PetSmart in Costa Rica.

Octavius! Hilarious! I love it!

Just want to say…if you do a google search for
tarantula rescue adopt
you will find info. I know you prefer a spiderling but just saying perhaps you will find someone you like, and it's a nice lesson for the kids to save somebody.

Next, I recall (and I'm sure a few minutes of research will confirm) that the females live years, and the males live a year. So you might want a male, in case your next class is less thrilled about spiders.

Good luck, OP!

OP here with an update to anyone who cares. I bought a Mexican red knee spiderling from Jamie's Tarantulas, online. Octavius is a hit with students and parents, and continues to be popular with my new class this year. Last year's students have come back to visit, and I had many, many parents who came to my classroom on Back to School Night just to see "that spider." Complaints = 0.

Highly recommend for a very low-maintenance pet (I dump a roach in there every Friday, that's it), that's really very interesting. He's actually pretty cute.

Anonymous wrote:What will happen to the tarantula at the end of the school year?

It will come home with me and be back in August. By June, it will still be very small, probably less than an inch long.

For those who are concerned about students being afraid, I think you may be projecting adult fears. My students are in first grade, and they are afraid of nothing (well, animal-related, at least). Kindergarten classrooms have live beetles for their science lessons. Across the hall from my room, a teacher has a pet snake and students can earn the prize of feeding it a mouse. Other teachers have turtles, a lizard, hermit crabs. Reptiles and other "scary" animals make good class pets because they are low maintenance and don't irritate allergies.

If I did end up with a student who had such a fear that it would impact learning, then of course I would move the spider somewhere else (probably to the snake classroom). But I do not anticipate that happening.

Ha we had two Madagascar Hissing cockroaches as our class pet in 5th grade. It was pretty awesome.

What will happen to the tarantula at the end of the school year?

Awesome, OP!

1. Yes, all possible pets were approved by admins.
2. The vote was unanimous.

Another grade level teacher has a snake that eats mice...

Please don't do this unless you know there is no child in your class who is afraid of spiders. You said you had a vote but didn't say it was a unanimous decision for the spider. We had a tarantula as a class pet in 4th grade and I was miserable as were a couple of other kids in my class. One kid starting having anxiety and nightmares and the teacher was eventually told to take the spider out of the classroom.

Have you double checked that a tarantula is an acceptable class pet? DS' school (not in this area) has pretty strict rules regarding class pets and spiders are completely off limits.

I'm looking for a tarantula, preferably as a spiderling. Are there any local places, in MD, that sell them? I don't recall seeing them at Petco/Petsmart, although the Petco website says they have them in some store, but adults.

I'm a teacher and we held an election for a new class pet. Tarantula won! I did all the research for care and supplies, but would like to know where to actually buy one, other than online stores.