I have the Big Three!

[Najakeeper]

I have kept tarantulas on and off over the last 15 years and I have always been interested in the Theraphosa genus but never managed to get all three species even though I have kept them all separately at different times.


Well, finally I have all three species at my place. 2 CB adult females, 1 WC subadult female and I am super stoked about it. Care to guess which is which?
a-



b-



c-



I also have a male blondi, which I paired with the female but he will probably will go to someone else for breeding.

[John1982]

I vaguely remember blondi sharing the genus with another, but admit I had to use google to confirm. Seems there are 3 in the genus now, pretty cool! Here's my guess as to who's who.

A) blondi
B) stirmi
C) apophysis

[Najakeeper]

I vaguely remember blondi sharing the genus with another, but admit I had to use google to confirm. Seems there are 3 in the genus now, pretty cool! Here's my guess as to who's who.

A) blondi
B) stirmi
C) apophysis

You are correct in your guesses and yes, blondi and apophysis have been classified long ago but stirmi is somewhat recent. They have been sold as blondi for years as they are more common wild caught even though they are easy to tell apart for someone, who knows what they are looking for. Still, stirmi is hardier than blondi so for the inexperienced people and the spiders, it was probably a good match.

[John1982]

You are correct in your guesses and yes, blondi and apophysis have been classified long ago but stirmi is somewhat recent. They have been sold as blondi for years as they are more common wild caught even though they are easy to tell apart for someone, who knows what they are looking for. Still, stirmi is hardier than blondi so for the inexperienced people and the spiders, it was probably a good match.

It would be great to see more CB options for these in the future. I've become rather sensitive to urticating hairs after years of exposure so if I ever got back into inverts, it'll be old world species for me. Always a fan of the pokies though so I think I'd be content. I would definitely have to add a balfouri and crawshayi or two too!

[Najakeeper]

It would be great to see more CB options for these in the future. I've become rather sensitive to urticating hairs after years of exposure so if I ever got back into inverts, it'll be old world species for me. Always a fan of the pokies though so I think I'd be content. I would definitely have to add a balfouri and crawshayi or two too!

Agreed, they need to be bred more and I already paired my T.blondi.

I had the T.blondi for a while but apophysis and stirmi are new arrivals.


Here is the box opening video:





Notice how apophysis girl is searching for moisture. She was shipped very dry and she drank for an hour.


And here are some more photos:





Pink hair on apophysis:





A sub-adult blondi I have: