How I did it:

• Bought a Chilean Rose tarantuala at petsmart
• And a 5 gallon aquarium
• Fed her store bought crickets and whatever bugs my son found around the yard (chemical free yard)
• She hibernated in the winter when it was cold

Lessons & tips:

• This breed DOES drink water, so you have to make sure water is available
• This breed also needs humidity to molt - they are from the edge of the rain forest, so they need more humidity than some
• Males have hooks on their front feet to hold the female for mating
• Start taming them slowly - soon they will know who the Food God or Goddess is and come out when you come by
• Whenever mine came out of hibernation, she had to be gentled all over again - like she forgot she was a captive spider while she was sleeping
• Buy only captive bred spiders
• Mine was quite big when we got her, so probably she was already several years old - she lived 8 years with us - about 20 molts

Resources:

• Searched the internet

Aug 13, 2009, 10:04AM PDT | 0 comments | 2 cheers