My story on first tarantula...I have arachnophobia and have watched videos for 3 years on tarantulas. I bought one to get rid of my fear. I'm 50 years old hiding in the bathroom because my family didn't know I had this 8 legged creature. After doing immense breathing and acting like I knew what to do I got the nerve and opened her cage and started shaking so bad that I shook her in her new home she didn't have a chance to bolt cause she had no footing. I'm gonna say it was a sloppy success.
LOL! I know the feeling. I did the same thing when I rehoused my H. mac. I used tongs to remove the cork bark and it bolted right up the tongs. I dropped the tongs and the tarantula ran out of the enclosure and up the side of the bathtub. Luckily I had a catch cup and was able to cup it going up the wall but my heart was racing and I was sweating bullets. 😂
@@TarantulaHaven I would have straight up passed out OMG. 🤣 I'm so close to get my first tarantula, your videos are helping me to get prepared! I already fought my fear of spiders with jumpers ( currently owning 3 phidippus spec!). I'm sure i'll never own an old world. Too much respect, haha. I can't deal with the boltiness yet! My pick for my first tarantula will be a grammostola pulchripes (heard they're very docile and calm and minimal stressed while handling.) 😊 Thank you for your videos, keep going!
My neighbors who were moving asked if i wanted their Ts. I said yes and now have 2 G. Pulcripes to figure out how to care for. This channel and the Tarantula Collective are my go to sources. The learning curve is steep! The Ts are currently housed in 8x8x12" vertical enclosures with very little substrate - totally wrong for this species as it turns out. Ive ordered 2 sets of your cover clips (should recieve within the week, thank you) and will be purchasing the large clear mainstays boot boxes to retrofit with ventilation holes as per your other video. I have an order of substrate coming from Biodude and plan to give my new Ts proper naturalistic enclosures whee they'll have the horizontal room needed for enrichment. Now watching this rehousing video so i can be ready when the time comes. Thank you so much for all your experience and education. Im learning the necessary skillset to be a better steward because of you.
I never did rehousing in bathrooms 🙈😂 and I got some pretty fast girls. I found all my helpful equipment at Ikea (plastic containers, catch cups etc) and keep my dogs away when rehousing. I wear gloves, long sleeves, a mask and sunglasses because of the hairs 😅 But otherwise I‘m pretty chill and keep a calm mood, move slowly, never had any issues.
Yooo that bottle trick is huge. Pretty much every one of my spicy babies is medically significant and ive got 3 of them to swap into a new hide becayse the ones i got them in are opaque and i cant see them.
Recently got a Orphnaecus philippinus spiderling, while it didn't bolt out of the enclosure it certainly headed up towards the edge, your video and Tom's have been very helpful. Breeding must be more intense than re-housing, dealing with two spiders with one which could end up as dinner. Also got a Brazillian Black, Grammostola pulchra because keeping two spiders makes little financial difference aside from the enclosures. I purchased from Fear Not, the "make it a package" deal made it easier.
My o. Philippinus got out twice the first week I got her, she's my first spider. Both times we were in my bedroom 🤣🤣🤣 But once I tracked her down, she crawled into the Shrek cup with grace and dignity.
Thank you for making this video so I could find it when I most needed it. I do have a fear of spiders but think they're intensely cool so I have a grammostola pulchra, and even if it's the calmest spider on the planet I found the cup method extremely stress free for both me and the spider. I was shaking like hell afterwards, but I also feel a bit less scared now that I've seen how chill it is when handled.
Thank you for the feedback. I’m glad the video was a help to you. It gets easier the more you do it and soon you’ll wonder why you were ever nervous to begin with. 🤓👍🏼🕷️
I just wanted to add, I no longer use a paint brush, I now use a powder brush for applying makeup. The bristles are longer and very soft so I don't feel it can harm the T's, and if they bite it they don't break their fangs. Also the brush length is shorter. As for the Tarantula Cribs, I prefer the Exo-terra enclosures as I like the fact the top can be removed plus there are doors in front as well. And I don't worry about the glass getting a scratch. And the cost of the cribs tend to be out of my price range. My retirement and social security is almost not enough for things I really need. Oh, and I found some heavy glass t-light holders that are square on Amazon for about $12 for a set of four.
I love the Exo-Terra as well. You can see them all in the background. I prefer the Tarantula Cribs enclosures for my terrestrials but not so much for my arboreal for reasons I mentioned in the video. :)
Hi Alex! Been a few hasn't it? Yes, I noticed your arboreal set up back there. For my terrestrial species I use the Exo-terra 12x12x12 with the double doors. I like that I can open just one side to refill their water. Oh, I moved into a tiny home and my landlord thinks I'm crazy, but he allows me keeping my T's. Any way, I buy my Exo-terra from Josh's Frogs , as they are relatively a fair price. My T's usually don't bolt, they never give me a threat poses, (except my Nhandu coloratovillosus, she's a bit of a witch and I rarely ever see her as she burrows down deep.) So any rehousing I do are usually calm and sedate affairs here. My G. pulchripes is one who likes to crawl out and chills on top of my head like an ornamental hair accessory. It's quite odd. Lol Hope you're not freezing down there in Florida. It's really cold up here in Western NC Appalachian's. I keep the living area warm for my "babies". You'all take care down there, hope the hurricanes went easy on you.
I put off repeating my A. geniculata for a long time just because she's so cantankerous lol. It went sooo much smoother than I had any right to hope for though. The new enclosure was already set up and a few days before I moved her I'd taken everything out of the old enclosure except for the cork bark tube that was her preferred hide so she wouldn't already be agitated during the actual move. As soon as I opened her cage she ran into the hide and I was able to just pick up the cork bark with her in it place it in the new enclosure and let her come out on her own time. Once she's settled in I just pulled out the old cork bark and she was good, I didn't even get any hairs kicked at me lol
I had a OBT juvenile running loose in my kitchen, jumping off the stove and almost running under the fridge. I had done everything correctly ie (catch cups, cardboard and paintbrushes), I had lifted her whole webbing right into the new enclosure and had the lid on the new home. I just had to be the perfectionist and get the spider out of the unsightly webbing....dumbass move, but she's ok and I learned many lessons.
Thank you Alex . That went pretty smooth . My last rehouse (P striata ) was a complete one man three stooges skit . Thought I was going to have to move the china closet . Keep em coming !
Great video, thanks! We just rehoused for the 2nd time our curly hair on Saturday. Tarantula was so docile it was difficult to even get her out of the hide, dirt was falling on tarantula. Wasn't the easiest but we got er done and now tarantula is happy camper.
Very cool. My curly hair is so docile, I just pick her up and put her where I want her. She's one of the sweetest T's I have. Hope yours is that way as well. :)
If you are looking for housing with lids on top, try Petko’s housing units he sells from the Dark Den. They are so customizable, adjustable for changes, and basically the parts can be interchangeable and he sells individual parts without having to replace an entire enclosure if something were to ever break or need replaced or upgraded. Tarantula Cribs rock, but I thought I’d mention the others since you mentioned that you wished you had to access for your arboreal Tarantula. 👏👏
@@TarantulaHaven I believe he ships everywhere now. He said something in his most recent post about the enclosures that he had expanded shipping so I’m pretty sure we are included here in the U.S.A. 👍
Great video and smooth rehousings Alex. I have to say, preparation is vital. Having your rehousing space set up is the most important. But when it comes to nervousness, experience is the key for me. The more rehousings you do the more calm you will become. That said, you have to use your common sense. Think through what and how you do it and maybe consider changing your plan if you are unsure about what you do. Watching some rehoussings on youtube also helps. *cheers!*
Yes sir! Preparation is key. Definitely experience will calm you down. I am nowhere near as nervous as I was early on. I have a few species that still make me sweat but not many. XD
Thank you Alex. Great video as always. I feel the more you do something the more confidence you acquire. I am not so much afraid of a bite as I am afraid of one getting away from me. I had one so fast I could not even get the catch cup on safely without the danger of smashing a toe....UUgh!!! Like you my husband said "one gets out and there goes my beloved hobby...." I couldn't agree more with you on calming yourself before attempting ANY rehousing... Happy Holidays to you and your family..:)
Thank you and Happy Holidays to you and yours as well. I agree with you on the confidence. I have definitely learned and grown as a keeper from the beginning and the longer I've done it the better I get. Chasing a bolting tarantula can be tricky. A couple of things I have learned is if I can get a catch cup in front of them, I let them run into it rather than trying to trap them with it. You wouldn't believe how many just run in and stop inside the cup. If I get one that's just too fast, I kinda just let them run and wait for them to stop. Most often they'll find a spot where they feel hidden or secure or they might go under the table and stop. Then I cup them. I have had the occasional one, usually a baboon, keep running until it has run under something but I can usually get to them before they get a chance to hide. Hopefully you won't have one escape but as hard as I try, I've had a few escape, one for almost a week, but I have always recovered them. I won't say it's inevitable but something always seems to happen. One I had push the lid off of the enclosure, another bolted on me during feeding and managed to hide. Another was my fault entirely because I didn't secure the lid on its enclosure properly.
I never put the water bowl in until after it is settled in the new enclosure. I want to know I won't knock it over during the rehouse 😂. And if I have a spider on the cork bark I'd leave the cork bark in there and let them move over on their own time. But that's because I don't want to cause a bolt. My OBT stayed in her webbing and I took the webbing and placed it in her new enclosure and let her figure out what she wanted to do l.
Thank you! It can be easy, it just takes a little practice. After a while you'll learn their body language and even the temperaments of your individual tarantulas. I knew that my O. philippinus was going to be feisty and I knew she would try to bolt out of the enclosure and she didn't disappoint. She's done this even with feedings and other interactions I've had. I would have been shocked if she didn't. With the younger ones, it's difficult because obviously you haven't spent as much time with them but in general you get to know certain species and their known behaviors. Thanks for commenting. :)
Lost my Elegans down the drain of my kitchen sink in under 10 seconds when I was unpacking...cried and cried it was awful....unpacking is by far the most stressful for me....
My G. rosea used to be a dream to rehouse….not looking like that much anymore. Sometimes it’s threat posture and skittering, other times I have to move her physically she’s so lazy. I nearly shat myself trying to get my B. boehmei into its new home, it was SUPER chill, but alas I was not.
LOL! I thought I was the only one still saying "shat" XD My rosea and porteri are either sweet or feisty and I never know what it will be. I love them but they always fool me. My boehmei, Natasha, is sweet most of the time but lately has been a crazy hair flicker.
@@TarantulaHaven Oh boy do I understand the hair kicking behavior from that specifies, she’s CONSTANTLY bald. I’ll walk by and she’s just so ready. I wear gloves to deal with her
Honestly, I hate feeding crickets. I prefer discoid for my T's but I am trying to build up my colonies at the moment. :) (BTW, dubia roaches are illegal in Florida which is why I keep discoid.)
sometimes I feel like I'm the only person who's not afraid to rehouse lol. I started keeping in September of last year. I've got 19 tarantulas. I've got new and old worlds and honestly my favorites are my Asian species. tbh I figure.... sure I was arachnophobic until last year (I was 32) but.... rehousing can't be worse than being treated for brain cancer and dying the previous year (it's not lol). 🥴😂😅
I do also want to note that the only ones that have given me any trouble are my Asian tarantulas and that feisty attitude is part of why I love them the most. 😂
More power to you. Some people love a challenge. You may be an adrenaline junkie! XD I sure hope you've recovered and beaten cancer. Glad you're still with us. :)
