Entering new territory. My first tarantula.

[Bogertophis]

Oh, by the way- now I remember why they said my (California) tarantula was surely a female, without even checking the underside: it was because of her size. The females can live 20-25 years, while the males usually only live to 7 or 8 (10 max), & her "abdomen" was the size of a ping pong ball- she was huge, & all the males I ever saw were so tiny by comparison. I don't know if the lifespan & size differential applies to any other kinds of tarantulas- as I said, my experience with them is very limited, but they're all pretty cool.

[YungRasputin]

Oh, by the way- now I remember why they said my (California) tarantula was surely a female, without even checking the underside: it was because of her size. The females can live 20-25 years, while the males usually only live to 7 or 8 (10 max), & her "abdomen" was the size of a ping pong ball- she was huge, & all the males I ever saw were so tiny by comparison. I don't know if the lifespan & size differential applies to any other kinds of tarantulas- as I said, my experience with them is very limited, but they're all pretty cool.

sexual dimorphism is seen virtually all tarantula species - i think there may be a couple species where this may not be the case or is less extreme than in most cases but this true for like 99% of tarantulas - the size of the abdomen is largely dependent upon food intake and in both sexes it should be relatively proportional to the rest of their body tho as you say females are a bit bigger of course - lifespan wise i would say that’s about average - in their late stages of life males will just wander and mate until they’re a) eaten by the female or b) die of their own accord

[Bogertophis]

sexual dimorphism is seen virtually all tarantula species - i think there may be a couple species where this may not be the case or is less extreme than in most cases but this true for like 99% of tarantulas - the size of the abdomen is largely dependent upon food intake and in both sexes it should be relatively proportional to the rest of their body tho as you say females are a bit bigger of course - lifespan wise i would say that’s about average - in their late stages of life males will just wander and mate until they’re a) eaten by the female or b) die of their own accord

Yeah, I've heard that some of them are pretty bad at dating. Poor guys...

[YungRasputin]

also pokies are super cool, i kept them/bred them, P. rufilata is my particular favorite of the genus but given the size, temperament and venom level they’re definitely an advanced/veteran level species

but! you can work your way up to them by keeping what i call “bridge species” i.e. lower level species with particular traits comparable to pokies - so like starting with A. avicularia, then P. irminia/P. cambridgei then Tapinauchenius then Pokies - would be a good way to do it - this way you build up skills in basic arboreal keeping (Avics), speed (Tapinauchenius), and hyper-defensive behaviors and higher venom levels (Psalmopoeus)

this all needed because ‘teleporting’ is v real and hard to deal with even with experience and pokies are one of the few species that won’t give you a threat pose or any clues before bolting or striking - something I’ve only seen in African arboreals like S. cals + H. maculata and fossorial baboons like P. muticus