Oh for the love of [insert diety of your choice]----

So I went to get live pinks for Desdemona this evening. At this pet shop, there has been for the last several months a rose hair tarantula kept in this tiny little critter keeper, in the very back of a display case behind some fish tank display pieces. I guess I kept looking at it after I first noticed it, because it had nothing in that little space but a water bowl, and that took up most of the space... anyway, over the last 2 or 3 months it's never sold. And I guess I started feeling sorry for it, with nothing at all to do in life but sit in that tiny plastic cage.

Well, today I get there and on the front counter is a bunch of sale stuff, and sure enough, in this deli cup is a tarantula-- marked down from 19.99 to 9.99. After checking the case in the back, I realized that was my little pal who had been there so long. And while I'm waiting for the girl to get my pinkies, a group of young total hoodlum teenage boys come in... start looking... one of them picks up the deli cup and SHAKES IT... and then they start daring each other to buy it, come on, it's only 10 bucks, etc etc... lots of crude language and they are tossing the cup around between them. Then they lower their voices, and I can't hear what they're saying but they start bantering with the young kid behind the sales counter, and I hear him say "Hey, once you buy it it's yours, I don't care what you do with it."

That was it. I FLEW up into them and blurted out, Oh, I just bought that tarantula, I'm sorry, the girl was supposed to set it behind the counter-- and I grabbed the cup and bolted for the back of the shop. LOL

So now I have a tarantula and I'M A LITTLE FREAKED OUT!!!! Ok-- here's what I have her in-- a 5.5 gallon tank with a screen lid. Mulch/bark type substrate. Hide log. Greenery to hide in/climb. Water bowl. Is this acceptable for now-- I can move her to a 10 gallon tank this weekend. I misted the substrate and the spider herself (I've decided it's a girl) and have left her alone. Pics:







Is this an adequate set-up for now? When should I first offer crickets? Will she eat pinkies too as I read somewhere? Would she eat f/t or does it have to move? Should I mist her or just her tank?

Don't worry, I'm going to read more on them but know some of you are tarantula experts!!! THANK YOU!!!!

And incidentally, the owner is going to hear from me tomorrow-- this is the attitude they promote in their store? "Once you buy it I don't care what you do with it"??!!!! Oh, yeah, hell fire and dalmatians are in store for that guy tomorrow!!!!!