Animal Stories - People Talking About Tarantulas



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Latest Animal Stories on Tarantulas (560)

Kurt van Wyk - 2009-02-24
I purchased a sub-adult male rosie from my local pet shop quite recently and he is absolutely fascinating! His name is Tom by the way. He is my first tarantula and is certainly not a handling pet (then again, I don't think TARANTULAS are even a pet that is meant to be handled)! I would not recommend this species as a particlularly good beginner tarantula because of their massive mood swings. Great site by the way!

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SYLVAN - 2010-04-21
Mine has never in a year had a mood swing and is always handle-able and has never bit me this is the perfect tarantula for beginners and experts alike.
savannah - 2010-07-28
You just got to get used to them.
natalie - 2010-12-10
In my experience with baby sitting a male tarantula over the summer, the males seem to be more aggressive then the females. I loved the spider so much my parents were sweet enough to buy me my own, we got a female. She is very calm but doesn't necessarily like to be bothered. She will put up with me to a point before she raises up her legs but when I go to introduce her to my family and friends out of her cage she is a perfect little girl. U think she is close to multing too she's acting a bit strange. By the way has anyone ever woken up to find their tarantula hanging upside down from the room of it's cage? It freaked me out when Angel did that a day or two after she came home.
betsy - 2011-08-22
Yes I just purchased my beautiful one yesterday and last night and today both in the evening he or she not sure yet was hanging upside down on the top of the cage it freaks me out. I am afraid she/he will fall and get hurt. Going to look into a different lid. I wonder if she /he wants out? I saw fangs I will hold off. I did however pet her the first night and shortly after had an itching burning sensation on my neck for a couple days now. I dont know if it had anything to do with her hairs.

Anonymous - 2011-08-21
I got my rose hair tarantula about 2-3 months ago and lately she's been acting very weird, she freaks out of nowhere when I open her cage and when I try and hold her she jumps out my hand. But when she freaks she moves all legs up n down really fast, I'm worried what should I do? Help please.

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Jessica Kidd - 2011-08-11
Okay. So I have a Rose-Hair, she's a bit older.. I believe around 5-6. She hasn't been eating very well in the 3 months I've had her.. I'll give her a couple crickets, and they're both still in there 2 days later when I check to see if she ate them, so I'll remove them.. she didn't eat for a month.. Then I gave her a dehydrated mill worm, and she nibbled it, but still didn't eat. Her abdomen had a spot that had a lot of fuzz, and she sat still and allowed me to get all of the fuzz out, and chilled out a lot when I was done, even retreating to her coconut to sleep. Is she getting ready to molt? Should I be worried about the fuzz? It wasn't hairs like many of the forums I've read said.. it was just brown fuzz. Help? I've known her for a couple years, because she was my friends, but my friend couldn't care for her anymore. She's comfortable with me, and in her tank.. so I'm not sure what's wrong?? :c

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Charlie Roche - 2011-08-11
Good news is they have a longer life span 15 - 20 years. Is it a female as the males life span is a lot shorter. Not eating is usually a sign of molting. Fuzzy bottom - wow need more information there. Is your humidity high enough? Possibly trying to build a web and too dry and so the web got stuck? I can't visualize what you are asking. Please more info or maybe someone else here knows more. Check the humidity though. People have written in and some of their rose hairs haven't eaten anything (during molting) for up to 6 months. Amazing.
emma williams - 2011-08-17
She might be preparing to molt. My girl chilli didn't eat for the 4 weeks I've had her, then 4 days ago she had her first molt and boy she was ravenous after. She literally ripped the cricket outta my hand. So don't worry jess she,ll be fine. Tarantulas fast before a molt . Love emma from london, england. xx pease you can email me any time if you have any quiries.

richard - 2011-02-22
My rosea is mean not all are nice lol.

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Anonymous - 2011-02-27
My handsome, best friend curtis is about 6 months old and I hold him all the time. I even accidentally accosted him while he was molting and he was a good boy and didn't bite. If you treat your tarantula like a scary thing and don't hold him he will become unsocial. Also I held him the first night I got him and let him crawl all over me. I was terrified of spiders before too and Curtis has helped me see that they are just like puppies.
Jessica Kidd - 2011-08-11
I tell mine she is beautiful all the time. She gives kisses, and loves to watch herself in the camera when I skype my boyfriend. I also like to put my finger or lips up to her tank when she's in her log, and she'll come up to my finger/lip and touch the side her her arm.

amy - 2011-07-21
My boyfriend has a Rose-haired Trantula and I'm scared of spiders! However I'm starting to learn more about them..can ya'll give me some advice on this pet?

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Charlie Roche - 2011-07-23
There is quite a bit of information in the Animal World article and that link is here.

http://animal-world.com/encyclo/reptiles/spiders/rosehairtarantula.php It is OK if youhave your pets and he has his. Nice when you share but not completely necessary. Go slow.
Jessica Kidd - 2011-08-11
Deff go slow. You know what helped my mother get used to mine? My baby Teisha is very active, so I bought her a dwarf hamster ball, and she enjoys rolling it around on linoleum floors. It helped a lot of my friends overcome their fear to see a spider rolling around in a gerbil ball. They're only 5 dollars at petsmart. It took Teisha about a week to adjust to it, but she loves it now. My dog chewed the lid, and she's become rather depressed, even sitting in the corner of her cage by the ball, trying to get to it through the glass. You can't force it, they can sense your emotions.

Nathan Holbrook - 2011-07-20
I am moving and cannot keep my spider. I just want to know where I might be able to sale it? Please anyone with any idea of where i can sale it please email me.

Will Miller - 2011-07-15
My rose haired tarantula has a piece of bark she sits on all day and night, never coming off from the bark.. I just got her two days ago, but it seems like a problem. She hasn't gone inside of the bark or anything. Could someone help me with this?

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Jesse - 2011-07-15
My male did that for the first week, and then I realized the the bedding I had him on was too moist. These tarantulas are wild-caught in the Chilean desert, so they don't actually need much humidity and they prefer completely dry substrate. That being said, your female might just take a while to get used to the new home. My male took about four days before he started exploring his tank; now he doesn't do much again. So just give her some time and she'll come around.
Will Miller - 2011-07-15
Alllright, thanks for the advice. I think it's just that she has moved to a different place, because i keep her in a coconut fiber bedding, and it's almost completely dry, but other then that she is fine.

Danielle Marie Cross - 2011-06-02
Allright, I'm back with another question! My spider keeps webbing herself into her little rock hut I have bought for her... She just started this within the last couple months.... About 4-6. I dont have any clue why! But she webs off the entrance and the little window and will hide herself in there till I forcer her to come out! Why is this??? It's frustrating. lol I enjoy spending time with her but I hate having to mess with her webs :(

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Charlie Roche - 2011-06-04
I think this might help. It is on U-Tube and it is a pink toes tarantula that webbed herself in and is eating her first meal after 8 months. Amazing to me. This is the web address and you go right to the video. I would imagine this would be making you crazy but appears to be normal.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfP7PkKGgwg
Charlie Roche - 2011-06-03
I do not know for sure but will try and help. Calling on anyone who knows the answer please help. From what I have read tarantulas create webs for a number of reasons. They create a web so if their is food but they don't want to eat it right then they can wrap the food in the silk of the web and store it for later. They create a web when they wish/need to molt. The male creates a sperm web. They also create a web to close off the entrance to their hideout. Is it possible that your tarantula is just doing their normal thing but you keep taking the web away? If you don't take the web away, what happens? Please someone who has more knowledge come forward.
Danielle Marie Cross - 2011-06-04
I never really take it away from her. She has done it multiple times within the last fews months and I destroyed it once. I don't wanna destroy it :( I always feel so bad... but she will actually web herself in for months at a time.... I will feed and water her but she doesn't even seem to notice :/
Anonymous - 2011-06-04
Is the web vertical? Do you have her in a vertical enclosure (that is, it's taller than it is wider). Pink toes are arboreal (tree) spiders, so we as keepers want to give them a place to live that mimics their environment. In nature, they live vertically up in the trees and build vertical tube webs that they live in, waiting for prey to pass by. So if that's what she's doing, it's natural, leave her web alone. Even if her webbing doesn't sound just like that, I'd leave her and her web alone. It sounds like she'd prefer a vertical structure (I use a piece of driftwood that I left in the oven at about 300 for 30 min to kill off any potential bad stuff) and a live snake plant, to a rock enclosure on the ground.
megan - 2011-06-16
The web building happens with females for different reasons with the same underlying factor-STRESS. Before molting, which is very stressful on their bodies, they may make a bunch. It sounds to me there are external stressors, so her primal instinct is kicking in telling her to protect herself. I know you don't want to hear that but think of it this way-if a being was so big that it could crush you in it's hand, and kept coming to your apartment, tearing down your front door, you'd be pretty stressed, right? And you'd try to get the door back up to protect yourself. That's all she's doing..So give her a deeper tank with live plants and long sticks to climb. Be sure to talk softly and don't place her by objects that emit a lot of elecricity. DO NOT TEAR DOWN HER WEBS! She'll never trust you if you force it. Hope that helps a little! (If you have questions email me@ uglysleep7@gmail.com)
Danielle Marie Cross - 2011-06-19
Awesome! Thank you guys. Your tips actually helped a lot! I appreciate it :) I don't have her in a very tall tank.. I have one in my garage so I'm gonna switch her over tomorrow and see how that works for her and I :) I don't have much for her to climb on either... I have her tank EXACTLY how it came from the pet store.. the pet store I bought her from isn't very nice so it doesn't surprise me they didn't have her in her proper habitat. I will definitely be switching it up for her and better it! And mimic it as good as I can to the wild! Thanks again everyone :) :) :)
erica - 2011-07-13
Mine has been in there for months. They do that before they molt.

Samantha G. - 2011-07-12
I love catching and raising Oklahoman Brown Tarantulas because they are so easy to catch, are very calm and doctile, and are simple to care for. I love showing off to my friends by picking up my "terrorfying" pet, OK Brown, tarantula with my bare hands and its really funny to put the tarantula in a friends face. LOL. If you want to know more about my tarantula and other "savage" pets email me at lonexwolf98@yahoo.com or visit my website at www.lonexwolf.webs.com

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Charlie Roche - 2011-07-12
I like your website. I especially like the quote "Every little soul has a purpose." Thank you for sending it to us.

Anonymous - 2011-07-11
My Rose-haired Tarantula is 2 years old she didn't eat so we got her some wild cave crickets and she loves them. We tried everything else but it didn`t work. She only ate the cave crickets.

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Charlie Roche - 2011-07-11
Least is wasn't caviar. Good going though cuz you figured it out.

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