My 5yr old son is autistic and is obsessed with insects. He loves watching your channel and we have your videos playing on repeat every day 😂. He's even started copying your intro and sign off in your videos! Just saw that you have a stand at the South Western invert show - he's really looking forward to meeting you.
@Jenna Liu what a heart warming message! Before becoming disabled, at one time in my life I was an Educational Assistant. I supported many students with Autism and I can completely appreciate how wonderful and helpful it is when someone we care about discovers a passion. It is great for everyone, but, using this passion to help with communication, rewards, finding something that can be enjoyed together, and expressing feelings and thoughts is absolutely MONUMENTAL! I am so happy for your son and delighted to hear he will be meeting one of his heroes! Please tell your son that someone who truly understands his uniqueness and lives in Peterborough Ontario Canada 🇨🇦 is excited for him and I wish for him (and his family too) every happiness and to keep enjoying exploring the fascinating world of insects and spiders. I am a 45 year old woman and I love it too! Sending hugs and high fives to you all. With love, and wishes for every joy. ❤️
This message about your son is very heartwarming to read and for him to meet Dave and Sweet Camera Lady must be absolutely a very amazing thing and it makes me happy too! I wish you a fantastic day! 🕷😊👍❤🥰🤗
Brilliant commentary. I would add that spiders are not physiologically designed for wandering about. They cannot sustain prolonged efforts like, say, a mammal. So it is not surprising that they would be ambush predators that keep themselves tucked away. Because they are sensitive to vibrations and can't see well, it makes sense for them to be in a small hole so that they can detect danger more easily and get away from it. :)
I dnt own a spider or ever have but I come here bcuz Dave does an amazing job teaching, explaining, housing , care everything for these animals that I didn’t know much about before watching him. I think it’s safe to say this channel is second to none when it comes to arachnids. Great job sir and continue doing great things much respect from Philadelphia
Awesome video as always. I keep forgetting to thankyou for the fruit fly video, was super helpful, it was the powder mix I was using that was the problem here, and following the instructions made it too wet . Thankyou xxx
I don't like anthropomorphizing animals. I don't refer to any of my pets as "furbabies" (I HATE that word). My dogs and cats are pets, not children. Doesn't mean I don't love them or that I don't think they love me, it just means that I understand that they love me in their own doggie/kitty way. With spiders it's even more ridiculous to think they care, since they literally don't have the brain parts that enable anything close to that level of feeling. Doesn't mean you can't (or shouldn't) treat them with respect, but they really shouldn't be treated like they are human and have our same hang-ups or emotional requirements. I hated ruining my C. versicolor sling's web, but the darn thing kept webbing up a corner of its enclosure that included the lid, so I got it an enclosure that opens on the side and it still webbed up a corner that included the door, so I had to completely destroy the web and basically push Rebel (seems an apt name) to the back of the enclosure where all the anchor points I had put in were. It took the hint and finally webbed up where I'm not going to destroy its web. In any case, it really didn't seem to care that it had to keep fixing its web in the previous enclosure, it was more that I felt bad about messing it up that caused me to change the enclosure. One of my favorite quotes on the subject is from tarantula kat, where she was responding to somebody who sent a very dumb message condemning her for her keeping and treatment of tarantulas and at one point said the spiders must be bored. Kat responded by showing one of her tarantulas that has been sitting in a corner for several days and saying, "She's been sitting here not moving for five days. Seriously, if anybody is bored it's me watching her."
Dave, you have the most informative and educational videos out there. You are also a pleasure to listen to! So much valuable information and great solid advice (like keeping our own emotions out of it). Looking forward to the next one! You're the best!
This is a fascinating video. You have such a vast fund of knowledge that you so generously share with the world. You are amazing. Thank you and Camera Lady.
@Dave's Little Beasties I think this hobby has blown up and that's great, but there are folks that don't fully understand that there isn't someone with all the answers on keeping. There are more experienced keepers than others. Joining this hobby is like, " congratulations. You're now a citizen scientist!" I believe this is what grips me the most about the hobby . Iv only ever grown fonder and become more intrigued. To learn about something more and more. Causing curiosity to grow and grow.
Your perspective on animal husbandry is great. Too many people get caught to make it “like the wild”. If one really wanted that, one would just leave all the animals in the wild. Animals are all about efficiency
THANKYOU Seeing other keepers banging on about space and substrate depth always made me feel like I was treating my spiders poorly, but I was going by the exact philosophy you're espousing here: give them what they need by learning why they behave in these ways, and fulfil that need.
Great video and I'm not all the way through it. I have had my spider collection for a bit over a year now. I researched T requirements, species, etc., for months. One of my first spiders was an OBT. Past tense as I was responsible for its demise. I read "DLS and enclosure size should be 3x that size". Wrong. Garden spiders make webs between plants. You usually find the other kind wedged in a tight crack somewhere. Tarantulas need to feel safe, swaddled in a web lined hidey-hole, wedged in a crack in a tree, tucked behind a dirt curtain. You see this with fossorial spiders using a bit of webbing to close up the burrow door when they've retired for the day. We shouldn't anthropomorphize spiders. That's wrong. We do, however, share two emotions with them and those are the need to feel safe and fear. Let's work on fear for a moment. I have a fear of urticating hair (allergies) so I only keep old world T's. Perhaps it is a keeper's fear that encourages them to place their spider in an enclosure that is miles too big for it? Imagine yourself as a tree dweller suddenly dumped at one end of a football stadium with the closest tree being behind the goalpost on the other side. And, your water dish is on the ground somewhere where you can't find it. Not good. And, your food scampers around at a high rate of speed. Also not good. Here I am anthropomorphizing... put the spider couch in an enclosure just big enough for it. Park the water on the end table, dump the food on the other end table. Your spider can lean over and get what it needs and a year from now you can rehouse it. Pretty simple. Remember your paint brush, soft hair please. And, don't be too generous in your enclosure upgrade. I learned the hard way.
Dave, you personally, have introduced me to these amazing creatures. Virtually everything I do I’ve learned from your videos. I now have 17 of these beauties. All of them are thriving! I’m having such a wonderful time with this hobby. Thank you. For sharing your knowledge via videos. Camera Lady adds such a fun, warm component to the channel, and is always a delight.
Love your videos. Thank you for giving your perspective on enclosures. So many people think you need 2-3x the leg span for them to be comfortable but then they use 1/4 of the enclosure lol
Found this video both interesting and very informative. Really appreciated your remarks about imposing human assessments on the spiders. You would certainly expect them to act differently in the wild than in a comfy beastie enclosure where all their needs and desires are met. (However much they'd crave to do it in the wild, it's not a survival advantage to lounge out in the open in a predator-rich environment.)
When it comes to invertebrates you cannot approach it like there's a complete manual. We're all always learning. These creatures are under studied and very misunderstood. If someone carries on like an expert in anything tarantula , they don't understand how much they dont know.
I Don’t keep spiders and would never think to call an expert on how they should be kept. As usual everyone thinks they know best. Love watching your videos
Not sure about your tarantula’s etc, but I don’t think female spiders move around very much. Males might in breeding season but females tend to stay put. That’s pretty true for reptiles too.
Very helpful information as always, Dave. I have to say that I'm actually surprised that people outside the hobby are criticizing your work. If you don't know what you're talking about, you're better off not saying anything, otherwise you end up making a fool of yourself. That's my view on it. Stay safe and thanks for sharing :)
Good argument Dave - depth of substrate which equates to Environmental Conditions in the wild, is not necessarily the same as that required in captivity e.g. a damp burrow is required, therefore likely deep in arid conditions.
Im always so frustrated when you see comments like "More substrate!" when its literally fine and "you are stressing spiders!" or " the enclousure need to be 1kilometer by 1 kilometer!" like maaan...
I now have a better understanding of substrate depth. As of a few moments ago, I was one of those “ more substrate“ folks. But no more 😀 I did, however, enter the hobby with an emotionless approach. So I got one right! 🤣
I really appreciate this. You aren't dogmatic about how to keep tarantulas, you recognize that it isn't a one-size-fits-all endeavor and you focus on how to keep your tarantulas strong and healthy. I've learned a lot from your channel and as a relatively new tarantula keeper, you are my go to guy.
Great video, as usual, Dave. You provide excellent information about the hobby. I dont keep spiders, but what you're talking about is a life and generational philosophy that has spread across just about every hobby in the world, as a result. I think the only "wrong way" is telling other people their way is wrong. It might be 'different' than you (figurative you) take care of yours, but it's not necessarily wrong. There's a simpler philosophy; "stay in your lane". If you find something that's a good idea, and helps you... great! Adopt it! But don't turn around and assume you know better, and berate someone who does things differently.
True. A lot of friends asked, if the enclosures I use aren't too small my the spiders. The longer you are in the hobby, the more you learn about those creatures. You mentioned balfouri communal... that is propably my next big T project, and I surely will document it on YT. BW from Zabrze Marc
Come now Dave, the internets is where opinions fly freely even tho we have no clue what we talk about 😂. I personally don't keep spiders but find your videos very informative, educational, and sometimes comical.. keep the content coming. Very much enjoyable. Hope you and camera lady had a good holiday season
“But we’re not in the wild” This made me really think again about some of the things I’ve learned and been told. I was also pleased to hear your reassurance that rehousing isn’t so stressful for a spider. I need to rehouse my little jumper but I was fretting about her losing her nest.
Hi Dave Loved the video. You covered such interesting information. I do not have a spider, but I find them so fascinating. Love your channel.❤🕷🕸Cindy USA
Great video, small thing but thank you for moving the Beasty Room sign up above the caged animals. It looks keen and uncluttered. Small thing but on video looks very professional:)
Regarding upgrading enclosures, i dont think its so much a rush to get them as big as possible, for me i have 2 GBB's, and thats it, ive no interest in getting any more, so for me to buy all the different sized enclosures that i wont ever use again is alot of expense and alot of waste, ive put my 2 GBB's that are 10 month old into their full size enclosure, the way i see it they have the whole world in the wild, so why not have a big one for them to roam about in, like you also said, what is your end goal, for me pairing is out fo the window, i just want a couple T's to look at and keep them in a very natural looking environment, i spend hours watching them walking about doing spider things, and thats what im getting out of them.
Too many people look at these spiders as pets akin to a dog or a cat and put those human emotions on them like they do those other pets . Tarantula dont have the upper brain capacity for emotion and are purely driven by food and mating .
Couldn't have said it better myself Dave. I gave my GBB room to dig. Made a pre-made starter burrow. Above that hide there is a large plastic bushy type plant. Instead of digging, she has also decided to web above all in the plant. I personally prefer to give my balfouri communals plenty of substrate to give them the opportunity to dig if they want to, which all of my communals have done. Also plenty of webbing too and they come out quite often.
Absolutely awesome video I really enjoy your videos explaining what, how & why your very informative and cover so much about the hobby. You should look into doing some teaching classes. As always great video guys 👍😊
Absolutely a great video Dave, your explanation of topics is such valuable information! I’ve been keeping spiders since the mid-80’s and after finding your channel I’ve had better results by using some of your methods! I am glad you mentioned emotions I try to keep those out of the equation and just concentrate on what is best for the spider itself. Your knowledge and advice is priceless and has helped me grow on some fabulous spiders , tarantulas and true spiders as well! Thanks so much for these type videos Dave and cheers to you and camera lady!!🕷
That was fantastic Dave. Your a real asset to the hobby! More like this please. A related story: I have an Asian Fawn and read online it was fossorial and setup the enclosure 3/4 full of soil. I even started a hole in the corner I wanted it to dig. It wouldn't dig and just totally webbed up the top of the enclosure, which didn't didn't work very well because how I had it setup. I read somewhere else they are terrestrial so rehoused with just 1/4 substrate and loads of anchor points. It didn't web at all and just dug a hole!
Dave it's a real honour to receive your advice mate, I can't tell you how invaluable your channel is, your methods and advice have brought great results.. thankyou. 👍😃👍
Not going to name names because i made my criticisms at the time of seeing it, but 2 things on youtube I thought were clearly dubious to me, a non spider keeper. Unnecessary handling of tarantulas for the camera, resuling in bolting and falling of the large spider, which they found funny but it really isn't. And rushed breeding practices in a tiny enclosure. Don't just put the male right in front of the female, give him time to tap the web so she knows what he is. Because that just resulted in immediate attack and death of the male. If a keeper is running a large channel, they have a bigger responsibility to show good practice. I've not seen anything that stands out as poor practice on this channel, so Dave clearly takes that responsibility seriously.
Thank you I take my hobby very seriously and pride myself and this channel for its integrity I would never share anything here I havent had good results from myself I think its very important we all learn together and show our beasties the respect they deserve ❤️
👋😉 Great video as usual Dave and Sweet Camera Lady, a very informative video! Take care and I love the saying "it's proof in the pudding"! In Sweden we say "själva pudlens kärna", ( the core of the poodle 🐩 😀)! Hugs ❤ 🥰 🤗, Susanne.
Dave, I'm not in the hobby myself. But I really enjoy your videos. In great part because of your practical philosophy regarding it all. Practical AND with great appreciation of your li'l critters. You keep doin' whatchyer doin'. Seems to be a successful model. 🇺🇸👍😉👌🇺🇸
Cheers Professor Dave (& camera lady 😁)👍, another great video. I really enjoy your video’s and the catch phrase got me from the start. I won’t be having them for pets! The Huntsman’s get relocated when they show themselves inside, I can only stay calm when they don’t run back up the broom handle. Funnily enough though, I find the Beastie room relaxing and fascinating. Congrats on the subscription numbers rising to! Keep enjoying what your both doing. I’m from Darwin Australia, so yes we have plenty of spiders and snakes to deal with 😬😁 (all relocated👌).
Hi Dave and Ms Camera Lady! I don't have nor intend to get a tarantula. What size enclosure do I need? Kidding!!! Sorry, couldn't resist. I did want to ask again about possibly doing a video about spider anatomy? I've asked a couple times and it may be too basic for your channel but I'd love to hear you explain their bodies. There's been several times you show the underside of one on the glass and I always think that's a perfect position to go over that kind of thing. Regardless, love your videos and one day mic up Camera Lady!!
A deep dive on anatomy would be awesome. I'd love to see that too. Maybe, if it's too basic, you could show multiple species and point out differences and similarities
Anthropomorphizing higher vertebrates leads to so many wrong opinions, imagine how wrong people can be when they do it to an animal with a brain not even remotely like their own. One thing I wasn't sure about, what circumstances were you using the 20 cubes instead of the the 30 cubes. Were the 20 cubes for the non-fossorial spiders?
No I also use 20x20x30 for fossorial spiders like the H.himalayana a small spider and also for OBT , the floor print is plenty big enough for many spiders in the hobby ,I go larger for bigger spiders or if I want to make a display enclosure 👍
Everything you say makes perfect sense to me, and to my 10 year old granddaughter...who hangs onto your every word. Brilliantly explained Dave, thank you.
This is your single most useful video and I've watched most of your videos. Please brother, you're onto something so useful here and so lacking in ytube. Pls start making vids talking about exact enclose sizes and stetups for various species. Your rehousings are great but I want more details on the exact enclosure, and seeing the established tanks is so useful. It's hard to picture when you add them to a fresh home. I would love to see how to make a nice display enclose for avic for example, but don't know if 8x8 is okay or if I need 12x12, and do I need 14 or 18 tall, etc. Planning future enclosures for my slings has been the most stressful part of this hobby for me. Thanks for all your content!
A great informative video as per Dave, I loved it! I've only been keeping Ts for 18 months and what I've learnt is all from you 💙 Keep up the fantastic videos 🖤🕷️
Information has changed quite a bit as far as husbandry goes. 25 years ago when I got my first rosehair the concensus was a couple inches of vermiculite for substrate in a 10 gallon aquarium with a screen lid and a bowl of water with a sponge in it. I am thankful that isn't the concensus any longer. I shutter to think just how miserable my rosehair was all that time.
As a keeper with not a lot of room for my collection it makes me feel better knowing that my spiders don't need massive enclosures to be comfortable as long as the environmental parameters are good. Thank you so much for your time and wisdom!
I really like it when you say to keep human emotion away from spiders or any animal really. I see human emotion a lot with dogs cats and whatnot. To be honest it's one of my pet hates. Anyway I watched this video for the umptiest time because it's a lot of food for thought
you can get spiderlings for 15 dollars and feed them a 1 cent mealworm once a week. a plastic shoebox at the dollarstore costs 5 dollars, as dave has shown substrate is free in mother nature. Go get one youll love it
Nice job, stifling your displeasure. Some people might think it's macho handling spiders, but it's reading your own comments sections that is the real measure of man lol. Jk, you do an awesome job and provide a wonderful service. I wish I had youtube when I was young. It's amazing.
Wow, that video has made me feel one hundred and one percent happy, all of the information you explained was a great relief! I have been so worried about getting a spider because if I did something wrong it would be take five minutes for someone to say, you didn’t do that right, enclosures are too small, you are using the wrong substrate, I have seen all of these comments under some great spider enthusiasts. Gaining the confidence is because you have made me feel so much better, so thank you to the Beastie room! ❤️
At last someone making sense. I first started keeping spiders in the early 80s and just this morning ive had exactly this discussion. Ive just been outside and measured i have a segestra florentina that has been in the same 1cm hole in my shed frame for 2 years, doesnt mean she would need a shed to live in if i wanted to keep her indoors.
You prove time & time again that there's nae fuckin substitute for experience dave, what a great wee video, it's a reassuring thing to know there's tiptop non hysterical info for spider keepers new and old on your channel, happy new year to yourself and mrs dave, keep up the most fuckin excellent work my friends, yeti 🏴🙏🏻
I really enjoyed listening to you. I really enjoy your teachings. I almost forgot about your video this morning. I've been sick with covid - lucky me. Thank you for all your efforts. Love your shirt.
Very good video and I do it exactly the same way successfully for years. There are so many myths in the hobby and sadly there are people out there which insist on this myths. Your stuff on the channal, in my opinion, is important for the hobby and I hope you reach as many people as possible. Good work as always 👍 Greetings from germany
Fully agree especially depth. I got a T Apophysis last summer and put her in an enclosure designed to encourage her to make a deep burrow - I got a 30x50cm tub, put a big hole in the bottom and put that over a 50cm tall glass vase, then I put a heat cable round the top of the tub to create 26-7c in the tub. In the wild they dig down to get cooler (apparently). Now months later I take the cover off the vase and nothing, NO digging at all. Moral of this story = you can try to force a spider to dig but you definitely can't make it!
Very informative, I like that you included that just because the books n info say they burrow doesn't mean they will do that . I fell for the same mis information with the gbb got my sling and set her up with burrowing space but also alot of web space on the surface because I had been told they also web. She never once touched the sub made her web cloud and stayed on it , so for her juvenile enclosure I set her up with lots of space to web and only a few inches of sub and she's made a huge web castle this time often sits out on display and is probably the best webbed enclosure I have included the arboreal tarantulas I keep, there isn't a cm that isn't heavily webbed 😊 spiders definitely don't always do what's expected of them bout time someone mentioned that . Great vid as always, Dave, Camera Lady looking forward to the next one 😊
I’m very empathetic and I love animals but when you said about the spider being homeless I have to admit I chuckled. I’ve literally rehoused spiders and seconds into being there seen them start webbing up. 99.9% of spiders really couldn’t give a damn, as long as the food and water is still available it’s happy days.
In my experience of about 7 months, if a terrestrial tarantula doesn't dig, it doesn't need any more substrate. I've been in communities that tell me the *minimum* amount of substrate for a terrestrial spider is 2-4x the DLS. In my opinion ridiculous. That would mean a *terrestrial* Lasidora Parahybana adult would need several feet of substrate, ridiculous.
Agreed. Some digging species might need a lot of space and enjoy it. Just being terrestrial doesn't mean they dig a lot. Especially Lasiodora is happy with just a hide. Minimal excavation happening. Hysterocrates for example are extreme diggers and just a thin layer of substrate won't be enough. Mine has like 1 foot of substrate and still sits at the bottom of it.
@@rebel4466 I've seen a video of an experiment someone did with a fossorial adult in a custom made 4 foot enclosure, it dug all the way to the bottom, but just because they can or will doesn't mean they need it to be perfectly healthy.
Awesome, informative vid as always Dave. Yes, I believe I asked about mesh tops before and since then I took your advice and I have purchased two enclosures with the wire mesh tops (and thus far my sub-adults in them have had no issues at all.) If you do touch on the lids and limbs getting caught, I don't know if young spiders getting their whole foot caught rather than the claws of a bigger T getting stuck and that's why? Just food for thought but after observing mine move across it, it would make sense if someone is going straight from "spiderling" to an "adult" enclosure in my mind. It will be interesting to hear you touch on the subject and give your light to the subject! As always am looking forward to your next vid (and maybe camera lady can make an appearance too!)
Great video Dave, thanks you so much for making it, i can fill in some info about the GGB, I'm from venenzuela, and I've seen them in the wild, believe it or not, people get them out of homes with a broom or, in the worse cases, kill them. I saw them making their homes on the upper corner of a wall, where the wall meets the roof, literally living like an avivularia, I've also see them living in not so deep ground holes generally at the feet of a small tree or big bush. I've also seen in the wild the trinidad chevron and some avicularia species, something funny about the P. Cambrigei is that everyone cite them to be from the trinidad island, but they are also living the the Venezuela state of "falcon" north-west of the country
