# just got a juvenile GBB as first T, help needed with getting started



## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

Hey guys and girls, I got my first T today from bugzuk - a juvenile ~6cm C. cyaneopubescens 

as a total rookie who is completely new to caring for inverts ive been reading as many articles as i can find on caring for GBB and T's in general, but ive still got a few questions that i would be very grateful to anyone who can answer.

i apologise in advance for this, i expect you lot are sick to death of answering the same rookie questions over and over again, but here goes...

the spider ive got has a guesstimated 6cm leg spen when mostly streched, im guessing this would count as a juvenile rather than spiderling?

ive got orchid bark substrate which ive seen several websites reccomend, but i keep looking at it and thinking the chippings are a bit too big, most are ~1cm on each side with some being up to 2cm long. is this ok for my T? as i keep thinking from the spiders point of view it must be like trying to walk over huge rocks all day...

Ive got a 45 x 45 x 45cm terra, but this seems pretty huge for a juvenile so just at the moment im keeping him/her in a good sized tupperware with about an inch of substrate, a bottle cap of water and some small holes poked in the lid.
is this the best thing to do until s/he grows, or should i just move it to the terrarium?

a lot of places have said that GBB's are semi arboreal and i should give it something to climb on as well as something to shelter under, would good old tree bark and twigs be ok, and if so should i be worried about mould and parasites that might be living in whatever bark and twigs i have in the house?

presumably she/he will be big enough able to kill her own food by now, are crix the standard livefood, or should i still be worried about a cricket hurting my T?

My thanks in advance, any advice in laymans terms would be much appreciated =)


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## jaykickboxer (Feb 11, 2008)

Twigs and that should be ok I would just put boiling water over them then dry em on the rad u shouldn't get any mould, crickets should be fine just remove uneaten ones, I'd guess at that size ur Tupperware should be fine not too sure about ur bark I use peat soil or cocofibre as a substrate


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## becky89 (Nov 24, 2009)

DeadTom said:


> Hey guys and girls, I got my first T today from bugzuk - a juvenile ~6cm C. cyaneopubescens
> 
> as a total rookie who is completely new to caring for inverts ive been reading as many articles as i can find on caring for GBB and T's in general, but ive still got a few questions that i would be very grateful to anyone who can answer.
> 
> ...


Hope this helps a bit


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## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

thanks guys, thats a big help 
still not sure about the substrate though, maybe i could put it in a blender to make it a bit finer 

oh and in a relatively small enclosure, should i mist it every now and then to maintain humidity, or will the water dish evaporating be enough as GBB's are meant to have low(er) humidity anyway?


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

The size of your Exo enclosure is huge for any tarantula, a faunarium would be more suitable but you could still use your Exo if you really wish.
GBB are semi-arboreal, they inhabit scrubland of Venezuela where its almost bone dry so they inhabit low lying bush that they web out which captures morning dew as their water source. As slings they rely on a level of humidity but at the juvenile stage you have its time to move over to dry with the occassional spray to the web. The substrate is almost immaterial as its not likely to burrow but my preference would be for coir/coconut fibre.
To use your large enclosure I'd suggest mostly coir as your substrate with bush from your garden/woods put up the sides. You want it to be high to avoid your GBB climbing high up the glass and the potential for falling. Your GBB will probably take one area of this and web it out.
One of the other problems with large enclosures is making sure the T gets food. With your substrate and size of enclosure there's the potential for the T to hide or easily escape, but GBB are pretty good at hunting and capturing food.
Crickets will be fine but you can also use roach, mealworms or locusts.


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

GBBs seem to be fairly bulletproof, my biggest one is a bit bigger than yours and has no trouble tackling the largest size of brown cricket, so yours will easily handle medium or large ones. If it doesn't eat it straight away just remove it and try again the next day, it may be coming up for a moult in which case it won't eat and there's no point leaving the cricket in there.

I keep mine in a 32 choc Fererro Rocher box which is quite adequate for the moment, a 45cm cube does seem rather big, the problem is that in such a large setup it may never come into contact with it's prey!

I use a dry substrate of approx 30% coir and 70% play sand, with a bit of gravel strewn around and a small water dish, I don't bother misting at all, but when I top up the water bowl I usually let it overflow a bit and the excess soaks into the substrate.


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## spicewwfc (Aug 26, 2009)

Congrats on getting a great spider.
Orchid bark is no good really, GBB's live on sand dunes, and scrub land in the wild, so sand is the best substrate, but most keepers (me included) use coconut hummus, the vacum packed block, that you have to rehydrate.

As recent posts suggest crickets can attack a tarantula, but it is very rare, my gbb is a very aggressive feeder, she took 2 roaches in one go the other day. I usually use roaches as feeders but with only 1 tarantula, you are probably better off using crickets, and you can kill them by crushing the head first if you want to.

It will probably be ok in the exo if given enough things to attach webbing to, but you will never see it, if you want to see it easily you might want to put it in a smaller container.


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## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

i was thinking of maybe cutting some clear plastic sheeting to size and using it as a divider to make the terra a bit smaller, my folks bought the terra for me you see, and i think they went a little overboard 
maybe i could divide the terra down the middle and have the other hald for another T to live at some point 
should i ditch the orchid bark, or will it be ok for the time being? or i could buy a finer substrate and use a mixture?


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

Personally I think the bark is probably too coarse, and even when "dry" you may find that it creates too much humidity, just look at where it lives in the wild and try to replicate that, bark would be for more of a forest floor effect than sandy scrubland.


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## Poxicator (Nov 14, 2007)

You could split the enclosure but you really need to make sure its done properly, tarantula are notorious for invading the other side and eating the occupant if they get past the obstacle. However, you'd still have a rather high enclosure more suitable to an arboreal. Again, lots of bush might help.
You can mix the substrate up with lots of coir, once it starts webbing you'll not want to rehouse though


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## spicewwfc (Aug 26, 2009)

Get youself one of these http://www.thespidershop.co.uk/insect/product_info.php?products_id=183
And some of this Terra Tarantula - Coco Fibre Substrate for Tarantulas Suppliers of Arachnids and other quality Invertebrates
Add a few twigs and a water bowl, and your away.

It dosent matter where you get them from, your local pet shop will have both items.


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## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

Graham said:


> bark would be for more of a forest floor effect than sandy scrubland.


thats what i was thinking, again it was my folks who got the substrate for me on the advice from the nice people at the pet store.

i'll work something out with the substrate, i'll mix it with lots of coir and sand or maybe just bin the bark completely, but for the minute hopefully he'll be ok on the bark.

thanks all, there is a lot to learn but its all good stuff


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

You could use a mix of sand and coir, then just scatter the surface with bark, that would look quite natural and would be nice and dry.


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## rudy691 (Aug 11, 2010)

mines got a half of a plant pot and pencil across its terra  had no twigs so decided to put a pencil in there so he can web easier - cant see a thing in there after 3 weeks :/


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## ChrisNE (Jul 13, 2008)

Graham said:


> I keep mine in a 32 choc Fererro Rocher box which is quite adequate for the moment, a 45cm cube does seem rather big, the problem is that in such a large setup it may never come into contact with it's prey!


They must all die of starvation in the wild then!!! :whistling2:


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

Clearly they don't _all_ die of starvation, I'd imagine that in the wild there are considerably greater numbers of prey insects wandering about though, if you only feed one or two small crickets a week it's quite likely that the spider may never come into contact with them in such a large enclosure, they don't exactly move about much.


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## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

i got a half coconut hide for her, but overnight she has blocked the only entrance with web and bits of substrate.
guessing this is not a permanent thing as s/he has no access to food or water this way?

do they hide themselves away if they are preparing to molt?


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## selina20 (May 28, 2008)

DeadTom said:


> i got a half coconut hide for her, but overnight she has blocked the only entrance with web and bits of substrate.
> guessing this is not a permanent thing as s/he has no access to food or water this way?
> 
> do they hide themselves away if they are preparing to molt?


Yup they do


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

Mine constantly rearrange their webbing, I gave the big one a corkbark hide and it webbed it up completely at first, but now it's opened it up again, it changes from week to week.


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## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

so should i just leave him/her to it until it re emerges? or should i offer a hopper just outside the entrance to the hide and see if she takes it?


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

Offer it food but remove it if it hasn't taken it after a few hours.


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## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

ok, ive left a hopper in the enclosure with her so will see if she takes it


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

They very unlikely to starve to death, but a moulting spider is at risk from predation by livefood.


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## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

yeah, im keeping a close eye on the hopper to make sure it doesnt go into Drut's hide (ive named him/her Drut after the character in trapdoor).

if theres no change after a few hours i'll just take the hopper out again and leave Drut to it until s/he reappears?


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## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

well Drut made a brief appearance just before i went out for a bit but didnt seem to acknowledge the hopper, but after i returned there is no sign of spider or grass hopper, so shes not preparing to molt, and im assuming she took the prey


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## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

havn't seen any sign of spider of food remains for a day or so, should i be more concerned about removing food remains which would require lifting the hide and (probbaly) destroying the webbing inside, or is it better to leave it undisturbed?


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

I'd leave it, they'll often bundle up any remains and chuck them out themselves, if you see any little silk packages you can then remove them.


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## rudy691 (Aug 11, 2010)

mine always leave it in the water bowl


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## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

shes been a bit more active today, shes ventured out a couple of times, or failing that she will sit close to the entrance to the hide 
she will instantly run back into her hide at the slightest disturbance though.
also, this might be a silly question but do the hoppers i feed her need much in the way of care? ive made sure there is plenty in the way of fresh green stuff for them to eat as per the brief instructions on the carton, but a couple have died :/

also, should i try feeding my T recently dead hoppers?


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## Graham (Jan 27, 2007)

I give all the dead ones to the birds!

You're bound to lose a few, unless you have lots of animals that eat them then probably more will die than you actually get to use as feeders TBH. But keeping them in a decent size container (not the tubs they come in), making sure they have fresh water in the form of Bug Gel, and food such as Bug Grub and fresh salad leaves, will help to keep them alive a lot longer.

I did an experiment earlier this year with crix and locusts, I kept some in the tubs they came in and didn't give them food or water, they lasted a week or so, others I transferred to plastic shoe storage boxes (Tescos) with ventilated lids, gave them water and food every few days, and they live for well over a month.


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## DeadTom (Dec 30, 2010)

ok, i'll see if i can find a slightly bigger container for the hoppers then. 

i left a dead hopper in with her overnight and this morning i found it scrunched into a little ball by the edge of the enclosure, so im guessing she ate it in the end 

although i have fed her 2 so far, but only got the remains of one back, so i guess the other one is stashed in her hide somewhere.


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