Need Guidance On a First T for a Child

[Tortoise Tom]

I spent about an hour searching older threads, but thought I'd pose the question more specifically. My daughter is loving our new tarantulas and wants one of her own. As I was reading the older threads, one thing that was apparent was that different people wanted different things. I intend to get a Lp and L klugi on my next order, because both of those satisfy my criteria in what I want in a spider: Big, fast growing, super appetite, bold and not hiding all the time. I have no interest in handling them.

My daughter's criteria are a bit different. She's 11 and has been handling all sorts of animals since she was a toddler. She wants something dog tame, handleable, large and pretty too. I've eliminated G rosea and A chalcodes because of their propensity for fasting. It stresses me out when a spider won't eat for months. That won't be fun for a kid. I eliminated Brachypelma because of their willingness to kick hairs. I've raised a dozen over the years, and all of them were quicker to kick hairs than other species.

We've narrowed it down to three species, but I'd love input from people who know these three species better than I do, and more suggestions of other species, or why I'm wrong about any of the above points.

Top picks so far are:
Grammostola pulchripes
Aphonopelma seemanni
and Eupalaestrus campestratus

Please advise and correct me if I'm wrong on any of the above.

 

[sschind]

First a word of warning. You may catch a lot of flack for the handling part. Many T keepers are opposed to any handling of any T for any reason. My suggestion would be to listen to their arguments respectfully and make up your own mind. If you decide handling is appropriate do not try to justify your decision as you will NOT change their mind so do not try.

Now on to your choices. My recommendation would be the G. pulchripes hands down. Its my 3rd favorite spider (G. pulchra and B. albiceps being 1 and 2) and my go to for recommending as a beginner spider. They get pretty large and are very pretty and do not spend all their time hiding. My slings have made some pretty elaborate tunnels in their deli cups which is impressive but the adults I had seemed content to stay out in the open. They are very docile in my experience (the whole handling thing) and my adults never flicked hairs ( some of the slings do though) They are easy to maintain and they grow relatively quickly (if you are looking at a sling) and lastly, not that this should be the determining factor, they are cheaper. If you want to spend the money you may want to add a G. pulchra into consideration I've found them to be almost as accommodating as the pulchripes though I have only had two. Honestly I don't know much about the other two but I have also heard very nice things about the E. campestratus as a beginner spider as well. They seem rather hard to find though as compared to the pulchripes.

 

[PanzoN88]

Handling is not advised,

G. pulchripes and E. campestratus are good first tarantulas, easy to keep and don't kick hair very often. My E. campestratus is broken, but they are mostly docile. Out of the two, the E. campestratus is the better eater in my opinion. Here is a picture of my E. campestratus for reference:

 

[Whitelightning777]

I have handled the pink zebra beauty before. (aka E. campestratus). It wasn't my spider & was many years ago. It was extremely calm and several people handled in one after another. It presented no negative issues and didn't appear stressed. That doesn't mean it wasn't however.

Having said that, handling is a really bad idea for any invert. This applies even more to kids. The urticating hairs can get onto the skin or even the eyes regardless of whether or not the tarantula is annoyed.

By the way, one also has to be careful handling the molted skins of NW species as well as when cleaning out the enclosure. In such cases, it's highly advisable to wet down all areas prior to cleaning.

Tarantulas that lack urticating hairs regardless of where they're from should never be handled either because they are more defensive and have stronger venom.

It's best to explain to your daughter that inverts are look but don't ever touch pets & it's NOT ok to handle just any animal or for that matter even trying to pet dogs and cats that you don't know.

Once this is explained, get an Acanoscurria geniculata or other similar species if you already have Lasiodora species. Anyone will just love feeding these guys.


This is just my opinion.

 

[Tortoise Tom]

First a word of warning. You may catch a lot of flack for the handling part. Many T keepers are opposed to any handling of any T for any reason. My suggestion would be to listen to their arguments respectfully and make up your own mind. If you decide handling is appropriate do not try to justify your decision as you will NOT change their mind so do not try.

Now on to your choices. My recommendation would be the G. pulchripes hands down. Its my 3rd favorite spider (G. pulchra and B. albiceps being 1 and 2) and my go to for recommending as a beginner spider. They get pretty large and are very pretty and do not spend all their time hiding. My slings have made some pretty elaborate tunnels in their deli cups which is impressive but the adults I had seemed content to stay out in the open. They are very docile in my experience (the whole handling thing) and my adults never flicked hairs ( some of the slings do though) They are easy to maintain and they grow relatively quickly (if you are looking at a sling) and lastly, not that this should be the determining factor, they are cheaper. If you want to spend the money you may want to add a G. pulchra into consideration I've found them to be almost as accommodating as the pulchripes though I have only had two. Honestly I don't know much about the other two but I have also heard very nice things about the E. campestratus as a beginner spider as well. They seem rather hard to find though as compared to the pulchripes.

This was a great reply. Thank you for that and thanks for the reminder about the handling debate. I wasn't even thinking about that as I typed out my request for advice. I have never had an argument about handling, so its not on the forefront of my mind. I don't handle any of mine, and see no reason to, but I don't really care if someone else wants to handle theirs. I've read about strong feelings on the subject one way or the other, but I've never had strong feelings on the subject one way or the other. I'll just avoid that debate.

Thank you for the recommend. We seem to share similar interests in spiders. G. pulchra has long been a favorite of mine. I have one 10 year old female and I just bought 10 little slings a couple of weeks ago. I tried to give one to my daughter, but that just wouldn't do. Those are "Dad's" tarantulas. She's got to have one of her very own. I'm going to try and find and order B albiceps tomorrow for father's day. Been wanting that one for a while now too.

 

[Tortoise Tom]

Handling is not advised,

G. pulchripes and E. campestratus are good first tarantulas, easy to keep and don't kick hair very often. My E. campestratus is broken, but they are mostly docile. Out of the two, the E. campestratus is the better eater in my opinion. Here is a picture of my E. campestratus for reference:

Your spider is broken? How do you mean? Aberrant personality? I have a B. albospilosum that wants to teach OBTs how to be aggressive. It thinks it should jump at and bite anything that comes near it. It is an impressive feeder! Those roaches don't stand a chance!

 

[Tortoise Tom]

I have handled the pink zebra beauty before. (aka E. campestratus). It wasn't my spider & was many years ago. It was extremely calm and several people handled in one after another. It presented no negative issues and didn't appear stressed. That doesn't mean it wasn't however.

Having said that, handling is a really bad idea for any invert. This applies even more to kids. The urticating hairs can get onto the skin or even the eyes regardless of whether or not the tarantula is annoyed.

By the way, one also has to be careful handling the molted skins of NW species as well as when cleaning out the enclosure. In such cases, it's highly advisable to wet down all areas prior to cleaning.

Tarantulas that lack urticating hairs regardless of where they're from should never be handled either because they are now defensive and have stronger venom.

It's best to explain to your daughter that inverts are look but don't ever touch pets & it's NOT ok to handle just any animal or for that matter even trying to pet dogs and cats that you don't know.

Once this is explained, get an Acanoscurria geniculata or other similar species if you already have Lasiodora species. Anyone will just love feeding these guys.


This is just my opinion.

Thank you for that. I'm enjoying my little A geniculata tremendously. They are only about an inch, but always sitting out in the open waiting for me to feed them. I'm sure it will be the same whenever I get a couple Lasiodora.

 

[Whitelightning777]

Fear not tarantulas has several different Lasiodora species to choose from. My L klugi is basically my showcase spider. Once they get the adult colors, they're out in plain sight about 80% of the time.

Many folks also like the G iheringi and feel it's the ultimate Grammostola species.

I would also recommend hands down any of the more affordable Pamphobeteus species. I have P sp machala. The only differences between the husbandry for those versus Lasiodora species is that you'll need a larger water dish and perhaps some frog moss. Keep half the substrate slightly moist and the other half dry. If you can water your house plants two or three times a week, they are no problem.

They are drop dead gorgeous. I have pictures of mine in the gallery.

They aren't aggressive spiders. Like Lasiodora species, they eat like garbage disposals and are out in the open much of the time once they get some size. Temperment overall is very similar to Lasiodora. The feeding response is truly massive. As to which hits harder, it's like comparing 2 different sledge hammers.

 

[PanzoN88]

Your spider is broken? How do you mean? Aberrant personality? I have a B. albospilosum that wants to teach OBTs how to be aggressive. It thinks it should jump at and bite anything that comes near it. It is an impressive feeder! Those roaches don't stand a chance!

My E. campestratus is pretty defensive, it always shows me some fang action during maintenance.

 

[Arachnoclown]

It's a great list you have there and all are great first time T's. You should also add Bracypelma albopilosum to it as well. However if my daughter was 11 again and wanted a first time tarantula it would be a Euathlus sp. red without a doubt. I would feel good about giving my future grandkids these as gifts.

 

[Tortoise Tom]

Thanks to all for the suggestions and tips. My daughter and I spent some time watching videos, reading websites, looking in the tarantula books and I let her decide. She decided on the G. pulchripes. She thought the temperament was good on all of the ones mentioned, but ultimately she liked the big size and pretty markings on the chaco. It is tiny, so if its a female, she can probably give it to her grand children…

We left half of a little roach in there and there wasn't much left by morning, so he/she is already eating, and has made a little chamber and burrow under the cork bark.

 

[Whitelightning777]

Cool!! Slings are awesome. Keep it just a wee bit moist and in a warmer area so it'll grow faster.

 

[sschind]

Great picture of a great spider. Your daughter is a smart girl. Mine are about 3/4 -1 inch right now and some of them are burrowing machines. Their tunnels are so elaborate I have to look at the labels to make sure I am not looking at my H. gigas or P muticus. I had about 15 slings two years ago and when I went to Tinley Park I thought I had left several home (keepers) so I sold all I had and when I got home I realized I had taken them all. I'm not making that mistake this year. I can only imagine how nice looking a few of them would be now.

 

[MassExodus]

Awww. Thats right, I said it.