Considering Adopting a Red Knee Tarantula

I stumbled onto a Craigslist ad last night that has me intrigued. Someone is re-homing their Red Knee Tarantula. Apparently she has been in "pet" in a school for the last 5 years. $260 including her house.

I.WANT.TO.ADOPT.HER

I briefly considered adopting a Tarantula a few years ago but never really put much thought into it beyond a couple of hours of research. From what I have learned, Red Knee Tarantulas are the easiest to care for.

Thoughts? Advice? Questions to ask the seller?

Thanks in advance!

I have one that has been with me for about 10 years and apparently they can live to be over 30. Very easy to care for, they like to dig if given the chance and are very docile, only issue is that they can kick off and shed itchy hairs when annoyed, so never rub your eyes when doing maintenance on the cage or holding it. They do fine at temps between 70 and 85 and can live off a few crickets a week.

I must admit that I've never priced red-knee tarantulas, but that sounds "high" to me? Do they know her actual age? Just because they've had her for 5
years, you cannot assume that she IS five years old.

I've kept one harmless tarantula in the past for about 6 mos.- she was large & a native of the southwest desert where I lived at the time. I re-homed her
after that...not for any difficulty, just really not my "thing" so much. Not as cuddly as my snakes are...

Ask for pictures to check the sex - even then the price seems horribly expensive to me even for a female - though there are custom built enclosures that can be worth that so, again, ask for pictures..

personality wise mine was a real superstar and I love the way they look.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...cebutdim11.JPG

Yeah, my red knee is a female and I got her for 60 bucks back when she was the size of a quarter.... dunno what they go for now but pretty sure it ain't that much.

She is 6 and the price includes her home.....

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Originally Posted by Florence_Bones

She is 6 and the price includes her home.....

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Must be in Beverly Hills? ;)

I adopted her. I love her so much. I'll post pics soon, when I'm at the computer. I have lots on IG but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to drop my IG here??

For your own peace of mind I'd drop individual pictures instead of a link to an ig account.

Safety first on the interwebz. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Must be in Beverly Hills? ;)

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That made me laugh, thanks it was much needed.

I don’t know anything about Tarantulas other than I like em in the wild. I thought I had a spider fear but in boot camp on Camp Pendleton during field training we seen a bunch and one of my fellow recruits took all the fire watch he could at night so he didn’t have to lie on the ground at night. From the Oicture Dr del posted it’s quite pretty I must say.

Just to be clear on the type of enclosure I would expect from this outlay it is similar to this;


A full depth tank with a substrate - burrow in either breeze block or similar, cored out for a burrow down to a moist sustrate, supported safely so they can't dig under it, and a sufficient surface are on top for them to choose. Hard to build but the best you can probably make for her. :)

There was a picture of this setup I remember from my yoof but it seems to have disappeard along with my hopes and dreams. :P

She has been kind lethargic lately. I'm a bit worried because I'm not sure if this is normal? The guy I adopted her from had 10 crickets in her cage and they would constantly irritate her. Now that she's eaten all the crickets, she seems much more relaxed. Or is it possible she's responding to my temperament? I'm completely calm when I handle her now, and I hold her every day.

If she ate a lot, she might be lethargic because she's going into a shed? (just guessing though) I rarely held the one I kept as I worried that something could
spook her & they can die if they fall wrong.

Crickets are irritating! I wouldn't put 10 in all at once, & you probably won't either...maybe she's just "relaxed" because the crickets are out of her way now?

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

If she ate a lot, she might be lethargic because she's going into a shed? (just guessing though) I rarely held the one I kept as I worried that something could
spook her & they can die if they fall wrong.

Crickets are irritating! I wouldn't put 10 in all at once, & you probably won't either...maybe she's just "relaxed" because the crickets are out of her way now?

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That's probably what's going on.