I've raised several from spiderling to adult, males and females. Conditions in my spider room are about 75F - 80F most of the year, with cages kept moist. I've used all different types of substrata, but found that a mixture of peat, potting soil with a dash of vermiculite works well. Humidity should be up in the 80's, at least.
Personality varied somewhat between spiders, but I'll toss in a few
adjectives to describe my adult female......
PRYING/PROBING - always trying to get to the other side of something.
SNOOPY - always looking under and around objects.
CURIOUS (to a fault)- see above. Any new object gets overturned,
filled with dirt.
MEDDLESOME- If something is going on at the other end of her cage, she
advances straight toward it; such as your hand when you are trying to
remove a dead cricket.
AGGRESSIVE- Not really belligerent or hostile, but in a determined
manner, often pushy and unwilling to back down.....always
feeling/exploring with her forelegs.
PROACTIVE ESCAPE ARTIST- Last evening I removed the lid of my large
female's tank to remove some debris, and she immediately advanced to
the upper rim, deliberately trying to get out. I gently pushed her
back with a soft piece of foam. Refusing to back down, she grabbed
the foam with her front legs and 'tested' it with her fangs. Not a
fast bite, but a slow puncture move as if she was trying to figure out
what the material was. I carefully coaxed her into a 1 quart plastic
deli container and snapped on the lid. As I continued cleaning her
cage with her safely out of the way I noticed a cracking sound and
realized it was her, biting at the upper lid of the deli container.
Her fangs perforated the lid and she began
tearing slowly and deliberately away at the thin plastic. I had just
enough time to finish housekeeping and transferred her back into her
cage. I guessed she would have escaped from that deli container in
just a few minutes.
L. parahybana are lively, very active creatures. They tend to stay out in the open despite having hiding places in their cage........Are they acting this way because of the artificial environment?
Deen's Tarantula Page: Scroll down for a taste of this species
Chris's Tarantula Page: contains a "spiderling diary"
Lelles Tarantula Page (English version): A picture and a good intro
Kingdom of the Spider: A very good overview including habitat, temperature, humidity, origin, etc.
Tarantula Terrain: housing and habitat
Tarantula Dreams: Contains the basic info like housing, temperature, etc.
The Pheonix Zoo: just some good reference, not a whole lot of care information
Deen's Tarantula Page: Scroll down for a taste of this species
Leon Bienvenue's Tarantula Page: A small intro (scroll down)