That difficult second Spider

[Oliver Jones]

A bit of background: I've had my Vagans for 8 months now and its coming on nicely, I've raised it from a tiny sling and its settled in nicely and we’ve never had any problems with each other (despite both of us being a tad ill tempered).

The problem: I now need another Spider!!! I've read on many threads that this is an addictive hobby, I foolishly thought not me I can stick to just one ...... Well I can't!!!!

Where you can help: I'm looking for a new spider to raise from a sling (I like to see them develop), but it ideally needs to be sufficiently different from a Brachy Vagans. Has anyone got any suggestions? I fancy an arboreal species, but don't want an ultra aggressive, fast mover, does such a thing exist?

I have no interest in handling the tarantula, only studying it and marvelling at it.

I'm open to all suggestions arboreal, burrowing or terrestrial.

Oliver

Cheers

[Colin D Wilson]

Hi Oliver, welcome aboard mate, hope you enjoy your stay


If you like to study your tarantula then a fossorial (burrowing) spider may not be right for you as you really won't see much of it (i.e. what we call a pet hole )

Something different, and something i enjoy emensely are the arboreal Avicularia sp, you can pick up an Avicularia sp avicularia for a reasonable price, they build nice web tubes and are out quite often in the twilight hours actively hunting.
The whole of this species are well worth looking at.

there's my choice, i'm sure there'll be a few others that will post their personal choice for your new pet.

Colin

[Nicola Dolby]

Hi Oliver,
If its an arboreal you want, you can't go wrong with an Avicularia. They require some attention, especially as slings, but they're lovely spiders. There's Psalmopoeus too, the P. irminia can be assertive I believe but the P. cambridgi might be ok. If you want to avoid ones which can be snippy, avoid Iridiopelma and Pokies are ok. They're quite shy really, its just that they move like bullets and I gather if they bite you you stay bitten if you see what I mean. For Stromatopelma read Poecilotheria, temperament wise. Myself, if I were you I'd explore Brachypelma more. I bought a B. smithi sling just so I could say, "Well I've got one" and I absolutely love the thing! He's a fluffy little juvenile now and I wouldn't be without the little critter. Careful with B. bohemi though, they'll flick hairs at the slightest disturbance.
Good Luck!

[SylviRigden]

Hi, how about a nice P regalis? Mine is a female, she's beautiful and a joy to watch. They are reasonably priced as well. They do have a potent venom but just treat them with respect and after all, I've got one and I'm the biggest coward going!

[Tom Forman]

something completely differnt would be a greenbottle blue (chromatopelma cyaneopubescens).
It's not quite arboreal so doesn't need as much space/height but it likes to climb and web and hang out in it's web alot so a completely differnt character to your brachy.
One of the easier species to keep as it requires lower temps (20-21 degrees) and lower humidity so you basically don't need to worry about humidity whatsoever with this one.

But if you feel confident then there are hundreds of good ones to chose from, all having something unique and differnt to the rest. I would listen to colin and avoid ones that hide (burrowing is ok but some burrowing species will hide away for half a year), it will say on thespidershop.co.uk or tarantula-shop.com what kind of personality they have. That's a good start to have a look for what you want. If you have chosen one you like, you can let ppl on the board know and double check to see what personality it has.

There is a big tarantula exhibition coming up on 18th may and might be worth going to for a bargain. Have a look on google under bts exhibiton for details

ps: welcome to the board

*Moderator edit* show details: http://thebts.co.uk/Spider_show.htm

[mary walters]

Welcome Oliver, I will have cambridgei slings for sale at BTS if you are going love, just come up and say hello.

Cambridgei are fast growers, a female from my first sac I think she is 2 years old, is around 7 inches and has a sac of her own, her mother is around 9 inches and really lovely, not flashy coloured, but olive green with darker chevrons on abdomen and lovely orange flashes on feet.

Irminia are lovely too, black with orange grid markings on the abdomen, and orange flashes up the legs, gorgeous spiders, but with attitude.

Psalmopeous are my fave genus, could you guess ??????

[patsyking]

I agree with Tom, GBB's are wonderful. I've a sling coming up to its second moult since I've had it and each moult it looks different. Fantastic colours on it when its bigger and so active too. Never a dull moment with one of those!

[James Box]

Welcome Oliver, I will have cambridgei slings for sale at BTS if you are going love, just come up and say hello.

Cambridgei are fast growers, a female from my first sac I think she is 2 years old, is around 7 inches and has a sac of her own, her mother is around 9 inches and really lovely, not flashy coloured, but olive green with darker chevrons on abdomen and lovely orange flashes on feet.

Irminia are lovely too, black with orange grid markings on the abdomen, and orange flashes up the legs, gorgeous spiders, but with attitude.

Psalmopeous are my fave genus, could you guess ??????

lol don't forget to warn cambs are proper blighters faster than you expect!
well Oliver, there's a number of good choices...arboreals tend to be fast, even Avicularia sp, however Avicularia sp "avicularia" is, in my experience, unlikely to bite...way more likely to run and jump, though!
also, the added advantage is they are proper cute.

in all honesty, ANY T is good if treated with respect...ie if you expect it to be fast and try to escape, and thus respect it and approach with caution, i bet you could do just fine even with Heteroscoda maculata or Stromatopelma calceatum!
all arboreals that i've seen are beautiful, so it's really up to you...
Mary's irminia's, mac's and cambs are all lovely and i'd recommend buying from her. they are also all arboreal.

edit: have to add that an extra bonus for arboreals is if they DO escape, you've a good chance of finding them by flicking the light off, leaving the room, and coming back in 15 minutes...they'll probably be on the wall, if all the anecdotes i've heard are true!

[Peter Lacey]

Hi Oliver and welcome to the BTS forums.
Your choice of 2nd T is as varied as the species available to you, and the variety of habitats creates many different characteristics. You'll probably be governed by what's available but here are a few of my suggestions.

Giant tarantula:
Lasiodora parahybana - (Salmon Pink Birdeater), readily available (speak to Mary), grows to over 10" legspan, big eater.
Acanthoscuria geniculata - (Brazilian White Knee) Black & White leg pattern, great eater, fast on its legs when catching food, approx 8" as adult.

Docile tarantula:
Great choices come from the Aphonopelma, Brachypelma and Grammostola genus so here's a few worth considering:
Aphonopelma seemani (Honduran Zebra), Brachypelma albopilosum (Curly hair), Brachypelma smithi (Mexican Red Knee), Grammostola rosea (Chili Rose), all dry terrestrials that will adopt a burrow, far more likely to run away than bite. As mentioned above the Chromatapelma cyaneopubescens (Green Bottle Blue) is a very colourful specimen that creates a lot of web but doesnt permanently hide in it.

Arboreals:
Avicularia, Psalmopoeus and Poecilotheria are the most popular genus but they can all tend to be fast movers. The Avics (A. avicularia, A. metallica, A. purpurea, A. versicolor) are lovely looking, very hairy, can swim, squirt poo and jump, not likely to bite. They do require good ventilation and higher humidity levels which seems to be one of the main causes of death unfortunately.
The Psalmo's are all fast, tend to be aggressive and have a potent bite but they have lots of appeal, creating tube webbing from the floor to the branches. You'd not want one to escape but with simple precautions these are interesting to keep.
The Pokies seem to have a huge variety of species as well as a reputation for speed and venom. My worries of these were dispelled by Mary and Louise and I now have a community of 5 subfusca, 3 rufliata and a single regalis. All have striking patterns on both the legs and abdomen plus some warning colours on the underside of their legs. They often adopt some great poses hanging from the top of the enclosure and so far I haven't experienced the legendary speeds.

The Dodgy bleeders:
Haplopelma lividum (classic pet hole), Pterinochilus murinus (affectionately referred to as the Orange Bitey Thing), Citharischius crawshayi (King Baboon) and various other baboons.

I take care not to let any of my Ts out and don't handle any of them, if you follow sensible precautions then there's no reason why you can't have any tarantula of your choice. Most will require similar conditions to your B. vagans, the main difference being arboreal or terrestrial.

[Colin D Wilson]

Just thought i'd chirp in again here...

A few posts have mentioned "potent venom" "potent bite" etc etc,
There are a number of "Types" that trawl through forums like this looking for little snippits of information that they can misquote in their next revision of the "lets try and restrict the tarantula hobby in any way we can" news articles.
So...to just confirm ....some tarantula venom can be considered more "effective" than most others. The effects of bites from the tarantulas that are mentioned here (that are kept in the hobby) are not medically significant, and to date no death has been directly linked to the effects of such a bite.

I kmow a few will probably like to add to this and makes their own comments, if you feel the need...please create another thread...keep it sensible and creative (this topic sometimes gets highly fired)
lets keep this thread on topic and help Oliver out with his new spider

Thanks

Colin

[Tom Forman]

Peter, thats probably the best intro description to the types of spider a new tarantula keeper could get I've seen. Nice one.

[mary walters]

Just to add, I have sold out of irminia and H macs now, sorry

[Colin D Wilson]

Peter, thats probably the best intro description to the types of spider a new tarantula keeper could get I've seen. Nice one.

Yeah, not too bad

[Oliver Jones]

Thanks for your suggestions, I'm severely tempted by one of the Avicularia varieties (I've been tempted by them in the past but needed a bit of reassurance!). Having checked all the reputable online stores nobody has any in stock. So onto my next question, where can I get a good, healthy Avicularia sling?

[Colin D Wilson]

I've just had a quick look around and there does seem to be a shortage of them for sale.
The only thing i can put forward is for you to make the trip to the BTS expo on the 18th of may. (details http://thebts.co.uk/Spider_show.htm)
There will be everything available there for you to choose from and get advice from the sellers and other hobbyists too.