Hello, new to the forum and hobby

[Tortoise Tom]

Thanks Tom. Thats a great idea except we already have a sand boa and she likes snakes. i could tell her that instead of tarantulas i could get highly venomous spiders like the black widow, six eyed sand, Sydney funnel, brown recluse, and maybe a couple Brazilian wandering spiders. Im sure she would much rather have the weaker venomous Ts.

Dude! You scored! Wall to wall snakes and spiders for you!

 

[Tortoise Tom]

Like I said to my wife....If someone says you have too many tarantulas, don't talk to them you don't need that negativity in your life....we are no longer together. pmsl.

I'm stealing your signature line. It works for tortoises too.

 

[Phil]

Haha. She wasnt happy about me getting my first but now she thinks its cute. I figure, when it comes to tarantulas , its better to ask for forgiveness than permission. The more i look at the Brazilian Black, the mkre i want one. They are such handsome spiders.

yeah you deffo have to get a G Pulchra. Although I have a major soft spot for the A. Geniculata and they are usually much more readily available

 

[Phil]

I'm stealing your signature line. It works for tortoises too.

steal with pride pal

 

[DreadedNeith]

Tom- Right. I did luck out with that. I also have 3 ferrets, 4 birds, a cat, 2 dogs, and a tank of fish.
Phil- Theres so many i want to get now. I have looked at both and I would lime them both. Its all a bit overwhelming, i want every T i see now but budget dictates just how many i will be able to take good care of. I dont want to get so many that i am unable to take the best care of them that i can. hopefully I'll eventually have a nice collection. I have been looking more at old worlds the last 2 days and i am tempted to get an OBT. They are so beautiful but i think i should get more comfortable and skilled at dealing with Ts before i take that step.

 

[Phil]

Tom- Right. I did luck out with that. I also have 3 ferrets, 4 birds, a cat, 2 dogs, and a tank of fish.
Phil- Theres so many i want to get now. I have looked at both and I would lime them both. Its all a bit overwhelming, i want every T i see now but budget dictates just how many i will be able to take good care of. I dont want to get so many that i am unable to take the best care of them that i can. hopefully I'll eventually have a nice collection. I have been looking more at old worlds the last 2 days and i am tempted to get an OBT. They are so beautiful but i think i should get more comfortable and skilled at dealing with Ts before i take that step.

sounds like you are going about choosing in the absolute right way. research (but ignore care sheets as they are rubbish) is key. This forum is fantastic for help and real experiences....although every T is individual.

 

[DreadedNeith]

Yeah. I noticed that about the care sheets. Thats why the first thing i did was sign up for an account here. Id much rather have information from people who actually keep tarantulas. My T seems to be very calm. I havent handled her much and dont plan to just because i know it stresses them out. I did handle her a bit when i changed her enclosure. She climbed across my hand and into her new enclosure. I think from now on though i will start to treat her like she is one of the more aggressive OWs, that way i can get in the habbit of always using tongs and being very careful. This way when i do get some more aggressive species i will have better experience in handling enclosure changes, water changes, enclosure cleaning, and feedings.

 

[Phil]

Yeah. I noticed that about the care sheets. Thats why the first thing i did was sign up for an account here. Id much rather have information from people who actually keep tarantulas. My T seems to be very calm. I havent handled her much and dont plan to just because i know it stresses them out. I did handle her a bit when i changed her enclosure. She climbed across my hand and into her new enclosure. I think from now on though i will start to treat her like she is one of the more aggressive OWs, that way i can get in the habbit of always using tongs and being very careful. This way when i do get some more aggressive species i will have better experience in handling enclosure changes, water changes, enclosure cleaning, and feedings.

a lot depends on the T. if they seem calm tjey may be a bit more tolerant and that is half the charm working out which ones you can do a bit more with. NW tend to give you the hair flick if they are not in the midd, OW will hide and be defensive usually. some will rear up but in my experience (25 plus years) this is rare. Keep up the good work, its good to hear from genuine people who care as there a few idiots out there that want them just for status and shock factor.

 

[DreadedNeith]

Thats why im glad to be a member of this forum. The information from people on this forum is far more accurate than anything on a youtube video. The youtube videos tend to show all OWs as aggressive. I guess video of an aggressive spider gets more views.
I got pretty mad the other day when i was searching for bite reports on youtube. I came across a video of a guy with a sweet little a. metallica. He was squeezing the spider to get it to bite him. You could tell the spider was in fear of its life and it sure looked like he was hurting it. Even then the spider didnt look like it was keen on biting him. I was so mad that i would have beat the guy up if i saw that in person. I left a rather strong comment on his video. He was doing it in order to make him self look like a tough guy who can take a bite from a T.
I will never treat my animals like that. They all deserve more respect than that guy and a lot of others give them.
Im happy to be here and happy you guys share so much knowledge with everyone who needs it. It hepls people to learn more about spiders and how to respect and care for them properly. Thanks again.

 

[Dave Jay]

Welcome to the forum!
How I got my wife more involved was buying aquarium ornaments, bonsai ornaments and other miniature ornaments from eBay, then letting her make various miniature scenes in enclosures to house her own tarantulas in. Now she looks forward to ornaments arriving in the post and decorating enclosures, and of course new tarantulas to fill those enclosures!

 

[DreadedNeith]

Welcome to the forum!
How I got my wife more involved was buying aquarium ornaments, bonsai ornaments and other miniature ornaments from eBay, then letting her make various miniature scenes in enclosures to house her own tarantulas in. Now she looks forward to ornaments arriving in the post and decorating enclosures, and of course new tarantulas to fill those enclosures!

That is a really good idea. It will get her more involved and i think help her appreciate tarantulas a lot more. Cool idea, thanks.

 

[Phil]

That is a really good idea. It will get her more involved and i think help her appreciate tarantulas a lot more. Cool idea, thanks.

if that fails, take the approach I did and get rid of the wife....ha ha

 

[Nunua]

Hello and welcome to the family - and the addiction

I personally started in February this year with one Acanthoscurria geniculata juvenile, a month later I was thinking that "maybe just one more..." and got a sub adult Neoholothele incei gold. Then I realized that I want a sling and so arrived Brachypelma boehmei. Then arrived Brachypelma albopilosum, Brachypelma albiceps, Caribena versicolor, Nhandu chromatus, Sericopelma angustum and Cyriocosmus elegans (unfortunately this little chap died very soon) slings. Now in July I had my latest slings Brachypelma klaasi, Brachypelma auratum and my first old world slings Poecilotheria vittata and P. tigrinawesseli.

So yes... One more T can't hurt, right? Or 10. At the moment I need to concentrate on this bunch as I have a relatively small apartment. Deli cups are easy, but when the slings start to require bigger boxes, I may have a problem, haha! And for old worlds - Yes, they are shown as aggressive species but in the end it's usually just them being defensive. I have owned my Pokie slings (diagonal leg span 3.5 - 4 cm / 1.38 - 1.57") only for a week, and so far all I can say is that P. vittata is a skittish teleportation master who prefers hiding in the pokie pose and P. tigrinawesseli is more of a "I'm gonna sit here and if you gently ask me to move by giving me a gentle poke with an object, I first go in the pokie pose and if the disturbing continues, I'll get annoyed and slap the object with my front legs as a warning". Eager to see how they will be when growing up

 

[DreadedNeith]

if that fails, take the approach I did and get rid of the wife....ha ha

Luckily i dont think ill have to take that route. Haha. That is some dedication though. I can only applaud you for it.

 

[DreadedNeith]

Hello and welcome to the family - and the addiction

I personally started in February this year with one Acanthoscurria geniculata juvenile, a month later I was thinking that "maybe just one more..." and got a sub adult Neoholothele incei gold. Then I realized that I want a sling and so arrived Brachypelma boehmei. Then arrived Brachypelma albopilosum, Brachypelma albiceps, Caribena versicolor, Nhandu chromatus, Sericopelma angustum and Cyriocosmus elegans (unfortunately this little chap died very soon) slings. Now in July I had my latest slings Brachypelma klaasi, Brachypelma angustum and my first old world slings Poecilotheria vittata and P. tigrinawesseli.

So yes... One more T can't hurt, right? Or 10. At the moment I need to concentrate on this bunch as I have a relatively small apartment. Deli cups are easy, but when the slings start to require bigger boxes, I may have a problem, haha! And for old worlds - Yes, they are shown as aggressive species but in the end it's usually just them being defensive. I have owned my Pokie slings (diagonal leg span 3.5 - 4 cm / 1.38 - 1.57") only for a week, and so far all I can say is that P. vittata is a skittish teleportation master who prefers hiding in the pokie pose and P. tigrinawesseli is more of a "I'm gonna sit here and if you gently ask me to move by giving me a gentle poke with an object, I first go in the pokie pose and if the disturbing continues, I'll get annoyed and slap the object with my front legs as a warning". Eager to see how they will be when growing up

Im starting to realize very quickly just how much of an addiction this hobby can be. I quite like the dwarf Chilean flame. at first i was pretty convinced that old worlds were far to aggressive for me but the more i look around and the more i fo i receive from people on this forum, the more im convinced that i played their behavior up too much. I do love how seemingly cuddly the NWs like avicularia are but a lot of the old worlds seem to be very interesting. Even if they are as aggressive as youtube would have you believe, i think it might be worth it. Id love to get some slings bjt im so damn nervous thwt ill kill them soMe how. My avic hasnt webbed her new enclosure yet and its got me a little worried but i looked around and was told that it may take her a while to settle in, web up, and eat after being brought home and put into her new enclosure. I check on ber probably 10 times a day. I dont disturb her, i just look in through the side to make sure she is ok. Its quite nerve-wracking bei g new to this hobby.

 

[PanzoN88]

Im starting to realize very quickly just how much of an addiction this hobby can be. I quite like the dwarf Chilean flame. at first i was pretty convinced that old worlds were far to aggressive for me but the more i look around and the more i fo i receive from people on this forum, the more im convinced that i played their behavior up too much. I do love how seemingly cuddly the NWs like avicularia are but a lot of the old worlds seem to be very interesting. Even if they are as aggressive as youtube would have you believe, i think it might be worth it. Id love to get some slings bjt im so damn nervous thwt ill kill them soMe how. My avic hasnt webbed her new enclosure yet and its got me a little worried but i looked around and was told that it may take her a while to settle in, web up, and eat after being brought home and put into her new enclosure. I check on ber probably 10 times a day. I dont disturb her, i just look in through the side to make sure she is ok. Its quite nerve-wracking bei g new to this hobby.

There are no aggressive tarantulas, just defensive tarantulas. It's good that you aren't going near OWs yet. While some may not be as defensive as others, they do retain that speed and the ability to deliver a painful bite. OWs and some NWs are capable of teleportation, in other words they are unbelievably fast. I've been in the hobby since 2014 and I just got my first OWs in October of last year.

 

[DreadedNeith]

Yeah it sounds like a good idea to wait at least until im not so nervous. I figure ill get more confident around Ts before i take that plunge. Maybe get a couple NWs that are fast before moving on to OWs. I do like the OBT though. Very beautiful spider. Then theres that baboon T thats orange with blue legs. Not sure what the name of it is but its a cool T also.

 

[PanzoN88]

Yeah it sounds like a good idea to wait at least until im not so nervous. I figure ill get more confident around Ts before i take that plunge. Maybe get a couple NWs that are fast before moving on to OWs. I do like the OBT though. Very beautiful spider. Then theres that baboon T thats orange with blue legs. Not sure what the name of it is but its a cool T also.

Ah, you mean Harpactira pulchripes (I need to get one of those myself). There are several stunning species in the harpactira genus such as the Harpactira dictator and H. cafreriana. Ideothele mira have nice blue legs as well. If you want some good stepping stones to OWs, I recommend the following:

GBB
A. geniculata
N. chromatus
P. platyomma
P. cambridgei
P. pulcher
P. irminia
T. gigas
P. cancerides

I've had experience with all but the P. irminia and T. gigas.

 

[DreadedNeith]

Ah, you mean Harpactira pulchripes (I need to get one of those myself). There are several stunning species in the harpactira genus such as the Harpactira dictator and H. cafreriana. Ideothele mira have nice blue legs as well. If you want some good stepping stones to OWs, I recommend the following:

GBB
A. geniculata
N. chromatus
P. platyomma
P. cambridgei
P. pulcher
P. irminia
T. gigas
P. cancerides

I've had experience with all but the P. irminia and T. gigas.

Yes! the Harpactira pulchripes. Beautiful spider. I love how on some of them it looks like they have blue shields covering their legs. Thanks for the list of stepping stone NWs. Ive seen most of them but haven't researched them. Ill be saving the list and reading about them all. Thanks again.

 

[DreadedNeith]

Ah, you mean Harpactira pulchripes (I need to get one of those myself). There are several stunning species in the harpactira genus such as the Harpactira dictator and H. cafreriana. Ideothele mira have nice blue legs as well. If you want some good stepping stones to OWs, I recommend the following:

GBB
A. geniculata
N. chromatus
P. platyomma
P. cambridgei
P. pulcher
P. irminia
T. gigas
P. cancerides

I've had experience with all but the P. irminia and T. gigas.

Also Fear Not Tarantulas has Harpactira pulchripes slings for $75usd. Are they a reliable breeder/dealer? Seems like a good price for one of those. The other places i looked were asking anywhere from 80-100$usd.