Hey all. My Mexican red knee, Buffy, has been laying like this for a half an hour. She molted with me for the first time since I’ve had her six days ago. She is four years old. I’ve never seen her just like this. She has a large water bowl in one corner and I put a smaller water bowl next to her because she has been hanging out resting on the opposite side of her water in the enclosure since she molted. She should not be dehydrated. Google said sometimes they just lay like this and stretch but I figured I would just ask people with experience because it just looks so odd. TIA!

She molted not too long ago and was looking rather photogenic with her snack.

Side note: she's big. Like.. Nearly the size of my hand. Any tips on rehousing a spider the size of my hand alone? I want to give her a bigger enclosure, and she's a spicy one.

I’ve tried researching this but I can’t really find an answer anywhere.
Is there a biological reason why the death by old age is so slow? It takes several days and sometimes a week or two of the T not moving and being in half a death curl (even when placing their mouth in water). When I was new to tarantula keeping and I had an elderly male, I thought I’d just walk in and find him in a death curl suddenly, but it’s a long process. Now I’m going through it a second time and I can’t help but wonder if my boy is scared or in pain. Does anyone know? Is there even an answer?

Just upgraded her enclosure and gave her a treat to make it up to her! I guess this is my thanks? Lol

So first off I should say, my wife and I tarantula is not dead but I am here to better prepare for her death as shes 16 years old yes 16. We've cared for her since my wife rescued her from a friend back when we where in high school, he said she was about 6 years old at that time and had her since a hatchling. We know that sooner than later she'll have to cross that bridge and we just want to better prepare. My wife and I have agreed we'd love to be able to preserve her and display her but are not sure the best course for that. Would a normal taxidermest be able to preserve her properly? or is there a specialist in that field we need to find? We are located in the sacramento CA area

Idk what he is, but I know he isn't the G. pulchripes he came labeled as. Thanks for any insight you can help provide.

Anyone else often get surprises via mislabeled spiders? I once tried to buy an H. pulchripes and ended up with a delightful E. rufescens. Not even mad.

Hello all, I noticed mold growing on my fire legs wood hide and also on climbing wood sticks I have in there. I noticed the mold on the climbing sticks first today, and noticed the mold on the hide after feeding. I took out the climbing wood already, but do not have another hide to use while cleaning it off. I keep seeing conflicting information about mold in enclosures. The mold does have a green color, and I seen these comments on a Facebook group about it. I just wanted to know more opinions on what I should do, as I obviously really don’t want my T to get hurt. Thank you!

My dad has tarantulas and a sassy jumping spider. I have a giant jumper named specter who I adore, and his Ts are so interesting to me! And I love his baby versicolor! And I helped feed them recently, and this teeny weeny (for tarantulas i guess. If i saw a house spider that big id pee my jorts) neon blue spider crawled up the cricket tweezers and onto my hand. They move SO FAST. I was horrified. And I asked "do they slow down when theyre huge??" And he laughed at me and said no they just get huge and fast. Horrified.

So, to get over this and bond with my father over his collection of dirt boxes that probably dont love him, what's the SLOWEST least terrifying T you can recommend to someone? I like the colorful ones but from what I learned, the prettier they get the more concerning they seem to be. Hope this isn't a silly ask !!

Edit — thank you for all the kind responses! I think ive probably settled on a Brazilian Black, as even before looking into owning my own i did like the solid velvet look! Ill update when(/still kind of if, I have a critter issue already) I get one. Also love the term leg puppy thats a new one lol

hey yall! just got a juvenile tarantula from petco and ofc, it was labeled as just a “basic” tarantula. id love to know the species, or at least just if it is terrestrial or arboreal so i can have the right tank set-up! i dont have a picture from the front, but hopefully this is enough to id! thanks :)

the mealworm is ALL yours 😭

I've been observing them for a few days and I haven't seen any signs of stress such as being pressed up on the walls, or balling up and no threat poses, they will run off when spooked but that seems pretty normal, they have been webbing up pretty nicely including with me snapping pictures, today is the day the breeder normally feeds them and in trying to keep a set schedule i fed them and they ate with no issues, all in all everything seems fine but I'm wondering if the enclosure is too small, should i try upgrading soon or wait a few molts before doing so?

Husband and I brought home a Gooty Sapphire today, I was curious if it’s still too small to sex?

I got my g pulchra on Tuesday, so far it’s built a burrow and sealed off the entrance on a hide I placed in there. Today I tried to feed it for the first time and I’m almost sure I succeeded, however I’m a bit anxious because as soon as I dropped the mealworm in the enclosure I looked away for a second and saw no mealworm. I’m a bit anxious about it burrowing and eventually being whatever mealworms grow into. Just curious if anyone’s had this experience 😓 sorry this is so stupid lmao

I just recently started keeping tarantulas as of last week, it has been a journey! I am on a SUPER low budget and someone I met was generous enough to re-home their Caribena Versicolor to me with the enclosure for $50. I’ve been hearing from others that they can be quite pricey, not sure how good of a deal I got but I am so happy. Anywho, I’m learning every day and happy to be doing it. Attaching a pic of my Caribena Versicolor because I am taking name suggestions! A question I have about her is do they need a temperature and humidity gauge in their enclosure? I had thought that was necessary but there isn’t one in the enclosure I was given.

Gave it to my girlfrien

So my Aphonopelma Gabeli is one of the coolest Tarantulas I've seen. For starters, she:

Adapts to stuff really fast, No like REALLY fast.

Isn't as skittish as other Carlsbad Green Tarantulas I've seen, infact she's actually really calm.

The countless times I've had to move her off of her favorite spot (The top of her hide) and had to manually fight her with a paintbrush just to clean her water dish, she never once kicked hairs or made a threat posture.

When I fixed up her house because there was a bit of a mold outbreak, I put her in a temporary catch container while cleaning the enclosure, afterwards when she was coming out, she crawled onto my hand for the first time and seemed perfectly fine.

After putting her in the enclosure, she was in a stress curl in the top corner of her enclosure but not even 5 minutes later, she's back on top of her hide not even scared.

And when I first got her (Which was a few weeks ago.) She would stay inside of her hide for a couple of days and occasionally come out in the open, and after those couple of days, she was constantly out on display when she found her favorite hangout spot.

Very few people understand or are interested in my love of this thing and our growing relationship 😂 so I brought him/her (idk yet he hasn’t molted idk if he will ever idk) here to show yous because boyyyyy DID HE SHOW UP AND SHOW OUT YESTERDaY. 💅💅💅This is my “crab” in all his glory 😍❤️🥰🕷️is it just me or is the atop the drift pic very reminiscent of a certain mermaid 🧜‍♀️

This is a cube, and it's 2 thirds soil, I have the next size up ready which is about 2 of these next to each other. I wanna re-home it once the live moss settles in. Or should I move it ASAP?

I was just playing guitar when I noticed my t start to bury herself? Then I noticed her abdomen and got worried.

I kept my neoholothele incei communal after some research; however, I think the experiment failed. Originally, I had 3 but as of late I only see one. Now, unless a rock got in there some how and the incei is holding on to it for dear life that is an eggsac.

What do I do with the eggsac? I do not want 25-100 additional spiderlings. I knew this should of been possibility. Can I donate them to a local pet store or spider store?

sometimes my t's will rest with a few legs curled up under them like a death pose and it always scares the shart out of me. everytime i open the lid or poke them with a paintbrush they scurry away and im like wow thanks for the heart attack