Selecting your Tarantula

Now that you have decided to purchase a tarantula several factors should be taken into consideration. Firstly make sure you buy your spider from an outlet who knows what it is doing, who can answer any questions you may have. Secondly when viewing your potential purchase make sure that the spider has been kept in the right conditions, make sure it has a full water dish and that there are no insects hopping around annoying the spider. Any live insects that the spider shows no interest in should be removed from its container. If there are any small dried brown pellets in the container these are the empty dehydrated insect skins, this shows that you spider has a healthy appetite. If the spider moves when its container is disturbed this again is a sign of good health.

You must also decide of what species of tarantula you are going to purchase. If you require a tarantula that has a nonaggressive temperament then I would recommend an American species since most of the 'Old World' (eg.Asia,Africa) tarantulas tend to display hostile tendencies.