"Honey?" "I brought home a new pet!"
"That's great darling, bring me that sweet little SPIDER!"
Then your wife bolts for the mop and the insect spray and begins to create a tantrum.
When many people hear the word pet they begin to think cute, cuddly and fuzzy, not hairy and creepy. Having a Rose hair Tarantula as a pet is definitely not for everyone, because one move and you could become spider bait. Many exotic pet owners who go beyond the cute and fuzzy and decide on getting the wall crawler as a pet will normally look at the Rose Hair Tarantula, also called the Chilean Rose Tarantula. Exotic pet owners gravitate towards these fly, bee, other spiders and pet cat and dog eaters because they are a bit more attractive that other tarantula breeds.
This is mostly because they're attractive, docile and easier to care for than most of the more run of the mill pets out there - looking after them is very straightforward compared to cats or dogs for example.
If you've never had an exotic pet before, a Rose Hair Tarantula would be an excellent choice. This is not only because of the aspects mentioned above, but also because of the wealth of available information about them in books, online and elsewhere. They strike a good balance between being unusual enough to be different but being kept by enough people to make them cheap, readily available and well studied.
People who are interested in the pet spider always have a concern about the dangers involved. But what many people do not know is that tarantulas are often far less dangerous than much smaller spiders, and the Chilean Rose Tarantula is no exception. The Rose Hair is not an aggressor and will more likely runaway from an immediate threat than to act defensively. It would rather bite its meal that to waste its venom on an attacker. If they do bite, the amount of venom injected is very small and it isn't particularly potent, so this isn't serious unless you are allergic.
Basic Spider Care
The Rose Hair originates from warm and humid climates and therefore it is recommended that your pet spider be placed in a similar environment. Once you acquire this spider as a pet, you will need to get a heat mat which can be used to control the temperature around your enclosed tarantula.
Rose Hair Tarantulas don't take up very much space and can easily fit into all but the very smallest of apartments. A 10 gallon terrarium should definitely be large enough, and they are often kept in smaller tanks as well. Many Rose Hairs will use burrows in the wild, and so a simple small shelter should be provided to keep your pet happy - even a coconut shell or flower pot will do nicely.
The normal diet for a pet Rose Hair is gut-loaded crickets, two or three of which should be given to an adult tarantula every week. They don't have regular feeding schedules, and can even be fed just once a fortnight and then left alone, as they will naturally gorge themselves when they have the opportunity in case of a famine to come.
The decision to buy a Chilean Rose Tarantula should not be taken lightly, as some will live for twenty years or more, but rest assured that they are easy to look after and are very unlikely to cause you any problems. They're also a brilliant talking point, and are the perfect arachnid for your first exotic pet.
"That's great darling, bring me that sweet little SPIDER!"
Then your wife bolts for the mop and the insect spray and begins to create a tantrum.
When many people hear the word pet they begin to think cute, cuddly and fuzzy, not hairy and creepy. Having a Rose hair Tarantula as a pet is definitely not for everyone, because one move and you could become spider bait. Many exotic pet owners who go beyond the cute and fuzzy and decide on getting the wall crawler as a pet will normally look at the Rose Hair Tarantula, also called the Chilean Rose Tarantula. Exotic pet owners gravitate towards these fly, bee, other spiders and pet cat and dog eaters because they are a bit more attractive that other tarantula breeds.
This is mostly because they're attractive, docile and easier to care for than most of the more run of the mill pets out there - looking after them is very straightforward compared to cats or dogs for example.
If you've never had an exotic pet before, a Rose Hair Tarantula would be an excellent choice. This is not only because of the aspects mentioned above, but also because of the wealth of available information about them in books, online and elsewhere. They strike a good balance between being unusual enough to be different but being kept by enough people to make them cheap, readily available and well studied.
People who are interested in the pet spider always have a concern about the dangers involved. But what many people do not know is that tarantulas are often far less dangerous than much smaller spiders, and the Chilean Rose Tarantula is no exception. The Rose Hair is not an aggressor and will more likely runaway from an immediate threat than to act defensively. It would rather bite its meal that to waste its venom on an attacker. If they do bite, the amount of venom injected is very small and it isn't particularly potent, so this isn't serious unless you are allergic.
Basic Spider Care
The Rose Hair originates from warm and humid climates and therefore it is recommended that your pet spider be placed in a similar environment. Once you acquire this spider as a pet, you will need to get a heat mat which can be used to control the temperature around your enclosed tarantula.
Rose Hair Tarantulas don't take up very much space and can easily fit into all but the very smallest of apartments. A 10 gallon terrarium should definitely be large enough, and they are often kept in smaller tanks as well. Many Rose Hairs will use burrows in the wild, and so a simple small shelter should be provided to keep your pet happy - even a coconut shell or flower pot will do nicely.
The normal diet for a pet Rose Hair is gut-loaded crickets, two or three of which should be given to an adult tarantula every week. They don't have regular feeding schedules, and can even be fed just once a fortnight and then left alone, as they will naturally gorge themselves when they have the opportunity in case of a famine to come.
The decision to buy a Chilean Rose Tarantula should not be taken lightly, as some will live for twenty years or more, but rest assured that they are easy to look after and are very unlikely to cause you any problems. They're also a brilliant talking point, and are the perfect arachnid for your first exotic pet.
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