new tarantula

[mark tensen]

hello everybody,
currently i have two tarantulas, a pink toe and a rose hair. i am planing on getting a third one in the next few weeks. i am wanting a mexican species. i have got it down to three of them. a red knee, a flame knee, and a fire leg. could anyone with experience with the species tell me any pros and cons on them? temperaments and things like that would also be very helpful. thank you.


-mark


p.s.
my rose hair was also labeled "NCF". does anyone know what that means?

[wayne balcombe]

Hi mark,

Welcom to the hobby.

Of the spiders you mention Brachypelma smithi (red knee) is the the most placid and generally considered a perfect beginer species, they are quite docile and great looking display spiders.

Brachypelma boheimi (fire/flame leg) is a great display spider though it does have a tendency to be a little more on the skittish side.

Brachypelma auratum (flame knee) also a large and good looking species though in my opinion more unpredictable than the other 2, from personall experience i found these to be a little antisocial.

Bare in mind that all 3 can and will flick urticating hairs that may cause irritation on contact with eyes and skin, I find B.smithi the least ready to flick these.

hope this has given you something to go on.

P.S. NCF - Normal Colour Form RCF - Red Colour Form

this just relates to the overall colour of the spider. i.e they are the same species but different coloured varients.

[darrell hetzel]

i agree with wayne on this one. i have both the B. smithi and B. auratum. the B. smithi is definatly more docile, while my B. auratum is very jumpy and likes to dart about with any disterbance. cant say to much about the B. boheimi, as i do not have one (should change in a week or two though). you have a wonderful tast in ts by the way, and i am sure you will end up with them all before to long.

[mark tensen]

thank you both for the responces. i am glad to have help from other people who keep these species. i have read about a "northern color form". could the NCF maybe stand for that? my rose hair has a very purple tint to it. all the other ones i have seen have been a more plain brown.

[Aaron Annal]

Hi Mark
I have all 3 of these T's and will also agree with wayne my B.smithi(red knee) is very docile and can be handled if need be(not that i do very often).
The B.auratum(flame knee) i have is very skittish as already described would rather flick hairs and sprint around the tank just by me opening the lid.
The B.boehmei(fire leg) is a beautiful looking T but again mine will just run and hide at the slightest disturbance but i have found doesnt seem to flick hairs like my B.auratum.
They are all lovely looking T's and all worth having in any collection but out of the 3 the B.smithi is more docile than the other 2 imo.
hope it helps

Aaron

[Eleanor]

I'll stick my oar in here too: I have experience of B. smithi and boehmei but not auratum. I have an adult female of each at the moment and find the boehmei is definitely more inclined to run off and flick hairs than the smithi, but she's also more active and often up to something, so she is more interesting as a display spider. Neither spider ever hides.

My smithi was a complete nutjob as a sling and gave me more trouble than all the rest of my spiders put together at the time, and although she's calmed down a lot now I would not trust her not to flick or bite (she did bite my forceps not so long ago). My boehmei was sneaky as a sling, and figured out how to open her tank, how to open the tank of another sling, caught it and took it 'home' and ate it. So I saw one open tank, thought I'd knocked it open and considered myself lucky that I saw it before she had escaped. Until I saw her munching something under her hide...

So the moral is - individuals are very variable and you can't really predict what you're going to get. I probably haven't been very helpful - sorry!

[Aaron Annal]

So the moral is - individuals are very variable and you can't really predict what you're going to get. I probably haven't been very helpful - sorry!

very true Eleanor some of my T's clearly dont read the same descriptions about their temperament that i do lol