what age tarantula is best for a newbie?

[Emily Williams]

I'm planning on getting a b. smithi for my first tarantula, and don't quite know what age is best. I want one that is quite big already, but not old if that makes any sense. At what age can you feed them them the same as a adult and keep them in the same enclosure. I'm not at all experienced and don't want to have to decide for myself when it will be old enough to move into a bigger enclosure, or what to feed it at different times of it's life, but I want it to be part of my family as long as possible.
Sorry if this seems life a dumb question, but I would rather get some experts opinions before making a mistake. Thanks!

[Colin D Wilson]

A large juvenile (3 ish inches leg span)would be a good starting point, they will eat the same size food as an adult (i.e. adult crickets) and can be housed in the tank that will be adequate for an adult.
Juveniles are a fairly decent step down in cost to an adult and if you manage to buy a female then you will have the spider for a very long time if well looked after ... 25 - 30 years for the longer lived animals, some members on here have had them that long.
Fairly deep substrate for burrowing (4+ inches is ideal although they'll live perfectly well with less and being more of a display spider), the substrate should be of a kind that would be suitable for the spider to dig and burrow (ignore the care sheets that say to add vermiculite, this is just really used for water retention in the substrate and with a Brachypelma this is not needed) pack the substrate down fairly hard so it's suitable for burrowing. A hide and water bowl should be provided.

Welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy your stay

Please ask as many questions as you feel neccessary, there's no such thing as a silly question if you don't know the answer or need advice, we all started out knowing next to nothing and can pretty much guarantee after a few months of owning a spider you'll be able to offer advice and information to newcomers from your own experiences

[Emily Williams]

Thanks, I've already got the tanks for the spider and crickets with everything set up, all I need to do now is get my baby My local pet shop can get them within a week, but they don't really know anything about them, so when I went and asked for advice they couldn't really tell me anything I hadn't found out online. They needed to know what age spider I wanted, so now that I know I'll go down in a few hours and sort it out. Hopefully by this time text week I'll have a new member of the family. All I need to do now is decide on a name. I'm thinking of Ruby, even though by boyfriend wants to name her Fred...

[Colin D Wilson]

Not wishing to disrespect your local shop in any way but have you thought about seeing if there's any available online?, there are a number of reputable dealers online (some advertise on here) that you could consider buying from, their prices are normally considerably cheaper than most pet shops, alternatlively you look through some online classifieds where they may be a possibility that someone is trimming their collection down and a suitable spider may be for sale.

If you're happy with the petshop then go buy your new pet and don't forget to pop a picture up in the pix section for us

[Emily Williams]

I have thought about it, but I don't feel happy ordering online as I don't see what it is I'm buying until it arrives. It's not just this, I hate the idea of ebay, or ordering anything online, even if I know it's perfectly safe and reliable. I've been a customer with my local pet shop for a few years now, I've had cats, dogs, ferrets, gerbils, tropical fish, rabbits and a few types of birds. They know me and I pay a hell of a lot less than most people, so ordering online won't make much of a difference cost wise, and I know that when my spider arrives at the pet shop, if it's not what it's supposed to be, they will sort it out for me. When I've had a bit of experience and can tell a seller exactly what I want I might consider buying online in the future, but for now I think I'm safer with the pet shop.
And as soon as I can I'll get pics up, unless the poor thing is camera shy :P

[Colin D Wilson]

I wasn't on about Ebay exactly, i'd not use that option either for a high percentage of inverts unless i knew the dealer.
I was on the lines of "online shops" such as The Spidershop, Martin Goss, Predator or Prey, Tarantula Barn etc etc all of which have online website-shops and are reccomended and trusted by 99% of the members of tarantula forums and the like,

If you can get a nice deal at the petshop and see the spider in the flesh (so to speak) then thats great

Camera shy spiders .... hmmm.....had a fair share of those in the past

[Mandy Clinch]

I am always asking weird or odd questions Emily and panic about my T's all the time, but everyone here is very helpful and friendly. Hope you have your baby by now x

[Damien]

Personally I would have thought that an adult female G.Rosea would be the best spider for anybody to get a good idea on the husbandry etc......or maybe a C.Crawshayi...

[Mandy Clinch]

My rosea is awesome, but i would say they aren't as good for newbies as is made out. Temperamental isn't the word!!! And she literally hardly ever moves! I just got a one inch sling too and shes a right cow, flicks hairs every time i go in there and postures at me all the time. So i literally have the 2 extremes.

My son has a b.albopilosum and she's fantastic. Very easy to care for, lovely temperament, burrows for interest and yet still comes out to say hello. As far as i am aware, brachys are good for newbies. My favourite is my g.pulchra. I love her so much, wonderful little T