Hi there sharko, i got some pictures of most of the stuff you/your dad would most likely need...(although i have added what I use, you can change stuff around, THAT'S WHY ITS FUN TO OWN A TARANTULA)....



These do best as they hold all water inside (and look professional)

exo-terra terrarium:




Did you know that tarantula's drink? Well its true they do, and you must always have water on supply...(also keeps humidity up).

water bowl:




For you to know all the time when things are getting too hot/cold, humidity getting too high/low then invest on these 2 gauges, called a hygrometer and thermometer...everyone uses them!

thermometer/hygrometer:




Now here's the tricky bit.....what substrate?(basically a thick carpet in the tank). I personally use Vermiculite which is cheap, holds alot of water, don't dry out and don't harbour mould or mites. Or you could use peat moss or cocoa husk (havent used the other ones, but i would stick to vermiculite).

vermiculite:




Now that we got most stuff out of the way, what are you going to do for heating? Well the most popular thing to do, is to put the heat mat underneath the total tank (exo terra tanks are made for this to be done, IT JUST SLIDES UNDER). I leave half of the underside tank with heat mat under and other half with no heat mat at all(just put the heat mat bearing from the left or right,(this is so that when the tarantula gets too hot on the heat mat side, it will go to other side and cool down, and vice versa!

heat mat:




Ok, now you got the heat ma sorted, you will need some way of keeping temperature controlled, (if you leave it on all the time, the tarantula will dehydrate and dry out), and when your out about and you leave it off and the tarantula gets cold, what are you going to do? Well most people use thermostats(go-ahead and buy one if you want but these are pricey), so i thought about using a normal plug timer!, basically set time on adapter, set times to start and finish, and there go!.......much simpler and extremely cheaper then a thermostat!

plug timer:




Ok, so that's everything done with housing and stuff, but what about feeding? well you can get loads of different foods for a tarantula (they prefer live food....and also U.K law is that live mice cannot be used as food, only frozen, SO THEY OUT THE WINDOW).....The food i use for my tarantula are crickets(funny things and they do chirp if u get black ones....SO IF U DON'T WANT CHIRPING CRICKETS, GET SILENT BROWN CRICKETS). I am thinking about culturing dubia cockroaches(no more buying food, just put these in a larger tub (or toy box lol) and let them multiply!

crickets:




Ok, finally you will want to know what's the best tarantula to keep. Well i only own some Chile rose, so i recommend them for begginers. They are extremely cheap, docile and calm, and love being handled(make sure you don't drop it otherwise it will die)

chile rose tarantula:

what a great reply mike, ive given you some rep for it

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Owner to-
lots of rodents
2 monster dogs
1 slinky cat

thank you, hope it helps people