Basic Care Sheets
Tarantulas
Housing
Your new tarantula doesn’t need as much space as you might think and will be happy in the enclosure you purchased them in for 3-6 months before worrying about anything larger. As your tarantula grows you will rehouse them into slightly larger enclosures until they are adults where you can rehouse them into their permanent enclosure. "Not applicable to shipped orders."
Substrate
Make sure to always give your tarantula a good amount of substrate and most species will burrow and create tunnels. Arboreal tarantulas tend to need less substrate, but there are several species that will burrow and make use of the substrate as spiderlings. For substrate we use either a mix of sphagnum peat and topsoil or Zilla Jungle Mix.
Heating
There is no need to worry too much about any kind of heating for your new tarantula as they usually do just fine at room temperature, but some species may benefit from higher temps that what we currently feel is normal. During the winter months, a space heater in the main room you keep your tarantulas in may be necessary to achieve a proper temperature.
Humidity
A lot of beginner species available today are not going to be super moisture dependent but will still greatly appreciate misting every few days or moistening some moss in their enclosure. You don’t want their enclosure to become swampy, so if you notice this, either start misting less, or less frequently. Allowing their substrate to dry out in between misting's is also okay.
Feeding
You will feed your new tarantula 1-2 times per week until they start to refuse food, which at this time may indicate something we call ‘pre molt’, but more about that shortly. Depending on the size of your tarantula you can feed them pinhead crickets, fruit flies, mealworms, and roaches, keeping in mind not feeding anything larger than the tarantula. You can even feed spiderlings the legs from larger cricket's “drumsticks”.
Water
Your tarantula will greatly appreciate some sort of water dish. You can use the caps from water bottles, or you can get creative and use things like Lego pieces for the smaller specimens. Keeping a water dish will also help keep humidity in between misting's.
Molting
There are many signs that your tarantula will be molting soon. The most common is ‘pre molt’, where they will stop eating and just hunker down as they get ready to push out of their old skin. A lot of times you won't even see it, but when you do, you may notice your tarantula upside down, don’t worry, this is perfectly normal and there is no need for alarm.
Further Questions
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can either ask us in person at expos, or you can email, call, or find us on Facebook and message us.
Jumping Spiders
Housing
Your new jumper is going to need an appropriate size enclosure based on the size of your spider that is taller than it is wide. They are arboreal and will spend most of their time making their web hammocks near the top of the enclosure making front and bottom opening enclosures ideal as to not disturb the web while feeding or doing maintenance. Good cross ventilation is also a must.
Heating
Jumping spiders don’t need an outside heat source as long as the space they are kept in is between 68-72 degrees. Although they will be just fine at slightly lower temps for short periods of time, they will also be okay at temps upward to 80 degrees. Just keep them out of direct sunlight and away from drafty windows.
Humidity
You will want to mist the jumping spider enclosures at least every other day, and even once a day during the months of heavy A/C and heat running constantly. When you do this, you will want to make sure you are misting at least one side of the enclosure to give them somewhere to drink from. Keeping the enclosure humid enough and providing the water beads on the side of the enclosure will ensure they are able to molt properly and to stay hydrated.
Lighting
It is very important to give your jumping spider a day/night cycle of 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark. Jumping spiders are diurnal so they will actively hunt and eat during the daylight hours. Making this very important in keeping your new pet happy and healthy.
Molting
As your jumping spider grows, they will go through phases of what's called pre molt, meaning that they know it's time to molt and will begin refusing to eat for weeks at a time in preparation. This is totally normal and there is no need for concern as they are just getting ready to move out of their old skin to grow. While in pre molt it is very important to make sure you keep up on misting and spraying the enclosure as they will need it to successfully molt.
Feeding
Choosing a prey size can be difficult sometimes, but a general rule is that they will take down anything up to 2 times their size. With that being said, here are some popular prey items based on their life stages. For i2 and i3 melanogaster fruit flies, for i4 and i5 hydei fruit flies and pinhead crickets, i6-i8 pinhead crickets being 1/8” to small crickets being 1/4” in size, waxworms and mealworms are also great choices for prey. With that all being said, you will want to offer prey to your jumping spider every 2-3 days depending on their size. Feeding less often as they get bigger.
Further Questions
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can either ask us in person at expos, or you can email, call, or find us on Facebook and message us.
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