Goalith bird-eater

[mikehorton]

does anyone have one of these spiders, or knows anyone that does? I'm strongly thinking of getting one but i would like to know some things about care, and the effects of the hairs they can "shoot" at anything.

[Mina]

Yes, I have one. It is a juvie and will be a year old in October. It is a little over 5 inches after its last moult. I wasn't able to sex it from its last moult so I still don't know sex.

Well, what you need to know. They can get 10 to 12 inches in size, they eat A LOT!! Mine goes through about a dozen crickets a week, and that is at half of its eventual size. They are classified as aggressive, and have the worst urticating hairs of any NW tarantula, at least in my opinion.
Exactly what do you want to know? I'll help in any way I can. Hopefully I have answered some of your questions or at least gave you an idea of what they are like. Let me know if I can be of further help.

[mikehorton]

Have you ever been bit? I'm going to be new to spiders. i'm a snake guy now. i was always interested in exoctic pets. Do you think they would be a good first spider? About how much do they cost. Can they really eat birds? thats a silly question, but would like to know. The only thing is my girlfriend has really bad allergic skin reactions, that is y im scared of the hairs. Do you know anything about the colbalt blue? Its going to be between those two more then likely. thank you

[Schlyne]

Personally, I'd go for something a bit calmer. Goalith Bird Eaters (Therphosa blondi) are not a good handling species (I have no idea if you want to handle your T or not). (They're a bit too nervous, they get big, and the urticating hair factor).

Blondi's are well known for having the worst urticating hairs of all of the new world species, (North and South america) and that's the main reason I don't have one. You may not react to the hairs, but you won't know until you try it. I react fairly strongly already to urticating hairs, so I tend to stay away from most of the NW terristral species. They do get big, and while you can keep most T's bone dry with a water dish, blondi's need a bit higher humidity.

I'd probably advise you to get the blondi over the cobalt. A cobalt blue (hapoplema lividium) is an obligate burrower. It needs to have a good 6 to 8 inches of substrate as an adult to burrow in. It will get stressed out easily if it doesn't have a good burrow. You won't see it most of the time (I see my cobalt once a month, if that). They're also a bit quick and defensive.

I love obligate burrowers for some reason, but most people aren't that thrilled with keeping "pet dirt".

I have been bitten before by a couple of species.
They could eat small baby birds, or maybe finch size birds, but most people in captivity don't feed them anything like that.

If you still want something that stays gets pretty big and is pretty calm, try and get a chaco golden knee. It won't grow as quickly as the blondi will though.

[Mina]

I have to agree on both counts. A blondi is not a good first spider, and chaco golden knees are wonderful!! I have one and what a sweetie! I would recommend for a first time spider:


Grammostola rosea: Chiliean rosehair, evey one is different
Almost any spider in the Brachypelma family
Almost any spider in the Aphonopelma family
Grammostola aureostriata: Chaco golden knee
Grammostola pulchra: Brazilian black
Avicularia avicularia: Guyana pinktoe
Eupalastrus campestratus: Pink zebra beauty

Those would be my picks for good beginner spiders. Some people say the rosehairs are boring, but not me. A rosehair was my first and is still the pampered matriarch of my spiders, plus now I have 3 others. Check out Scotts tarantulas website for picutures of each.

[Shaun J]

I would suggest a G.aureostriata for people who want to have a BIG nice spider.

If you want something smaller, I would go for an Avicularia Avicularia. Do a search on them, you'd be very surprised at what you'd see.They are awesome.

Check botarby8s.com

He's awesome to work with and I bought 3 T's from him!

[mikehorton]

sounds good. I need to do some more research about how toxic different species are and different allergic reactions one can have. I myself am not allergic to much of anything actually. i hardly ever get sick, or get rashes or anything. So i think i may be open to any species. i would like an aboreal, i love those snakes as well. I'm gonna do some research and i'll post back in a few. thank you for all of the help, it is muchly appreciated.

[Shaun J]

A.Avic are arboreal and don't get too big. T's aren't deadly, at least the new world T's aren't. Trust me, T's are even more addicting than Reptiles. I bought 2 after a month of keeping one!!!!!!!

[Schlyne]

Anything Old World (Asia, Australia, Africa..Europe) has stronger venom.

As for allergic reactions, typically it's a lot of itching (I'm not talking about evenmonations here). Evenemonations are different depending on what species of T bit you.

By reacting fairly strongly, I mean I itch like you wouldn't believe. I have not gotten the tiny "bubble" skin rash that I've heard from others, but I try to limit my exposure. I wear gloves when I work with the T's in order to reduce my exposure to the urticating hairs. The longer you work with the animals, the more sensitive you get to the hairs.

This thread
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=27408

might be really useful.

[bodar]

haha i have a 4 year old t.blondi, its about 8-9 inches. very high strung evil T!!!
at least mine is. but not to fast, at least not like my pokies. pretty fairly awsome T though. but for a first T i'd recomend a A.Versicolor, or antilles pinktoe, amazing color and very tame.