A good beginer spider..

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I was talking about the price for avicularia other than the avic avics; a F a. avic for $50 seems like a decent price, but you could easily pay that much for a 2" versicolor or minatrix. I've seen adult females versis and minatrix going for ~$200, which is a bit much for me (someday when I'm a billionaire sigh....). I have heard many people recommend versicolors as a beginner spider if bought at a decent size though.

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True, some Avic. species can be quite pricey, even as second instar s'lings... but that's because they are harder to obtain and/or breed in captivity. Other species, such as A. avic. and A. versi. are more common and thus, their prices will not be (or should not be) as high.

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Looks brown to me

<a href="http://img69.imageshack.us/my.php?image=grosea061123ub2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/8017/grosea061123ub2.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>

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Your link doesn't work. :(
Often times, especially in pictures (poor quality pictures) G. rosea will look like a dull brown and/or when they are approaching molt. Other than that, they tend to have very nice pink/rose hues to them with a brown, gray or red base color.

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I'm going partially off my own experiences, partially from what I've read on arachnoboards. If you've had experiences with a few hundred tarantulas, well, you're probably right. From what I've read though, acanthoscurria and lasiodora are about the same on the aggression/skittishness scale. I think overall though, aggression in tarantulas is overstated and it's mostly pure defensiveness. The reason I would not recommend an OW tarantula to a newb is the venom toxicity, rather than any considerations on defensiveness, even though on an individual basis nhandu, lasiodora or acanthoscurria might be more defensive.

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Totally agree here! People *do* play up the aggression thing way too much. Really the only time any tarantla is truely "aggressive" is when food is put in front of them and even at that, some are little chickens and run away. :D "Deffensive", "skittish", "territorial" or even "protective" are words that I like with regard to tarantula attitude as opposed to "aggressive" because tarantulas are not "mean" per se'.

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I know that was not the point of that comment but seeing as how that was (in my opinion) a bit of a pointless, silly comment, I tried to make some kind of use of it.
My point was just that if he can take care of a ball python alright, he can probably keep just about any tarantula species succesfully. Sorry you found it pointless and silly.

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I apologize for that comment. I think that was a bit snide on my part and uncalled for, or at least could have been worded more kinkly.

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Originally Posted by Shadowspider

True, some Avic. species can be quite pricey, even as second instar s'lings... but that's because they are harder to obtain and/or breed in captivity. Other species, such as A. avic. and A. versi. are more common and thus, their prices will not be (or should not be) as high.

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Yeah, I've always been worried about buying a sling and having sudden avic death syndrome strike. Even small versis can be around $20 and when you're a poor college student it's kind of hard to afford that. Gimme a tough as nails psalmo or poeci any day though!

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Your link doesn't work. :(
Often times, especially in pictures (poor quality pictures) G. rosea will look like a dull brown and/or when they are approaching molt. Other than that, they tend to have very nice pink/rose hues to them with a brown, gray or red base color.

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Argh, I hate the internet! It was just a relatively decent photo of a very brown rosea, but it might have been in premolt like you said.

I've looked at some more photos and maaaybe your right. My brown spider comment might have been a hint at my own bias against the poor critters. I've only seen them rarely in places like petco and they were always beat up WC specimens, so that might have contributed too. I really like the red color forms though.

As an aside question, do you know if wild populations of theraphosa, haplopelma, pterinochilus or cyriopagopus are being threatened these days? I know a lot of them are eaten as food and a lot are imported to the states, but I wasn't sure if the effects were as bad as they've been on the roseas.

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Totally agree here! People *do* play up the aggression thing way too much. Really the only time any tarantla is truely "aggressive" is when food is put in front of them and even at that, some are little chickens and run away. :D "Deffensive", "skittish", "territorial" or even "protective" are words that I like with regard to tarantula attitude as opposed to "aggressive" because tarantulas are not "mean" per se'.

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I think it's part of the macho culture surrounding spiders. A lot of folks I've met keep them because 1) they look bad***, 2) they kill things and 3) they're scared of them (I don't get this last one). I think that in an effort to pump that up, claims about chicken sized spiders that ooze mutant death venom and breed in living hosts comes up a lot.

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I apologize for that comment. I think that was a bit snide on my part and uncalled for, or at least could have been worded more kinkly.

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It's fine, reading it over I can see how it might have come off as a "I KNOW ALL ABOUT SPIDERS I HAVE KEPT LOTS" style comment, when really I just wanted to say that even the more sensitive ones are less work than most potted plants (I do NOT have a green thumb lol). Also, please start a thread and post pictures of your bugs! I love lookin at nice big female spiders, most of my guys are still relatively small and I had to sell most of the larger ones.

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As an aside question, do you know if wild populations of theraphosa, haplopelma, pterinochilus or cyriopagopus are being threatened these days? I know a lot of them are eaten as food and a lot are imported to the states, but I wasn't sure if the effects were as bad as they've been on the roseas.

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Not that I am aware of. However, most of those species are not as "desireable" to the chain pet stores as rosea are, plus rosea tend to be easier to get a hold in the wild. Generally CITES is pretty good about being able to keep updated on endangered and/or protected species. I know that some Poec. sp. were receintly put on CITES but I have not heard or seen any of the others listed.

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claims about chicken sized spiders that ooze mutant death venom and breed in living hosts comes up a lot.

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WHAT???? :O You mean to tell me that the $400,000,000 I just wrote a check out for the mutant death venom (purple venom at that :D) chicken spider might not be REAL???? :( :( :(
*goes to hang herself* :P
I would LOVE to post pix of my critters... if my camera would WORK PROPERLY :mad:

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Originally Posted by Shadowspider

WHAT???? :O You mean to tell me that the $400,000,000 I just wrote a check out for the mutant death venom (purple venom at that :D) chicken spider might not be REAL???? :( :( :(
*goes to hang herself* :P

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Now did you get the purple blue spectacled morph or the blue purple speckled morph? Because the spectacled morphs will only eat endangered species as their prey (due to their shortsightedness *badum pish*).

Neither, I got the orange striped, pink heart shaped one with the lizzard lips. I like the tails on those better. :D :P

Hi,


Just as I was passing I thought I'd sling the link up here. Didn't use any of that fancy htmlmnl schtuff though as my brain has been in bed for an hour already.:D


dr del

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Originally Posted by raptorslovepuns

I've looked at some more photos and maaaybe your right. My brown spider comment might have been a hint at my own bias against the poor critters. I've only seen them rarely in places like petco and they were always beat up

I think it's part of the macho culture surrounding spiders. A lot of folks I've met keep them because 1) they look bad***, 2) they kill things and 3) they're scared of them (I don't get this last one).

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The people who get spiders because they are scared of them are generally trying to get over their phobia of spiders by confronting it. Later on, a lot of those people end being some of the people who become enthralled with the hobby.

There's actually a variant of the rose hair tarantula referred to as the "red phase". Red phase rosies are very red.

the red phase rosea are quiet the lookers, a guy in my tarantula club has one.
but yea as a beginner species i would say get a b. smithi. they're docile and quiet the lookers as well.
here's a pic of my 3" male smithi

T's are easy to keep. Just watch out once you get 2.. the flood gates open and next thing you'll know you'll have like 5 >_>

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Originally Posted by a7051

the red phase rosea are quiet the lookers, a guy in my tarantula club has one.
but yea as a beginner species i would say get a b. smithi. they're docile and quiet the lookers as well.
here's a pic of my 3" male smithi

T's are easy to keep. Just watch out once you get 2.. the flood gates open and next thing you'll know you'll have like 5 >_>

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:clap:
True, true! Inverts are just as addicting as snakes (or coffee). :D

and yes, the red phase rosea's are beeeuuutttiiiffffuuulll!

P.S. Thank you del for activating that link.

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Originally Posted by Shadowspider

:clap:
True, true! Inverts are just as addicting as snakes (or coffee). :D

and yes, the red phase rosea's are beeeuuutttiiiffffuuulll!

P.S. Thank you del for activating that link.

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They really, really are. I just sold all of mine though. :(

I'll miss the little bugs.