new to inverts.. In over my head?

[justinO]

Hello! I'm a snake person myself, but due to some other circumstances, my sister had to get rid of her animals. So, lucky me, I inherited a tarantula.

I belive its a Brazillian something or other birdeater.. apparently it'll get to be a decent size.

So, i did some reading up on it.. my results are:

get about 8'' or so
75%-80% humidity
don't touch!.. may bite or flick its irritating hairs.

This is the setup i've got for it so far.. its in a large critter keeper, and i've taped up some of the ventellation slots to hold humidity in.

well, photos speak more then words.. here it is :)

Can somebody please either give me some more information, or point me to the right direction?

I'm looking forward to having it, and I want to do the best I can for it.

oh, i'm not sure of its sex.. any ideas from the photo?

Cheers :)

Justin

http://ssnakess.com/photopost/data/500/1849spider.jpg

[SaIiLdVaEnR]

Acanthoscurria Geniculata, also known as the brazilian whitebanded tarantula. You don't need high humidity as long as they have a water dish. You're going to want to upgrade to a 10 gallon eventually as they do get to be 8-10 inches.

Aidan

[marisa]

Be careful with rocks as well! My T's like to dig around, sometimes deep and those rocks would fall on them for sure.

Nice tarantula! They are such fun pets.

Marisa

[Dan and Kandyce]

Thats one gorgeous tarantula.

[misslexy]

i already have sexed it, its a girl. for sure

[BellyDraggers]

Great looking Tarantula Justin..congrats!

Scotty & Les

[Linds]

She's a beaut! Congrats and good luck with her! :thumbsup:

[meatbeef]

Acanthscurria geniculata is one fabulous tarantula. I have one and it`s an eating machine. Have fun with her!

[justinO]

how often do you offer food to them? are crickets/superworms acceptable?

[marisa]

My T's (a brazilian salmon birdeater and bolivian salmon pink) eat anything really. I offer food about every two weeks to my adults. In the hottest parts of the summer they will eat more than once per week if I offer, and in the winter, less. Mine have so far accepted crickets, wam worms, butter worms, mice pinks, gerbil pinks, and hornworms. Although hornworms only since attaining real size, when they were 5 inches or so they both seemed a little scared of hornworms.

I haven't tried mealworms or superworms.

Marisa

[SaIiLdVaEnR]

Mealworms and superworms are crappy feeders unless you are putting them in a bowl. Even then, everything Marisa uses is perfectly fine to use.

Aidan

[meatbeef]

mealworms, superworms, and crickets are fine. You could place the worms in a bowl, but I don`t because I like to watch my T. dig them out. It`s pretty cool.
Make sure that the food is well gut loaded though as it`s only beneficial for your new little friend.

Robbio

[SaIiLdVaEnR]

Meatbeef: Tarantulas gain almost nothing from gutloading. They have no use for calcium and gain much of their nutrition from the feeder itself, not the food inside of said feeder.

It is beneficial.... to reptiles.

Aidan

[dudsky]

Originally posted by misslexy
i already have sexed it, its a girl. for sure
how exactly did u sex it? by the picture or u know that t in life?
justin, congrats on that t. A.geniculata is in fact my favourite tarantula. they are gorgeous u shud have NO problems with feeding they are insect disposal units lol. VERY nice looking tarantulas. rocks are fine for genics(they are terrestrial and when big will Rarely dig, but some adults and most spiderlings will so marissa's got a point.) imo, not really in ur case tho cuz they take up too much floor space id leave one or 2 just for decor. at that size i doubt it will burrow especialyl if it has a hide, they are massive terrestrials and usually stay out in the open showing their beauty off. i myself offer food to my t's when i think it will take, feeding it a lot will lead to faster molts and biggest size after molt and a lot of people feed as much as itll take, of corse dont go too hard on it, since these things need a lot to stop eating, and some people say its bad to feed them so much, but i disagree, in my experience they stop when they need to. Genics can stay without food for a little while so a good meal and u cud take a couple week vacation, as long as there is water available. as for ur substrate, it looks a little too damp in ur cage, most keepers keep their t's on a dryer side spraying a little ocasionly on the floor and glass, but a shallow water dish is a good way to keep em hydrated, dont get it too humid in there, its bad im not gona go into taht right now. so keep it dry in there man,take off the tape from vents;) ur right they get big! and VERY gorgeous. u can give em just about anything within a proper size range to eat, that thing looks like it can deffinately eat a pinkie as a variety, but crickets are a good staple. meal worms dig so its a real pain feeding them to ur t, and they arent nutricious anyways. i stick with mice(OCASSIONAL) and crickets. and at that size, id already give it a bigger tank, give it a 10 g and forget about new tanks. pull out those rocks , give it more space, and create some sort of hide. how big is it now?
anyways man, i wrote so much to give u a head start cuz i know u need help, im hapy to annswer any questions, and tarantuals are great interesting pets. Wont regret getting it. oh yea, as for handling, they arent very fearse, but they do posess uricating hairs, and some can be a little agressive. so wudnt touch it since it seems like u got 0 experience still.
ok, there is some help for u, change some of the housing for it, and ull have a great pet;) tell us when u try feeding it.
have fun

[meatbeef]

Sal...

Fair enough. I just like to feed them what I think is healthy food.

These are great tarantulas, they'll eat anything.