#Old world tarantula

[cyanocoraxx]

your centipedes are so cool, ive been wondering about how to start! do you have any resources/tips?

of course! bear with me here because there's a lot to go through

if you're going all out and want to get it perfect, you need: a plastic tub with a locking lid (ideally), a drill for making ventilation holes, tongs for feeding/maintenance, a water bowl, peat or topsoil, sand, gravel, and some bark for hides and decoration.

-- SPECIES --

"beginner" species: scolopendra polymorpha (#1 recommendation), scolopendra cingulata, scolopendra morsitans & ethmostigmus trigonpododus. these guys are relatively inexpensive, usually pretty docile, easy to care for, easy to find & have milder venom than the larger species! however, you can obviously keep any species you want and it's your choice. just do plenty of research first. as cute as they are, many of the other species are extremely venomous and lightning-fast and deserve respect. it won't help either of you if you buy a pede that terrifies you to care for. ):

⚠︎ venom ⚠︎: several scolopendra species are extremely venomous, including subspinipes, sp. malaysian tiger, and dehaani. and you do decide to go for one of the spicier land dragons you need to fully understand the responsibility it entails. an escaped centipede can harm not just you, but your other pets and family members. you need to be sure you can handle the risk not just to yourself but others. please thoroughly research bite reports of the species you're looking for before buying so you know what you're getting in to. <3 also invest in some tongs for general maintenance. don't go putting your hands in willy nilly or you get the bitey witey ....

-- SETUP --

enclosure: expect a true escape artist. centipedes cannot climb smooth surfaces like glass or plastic but they CAN push themselves up against the surface to their fully stretched body length and if they can reach the lid it's game over. they can also grip on to ventilation holes and push off of enclosure decor. you would need a plastic enclosure that is taller than your pede and substrate combined. i currently use these tubs for my larger pedes as they have locking lids with very small gaps around the edges.

above are my setups for astraeus and choso! they have ventilation around all sides. i also have velcro straps securing the lids as double protection just because I got paranoid when I first put them in their new enclosures, but now I keep them on anyway because I feel better that way sbdhnfjm

ventilation: cross-ventilation is ESSENTIAL. there's a lot of misinfo online about this. a centipede needs ample ventilation at the bottom of their enclosure on all sides to prevent stagnant air and gas buildup so you would need to drill a few rows of ventilation holes. also make sure they're not big enough for a smaller pede to squeeze out of, because they can and will if they can fit!

⚠︎ MYCOSIS ⚠︎ is a thing. it's essentially a fungal infection that centipedes can get in damp, stagnant conditions, and it starts out as black spots typically on the legs and antennae. keeping a pede too wet with little or no ventilation just spells out disaster. don't be tempted to over-spray a pede's enclosure. if a pede does get mycosis, it can molt of out it if its enclosure is allowed to dry out more.

HOWEVER! the more ventilation you add and the less you spray, the higher the risk of desiccation (drying out). this is where it gets a little tricky. there needs to be a balance between the setup being too wet and too dry. best way to combat this is to keep one side damp and the other dry whilst providing a water dish. this way the pede can choose if it wants to be damp or dry.

above is astraeus modelling the substrate in their enclosure. they have a mix of sedge peat, desert sand, and gravel. they're leaned up against their fav piece of cork bark here too, where they spend the entire day before coming out at night.

substrate: this depends on the species you pick, but most pedes do well on a mixture of peat/topsoil and sand. mix gravel in as well as they like to move it around. the internet says to use coco fiber. DON'T!!!! pedes ingest some substrate when they eat their food and the fibers from coco coir will cause impaction and death.

-- DIET --

food: live prey includes gut-loaded crickets, locusts, superworms, and roaches. centipedes reach their maximum sizes most often when fed a varied diet. you can include raw meats (no fat!), shrimp, low-copper cat food and even fruits from time to time. most pedes aren't too picky and will eat whatever they can get their forcipules in to :P akaza above eating a prawn for tax/proof!

centipedes are opportunistic. they can eat large prey items and then go a long time without eating. every week is fine for an adult.

be sure to remove uneaten food to prevent the build up of gases and bacteria. springtails in the enclosure can help to minimize waste that is missed.

i think that covers it. maybe. i hope ASDFG

TOO LONG DIDN'T READ VERSION:

mix of peat/topsoil and sand

no coco fiber.

one side damp one side dry

water dish

wood for hides/decoration

tongs for feeding/maintenance

varied diet

cross-ventilation

most importantly, have fun. <3

(p.s. big thank you to the people of the chipotle centipede server for all their help and info as well, without them I wouldn't know half of this.)

[realkaijuhavecurves]

Listening to Sting of the Wild by entomologist Justin O. Schmidt right now. I'm at the chapter about Tarantula Hawks, the wasp with one of the most painful stings in the insect kingdom. Intrigued by his description of their vibrant metallic hues, I had to google them to see what they look like:

And I thought to myself, hmmm, this looks familiar...

Aha, I know where I've seen this before!

I had to confirm with the Fallout wiki that I wasn't misremembering, and sure enough, it was Tarantula Hawk (Latin name Pepsinae) DNA that Dr. Borous spliced to create Cazadores in Old World Blues.

And if the sting of a regular, normal sized Tarantula Hawk is unbearably painful to the point that nobody who gets stung can retain motor control, I dread to think what a Cazadore sting must feel like.

[hopefulqueer]

if Bean doesnt eat something soon i think i am going to lose it

[cancerides]

Old Word vs. New World Tarantulas

A Comparison for the Potential Hobbyist Back in the 90s when I was more into keeping snakes than tarantulas, my wife, Billie, and I attended a reptile expo in Massachusetts. While perusing the animals at the various tables, we saw a 10-gallon aquarium with about two inches of colorful aquarium gravel and a large black tarantula stood dead in the middle of it. It was easy to surmise that this…

[losthedge]

got paranoid cant sleep, coping with tarantuals

[bonefarm]

I still have two open Tarantula terrariums after the whole… my kitchen exploded and killed 2/3rds of my spiders incident. I should /probably/ get two terrestrials because I found the young c. Versi to be a little challenging (which I think is actually somewhat common for that sp?) but I miss the little blue fucker.

It’s down to a G. pulchra or T. Vagans and another versicolor.

So many choices.

[mirkwood-trash]

Did some rehousings which went smoothly- for the most part. Artemisia fell on her face 🫣

[insectomoe]

Went to the pet store, thinking about buying their big "Curly hair" to get used to bigger Ts only to learn it got sold...

Then glancing over the only other tarantula.. "Vietnamese blue Tarantula" (Most likely Cyriopagopus lividus).... No employees knowing anything about the specific care, nor know the difference between a new world and an old world....... Imagine if a kid would have bought it.

Long story short, I bought the poor dehydrated and deformed old world tarantula 🥴

We'll see with a molt if that abdomen lump will disappear!

I'm so glad they went straight for the water and then eventually found home in the burrow! They even dug a little!

[howlsmovingwaifu]

When you fuck with Shelob she fucks you back

[sweater-equestrian]

i just saw a reposted tik tok of someone free handling a bolting pokie. every time this spider stopped or began to calm down she poked it. all of this in front of a brightly lit recording set up ofc. like... girl- 😬

[mothmvn]

big fan of first joining a community for a hobby and only then considering picking up the hobby in any way. gets most of the questions out of the way before you even start

[petandwildlifephotography]

When you unpack your newest spider, sweating all over because this one can technically send you off to a hospital or at the very least leave you rolling on the floor in agony (on top of several other nice symptoms such as swelling, muscle spasms, abnormal heart rhythm, difficulty breathing, nausea and vomiting...) and you can only guess when will the toilet paper covering her finally end and have no clue how she'll react to the sudden freedom and your presence, only to have her calmly walk out of the box and settle down - "Yeah, I'm here. I have arrived. Where do I go now?" ... But ah, the adrenaline! 💀 Harpactira pulchripes, the Golden Blue Leg Baboon tarantula. That's a spider you really don't want to piss off or mistreat. Stunning animal!

[fiercd]

my baby orange baboon tarantula called bobo

[ticktockmyclockworkhart]

Hey experienced tarantula tumblr. I’m comparing two Ts I both already own and want to hear the thoughts of other people in the hobby on which of these Ts you’d consider to be more “advanced” in terms of keeper experience/difficulty keeping. One of what I’ve heard is the most difficult NW T species to keep and the other an OW, but one I’ve heard is a good first old world tarantula for someone branching out to the OW Ts.

Temperament and risks of bites/bolting especially factored in.

I want opinions of people more experienced/just generally keep far more tarantulas than I do:

[losthedge]

okok but look at her she is SCREAMING gtfo

and look shes just wearing her fancy shoessss

[neil-gaiman]

Going to preface this with a trigger warning for spiders.

So I have been absolutely terrified of spiders my whole life. Like, can't even look at where one once was without getting immediately anxious and feeling ill. Because of complicated reasons I'll not get into, I currently sleep in a shed in my parents garden. Have done for 5 years. As I'm sure you can imagine, I get a lot of spiders in there. But somehow my broken brain has figured, because Crowley would probably tease me for being afraid of them that they're silly to be afraid of. And so, I'm happy to announce that after 30 years of life on planet Earth, I just removed a spider the size of my hand (alive) from about 6 inches above where I lay my head to sleep, to the outdoors, without a care in the world. So I guess in a very weird way, thank you.

P. S. Aren't brains marvellous things?

They are. My small son is not scared at all of spiders. I have low-key arachnophobia. When we were last in Florida we went behind the scenes at Gatorland and Ash, delighted, got to have a tarantula walk on his hands. And then, politely, they asked me if I would like to hold the tarantula too. And I realised I couldn’t say no to something my seven year old son had just done. So I said yes. And enjoyed it. Brains are wonderful.

I do worry about you sleeping in the shed, though.