brett marshall:

Fantastic choice. I place of protection’t owned one, but they’re gorgeous modest furballs. Depending on the size you want, the answer to your question varies.

Regardless of size, you will need: substrate-I recommend Eco-Earth coconut fiber. A pesticide free source of crickets…no matter what size. To feed a 1/2 inch spider, but, you would have to be willing to rip off the back legs and serve them as “cricket drumsticks” from time to time. At 1 inch, they can handle very small crickets, or maybe half a cricket at a time (sorry, you have to be the butcher)

For enclosure size, here’s a list of options vs size that I would recommend. Try to avoid getting huge enclosures for small spiders. They’re much better at escaping through small holes, and getting lost in the tank than you would reflect. It’s not showy to keep a T in a deli cup, but it works, and its what is best for the spider.

1/2-3/4″ – keep it in a small vial or tube with plenty of substrate (several inches) for burrowing…a mini tupperware container works well too.

3/4-1.5″- keep in a small deli cup or tupperware container with at least 2-3 inches of substrate…a mason jar would also be appropriate…include a very small hide if you can

1.5″-3.5″ – keep in small sized kritter keepers. I’ve got 2, 3″ spiderlings, each living in a 5x8x6″ or so kritter keepers…empty toilet paper rolls make fantastic hides in this sized enclosure.

3.5″ and up – keep in 5 or 10 gallon tank. a 3.5″ spider might be a bit small in a tank this size, so give it plenty of hides, and maybe even 2 water dishes

Lastly, any T between 2-5 inches is going to be very….playful. They tend to be a bit more aggressive/defensive, and they like things to play with in their cage (spanish moss, pea gravel, etc) Reflect of it as spider puberty, but make sure anything you give it has been store bought, and is free of contaminants.

With respect to water, use very shallow dishes for anything larger than 2 inches. Right now, my 3″ slings really use well rinsed beer bottle caps as water dishes, changed out every couple days. Don’t bother with a sponge, and make sure that your T is always at least an inch wider than your dish. Tarantulas under 2 inches don’t really need a water dish, as they will take enough water from their food, although you should probably keep the substrate a bit more moist when they’re young.

For an incredible source of information, be sure to join, search, and question questions at http://www.tarantulas.us/forums/ I’m not trying to sell you anything with it, but it’s an incredible store for T owners, and they will respond to questions often professionally and very quickly (heck, I’ll be one of the people answering sometimes).

As a final note, I will recommend investing in some benedryl cream. Random, I know, but once curlyhairs grow in their urticating hairs on their abdomen (1.5-2 inch size), they have some of the itchiest hairs among tarantulas, and sometimes won’t hesitate to flick them at you. If you are unaware of these, do a bit of reading up.

Excellent luck with the curlyhair spiderling. Be sure to do your reading, and don’t be worried to become a tarantula addict! I’m not there yet, but if I had no one to keep watch of me (like a girlfriend who despises spiders) I would probably own 10 or 15 of the modest guys.