# My first tarantula - need help!



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 11, 2007)

Ok, well I finally got ...well, what I assume is permission, to get my first tarantula. However I've only ever looked up exotic breeds and now I'm actually looking to buy one in Australia I'm beginning to believe that it's not legal to keep exotic breeds in Aus, but I can't seem to find anywhere that specifically says this. Am I right?
Also, living in Tasmania I'm having trouble finding a place to get one from. I think I want a female sling, if that information helps...


----------



## PhilK (Nov 11, 2007)

That;s right. You absolutely cannot own exotics inverts or reptiles in Australia.
If you wanna buy a tarantula from someone who knows their stuff (i.e. _not a pet shop_) join this forum: http://theata.org/

There are 100 people there who are veyr knowledgeable on our 8 legged friends, and you can buy one of someone there. I recommend that 'cause you will know sex, age, species and probably won't get ripped off.

Don't buy from a petshop because they usually sell wild caught ones, and this depletes the wild populations!

My girl, Monkey:










I made the mistake of buying her from a petshop, and she cost me an arm and a leg! And she was sold to me as the wrong species too!


----------



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 11, 2007)

Well buying a tarantula from a pet shop in tasmania is pretty much out of the question because they don't even HAVE them in pet shops down here. Do you know what thegreenscorpion.com.au is like for service?

edit: btw, she's a gorgeous T. ^_^


----------



## PhilK (Nov 11, 2007)

Oh I completely forgot to mention them! I buy all my inverts (scorpions and centipedes) from The Green Scorpion and have never been less than ver, very pleased! They come quickly, are reasonably priced and excellently packaged. Also Greg ('bylo' on this site) is wonderful to deal with.

Give him a PM on posting to Tassie, and ask him if it is legal for Tasmanians to own tarantulas. He'd be your guy I reckon.


----------



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 11, 2007)

Cool, thanks a bunch. Everyone on this site is so helpful! I'm pretty sure it IS legal to keep T's in tasmania, but I s'pose you can't be too sure


----------



## Radar (Nov 11, 2007)

Hey philk, mind posting a pick of monkey's setup?
I can also recommend Bylo from The Green Scorpian, but Im not sure about importing to tassie....they have pretty stick guidlines (and rightly so) about that sort of stuff. You live in a great part of the country, Cyanide.


----------



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 11, 2007)

Tasmania is pretty good, I have to admit. I live just outside Hobart and I've just turned old enough to get my L's, which means I'll be doing a lot of driving around the state, which is great fun. Although I'd like to be able to get interstate a bit easier. This is a bit confusing, but my sister's boyfriend's friend has a tarantula, I've never met them though, so as to whether they own it legally or not is still a big if.


----------



## PhilK (Nov 11, 2007)

Yeah I do love Tassie.
Rednut, here are some setup pics (hope you don't mind Cyanide)











They're the only ones I have of it. With and without flash there. She lives in a toilet-paper roll I added to the corner of the tank, 'cause she isn't burrowing (weird)


----------



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 11, 2007)

i don't mind at all! I just emailed parks and wildlife about keeping tarantulas in tasmania, should hopefully get a reply some time this week. Also the only glass tank I have [without fish in it] is four feet long by two feet wide, should I be buying a smaller one?


----------



## scorps (Nov 11, 2007)

yeah go a bit smaller


----------



## PhilK (Nov 11, 2007)

Nah a big one is great. Wish I had the room for a bigger one. They can climb glass though so make sure you have a very secure lid with good ventilation (make a flyscreen one and make sure it is impossible to lift off, 'cause they're strong buggers)


----------



## Radar (Nov 11, 2007)

Thats pretty sweet Philk, are those rocks natural basalt or an exo-terra product?
I'd be interested to know if its legal in Tassie as well. If not, you just busted someone, LOL. 
They dont need a tank that big, but I dare say it wouldnt hurt it, lol, as long as its set up right.


----------



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 11, 2007)

yeah the lid is in about four sections and has a gap in each corner about one cm squared, i think. I don't know, it's out in my shed atm and I haven't looked at the thing in I don't know how long. Once I hear back from parks and wildlife I'll really start worrying about it, I suppose... Not much point in getting all worked up about it and then parks and wildlife saying I can't have one! Although Bylo said he'd post to tas =DDD


----------



## bylo (Nov 11, 2007)

I said I have no problems posting if you have permission from your national parks as I have herd you can and you cant .

so we will find out soon

cheers

Greg


----------



## PhilK (Nov 11, 2007)

rednut said:


> Thats pretty sweet Philk, are those rocks natural basalt or an exo-terra product?
> I'd be interested to know if its legal in Tassie as well. If not, you just busted someone, LOL.
> They dont need a tank that big, but I dare say it wouldnt hurt it, lol, as long as its set up right.


 
Yeah mate they're natural. They look like lava or something. Real bubbly, but that hole is almost definitlely artificially drilled.

Was hping she'd make a burrow down through the middle of one, but she didn't think it was a good idea apparently. Just got them from my local aquarium.

Cyanide - can't stress how much you need to make sure the lid is completely escape proof, but also good enough for ventilation!


----------



## Jen (Nov 11, 2007)

why not divide the tank and get 2? or a t and a centipede, or a t and a scorp, the possibilities are endless - AND, you can persuade your parents with the argument that since you would be using the big tank anyway....


----------



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 11, 2007)

Sorry if I made that sound like you'd post it whether it was legal or not, bylo - didn't mean it that way at all! :shock: Anyway, I think I said this already, I should hear from Parks & Wildlife within the week and will probably be getting it in writing if it's legal  If it isn't legal, I still have the little guy crawling on my wall. 

edit: great idea Jen! Plus the tank a sort of 'divider' type thing across the top in the middle anyway [which would make it extra easy to put some meshing on there, PhilK].. Although I had a hard enough time convincing mum to let me at least look into getting a Tarantula. And my dad is still disgusted... even though he only just found out and it's not really up to him, because he doesn't live with us.


----------



## PhilK (Nov 11, 2007)

Jen said:


> why not divide the tank and get 2? or a t and a centipede, or a t and a scorp, the possibilities are endless - AND, you can persuade your parents with the argument that since you would be using the big tank anyway....


Problem with dividing the tank is that _any_ gap between the lid and the divider (which is pretty much impossible to eliminate) will allow the T to climb the divider and get into the neighbours. If a big centipede is in there, both your animals could die.. If a scorpion is in there it will die. If a T is in there you might get babies.. or two dead Ts...

I wouldn't risk it. I know people who have woken up to find one T in the neighbours tank with only a few legs left.


----------



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 11, 2007)

> Problem with dividing the tank is that _any_ gap between the lid and the divider (which is pretty much impossible to eliminate) will allow the T to climb the divider and get into the neighbours. If a big centipede is in there, both your animals could die.. If a scorpion is in there it will die. If a T is in there you might get babies.. or two dead Ts...
> 
> I wouldn't risk it. I know people who have woken up to find one T in the neighbours tank with only a few legs left.



Perhaps not such a great idea... I wouldn't be allowed to anyway


----------



## Jen (Nov 11, 2007)

hadn't thought of that, though if the tank is like mine - with a horizontal glass panel between the 2 openings on the top - then eliminating any gap between the horizontal and vertical should be easy


----------



## PhilK (Nov 11, 2007)

Well yeah, if there's a glass panel halfway across the top you can silicone a glass piece into there.. As long as there's a complete seal (i.e. no gap between top of divider and horizontal glass) that'd work!


----------



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 11, 2007)

> hadn't thought of that, though if the tank is like mine - with a horizontal glass panel between the 2 openings on the top - then eliminating any gap between the horizontal and vertical should be easy



Aye, that's what i meant by my weird divider description, lol. Much better explanation than mine... However as I've said, one tarantula was hard enough to con out of mother. No more creepy crawlies for me ..until I move out. Muahaha!


----------



## HoffOff (Nov 11, 2007)

I cant wait until my um lets me get a Tarantula or a Scorp.. They look so cool ill just have to look after my Huntsman's until then!


----------



## tropicaltarantulas (Nov 12, 2007)

Hi,
A couple of things,
A bigger tank is not better it can actually cause your T to stress and they will sit curled up in a corner. In the wild the live in a burrow often no more than 30cm long (depending on the species) with a chamber at the end so they spend most of their lives in a confined space. I am a licenced collector and they settle far quicker after capture when kept in a small container such as a chinese takeaway one. I have had them eating within hours by keeping them confined however when kept in a larger tank they can take weeks to settle if at all. 
As for dividing the tank I recommend it as the majority of my large breeding females are in subdivided tanks you can see a section of one of my four footers that is divided into six compartments here
http://www.tropicaltarantulas.com.au/index_files/Page967.htm
Many of them have been set up like this for a couple of years and produced very large egg sacs, while the T's in larger enclosures have been very unproductive.
The 30cm cube tank by aquaone is quite adequate for a large spider.
Even the spiderlings do better when in smaller tanks. I keep them in containers the size of a shot glass and have far less fatalities than when kept in the larger takeaway sized ones.
Any Glazier should be able to fit the dividers for you so they have a flush fit to the lid.
A T is literally blind and uses the hairs on it's body to sense it's surroundings so it prefers that confined area to be able to do this.
Cheers
Brendan


----------



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 13, 2007)

K well that's interesting, thanks for the info, I might shop around for a smaller enclosure then.


----------



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 13, 2007)

*Got an email from Parks & Wildlife!!*

I got an email from parks and wildlife!! It's ok, but to get it imported from interstate it has to be cleared with Biosecurity first or something. I was a bit confused about that so my mum's making the call for me  lol.

edit: Oh, and I don't think I'll have to shop around for a new tank - There's another one in our shed that's fairly tall and thin, I'll get some measurements and post them up cause I think it might be a bit TOO small, at least with the width.


----------



## Tatelina (Nov 13, 2007)

bylo said:


> I said I have no problems posting if you have permission from your national parks as I have herd you can and you cant .
> 
> so we will find out soon
> 
> ...



I bought my spider from Bylo. Was packaged really well and everything is still going well.


----------



## Cyanide Goliath (Nov 13, 2007)

Tatelina... your avatar is trying to hypnotise me... O_O


----------

