Old World vs New World

Zervoid · Jan 26, 2014

I was going to post this as a reply to someones topic about their excitement with getting a OW, but soon realized their are a lot of threads with people in a similar situation where they are excited to get a OW.

Sorry to sound overly harsh but I just don't get the appeal of the Old World Ts whatsoever.

Dumb question but why would anyone want to own a OW? Seriosuly from my perspective trapped here in Australia only able to own our boring selection( let's be honest the only reason anyone mentions our Ts is because we HAVE to own them lol) I just don't get the appeal of the OW, especially the OBT. I've observed all our spiders here are skittish and aggressive and dare I say it, pretty uninteresting compared to the New World Ts.

When their is such rich variety and a placidness about the NW for me I just couldn't imagine owning anything else( not that I own any Ts). If I ever lived overseas their would NEVER be any room in my collection for a OW. I just see them as a waste of space.

All I know is as soon as I get a job overseas the FIRST thing I am doing is ordering a Xenesthis intermedia / Amazon blue bloom, Cyriocosmus ritae / Peruvian Dwarf,Pamphobeteus ultramarinus / Ecuadorian rainbow birdeater, Paraphysa parvula / Chilean Gold Burst, Brachypelma albiceps (ruhnaui) and Pamphobeteus sp. equador 2.

I'm interested to hear others thoughts on this.

fyic · Jan 26, 2014

Each to their own....Things I my self like about OW would be some of the markings.....NO urticating hairs......attitude.......behavior just to name a few

Ceratogyrus · Jan 26, 2014

fyic said:
Each to their own....Things I my self like about OW would be some of the markings.....NO urticating hairs......attitude.......behavior just to name a few

Like you say each to their own.
I can't stand the urticating hairs. Love the attitude.

Just imagine how boring it would be if we all just liked the same species of spider.

And how can you say no to a horn like that:

Zervoid · Jan 26, 2014

Yeah but the hairs are B E A U T I F U L !

I'm trying my best to get interested in the Aussies Ts, their certainly for me an acquired taste

I'm so jelly of you guys in America and Europe :/ This place is just complete and utter sensory overload that it's hard to stay sane at times ha ha.

Edit. Oh just saw the HORN! WHOA! UNICORN TARANTULA! WOW! Guessing this is a Springbok and not a Wallabie LOL.

I understand why people like OW, but the vibrant colours of some of those Amazonians really takes your breath away :0

LordWaffle · Jan 26, 2014

Zervoid said:
Yeah but the hairs are B E A U T I F U L !

I'm trying my best to get interested in the Aussies Ts, their certainly for me an acquired taste I'm so jelly of you guys in America and Europe :/ This place is just complete and utter sensory overload that it's hard to stay sane at times ha ha.

Edit. Oh just saw the HORN! WHOA! UNICORN TARANTULA! WOW! Guessing this is a Springbok and not a Wallabie LOL.

I understand why people like OW, but the vibrant colours of some of those Amazonians really takes your breath away :0

Vibrant colors are totally available in OW too. H pulchripes (even though it's rare), P metallica (all Pokies have amazing patterns), H lividum, L violaceopes, M balfouri, etc. etc, etc. We have some great colorations in the NW, but awesome colors come from all areas of the globe. Tarantulas are cool. Period.

kevp · Jan 26, 2014

Hi there.. Old world v new world? Well it depends on your preferance, I have both amd like them equaly though I must admit I think the attraction for me is the flightimess and general attitude. I can handle my b angustum fine and dare I say it she seems to enjoy a slow almost catatonic walk around me.. I like it. The old worlds.. Not on ur Nelly mate. They get all the respect they show me that I need to give them if u get me.. Their speed aggressiveness and feeding habits really impress me. One thing I will say its easier to loose an old world species. The other thing is the colours of old world t's some are completely striking arnt they.. Gooty for example. Plus irresponsibly I think for me the attraction is the danger.

Ceratogyrus · Jan 26, 2014

If it's colours you are after there are tons of old worlds that are colorful.

Zervoid · Jan 26, 2014

Thanks for the insight although I am unsure if owning a OW would be a good first T?

Yeah I like anything that basically looks like it's just walked out of the movie avatar lol. I do like the colours.

Just saw ther are a lot of strinkingly colourful OW also. My bad sorry.

But I hate the OW habit of webbing up the place and then their is the aggression. I see the point about liking them becasue of the danger factor but I'm scared if I get one it's going to esacape or something.

When you say it's easy to lose one do you mean their hard to care for or their always going to try and pull a houdini on me?

Does anybody know of colourful Australian Tarantulas? I've been looking but so far haven't seen anything I really like.

Do any of you who keep OW own any of the Aussies and if so what are your thoughts/experiences with them. Thanks.

nicolevins · Jan 26, 2014

Zervoid said:
When you say it's easy to lose one do you mean their hard to care for or their always going to try and pull a houdini on me?

I think it's "easy to lose one" in the sense that if they get spooked when the tank is open, or if they decide to bolt around the room during a rehousing, it may be hard to catch them because of their speed.

I would be more concerned about an arboreal OW getting loose (e.g Heteroscodra spp., Poecilotheria spp.) because they can move faster than your reaction time and they can scale walls. I wouldn't be concerned about a terrestrial/burrowing OW getting loose during a rehousing because they are often bad at climbing, and sometimes slower than arboreals, making them easier to catch.

Tarantulas shouldn't try pull a Houdini if they are settled in their enclosure and their conditions at met.

Poec54 · Jan 26, 2014

It's all relative. The majority of species in the USA have been NW, and until the last 10 years, very few OW's were available. For us, OW's are new and exciting.

Some of us prefer OW's. There's no urticating hairs to deal with, which is a big plus. It's nice to walk out of your spider room and not itch for the rest of the day. In general, OW's are more active (digging, spinning, etc) than NW's, which often just sit there like a lump staring off into space. And while there are a number of colorful NW's, there's also plenty of brown ones too. They're not all color riots. I like T's with some personality and fiestiness. Docile ones tend to bore me.

BobGrill · Jan 26, 2014

Because of their looks and interesting habits. Same reason why anyone would want any particular species of T, NW or OW. When I choose a species, I'm looking for a specific species. This species may happen to be NW or OW, but I'm not choosing it because it is one of those.

skar · Jan 26, 2014

OW & NW I enjoy both. I just do NOT want a hair flicker.
There are some that are NW that are very much like OW attitude and all.
Color on some OW are amazing too; such as Singapore blue and cobalt blue.

jsteadm1 · Jan 26, 2014

Zervoid said:
When their is such rich variety and a placidness about the NW for me I just couldn't imagine owning anything else( not that I own any Ts). If I ever lived overseas their would NEVER be any room in my collection for a OW. I just see them as a waste of space.

All I know is as soon as I get a job overseas the FIRST thing I am doing is ordering a Xenesthis intermedia / Amazon blue bloom, Cyriocosmus ritae / Peruvian Dwarf,Pamphobeteus ultramarinus / Ecuadorian rainbow birdeater, Paraphysa parvula / Chilean Gold Burst, Brachypelma albiceps (ruhnaui) and Pamphobeteus sp. equador 2.

I would definitely work your way up to some of those defensive species like Pamphobeteus ultramarinus since you don't have experience with any Ts. Go for the P. parvula and they are a great beginner species. I love the mature female I bought from Jamiestarantulas.com; she is one of the gems in my collection. I just got my first OW (a juvenile P. vittata) and I think some of the appeal comes with the increased risk factor. My only OW tarantula is also the only one that has ever escaped on me. Luckily she came back home.

Mephibosheth1 · Jan 26, 2014

So, when do y'all think a NW keeper should transition to OW?? As a new T keeper I'm starting out with NW species, but would like to widen out as well...

herpguy · Jan 26, 2014

I feel the same way as you regarding OW vs NW. I have kept many OWs in the past but don't really see a draw to any of them (except certain Poecilotheria). I only keep NW now, and that may be partly because I am seemingly immune to urticating hairs. I've taken quite a few blasts from large NWs including Theraphosa and I've never gotten so much as the slightest itch.
I'm also 100% immune to poison ivy, so I have no idea if they are linked. One time as a stupid teenager I ate a poison ivy leaf to prove that I wouldn't get affected...

Biollantefan54 · Jan 26, 2014

I understand where everyone is coming from about why people would want an ow T. I have 11 (not many compared to a lot of people of here

!) and only one is a ow T lol. I will more than likely get a whole lot more ow's though. The ow is a M. balfouri, I don't care how much you hate ow's, how could you not like this T? I cant think of a single Nw T that looks remotely similar to this T. I have some pretty Nw T's as well, Gbb, and H. incei.

Ceratogyrus · Jan 26, 2014

Mephibosheth1 said:
So, when do y'all think a NW keeper should transition to OW?? As a new T keeper I'm starting out with NW species, but would like to widen out as well...

Depends on each person. My first tarantulas were Ceratogyrus when I was around 13 and I survived somehow with a bit of respect shown to the spiders.

freedumbdclxvi · Jan 26, 2014

Ceratogyrus said:
Depends on each person. My first tarantulas were Ceratogyrus when I was around 13 and I survived somehow with a bit of respect shown to the spiders.

This. Some people can jump in. Some people need some experience under their belts first.

Zervoid · Jan 26, 2014

Don't underestimate Australian Ts their incredibly dangerous and they are known to be highly aggressive.

With all these new Australian Ts being discovered their must be a LOT of unknown stuff out their. Even more reason why it's good to be cautious about the industry down here, you don't want to be paying for something and getting some random wild caught unidentified T.

I still prefer the NW, their just cute fuzzy monsters lol. Maybe it's a case for me of the grass being greener on the other side.

prairiepanda · Jan 26, 2014

For me the biggest appeal of OWs is the appearance. You've got mega bright colours, fantastic markings, and UNICORNS. Sure, there are lots of colourful NWs, but many of them have quite subdued colours and very few have elaborate markings. (Don't get me wrong, there are some really special looks among NWs, but if you broaden your collection to include OWs there's much more variety.) But I have no plans to get any OWs, because I worry about having species with potent venom around my other animals.

The only thing I don't really get is pet holes. I've seen collections that are entirely bins full of dirt with one hole at the top. You might get a flash of colour at feeding time, but other than that you're looking at dirt. Some really beautiful animals in that group, but I would want to see them properly.

Old World vs New World

Arachnosquire

Arachnoknight

Arachnobaron

Arachnosquire

Arachnobaron

Arachnosquire

Arachnobaron

Arachnosquire

Arachnopeon

Arachnoemperor

Arachnoprince

Arachnobaron

Arachnopeon

Arachnopeon

Arachnosquire

Arachnoking

Arachnobaron

Arachnoprince

Arachnosquire

Arachnoknight