I got this as a pet anyway

MrDawn

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So, we were at the pet store and I had been looking at this tarantula for a while. It's a gorgeous blue color that I couldn't get over. I've already owned 2, but one was a juvenile (Pink Toe Tarantula; Avicularia avicularia) that died after a bad molt. Pink Toes don't do well in captivity and have a high mortality rate. The other one I've had for almost 2 years and she's doing good.

They had warned me not to touch it because they're super aggressive and venomous. I touched it any way, because certain breeds don't care and it almost bit me. I guess people wonder why you get something you can't touch. It's not like that, I admire it because it's beautiful and I like looking at them. I don't plan on trying to touch it again. But almost after getting stung I gained a deep respect for this animal.

For the next month or so I thought about getting this animal. I kept going back to the pet store and looking at it. I had developed some kind of liking to it despite almost getting bit. This weekend I told my girlfriend that I was going to get it and she totally agreed. I told the guy we know, who worked there, that I jokingly had developed a love/ hate relationship with this spider. It was 80 dollars. We had a 5 gallon tank already and I thought it was going to be almost impossible to rehouse this tarantula, because they're very uptight and can go 0 to 90 at a second's notice. But it wasn't difficult at all.

They mainly hide in the ground during the day but will come out at night to prowl around. I watched it for a bit wonder it's new terrarium late last night.

It's a Cobalt Blue Asian Tarantula (Cyriopagopus lividus) . I don't have any good pictures of it on my phone but this is what it looks like:

images.jpg

I don't know the sex yet. Females stay blue after maturity. Males are an ashen bluish gray and will turn a bronze color during mating season and develop hooks on their legs. I guess I'll know in a year or so on whether it's male or female. Sexing tarantulas is really difficult and often you have to look at their molts to see their gender parts. I had to wait until my Curly Hair (Tliltocatl albopilosus) molted to find out that it was female after inspecting it's discarded exoskeleton.
 
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That's really cool! I had friends who liked to own tarantulas and they brought one to school once.
 
Never had a pet spider before! Looks neat! I see a ton of females who love reptiles and own them.
 
Nice! …if that’s what you want.

I’d rather have a pet that wants my attention and appreciates it rather than one that tries to attack me for it, but that’s just me.

Spider Web Halloween GIF by Scooby-Doo
 
Nice! …if that’s what you want.

I’d rather have a pet that wants my attention and appreciates it rather than one that tries to attack me for it, but that’s just me.

We have several of those. My girlfriend has several snakes that are pretty friendly. I guess I like to think of it in terms of having an aquarium full of fish. Not very many people try to pet their fish. They're just there for decoration and to be admired and respected. I've always found the idea of owning a tarantula fascinating.

We're thinking about starting a communal colony of the blue baboon. The biggest communal colony that anyone has successfully raised is up to 200 of these tarantula's in a tank. Most tarantula's can't be kept together. They have to be confined to their own tank because most breeds are reclusive, territorial, and will eat each other.

 
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I don’t think I could sleep at night if I had a pet spider in my house. 😛

We have several of those. My girlfriend has several snakes that are pretty friendly. I guess I like to think of it in terms of having an aquarium full of fish. Not very many people try to pet their fish. They're just there for decoration and to be admired and respected. I've always found the idea of owning a tarantula fascinating.

We're thinking about starting a communal colony of the blue baboon. The biggest communal colony that anyone has successfully raised is up to 200 of these tarantula's in a tank. Most tarantula's can't be kept together. They have to be confined to their own tank because most breeds are reclusive, territorial, and will eat each other.


How would you prevent them from eating each other? How can you maintain peace?
 
How would you prevent them from eating each other? How can you maintain peace?

Try to keep them well fed on a cricket diet every one to two weeks. Cannibalism is expected to happen though.

If we're successful. We did also talk about selling some of them off to keep their numbers down. 70 dollars for 3 slings isn't that bad. A full grown Balfouri is 300 to 350 dollars a piece. The mother balfouri is the only tarantula that I know that looks after it's young until they're old enough to go it their own. Most non communal female tarantula species eat the male soon after they're done with the dance.

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There's someone else that I know that has a tarantula and I think it's the exact same kind that you just got. I know for sure that they have a tarantula......I'm just not sure on the species. Congrats on the new pet! Even if it's not something that I would normally have, it's still nice having a pet, isn't it?
 
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