tarantulas for beginner

[tosha]

what type of tarantula/s would you recommend for a beginner?

[Shelby]

Most Ts of the genus grammastola

That is.. chilean rose hair - grammastola rosea
chaco golden knee - grammastola aureostriata
brazilian black - grammastola pulchra

Others are -
mexican redknee - brachypelma smithi
honduran curlyhair - brachypelma albopilosum

[denisthemenace]

well i started off with what are considered to be some of the most docile and generally are on everyones "MUST HAVE LIST"

a B.smithi (mexican redknee) as shelby listed
and a Green bottle blue (get webber and one beautiful spider)

i recommend Eric from E-spiderworld.com amazing guy, very reliable and professional

[Shelby]

yes GBBs are tough spiders. They are just not quite so docile as the other species.

[tosha]

right on thanks

[Schlyne]

**Long read, but this is slowly turning in to a beginner species guide***

All pictures are clickable thumbnails.

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.

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 [i]Theraphosa[i] 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 handling, 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.

The pink toe is a great beginner, but it's an arboreal. It's a little more skittish and faster. 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.

The other two beginner species 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. They are a bit skittish and fast.

[tosha]

wow thanxs for all the great infomation, that really helped me out. I've been attempting to look up info on the net but i don't think i'm really looking in the right places.

that helped a lot

[Beardo]

I am a bit biased, but I would suggest a Green Bottle Blue. They are hands down the most spectacular looking spiders in the hobby, IMO. They are tough as nails, web all over the place and grow like weeds. I don't handle any of my spiders so their nervousness is a non-issue for me. I personally do not advocate the handling of Tarantulas, but if you choose to do so thats just fine. If you want a site that has great info on Tarantulas and other inverts, check out the one in my signature (www.venomlist.com).

Oh, and be careful! Once you enter the "addiction" there is no turning back lol!

[recycling goddess]

i'm picking up my first taratula next weekend... a gorgeous GBB (green bottle blue) - i've been told they are a great beginner t.

here's a photo of mine - isn't she a beauty!!! she's just getting ready (within the next few moults) to get her adult colours

[tosha]

lol i wasn't really thinking of handling any tarantula i got except for when i was cleaning out the cage or if it needed vet care. i thought that green bottle blues were goregous (sorry about my spelling)

man i didn't realize that exotic reptiles/invertebrates/ animals were so addictive, this is not going to be good for my addictive personality
lol