I live in southern California. About 2 years ago, I found a tarantula outside in the after noon. He was very slow moving and was missing a leg. I caught him and decided to keep him as a pet. By the advice of a Petsmart employee, we bought him a 10 gallon kritter keeper, gave him bark chips as substrate and put in a little half-log hide. We fed him crickets and he lived for a few months. He never really moved, he just sat on top of his hide and put web on it. Don't really recall him eating a whole lot (but my memory is a bit foggy). I'm just wondering if there was any reason why he might have died? Was my care inadequate?
He was wild and you placed him in captivity. For some critters, that stress is enough to kill them. You won't be able to get a definitive answer as to why he died because no necropsy was done. The stress from the move could have prevented him from eating adequately, causing malnutrition. The temps could have been off, the enclosure could have been too small, etc. There are so many factors that come into play you will never know. I will make one suggestion though; keep wild animals wild.
Could have been from stress, could have also been a male who had already had his final molt before you found him. But I would not recommend keeping wild tarantulas in the future
SInce it was wild you have no idea how old it was. maybe just old age. I may be mistaken but I beleive that the males of certain species only live for a couple of years, while the females can live for decades.
Generally males only live a few years. They have one final molt after they hit sexual maturity an than usually only live for a few more months. Females live much longer.
