
they're, basically their skin just turns dark. So usually when they're that way I don't feed them.
Because crickets will eat a tarantula. Yeah, you have to be careful about
feeders, and crickets are like one of the - I know people who have lost cricket or
lost tarantulas to crickets. I prefer dubia roaches, but they burrow, so, it's a little annoying.
Another really good beginner species is a Brachypelma hamorii.
This is like a really popular one, you see it usually on the cover of books
about tarantulas, they're very well known in the hobby, but they're really docile,
they get really big, they have really cool, bright orange legs and
they're also really easy to house. They don't need heat, they don't need any
lighting, you just can do something simple like this and a water dish and
you'll be good to go. So this is a really common one to have
as a beginner. It's a Rose Hair, this is a sling so it's probably gonna be small
for years. They grow very slow, but the good thing about it being small now and
for quite awhile to come, is you can house it in just a little deli like this. It's
so inexpensive, all you need is dirt and like a thing like this. And I when I feed
the slings, I take the small crickets, I pinch the heads, and they will
they will find them and eat them. And it's just,
sometimes you can't find the perfect size for these little spiders like our
small crickets they range, but it's just easier to pinch the cricket's head and just throw it in there.
Very easy. This species is also like pretty dry too, so you don't have to
worry about humidity for them like pretty much all, just I would like, when
they're a sling, I would mist them like maybe like once a week, but like you
don't really. Like they'll be fine on dry substrate. Yeah, that's what we do with
these, I just like squirt water in one corner if it looks a little dry, and just to
prevent them getting stuck in molt. That's what I do, super easy. So yeah, I mean, get tarantulas.
They're very low-maintenance, you know like I said I maintain these once a week.
You can spend as much time or as little time as you want. You just don't want to
really neglect them, as far as leaving food in there, or not
spraying the ones that need to be sprayed more often so they don't get stuck
in molts. But we do sell quite a few tarantulas here.
You know all different types from, very common beginner to like not.
You know like the higher dollar, more spastic tarantulas like Gooty
Sapphires. Yeah, we've got a Gooty Sapphire sling.