Tarantulas of the World

The Mexican Redknee Tarantula is perhaps one of the most famous of all tarantulas. Used in movies, commercials, magazines and even newspapers due to its amazing colors. They originate from south-western Mexico and have become a very common New World tarantula kept as a pet. Once thought to be endangered its numbers have grown quite a bit, especially due to how easily these animals breed in captivity. Now they are one of the most sought after species and surely an easy find at any exotic expo throughout the world.

Habitat:

Being a native of the hills of the south-west Mexico these animals love the dryness the key is to keep your substrate relatively dry to replicate their arid environment in the wild. Make sure to at least refill your tarantula’s water dish once a week with fresh clean water and simply overfill it to dampen just a slight patch of your substrate. This should create adequate humidity for your tarantula. As always we would recommend a terrarium anywhere between 5 to 10 gallons depending on your tarantula’s size with about 2 to 3 inches of it filled with the substrate of your choice such as eco-earth. This species has been known to burrow so make sure to also add something it can use as housing such as half a florwepot into the substrate. You can add decorations such as plants to your enclosure but your redknee will not care for it.

Feeding:

Your Mexican Redknee Tarantula usually eats crickets and meal-worms but when big can even eat a cockroach or two. A full grown redknee will eat 1 or 2 large crickets a week but can sometimes go as far at 6 months without wanting to eat. As long as you see its abdomen remaining big in size you should not worry about it not eating. They are slow moving and most of the time will either strike fast as soon as you put a cricket in its enclosure or will not do anything at all. Do not leave the insect in the enclosure if you notice it not being eaten within 24 hours.

Attitude:

Though extremely docile the redknee does have some defenses when threatened. It’s a new world spider and therefor does come equipped with urticating hairs which it will flick off its abdomen should it feel intimidated. Should they feel vulnerable they also to rear up and show their fangs. So as always test the waters before trying to handle them to see what mood they are in. A simple approach would be to gently nudge it from behind with an elongated Q-Tip before trying to pick it up.

This tarantula is rather sluggish which makes it very easy to handle.  The Mexican Redknee tarantula is quite slow at growing. Mine grew from a 1 inch sling (spider-ling) to about 5 inches over the course of 5 years. The males will live a good 5 to 6 years while females can live upwards of 30 years with ease.  All in all we would recommend this as a first time beginner tarantula due to its low maintenance, being very submissive and also easy to handle.

Molting is the method your tarantula uses in order to grow. They are exoskeletal  which means they shed their outer skin in order to become larger or to regenerate body parts. The molting process is very long and at times stressful for your tarantula. In this segment we will explore the signs your tarantula is giving you that it is about to molt and what all you can do to make sure it is a triumphant one.

For those of you who are first time tarantula owners please do not be alarmed when you wake up in the morning or come back home from work or school to see your tarantula on its back not moving. Your tarantula is not dead but has simply started its molting process. There are many horror stories all through the web of people dumping their tarantulas out thinking that the pet passed, if anything a tarantula that passes will never go on its back to die. Your best bet is to simply let it be.

You will find that the younger the tarantula the more it will molt. With slings (spider-lings) molting as much as 4-6 times a year as opposed to an adult tarantula molting maybe 1 to 2 times a year. There is no real way of calculating exactly how fast or how much your tarantula will molt. Of course the more you feed it, the faster it grows, the quicker it molts.

Signs that your tarantula will molt soon:

• The easiest sign of them all is your tarantula’s abdomen turning very dark in color. You will also notice a bald spot on this abdomen (do not be alarmed this goes away after its molted). It also becomes dull in color.
• Your tarantula will stop eating. The refusal of food is natural, with some tarantulas going weeks without an appetite before a molt.
• Your tarantula will be inactive / slow. They become very much sluggish.
• Your Tarantula will also start spinning a web that it lays on the floor of its enclosure as some sort of bed for it to lay on while going through its molting process.

This is all natural and though you may be worried please know that your pet is perfectly fine.

The Molting begins and what to do after it ends:

The molting itself can take hours and hours, anything from 8 to 24 hours. There is no specific time as to how long this will take for your specific tarantula. The key thing is to not disturb the animal in any way or you might risk it causing harm to itself or even death. You will see that your tarantula will slowly be pushing itself out of its old exoskeleton while flexing and stretching its legs. Once the entire process is done (which as mentioned can take a day or so) it will flip back up on its feet and you will see some slow movements as it gets its new skin stretched out to its new size.

At this point your tarantula is still very fragile and you should leave it alone for at least another week. Make sure you give it plenty of water so it can rehydrate. Please do not try handling your tarantula at all during this time. It’s exoskeleton will slowly start to harden again until its back to normal. The great thing is its beautiful new color(s) and bigger size. After said week you can try feeding it again (we recommend just one cricket at a time to make sure its fangs are hardened enough to feast on prey).

A wet or bad Molt:

Though these are rare and there is still no real explanation for them they do tend to happen. Some speculation is that it could be due to injuries sustained by your tarantula making it leak body fluids during its molt. Your tarantula not receiving insufficient nutrients and enzymes due to a poor diet. Stress due to an interruption during the molting process. And lastly your tarantula simply molting before its new exoskeleton is sufficiently mature.

Your tarantula can also remain stuck in its old exoskeleton. Should you encounter this it is best to try making a homemade ICU for your tarantula with a plastic container and a damp towel to put the tarantula on. Do not leave your tarantula on it for more then 12 hours. It is just temporary. As a last resort for this you can try helping your tarantula shed its skin by slowly and gently with the help of a tweezer and damp Q-tip removing the old carcass slowly from its new skin. We do recommend you doing this ONLY if you have experience with tarantulas before and know somewhat as to what you have to do.

Checking its Gender:

If you did not know your tarantula’s gender yet, post molt would be the best time to find out. Assuming your tarantula is big enough to have a decent size exoskeleton, you can check the abdomen of the old molt which spread open should have 2 white pairs of book lungs (breathing organs), between the first pair of book lungs you should see the epyginal plate, if you do then you have a female tarantula.

We hope that all of this has been helpful for you – If you do have any further questions feel free to drop a comment below even if its just to say hi.

The Pinktoe Tarantula also known as the South American Pinktoe is also a very common spider across the US. Originally from South America these tarantulas love climbing. In the wild they live high up in trees and spin a lot of webbing. As with the Chilean Rosehair Tarantula, the pinktoe is also a very common arachnid to find in pet stores. It is very docile and a crowd favorite due to its magnificent pink toes (hence the name). This would be ideal for the intermediate tarantula lover. The reason we would say this wouldn’t be best for a beginner is due to its speed. Pinktoes are very quick and are known as jumpers and you might drop one if not handled appropriately. Other than their speed they are quit docile and can be the perfect pet. They usually live between 4 to 8 years with females growing to about 5 inches in length and males slightly shorter about 3.5 inches.

Habitat:

We would recommend a tall enclosure for these guys. Though fully grown they are smaller in size than most species of tarantulas these guys love climbing and having a birds eye view. I personally like the tall exo-terra terrariums as I feel its perfect for these guys. They are small so you would not need anything bigger then maybe a square foot in surface area and a foot and a half in height. Make sure you have plenty of plants for it to climb on as well as round cork bark. These animals are very active at times and you might see the enclosure covered in extensive web tubes within days. These tarantulas can also be kept in groups (communally) though we do not recommend it. You can indeed have multiple at a time in your enclosure but please note they do tend to cannibalize each other should they feel overcrowded. The pinktoe tarantula loves damp and breezy environments, they come from the wet and windy forests of Costa Rica, Venezuela and Brazil so make sure your terrarium has a humidity level between 78% to 85%. Normal room temperature should be enough for these guys but do not let it drop lower then 75 degrees. A water dish should always be available.

Feeding:

In the wild the Pinktoe tarantula typically eat insects and other arthropods but in captivity crickets do the trick just fine. They are not picky eaters but their feeding approach is quite different. They remain in a frozen state not moving for hours at a time until their food of choice comes up towards them in which they will strike in the blink of an eye. Your pinktoe does not have a limit as too how much it eats. Mine ate a cricket a day for three whole weeks once. The more you feed it the faster and bigger it grows.

Attitude:

This species is not known to being aggressive at all. When threatened most pinktoes will either jump and run away not wanting to fight at all. On occasion they will launch a stream of excrement (poo) when they feel threatened. Adults have great aim and have a range of up to 4 feet away. This can surely ruin that nice shirt you decided to wear. Their bite though venomous to insects is nothing more then a bee sting to humans.  They rarely get provoked to attack in such manner but always test and see if your tarantula is in the mood to be handled before taking it out.

All in all the Pinktoe Tarantula is a great tarantula to have as a pet. They are not aggressive what so ever and are very active. Though you should handle with care due to its speed and leaps. This is more of a tarantula for someone that has already had a tarantula before.