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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Whitelightning777" data-source="post: 133100" data-attributes="member: 26980">I have a P striata, which turned out to be male.  He's a very calm patient tarantula that doesn't even mind if I maintain his cage.  I don't have to remove him to do work on it.  Assuming mine is typical, I recommend this species hands down as a 2nd or later arboreal.P subfusca either form highland or lowland is also worth looking into.  They're gorgeous, reported to not get quite as big as some of the others & do especially well at lower temperatures.  That knocks down the cost of an enclosure.To be sure, most pokies will tolerate 70 degrees at a minimum, but they don't really like it & do better at 80-82 degrees.  My striata likes it at 82.5 degrees but doing that safely is straight forward but might be complex for some & requires following strict guidelines, which are out of scope of this discussion.  I'm basing that on my P striata, which I'm assuming is fairly typical.  He will move away to a cooler area if temps go over 83 degrees. P subfusca will actually be harmed at such temps and can even function within the high 60s assuming my research is accurate.P Ornata is among the largest arboreal tarantulas on Earth & I've even heard reports of 10" specimens.  That's probably a lot to handle for one's first pokie & even if the spider is a perfect angel, it'll require a mammoth arboreal enclosure.  An ExoTerra Nano or a Terra Blue professional 3 gallon (8x4x12) won't cut it.  Even if I have to rehouse my P striata, it'll just be in a Nano same type as my Versicolor is in</blockquote>

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