My name is Kurt Baird, and I’m a 19 year old from Cardiff, Wales. I’ve have always had a keen interest in the majority of animals that walk this planet, and tarantulas are no exception. However, the interest was merely fueled by TV documentaries and I wasn’t really aware you could keep tarantulas as pets.
However, on an August day in 2008 me and my parents went to Longleat Safari Park where one of the keepers kindly brought out Red, the male Grammostola rosea (Chile Rose) whom any fans of Animal Park will remember from a recent episode when he was used in their breeding program for their G.rosea’s. After a lengthy handling session, my dad, who also had a keen interest in tarantula’s started researching into keeping his own pet tarantula.
A G.rosea
About two weeks later I came home from holiday to find that he had indeed brought a Brachypelma smithi (Mexican Red Knee). The B.smithi is widely regarded as one of the best starter tarantulas due to its docile temperament and its ease to care for. Since then, we have collected a total of eight sub-adult or adult tarantulas, which you can find on the left hand side of the page.
My B.smithi
Because the tarantulas are kept in his room, I never really had much exposure to them, and it was not until I recently started a work placement at Reptile Cyrmu, my local exotic pet shop, that I had constant exposure to them, and working with them closely for a number of weeks has increased my fascination hugely, so much so that I now want to try and raise my own collection by rearing a set of spiderlings (A.K.A slings).
In the next few days, I will be writing about my sling choices and how I am going to set up their nursery area for them to live, before they arrive hopefully on Thursday.
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