Originally Posted by Sparky (Post 58565)

Like pbl said, the simple answer is no. Don't ever house them together. I don't even know how filmmakers shot scenes like that one in Something Wicked This Way Comes where a slew of tarantulas swarm all over the one kid's bedroom - there must have been a lot of "spidercide" on the set...

The babies are good so far. The chromatus is one fat little toddler, I could probably stand to feed him a little less. He drinks like a sponge; he was more likely than not deprived of water for a good while prior to the reptile show, though his abdomen wasn't shriveled. He's too young to tell his gender just yet, he needs to get a bit bigger. But I can't wait to know. The teeny one has webbed up his vial like mad and seems good. I did find out after I got him that the species has demanding humidity and temp needs, like my snake, which worried me because it is VERY dry here. I hope he does okay.



Just be sure to do your homework! Arachnoboards is a good place to start, and if you get a common G. rosea ("rosie") there's a whole section just on taking care of them properly, as they are the common pet store tarantulas that are so often sold by pet stores who don't know anything about t's to customers who don't know anything about t's. Anyways, you can find pbl there (as pitbulllady) and me too (NeitherSparky).

Originally Posted by pitbulllady (Post 58572)

Most of the movies have Common Pink-toes(Avicularia avicularia) in them, which is one of the few tarantula species that can be kept communally, IF they're all very well-fed. Often, the "spider wranglers" will stick them in a refrigerator for a short time to slow down their metabolism and make them more sluggish, then the filmmakers will speed up the sequence to make it look like they're running all over the place, when in fact they were barely able to move at all and not interesting in eating each other while in that state of semi-suspended animation. It's risky to the spiders, and I'm sure a lot of them DO get killed during filming, which is another reason filmmakers prefer using Pink-toes: they're cheap, as tarantulas go. They also are very safe to have around the crew and cast, since they're so passive.

I'd also recommend many of the Aphonopelma species of tarantula as first-time pets, especially the New Mexican or Tuscon Blonde, Aphonopelma chalcodes. Sparky has one of those, and I've got four, and I often call them the "Golden Retrievers of the tarantula world", lol. They are just that laid-back and docile, and they're easy to care for, especially when compared to the tree-dwelling tropical tarantulas, like the Pink-toes. They have a much more reliable temperament than the Rosehairs, which tend to swing from "Wilt" to "Duchess", or even "Berry", all over the span of a few days, when it comes to moods!

pitbulllady