Eight-legged addition.

[flamesbane]

I probably should have mentioned this sooner, but the only plants I can keep alive are bamboo, peperomia and ficus.....my track record with anything else is rather dismal. So hopefully Kamani will be easier to take care of than say...and African Violet. I have a dead one of those on my deck. The only real thing I am concerned about is crickets hurting her and the humidity level. I live in a desert like place and we are going through a heat wave. My house does not have adequate air conditioning, so we have fans constantly going to just keep the air moving. Unfortunately, it dries everything out, and I am constantly misting my frogs, toads, geckos and now spider to ensure no-one gets too dry. Kamani does NOT like the mistings, though I never spray her direct, and try to keep the nozzle of the spray bottle close to the moss. She still kind of panics and goes deeper into the silk plant.

Yeah, make sure not to mist her directly. If you put in a substrate like peat moss or eco-earth and actually wet part of the substrate down and it will help with the humidity. Also, you can restrict the ventilation on the tank, that will help as well.

Would you perhaps know what temperature to bake sticks in the oven to sterilize them? I found some great ones at a local lake that I think Kamani would enjoy, but I don't want to risk introducing anything into her home that could harm her.

I boil all the pieces I collect and then back them at 250 or 300 degrees until they are dry (it doesn't take to long). The only thing you really have to worry about introducing are mites.

I am quite taken with your tarantula, H. longipes. The colouring is just amazing. How many tarantulas do you have in total? I'm going to let Kamani be the judge of whether I deserve any more of these amazing animals...if she thrives, then I am always up for another one!

Thanks, my H. longipes is one of the gems of my collection. They are hard to find as they are often mis-ID'd or missold (H. lividum are sometimes sold as H. longipes). They are definitely not a beginner Tarantula, and being the Haplopelma genus they are fossorial (this means they are obligate burrowers) to the point that some people call Haplopelma's "pet holes". They are also very fast and very defensive.

I currently have around 60 tarantulas, most of which are listed in my profile though some are not.