Whats a good starter T. for me

[Python-77]

Well for some reason I am now over my last animal fear (spiders) snakes used to be a close second but now I cant get enough of them. I have be watching the T's at my local pet store and ahve decided that I want to get one for my Comp desk now that my Geckos have moved off of it I'm lonely at the keyboard. One of the ones I was looking at had pink err feet. I really liked the look of that one. To help you spider experts out let me tell you what I would like to get out of one.

-Somthing that will be out and visible (not all the time but sometimes)
-doesnt have to be a lap animal, jsut not try and eat me from across the enclosure durring cleaning
-doenst break the 6-7" range

With your recommendation could you also add the adult enlcosure size thanks
also any good care sites that you know of.

[Schlyne]

I really need to write up one beginner's article All pictures are clickable thumbnails.

Sounds like the best genus I can think of for visibilty would be Grammostola. Grammy's are very docile, considered handleable, and are probably the most visible genus I can think of other than maybe Brachypelma

A Chaco Golden Knee tops out at 8", but it's a great beginner. Grammastola aureostriata.
That's a picture of mine (and my first spider, I might add) at about 3 to 4".

A Brazillian black tops out around 5" to 6", also makes a great beginner.
Grammastola pulchra This is a full grown adult female, that I traded.


And then there's the easy to find, ever so standard Chilean Rose hair. I don't own one Grammostola rosea You can find them at just about any pet store that has T's for sale. Most people start out with this or a mexican Red knee. There is a sticky on www.arachnoboards.com that is called "how to really take care of your rosehair", it basically covers the entire basics.

The Brachypelma genus covers the other major beginner T, the Mexican Red Knee. Smulkin has some great pictures of his in the invert forum.

Brachy urticating hairs are second only to the Theraphosa in terms of being irritating.

Brachy's are great, there's a greater variety in species to choose from and they are very colorful. Btw, don't pay $99 for a B. smithi, you can get a decent sized spiderling from an invert dealer for much cheaper. Brachypelma is listed on CITES so the prices can be a little higher.

All of these are terristrals. A 5.5 gal or a 10 gal would make a perfect home for a full grown adult with some substrate and an artifical hide. Use a small shallow dish for a water dish. It's a lot of fun to raise them up from 1" spiderlings, but you start out with tiny containers and work your way up.

Grammy's are NW so they do kick hairs. Wash your hands after you're done doing cage maintance or halding, don't get your face too close if it starts kicking, and flush your eyes immediately if you get hairs in them. It's not a big deal if you react, it will just itch like crazy. Hairs in the eyes can cause permanent eye damage, so react accordingly. It's best to buy a nice long pair of forceps, and a small paintbrush for maintance tools. The paintbrush is often used to gently push or prod the T, if needed.

Tarantula's can and will fast for months (as part of premolt), and may spend a lot of time in a burrow if they have enough substrate to make one. They may also rearrange the substrate at will. They are nocturnal creatures.

This is one of the better invert dealers, and he's got the best page in my opinion just for looking at variety and he has pictures of adult tarantulas next to almost every species he sells. http://www.swiftinverts.com/

I've bought personally from www.botarby8s.com . Charles Black is a fanatastic person to buy from.

As for smaller enclosures, you can get a sample set of vials from www.thortonplastics.com for $7, or you can buy clear plastic box containers from a hobby store, or the container store and melt/drill ventilation holes. You can use peat moss, organic dirt, vermiculate, or cocanut coir for substrate. Peat moss and cocanut coir make the best substrates in my opinion. Wood chips aren't really a good idea, as the T can't really burrow in it.

Personally, as for invert boards, www.arachnoboards is probably the best one I've found, but you may end up deciding you want other bugs as well

There are two other great beginner species that I can tell you about, but I only have experience with one of them. Let me know if you want the info.

[Schlyne]

If it had pink toes, it was probably an Avicularia species, most likely Avicularia avicularia. It's extremely unlikely, but if it was tarantula with pink feet (it's more of a pale pink) and it was walking on the ground, it was T. apophysis aka Goliath Birdeater. Save the birdeater for later down the road, it can hit 11" from leg to leg, it needs higher humidity and it often has bad molts

The pink toe is a great beginner, but it's an arboreal. It's a little more skittish than the Grammy's IMO. It can also "break out the poop cannon" if startled and may acutally shoot poop at you. It also has urticating hairs, but it doesn't kick them, it presses them on to you. The urticating hair patches are on the underside of the abdomen. For it's enclosure height is more important than floor space, so turn the ten gallon tank on it's side as an adult. It reaches the 5" to 6" range.

I keep these guys in tall deli cups after then grow out of the largers clear plastic beanie baby box (the clear boxes I was referring to earlier). After than they can be moved on large plastic jars, or other sutiable containers you've made into a suitable T home.

I really need to get to bed, and that's all I can think of for the moment. I still haven't talked about the ohter two terristal beginner species but I can tell you about them later if you still want me to.

Btw, The Tarantula Keeper's Guide By Schultz is the best book you could buy if you want to keep tarantula's.

[Python-77]

wow thanks for all the info Schlyne, gave me a ton to read. If you ahve time add the other beginer one's Im off to work but will be on that invert board later to read thanks again.

[Smulkin]

Awesome writeup!

[Shaun J]

The only problem I've known with the Brachys that they grow slow,and I know the same with the pulchra.But hey,I started with a L.parahybana(Right now about 2 inches in legspan,known to get to 10"-Crazy one of the bunch),A.geniculata(Same size as other,but only grows to around 8?".), and G.aureostriata(mellow,pretty small,smaller than the others,grows to 8")Anything Grammastola,Brachypelma, and Avicularia would be a pretty good starter based on a few dealers
I talked to.

[Python-77]

slow growth wont bother me he/she will be just chillen on my desktop. Oh and the pink toe I saw at the store was up on the glass cute looking thing.

[Schlyne]

Bpkid is right in that the brachy's and the Grammy's tend to grow slowly. Brachy's are the T's you hear about females making it to 20-30 years in age though.

The other two beginner species I was thinking of, are the Green Bottle Blue (GBB) Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens and the Pink Zebra Beauty (PZB) Eupalaestrus campestratus.

I don't acutally own a PZB, but they make very good starters, fairly simliar in temperment to a Chaco, but they stay around the 5 to 6 inch range. They are a pastel pink, where a chaco is a golden yellow and pastel pink and the PZB's do not posses a "mirror" patch on the abdomen, where the chaco does.

A GBB makes a great starter if you're not into handling. They change overall in color as they grow from spiderlings to adults, so it's a lot of fun to raise one from a sling and see it go through the color changes. It makes great webs and is very tough. Mine is also a great eater. Keep it dry. It's in the 5" to 6" range, I believe.

Most tarantula's fall in the 5" to 6" range. I'd recommend that you stay away from anything old world until you have experience with fast NW T's.

[Schlyne]

Btw, if you see little hooks around the knees or if the pedipalps look like boxing gloves, don't buy it. It's a mature male tarantula and won't have long to live. The pedipalps are the two smaller looking "legs" in front of the eyes.

[eightleggedfreak]

I agree with schlyne, but heres my two cents anyway.

My personal preference on starter t's goes like this. You don't want something that get's too big, or is more importantly fast or defensive. So that leaves you with slow-moving and docile terrestrials. The only arboreal tarantulas that would make a good starter are the Pinktoes (genus Avicularia) but they have specific temperature and humidity needs that I think prohibit them from being labeled starters. While not defensive they can be quick. If you want a Pinktoe I'd until you've had a little experience first, just so you get used to their movements.

The most common tarantula in pet stores is the Chilean Rose (Grammostola rosea). While plentiful they're not really the best starter. Individuals can be tempermental and in general they don't do much. There's a good reason why they're commonly called pet rocks.

The Chaco Gold Knee (Grammostola aureostriata) is a worthy mention, but are not easily found in stores. They get large (8"), but unlike most other large spiders they do not have an attitude to match. They're very mellow, don't raise a fuss about being handled and have hearty appetites. In my opinion, the best beginner tarantulas are the Chaco and the Honduran Curly Hair (Brachypelma albipilosum). Curlies are smaller (5-6") but have the same mellow attitude. Both are inexpensive and quality captive bred spiderlings are available from various online dealers.

The Mexican Red Knee (Brachypelma smithi) is still the classic of the hobby, even though they're more expensive. They are unabashed hairflickers, although otherwise docile. The Brazilian Black (Grammostola pulchra) and Pink Zebra Beauty (Eupalaestrus campestratus) are very docile spiders and would rival the Chaco and Curly Hair as beginners if not for their expense.

Make sure you do research on the particular species you choose, or choose several and get them as spiderlings. Either way, welcome to the hobby!