For some people the perfect pet has eight legs, grows fairly large, has large spiky hair, and can bite. For these people, tarantulas are the perfect pet. They are fun to watch, don't require a lot of care or expense after the initial start up cost (and the fact that once you own one beautiful tarantula you may become addicted to owning them and want a dozen more or so), and they are fun to show off to your family and friends. But what are the basic care that they require? Housing.
You will need a glass or plastic cage for your new friend. It should have a wider bottom then it is tall and should have lots of ventilation. However, you don't want the wholes to be too big. Even if it doesn't look like the tarantula will fit through it could. Cover any large wholes with screening (such as from a roll of soft screen available at a hardware store). You will also want to make sure that the height of the cage isn't to high if you are getting a big spider since it could fall and hurt itself.
Ground Cover.
There are a wide variety of substrates to choose from. Often you will have to decide what is best for you and your spider, but some options are coconut fiber, soft chipped bark, or even Vermiculite and peat moss. You can mix it together. Or you can figure out which will work best for you and your tarantula. It is a bad idea to use potting soil because it will mold quickly. You will want one to two inches in the bottom of the cage.
Hiding spots and decoration.
Your tarantula will like to hid and it is a good idea to give them plastic or cork logs, plants, parts of coconut shells, and even broken clay pots to hid inside of. This will give them a good place to hid and help to decorate your cage. You don't ever want to bring in plant and animal materials from the out of doors because it could bring in mites, molds, and other pests.
Water.
Water is the most important thing for your tarantula. You will need a shallow dish full of it. This dish shouldn't be too big because your tarantula could drown, but it should have fresh water. Some need a high level of moisture in their cage and they should be misted or have a moist towel placed over there ventilation to increase the humidity.
Food.
Tarantulas can live on appropriately sized crickets. However you can change it up with wingless fruit flies (if size is good), cricket parts (if you need something smaller), pinheads (baby crickets), meal worms (but you will want to be careful not to let them burrow because they can pose a threat during moulting), and pinkies (baby mice for larger tarantulas).
Moulting.
As tarantulas get larger they moult. This process is their most vulnerable time. You may see that your spider isn't eating. If this is the case remove all live foods because during the moulting process live foods can attack and even kill the tarantula, this is especially true of crickets and meal worms which will try to eat your spider. Your spider can go for long periods of time without food, so he or she will be just fine. Your tarantula will shed its skin while on its back. It may take several hours. When the moulting is done you will have a larger tarantula and left over skin (which may still look like a tarantula).
Special Needs.
While most spiders only need the basics, some will need a higher temperature, more humidity, and more food (such as larger or smaller foods). You will have to figure this out for the exact species of the tarantula you own or will own.
Other then that, it is easy to care for the tarantulas, and it doesn't take much money once you have a home, the spider, and some food. You can even raise your own foods such as meal worms, other worms, crickets, and even pinkies if you wish.
