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Tarantula Care Guide

A general guide to successfully keeping Theraphosidae in captivity.
By Adam Othman-Owner of Truly Tarantulas

Introduction:
Over the many years I have kept Tarantulas, I have seen many different methods and styles of Tarantula care and husbandry in captivity. It seems that these days, people are very adamite about getting their care and husbandry practices absolutely perfect and this is leading keepers to fight with one another over who is right and who is wrong in their husbandry practices. The truth is, the majority of Tarantula species are very flexible in their care and husbandry requirements and most species of Tarantula can be kept in several different ways. Their is no right or wrong answer when it comes to things like the best substrate to use or the best enclosure brands so its important that we acknowledge all the possibilities and options when it comes to setting up a Tarantula and caring for a Tarantula. In this guide we will explore housing, caring for and enjoying the hobby of Tarantula keeping through my eyes. I hope everyone can benefit from this care guide and maybe even learn a thing or two. Full disclaimer, this guide is from my own personal experience and I am in no way, shape, or form claiming any of this information to be the only right way of keeping Tarantulas. If you have any questions about this guide, please email trulytarantulas@gmail.com. Enjoy! 

Enclosure:
The first step of preparing for a Tarantula as a pet would be to choose the appropriate escape proof enclosure for your Tarantula. The size and style of enclosure you choose should depend on the specific requirement of the Tarantula species you are keeping. For example, a Mexican Fire Leg Tarantula (Brachypelma boehmei) is a new world terrestrial species of Tarantula from Mexico so you would want to find an enclosure that gives the spider more width than height. On the other hand, a Guyana Pink Toe Tarantula (Aviculria avicularia) is a new world arboreal Tarantula that should be given more height than width. For those who don't know, arboreal refers to tree-dwelling species and terrestrial refers to ground dwelling species. To choose the appropriate size of enclosure, you should consider both the current size of the Tarantula along with the adult size of the Tarantula species if its not already an adult. As a general rule of thumb, you should try to provide your Tarantula with an enclosure that is at least 2-2.5 times the leg span of your Tarantula. For example, if I have a Indian Ornamental Tarantula (Poecilotheria regalis)that measures 6" in leg span, I should aim to have an enclosure that is at least 15" tall (tall, and not long because this species is arboreal). Its hard not to feel overwhelmed when looking to buy a Tarantula enclosure as there are several brands, materials and styles to choose from. Personally I have always loved Exo Terra terrariums as they have proven to be extremely high quality, escape proof (not for spiderlings), front and top opening and they are very visually appealing enclosures. Other more inexpensive options to consider include tupperware containers of various sizes, designs and materials, acrylic enclosures, other glass aquariums and terrariums, critter keepers, deli cups (for spiderlings and juveniles), pill viles (for spiderlings) and more! Ultimately, its important that you analyze the size and species of your Tarantula to find an enclosure best fit for your specimen. 

Substrate:
Now that you have selected an appropriate enclosure for your Tarantula, lets consider what substrate you will use to line the bottom of your enclosure. Substrate can be very important for Tarantulas, especially terrestrial and fossorial Tarantulas as they will create their homes out of webbing and substrate in the forms of tunnels, dens, burrows, etc. Most Tarantulas are not picky when it comes to substrate and can adapt to different substrates as long as the substrate mimics some kind of natural soil. Many keepers find themselves purchasing coconut fiber being sold under names such as "eco-earth" or "plantation soil" at their local pet shop and this is because coconut fiber is usually one of their cheapest options. Other popular pet-shop options include  things like repti-soil which I find much better than coconut fiber due to its similarities to an organic soil mix. I find that coconut fiber dries out very fast, dose not hold shape and dose not look as visually appealing as other options on the market. personally I use organic soil from a garden center mixed with small amounts of play sand and I find this mix to be perfect for just about any species if used correctly. If you choose to use organic soil from a garden center or other source, please make sure their are no harmful ingredients or fertilizers in the soil that may cause complication to your Tarantulas health. Once you have chosen a substrate, you want to consider how much substrate to use in your Tarantula enclosure. The amount of substrate used will depend on the species of Tarantula you own and more specifically, is that species terrestrial, arboreal or fossorial. Arboreal Tarantulas can be kept with a thin layer of substrate, approximately 2"- 3" in depth that will allow the Tarantula to make a webbing mat to help it catch prey if need be. Substrate also helps maintain humidity levels in a Tarantulas enclosure which can be very useful when keeping tropical arboreal species. Terrestrial species of Tarantula should be given more opportunity to dig and create burrows, so using around 3"- 4" of substrate or more is highly recommended. Fossorial Tarantulas spend their lives living in intricate tunnels beneath the ground so its important that you give your fossorial Tarantula an appropriate amount of substrate that they can create tunnels in. We recommend using around 5"- 8" of substrate or more for fossorial species of Tarantula. That last thing we should think about when it comes to substrate is the moisture levels of our substrate. Some species of Tarantula come from more arid and dry regions of the world such as the Arizona Blonde Tarantula (Aphonopelma chalcodes), while other species come from more wet and humid environments such as the Venezuelan Sun Tiger Tarantula (Psalmopoeus irmini). Its important that a keeper researches the specific humidity requirements of their Tarantula species to get the best understanding of substrate water saturation requirements. When you do attempt to saturate a Tarantulas substrate to boost humidity levels, we recommend over flowing the Tarantulas water dish and allowing the water to flow down into the depths of the substrate rather than to mist the enclosure and saturate the whole top layer of substrate. This is because in nature, usually the top layer of the ground is dry and Tarantulas must dig down to access the more saturated levels of substrate beneath the surface. 

The photo above shows a Indian Ornamental Tarantula (Poecilotheria regalis) being kept in a 12"x12"x18" exo terra terrarium.

The photo above shows a Gooty Sapphire Ornamental Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica) being kept in a tall plastic container from a dollar store.

The Photo above shows a Thai Black Zebra Tarantula (Cyriopagopus albostriatus (DCF)) being housed in a plastic critter keeper that can be found at a pet shop.

Enrichment:
Providing your Tarantula with enrichment is more important for some species than others. Usually, a species of Tarantula that lives on, or above the ground (terrestrial & arboreal species) will benefit from enrichment items much more than a species of Tarantula that lives below the ground (fossorial species). The reason for this is because fossorial Tarantulas don't utilize the surface of the ground where enrichment items would be, rather they prefer to dig down and create tunnels using their own webbing and the deep substrate you provide for them. If you have a species of Tarantula that you have decided will benefit from enrichment items, you have several options to choose from. Personally, I always prefer to use more natural materials such as leaf litter, moss, cork bark, mopani wood, spider wood, cholla wood, etc, because of their ornate natural look. Other options include pet store terrarium & aquarium ornaments, fake plants and more. The only things I would watch out for when choosing enrichment items are ornaments that may have paint that is toxic to Tarantulas and ornaments that take up to much space in your enclosure that ultimately limit your Tarantulas space to be mobile. All Tarantulas that are terrestrial or arboreal should be given some form of enrichment that hides them properly. Tarantulas will retreat behind items like cork bark flats when startled, so its important to give them these items to limit stress factors that may cause other problem like a Tarantula starving itself due to stress. Cork flats and tubes are very good options as they allow the spider to feel completely hidden in a dark stress free environment, but their are other options on the market aswell. Enrichment items can be purchased at a pet shop or they can be sourced from forests or other parts of nature. Many people ask me if they should boil or bake enrichment items and substrate sourced from nature and my answer is always no. If you are using items sourced from an area with no pesticides their is no reason to bake logs, bark, substrate, moss, leaf litter, etc as they come with beneficial bacteria among other micro fauna that can actually help to create a healthy environment for your Tarantula.  

Feeding and Watering:
Tarantulas are carnivorous meaning they only eat other animals and will not feed on anything else. Tarantulas can feed on a wide variety of insects as well as some other invertebrates, some fish, and sometimes even small birds or mammals. In captivity, some of the most common feeder insects that are offered to Tarantulas include super worms, meal worms, giant meal worms, crickets, and cockroaches. Other less common feeders include frozen though mice and live feeder fish. To figure out what feeder option is best for your Tarantula, we must look at the current size of your Tarantula. Spiderlings, depending on their size can be fed crickets (the size of cricket will depend on the size of your spiderling) and sometimes even live meal worms. If you don't like feeding live crickets, you can simply purchase small meal worms and rip the head off them to expose their guts, offer this to your Tarantula and they will very likely find this pre-killed food later on in the day and start to eat it. If your going to pre-kill prey items and use them as feeders, its important to note that the remains of the pre-killed food item should be removed shortly after the Tarantula is done eating to prevent the growth of mold or other fungi in the enclosure. Juvenile and adult Tarantulas may also take pre-killed but they will probably have a preference for live feeders at these sizes. Juveniles and adults can be offered appropriately sized super worms, meal worms, crickets, roaches or other mobile feeders that will trigger a feeding response from your Tarantula. Please note that if a feeder item isn't moving enough (meal worms are notorious for this), your Tarantula likely wont recognize the prey item as food and will choose to ignore it. For this reason, I prefer crickets and super worms as feeder insects because they are very active and usually trigger a feeding response from my Tarantulas (especially crickets). Frozen feeder mice can be offered occasionally to adult Tarantulas but please note this is very optional and is not required at all. Feeder fish can be optionally offered as well but only to species of Tarantula that have been known to catch fish in the wild such as the Cameroon Rusty Red Baboon Tarantula (Hysteroscrates gigas). Giving juvenile and adult Tarantulas a water dish is important as Tarantulas at this size may miss a few meals due to pre-molt or other reasons, so its important that they have the option to get a drink of water if need be. Slings do not need water bowls as they get all of their moisture and nutrients from prey items. 

Temperatures:
A common fraise to use as a general rule of thumb when it comes to Tarantula temperature requirements would be: if your comfortable, your Tarantula is comfortable. If you feel that your home is too chilly for your Tarantula, you can give your Tarantula the option to heat up by sticking a reptile heating mat from a pet shop on one side of the enclosure. Do not attach a reptile heating mat to the bottom of an enclosure because the heating pad will heat up the whole enclosure rather than just one side, so if your Tarantula finds the heat mat to be too hot it will have nowhere to get away from the heat which can be problamatic. 

Molting:
Every now and then you may look into your Tarantulas enclosure to see you're Tarantula flipped on its back, not moving. When this occurs, many keepers make the mistake of thinking the Tarantula is dead when in fact, the Tarantula is going through a process called molting where the Tarantula sheds off its old exo skeleton to make room for its new larger one. Molting is how Tarantulas grow so instead of watching your Tarantula gradually grow over time, your Tarantula will grow dramatically larger with each molt it has until it has reached adult hood. Adult female Tarantulas do molt but they do it much less often than a growing sling or juvenile would. When a male Tarantula molts into maturity, he is now considered a mature male, or MM for short. Once a male has matured, he will never molt again, this explains why a male maturing is also referred to as a males final molt. A mature male wont live very long after molting into maturity and during his short time as a mature male, his soul purpose will be to breed with a female. Mature male Tarantulas can live anywhere from a couple months to 4+ years after maturing depending on the species of Tarantula and how much food and water the Tarantula has access to. If you see your Tarantula flipped on its back not moving, I promise its not dead and the worst thing you can possibly do is try touch or blow on the Tarantula to see if its still alive. Instead, completely walk away and do not touch the spider during or after the molting process is complete. When your Tarantula is done molting, it will be very soft and squishy so its important that you leave your Tarantula alone without offering food for at least 1 week and sometimes longer than this. Once your Tarantulas fangs have fully hardened, you can attempt to feed your Tarantula. Sometimes Tarantulas can get stuck in a molt which kills them. A Tarantula getting stuck in its molt is often caused by low humidity levels that dry out the Tarantula while its trying to slide out of its skin. The Tarantula needs humidity to help lubricate the molting process, allowing for the Tarantula to slide out of its skin without an issue. Over all, molting is a very sensitive time for your Tarantula so its important that a keeper completely backs off their Tarantula during and after the molt is complete.    

General Maintenance:
General maintenance for your Tarantula is very limited and includes re-filling a water dish once or twice a week, feeding your Tarantula once a week or so, over flowing a water dish once a week or so, removing left over food items or a Tarantulas bolus (the ball of dried exo skeleton from feeder insects) and that's about it! This makes the Tarantula one of the most low maintaince and easy to care for pets on the market!

I hope everyone enjoyed this general Tarantula care guide. If you have any questions, please email trulytarantulas@gmail.com!

The photo above shows a piece of spider wood that a Socotra Island Blue Leg Baboon Tarantula (Monocentropus balfouri) has webbed up. The spider wood provides excellent anchor points for webbing.

The photo above shows how a Gooty Sapphire Ornamental Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica) has used a terrarium ornament to create a webbing hide out. 

The photo above shows a Gooty Sapphire Ornamental Tarantula (Poecilotheria metallica) using a cork bark tube as a hide out.

The photo above shows how items sourced from nature can be used to create a naturalistic Tarantula set up. 

The Photo above shows how some heavy webbing species can create their own tunnels and hides without the use of enrichment items. 

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