That doesn't surprise me at all, that's what I had thought.. I wouldn't have even considered keeping frogs if we weren't far enough from neighbors to prevent pesticide poisoning..
About the only way you can sex them is from a molt, and with smaller tarantulas you may need a lighted loupe. Unfortunately, often the part that gets shredded in a molt is the part you need to be able to sex them.. lol.. Isn't that always the way? What you are trying to look at is the inner lining of the underside of the tarantula. A tarantula's body is split into two obvious sections, and your looking for the little piece right around where those two pieces connect.
Here's a good site with the underside drawn. http://tarantulas.tropica.ru/en/node/608
Basically, a female will have a little pocket on the inside lining of the molt right where that vent is in the underside. You usually have to soak the underside of the molt because that part wrinkles right up. Then spread it out with a small paintbrush. It's really not all that complicated, to actually sex, there's either an obvious pouch or there isn't. The complicated part is getting a molt that hasn't been chewed and then it can get a bit aggravating to get that wrinkled piece spread out.
Our last aviculara lived in a 5 gallon hex tank and made good use of the space. BUT, that one was an adult. For a smaller one, a 2 gallon would probably be fine.
If you just mist when you mist your frogs, you'd probably be fine. It may not even need that much misting. Of course, also provide a water dish. They really get most of their moisture from their prey items, but will occasionally drink..
I kept my avics at least 50% humidity but usually closer to 75%.
Jace, my pink toed tarantula is one of my favorites! It's arboreal nature is really whats cool about it, When I go to feed him he races down and grabs 2 or 3 crickets then climbs up the wall to eat them vertically. It's very fun to watch. I would be careful if your going to get one through a petstore, just be weary of the conditions its been kept in. Great tarantula!
My favorite is Avicularia versicolor. Drop dead gorgeous!
Thanks for the information, Jennifer. I am not too concerned about sexing, really. I usually pick odd names that could go either way, though I am always up for a challenge!! I think I'll start it off in the smaller enclosure and then upgrade to the 5 gallon down the road. Lol-I haven't even got it yet, and I am already making plans!
Thanks for the heads up, Richie. How can you tell if the tarantula is healthy in a petstore?? I'm excited to see one feed and make its nest-I've read they can be quite amazing.
Kurt-I looked up Avicularia versicolor and all I can say is...WOW. Drop dead gorgeous is right!!
Jennifer, how rude of me to take over your intro by talking about tarantulas! Sorry! Have you started on setting up your 29 gallon yet? Whatever frog you do choose is going to have a great setup with that much space!
Haha, that's perfectly fine! I'm still reading, so nothing set up yet.
I do have a problem I have to solve first, and that is temperature. There are a few months of the year where it is in the 80's, even the high 80's in the house. So, I'm doing some reading to see if anyone has used something like a misting system with a cool water reservoir to keep temps down in their tank. It wouldn't take much at all to take it down 10 degrees, but, I haven't found anything about that yet..
Or, I may just find that really limits the species I can choose from. I would never have thought really that South and Central American frogs would need cooler temperatures then our house. But, that's what it looks like!
We have a place called the Reptile Discovery Center near us, so we were there today looking at their frog setups to get ideas.
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