Do Tarantulas Make Good Pets? | Pet Tarantulas

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Man 1: Tarantulas are probably one of the most easy going, easiest pets you could possibly keep. If you could get over the fact that it's a spider, and many people don't like that arachnophobia is rampant, but it's really more of an education situation and once you realize how simple a tarantula is to keep and how hand-able some of the species are it becomes a most excellent pet.

For our society being in smaller and smaller homes and apartments, this is ideal because a ten gallon tank is pretty much a large enough tank for any type of tarantula to keep for a long period of time. If you get a nice female tarantula, you can get one that lives for twenty to twenty five years. A very low investment in your time, low investment to purchase, some of these animals run to thirty dollars for an animal of twenty five years you can get an awful lot of enjoyment out of them. So what's the best place to get them? What's the best type of tarantula?

There are wild caught ones and they predominate in the pet world. There are captive hatched ones those are tarantulas that the tarantula mother was taken from the wild and had babies in captivity so their not totally wild not totally domesticated kind of in betweeners. And then there are tarantulas that come from breeders that have multi generation lived in this country are free of parasites free of diseases and have been handled if you will from birth. That's probably the best way to go. A captive hatched baby tarantula we call it a spiderling or a sling they are a teeny tiny things some times an eighth of an inch wide and are very very very fragile How do you keep them? Well you keep them in a very small container. We use to keep them in little test tube vials in the old days. Now there is a number of enclosures you can actually have to keep the spiderling in.

You gotta keep the moist ones moist if they are from that environment and the humid ones humidified but you have to really find a place where you can find the proper size prey. That's the probably the most important thing to keep in the baby spider. Little spider, little tiny insects. Most pet stores don't carry things like that. You're going to have to figure that out. We have solutions for that at Jungle Bobs in the terms of spring tails, little tiny isopod type animals that a baby spider can handle. They grow very quickly and it's very awarding to see a spider to grow from a little sling all the way up to an adult tarantula. And if you're lucky and get a female you've got a companion for the next decade or two.

[hugheser]

Does anyone else find bigger spiders fine but small ones uncomfortable

[mollykate]

its weird because tarantulas don't creep me out but smaller spiders do ?? lol

[joshuahull]

90 percent of tarantulas are now captive bred, at least in the United States and Europe. Most enthusiasts are now breeders and that's great because they really helped the hobby out a lot and now we can get tarantulas without taking any from the wild.

[sapphire]

he looks like caputo from orange is the new black

[imparalyzed]

I have arachnophobia... But im starting to feel like i want one as a pet.

[RoninDurey]

I want one to get over my fear of them :D

[howcast]

Check out these great products for creating a home for your new pet tarantula!

Tropical Vertical Habitat Starter Kit:
Beast Wars Predacon Megatron Action Figure:
Acrylic Large Feeding Tarantula Habitat Box:
Double Hinge Door with Screen Ventilation Reptile Terrarium:
Coconut Fiber Substrate for Reptiles 8 quarts:

[your.mum..]

His hat gives a +10 charisma bonus when talkin about tarantulas

[sebastiangarlikowski]

I purchased Greenbottle blue sling last month and I loved it. Now I already have 7 spiders and I just love to feed them, watch them when they are eating, making a nest and growing up. Cheap investment and so many satisfaction 😀

[SupaFly]

So many arachnophobes and spider haters. ~.~

[WiseWordsofWill]

Ya I'm gonna keep a goliath birdeater in a 10 gallon tank. Sure it'll do just fine XD

[snizzlefrazzy]

If I could ever get over my fear of spiders (i'm working on it), then maybe I would someday own a tarantula. Until then, my pets will be mammals (dogs, ferrets, hamsters, etc..) :)

[ChrisT.fan.]

My science teacher has one, I love that spider. They do make good pets!

[bandzdayz]

Mine just molted yesterday for the first time, it was fast!

[IloveSPIDERZ]

I have 6 Brazilian Pink Salmon Birdeater slings and I found that they enjoy flightless fruitflies.  (They are a pain in the ass however, because they tend to jump and glide all over the place).  They will also accept a recently killed small cricket.

[EverHeartPagan]

I got my pink salmon birdeater as a sling at 1/4" long, and now after 3 yrs she's the size of my full grown rosie, about 4.5" =) it's so rewarding =)

[zenith]

spiders creep me out yet i think scorpions are the coolest most badass thing on the planet

[caffeinatedpossum]

I used to be pretty scared of spiders, but after learning that 'oh hey this little guy can't really hurt me' (assuming it's /not/ venomous), I've learned to deal with them. And people see me as strange when I even go as far as to get spiders outside of a building like say at my college. Once there was a quarter-sized spider and I just got it onto a piece of paper and took it out. So I've considered on getting a tarantula, when you "train" them to be handled, is it really just as easy as let it crawl around your hands and stuff?

[Koasterking]

Just got a pet tarantula last week, my mom is now getting over her fear of spiders

[yunahina]

I really want a tarantula but not as a hobby, I want one for the same reason you might want a cat or dog; because they are fun, cute and you love them! I've seen curly haired ones and dwarf ones and they are both so cute.. They're also so pretty and fascinating