Former Arachnophobe, current arachnophiliac

[AHM76]

Hello, so I’m really new to this hobby, it’s been about 2 months since I got my first T which was a L. Parahybana sling, then my next purchase was 4 more T’s - brachy.albo. Female juvie, and g. Pulchripes, GBB and h. Incei gold form slings. Next purchase was acanthoscurria geniculata and another GBB both female juveniles, a PZB sling, euathlus sp. red sling and a brachy albo sling. In short, I am addicted! I have so many more on my wish list I already know we’re going to need to designate a whole room in our house as a T room, lol. It’s funny because I was terrified, I mean genuinely phobic of spiders like small house spiders never mind tarantulas!! But I always found spiders to be so fascinating and my interest grew and eventually I realized my fear was completely irrational so I decided to face my fear instead of avoiding it which is hard to do when you live in Texas next to a large forest and have 8 legged unwelcome visitors every spring and summer in your house. I could go on and on but suffice it to say now I love ‘em, wondering why I didn’t get some long ago instead of 4 dogs, I think my T’s are super cute, and I’m really excited to have discovered this fun and rewarding hobby. I’ll try to post some pics soon...
I’m glad to have joined the forum!

 

[Enn49]

Hi, welcome to the addiction . You'd be surprised just how many of us were arachnophobes.

 

[TheVez2]

I'm a convert myself. For the first 25 years of my life, terrified. Like freak out terrified. Now I have 80 of them!

 

[AHM76]

Cool! With the number on my wish list already I could see my having close to that number as well!
Thank you for the welcome msg!

 

[AHM76]

I should add that although my T’s are all New World species I’ll really be proud of myself once I’m brave enough to own some Old Worlds, not that I would ever handle them like I have with a couple of my NWs! Just from what I’ve seen and read, I’m not sure I’ll ever want to own an OBT though..

 

[Enn49]

I should add that although my T’s are all New World species I’ll really be proud of myself once I’m brave enough to own some Old Worlds, not that I would ever handle them like I have with a couple of my NWs! Just from what I’ve seen and read, I’m not sure I’ll ever want to own an OBT though..

My first T was a juvenile OBT and she never gave me any trouble. I now have 2 slings, one Usambara (orange) and one Tete (chocolate)

 

[Whitelightning777]

Being informed tends to reduce fear.

 

[Whitelightning777]

I should add that although my T’s are all New World species I’ll really be proud of myself once I’m brave enough to own some Old Worlds, not that I would ever handle them like I have with a couple of my NWs! Just from what I’ve seen and read, I’m not sure I’ll ever want to own an OBT though..

There are certainly OW Ts that are less aggressive then certain NW Ts. Some of the baboon tarantulas such as M balfouri and H pulchripes are extremely fast moving but not defensive or aggressive. (At least my slings aren't yet.) Some of the pokies such as P striata (which I own) and P regalis (might be a future acquisition) are considered starter pokies, slightly calmer then some of the others. For the record, my P striata (aka Patricia) is the by far the calmest most mentally stable of my tarantulas. It depends on the species, the individual and how well designed the enclosure is. Lots of hiding places and room to work without getting underfoot (literally) always makes life easier.

 

[WolfSpider]

Agree with Whitelightning 777. Good “starter” old worlds are M. balfouri, H. pulchripes, E. pachypus, and the Cyratogyrus genus. They are fast, but not much more than your GBB. Welcome to TF (Best forum on the net) and the the addiction!!! Look forward to seeing you around.

 

[AHM76]

Thanks everyone for your input. Actually m. balfouri and h. pulchripes were 2 on my list of Old World’s I wanted to acquire one day, I remember reading h. pulchripes was actually a pretty calm good beginner one, and of course m. balfouri has those stunning colors. I actually quite like how the OBT often has an attitude, feeding videos are always fun to watch but after I got the Tarantula Keepers guide and saw a photo of a bite that one of the authors (M. Schultz) received from an OBT it pretty much squashed my idea of ever getting one - I mean these are very experienced keepers that know what they’re doing right? I do like that the OW’s have no urticating hairs tho (my A. geniculata kicked hairs the first time I dropped a roach into her enclosure, so much for reading “seldom kicks hairs” when I ordered it) and I do love the coloration of some of the pokies...

 

[AHM76]

Anyone have experience with a p. rufilata? Would that be a good beginner OW?

 

[ALD]

Congrats.

This hobby so far has taught me that people fear what they don't understand.

 

[AHM76]

Agreed.

 

[Whitelightning777]

Anyone have experience with a p. rufilata? Would that be a good beginner OW?

I looked around the net. It seems to be considered huge and defensive like P ornata.

If my P straita is typical, unconditional recommend as long as you do your research. Sometimes she looks tan, other times much more gold. It changes from second to second depending on the light. The adult colors aren't there yet but hints of them are appearing.

I might do a P vittata next. White grey and purple, what's not to like!! Consider the Terra Blue tall 2 gallon enclosure for Striata, but might be just a bit to small for an adult, absolutely way too small for a huge pokie like rufilata!!

These are the same exact spider, my P striata.

 

[Enn49]

Anyone have experience with a p. rufilata? Would that be a good beginner OW?

In my opinion the calmest Pokie is the metallica. My girl has always been fairly calm but now as an adult she is very placid.

 

[AHM76]

I looked around the net. It seems to be considered huge and defensive like P ornata.

If my P straita is typical, unconditional recommend as long as you do your research. Sometimes she looks tan, other times much more gold. It changes from second to second depending on the light. The adult colors aren't there yet but hints of them are appearing.

I might do a P vittata next. White grey and purple, what's not to like!! Consider the Terra Blue tall 2 gallon enclosure for Striata, but might be just a bit to small for an adult, absolutely way too small for a huge pokie like rufilata!!

These are the same exact spider, my P striata.



View attachment 28086 View attachment 28087

Nice! The bottom photo of it kind of reminds me of a tigrinawesseli...I’ll def check out the straita and vittata..

 

[AHM76]

In my opinion the calmest Pokie is the metallica. My girl has always been fairly calm but now as an adult she is very placid.

That’s good to know, that is one I was seriously considering as I love the colors! And there is a 1.5-2 inch available for a decent price that I was eyeing..

 

[AHM76]

Hotly contested subject but you’re better looking at terrestrials like C.Darlingi, Marshalli etc rather than an arboreal T...

Why do you say that?

 

[AHM76]

It’s just to prepare you for the speed of OW Ts

Yes actually after doing some more research I don’t think I’m quite ready yet for a pokie...I am getting a g. pulchra and p. sazimai in a couple weeks and I may also add either a grammostola iheringi or an m. balfouri along with an avic. to the order. At least the avic. will help prepare me for the arboreal OW’s.

 

[AHM76]

Lol, yeah it will probably work out to be about a week or so!