made a rescue. have a few questions

i just rescued a mexican red knee and really have no experience in inverts. she is about 3 years old and was under fed. i was wondering if you guys could help me with the proper feed schedule to get her back up to tip top shape. also what would be the best substrate to use? can i just use organic soil from a home depot? thanks

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by andwhy6

i just rescued a mexican red knee and really have no experience in inverts. she is about 3 years old and was under fed. i was wondering if you guys could help me with the proper feed schedule to get her back up to tip top shape. also what would be the best substrate to use? can i just use organic soil from a home depot? thanks

---

Yes you can use organic soil, just make sure it's actually organic. If she's three years old, you can feed her two times a week. Seeing as she should be fairly large at that age, crickets are too small, get her some large roaches (dubia, hissers). I'd also give her a good misting today to hydrate her a little bit.

dont use soil as some companies use chemicals in their product. be sure the soil is NATURAL and chemical free.

Best is to you use the coconut husk i believe its called that and break it down and keep it moist. Its the bedding in a brick you get wet and what not. Either use that or anything else that snake owners use to keep humidity up.


and to help get her back up to weight feed pinkies once a week to help out a bit.

I personally keep all my T's on bed-a-beast. I feed all mine crickets (roaches are great, I just don't ever have any). I feed all my adults 2 x's a week and as much as they want to eat. I don't leave any uneaten feeders in there with them so they don't stress the T's out or cause any problems.

altight thanks everyone. i figured everything but i just wanted to make sure and get some insite from the pros :D

I use chemical free top soil, bake it in the over at 220 for two hours. its cheap to.

alright cool. she just ate a discoid roach so i think ill have her back to 100% in no time :D ill try and get some pics up of her too after i think shes gotten a lil used to the move and settled in

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by flameethrower

and to help get her back up to weight feed pinkies once a week to help out a bit.

---

I've heard a number of discussions regarding whether pinkies would have the right nutritional content for tarantulas. Generally, it seems that occasional pinkies may be okay but feeding that many may cause some problems with molting, etc. Roaches, on the other hand, are great food!

we always brought all our Ts into the shower with us. they loooooooooooove the higher humidity!

no you don't take them into the stall... just set them on the counter and then when you leave the bathroom keep the door closed so the temp and humidity lower slowly (so it's not a shock for them)... after about an hour i'd go in and return each enclosure to it's original 'spot'

hope that assists ya.