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SCIENCE ALIVE! - Fuzzy Friends

Added Oct 19, 2020 •

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Observing the physical features of the Chilean Rose and the Texas Brown Tarantula and setting up an example of a simple enclosure.

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Let's get started Welcome back to SCIENCE ALIVE! and I am Charlotte Tondre, and I'm Mercedes Marin Our upcoming videos this semester, We will have another one on October 20th it's "Grow, seed, grow" which introduces the grow kits, seeds and plants and on November 12th is "Talk Turkey" we will cover the TWA Turkey Trunk, and then on December 10th, "Adaptable Me" which is another TWA Trunk on exploring adaptations. All these recordings will be put on video library which is on the Region 20 Living Science home page and they are under the tab labeled videos and then today's session is "Fuzzy Friends" and we're going to be observing the physical features of the Chilean Rose and Texas Brown tarantula and setting up an example of a simple enclosure... Let's get started with this right here this is the Texas Brown tarantula let's see so you can get a better picture he's very flighty, I know he is They're usually very flighty right now I'm not going to touch him because you can see how his front legs are curled up that's a defensive position and I don't want to bother him or hurt him in any way. These guys are native to Texas they usually come out in the Summer time, you usually see huge legged tarantulas walking across the streets or even in your yard in the early morning that's when the dew point is really really high morning so high humidity, that's usually how they get their moisture to stay hydrated usually whenever you see a tarantula out in the wild, it's most likely a male looking for a female. These guys are not arboreal in any way they are strictly terrestrial. They do burrow into the ground they make their homes inside the ground usually under debris sometimes under tree logs. This one right here is the Chilean Rose tarantula. They are native to Chile which is in South America. They get the name "rose" tarantula from the pink hued bristles all over their body and this one is in a defense position as well, but on their carapace, at the top.. usually you can see the carapace right here which is their head part portion of their body is a bright iridescent magenta color Just different colorations. They are both tarantulas, but they are from different regions of the world. The Chilean Rose are not native to America (US), are they? No, they are from Chile which is in South America. Right, and why are they in America (US)? People have imported them for the pet industry. They're very popular to be kept as pets usually because they are very calm and docile, but that's not the case for all tarantulas, some of them are really flighty and aggressive, but this one seems very calm. I can even try to get him out right now. I noticed that there's a little webbing in there. Yes. So, this is coming from these back little antenna-like things right here, they're called spinnerets and that's what helps spins the silk you see it just keeps coming and so this is a sign of premolt pre molting is The stage where they get into before they actually shed their skin. Tarantulas do not have bones inside their body they have an exoskeleton which is kind of like hard armor or bones on the outside of their body. I think we have some pre molts that we can show. Why are they so hairy? These are actually bristles that cover their entire body They're hair-like bristles and they have tiny microscopic barbs on the shaft of the hair These are called urticating hairs. These urticating hairs are used by the tarantula sometimes are a defense behavior when they feel threatened enough they will use these two back legs right here rub them against their abdomen and kick them off their body and because of the bristles being barbed if they come into contact with any skin or the eyes or even the mouth and nose they can become very irritable and it's very painful sometimes you really don't know that they've thrown those hairs, you don't see him because I've had it happen to me and they caught me right around my nose area first time, I never had an idea what it was it just itched and burned and then when it happened second time, I knew exactly what it was. So be careful. You never know when they're throwing them so that's why when you have these in a classroom, that you ask people to not put your face down near the cage I just had him up close to my face while he was on my hand keep your distance. They can throw pretty far. They don't even have to kick hairs at all, sometimes they just fall off their body. That's why I like to wear gloves when I handle tarantulas because I get an allergic reaction My skin becomes very, very red and sometimes it gets very puffy. You see how much he's webbing right now so this is a sign of premolt Is this what they normally do as a premolt? Yes, this is a perfect example. They don't spin webs on ceilings like a common house spider what they do when they're premolt they will lay their silk on the floor of their enclosure, kind of making like a soft cushion bedding before they actually molt their exoskeleton. Don't they burrow into the ground and they kick their dirt out, kind of dig a hole? Yes So, the Chilean rosehairs, I've noticed here that we have, they don't really do that, but the Texas Browns do. If we can go over here we have some This is our little Critter Cove and this is where we keep all of the tarantulas. These are all Texas brown tarantulas, but you can see how they kicked out all of the dirt from their enclosure and they closed off the entrance with their silk and that is a sign of premolt You can see through, this is the back side. You can see straight through. They burrow all the way down, as far as they can. If you look inside, they've done this. We did not do that. They've kicked that dirt out of there like that. Usually They do this when they feel like there is too much moisture in their habitat so they will bury it with dirt. They're just chilling. Also, during this period, they will refuse to eat. You can see the colored carapace right here the iridescent magenta color I was talking about earlier. This is why they're called the Chilean rose tarantula. It's very pink. They have a couple different morph patterns or phase colors This one is the grey phase color. There's also red and copper. So instead of the tarantula having a black and gray looking kind of skin underneath it is bright red or orange. Mercedes, we brought out some molts that have been collected. You want to talk about those? These are the molts I was talking about. What I've done-- this is usually what they look like after they have molted. This is from a Texas brown It's all shriveled up and curled up. I just stuck them in some a little bit of soapy water and then I spread it out so you can get a better look at. Everything is shed even the fangs have come with the shed. Well our time is up, I hate to say. This is very interesting for all of us. I just hope it's been beneficial. We enjoyed your participation this Be sure to look for the newsletter coming out to you. It comes out once a month. Usually on the second/third Wednesday and if you have any questions regarding any of this you can contact us at livingscience@esc20.net or   210-370-5688 or   210-370-5688 and again we thank you for participating and we look forward to seeing you again in two weeks. Y'all have a good day, bye! Simple and very cost-effective and easy to take care of. Go ahead Mercedes. What do we start with? So, what we have here is just a normal critter keeper, you can find it at any local pet store for the bedding, I'm going to use this loose coco fiber, It's called "Eco Earth" you can also find it at any pet store It's just shredded coco fiber I like to use this bedding because it holds a lot of humidity and moisture so, I just take a good hand full and since these tarantulas are terrestrial, they like to burrow so I like to have a lot of substrate in there that way they burrow For tarantulas, I advise that they have a "hide" somewhere they can retreat to if they ever feel threatened in any way and this will also be the place where they would most likely molt or shed their skin So, I'm just creating a little divot inside before I put the bark hut in and created like a little burrow I started a burrow for them Now, I'm just gonna pack everything down Now, this is a setup that I would use for a juvenile not really a full grown tarantula, some of them do get big so something a little bit bigger more like this size would be appropriate for full grown tarantula It too has the little "hide" and the burrow Everything goes with it. Now, here's a small water dish, you can also find these at any local pet store you can either leave the water dish as is and put the water in there or you can put a cotton ball So, what's the cotton ball for? Usually, we put the cotton balls in there so the crickets can drink water Tarantulas don't really need the cotton ball in there to get their moisture or drink when they need to because they just lower themselves down So, it keeps the crickets alive a little bit longer Yes, it keeps them from drowning. If they were left in there for whatever reason Just covering it, to make it a little bit more natural Now, I'm just gonna spray it down just a little bit. We want it a little bit damp but not soaking wet Depending on what kind of species tarantula you have you should do some research to see what their humidity requires and just make sure it's not too dry and not too wet Here's the simple enclosure again this is not for a full grown tarantula this would be something for a juvenile a smaller tarantula If you bought these at the pet store would they tell you if its for a juvenile or an adult Depending on where you go So, if you go to a big brand store they most likely won't know the age of the tarantula But if you go to a family owned store that have bought their specimens from breeders they would most like know how old they are That's it! Thank you!

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