r/TarantulaKeeping

Hi! im a teenaged animal lover who studies marine mammalogy, palaeontology, and entomology. i am very new to the subject of entomology, and have been hesitant to join for a few years due to there being so many insects and invertebrates in the world. i would also like to study arachnids, so i figured i should start by getting acquainted with them.

this is why i ask what species i should get. i need something beginner friendly, easy to care for, a wide range of temperatures, and relatively large (to study better). i also need to know how to properly handle tarantulas as well as other large spiders and what they feel like so that i dont get startled and hurt them accidentally if they feel "weird" or run up my arm.

a few more questions about care: how often should i feed them? how often should i handle them? is this species prone to aggression? how big should the enclosure be and what should i put inside? what are their moisture requirements?

i'm not looking for any quote on quote "beautiful" species, just something i can study reliably. i really dont want to get a baby due to the fact that i may lose it and i want to do presentations on it in class (if that's possible.)

(i dont know a lot of species of tarantula and i really only know their common names, so please put their common name as well as their scientific name (and how to pronounce it, lol))

also i apologize if i didnt spell things correctly or used improper grammar.

I found my tarantula stuck on a mouse glue trap I removed it already got bit twice while doing it I put corn starch on it legs so it won’t be stuck she looks find for no I checked her and she not bleeding what should I do next I don’t know if her legs are broken but she walking still

Hello internet!
I've got a female curly hair juvenile (Rain) on the 30th of May at an expo that I still haven't been able to feed ever since and who knows when was the last time she ate before that too. It's been a little more than a month and she still won't eat. I'm starting to get worried that she's gonna starve herself to death. All she does is sitting on the bottom of her burrow day and night (never seen her leave her burrow at all). I tried dropping in tiny dirt pieces to trigger feeding response, tried tickling gently the entrance with a brush, tried throwing in roaches and mealworms, she reacts to nothing.

Yes Rain is alive, I see her move around slowly in her burrow. Also yes I removed all prey.

Furthermore she molted about a week ago I think, not 100% sure when because she also molts somewhere in her burrow, all I know she had a white/black discolored abdomen a week ago and now she doesn't.

I don't dare to leave roaches or mealworms in her enclosure because they immediately burrow themselves underground and then it would become impossible to remove them.

I'm also unsure if maybe the problem is that she has too much space to burrow? I filled her tank up with coconut fiber to 2/3 of it like I saw on tutorials.

So i just got a Mexican Red Knee turantula yesterday, my first one ever. And it's really cold rn where i live and I've read that red knees need a higher temperature, around 18°c at a minimum? I really don't wanna fuck this up, I've always wanted a turantula and i love him so much alr, he's a juvenile i think If that helps? How do i help him survive the winter?

Update:Put him in my cupboard with a hot water bottle with warm water, it wasn't against the glass, just there ro warm the air up, he's Still alive thank god... Turns out there's an exotic pet shop near my house, they use heating pads and say the spiders here are slightly better with the cold, they use heating pads, they gave me instructions on how to do it safely, thanks for the help! I think he's gonna be just fine, tho idk if he's in pre molt and if i should feed him or not? Can't get a good look at his abdomen, it's smaller and more black though, it was bald when i got him

How do I convince my parents to let me get my first tarantula???