Building up advice

For me personally, I treat everything as if it'd the meanest thing ever. I have the ability to handle them and on occasion I have handled many things that were extremely dangerous. That was in my younger days and till now I've been extremely lucky. At this point, I am content with just observation. If I absolutely have to move something, I treat it as if it's only mission in life is to bite me, sting me, or otherwise do me harm. That said, there is a big difference between a T that sits in one spot for weeks on end and a T that teleports to your jugular lol. To deal with those, the best thing is have a very wide open area to work in. People used to advocate enclosure transfers in the bathtub but I'm not sure if that's still the case. Whatever you choose to do, be careful and remember that T's don't want to be handled, do like to be handled and are much happier without being handled. Some just tolerate it better than others

You're doing it right, take it in stages. No reason to rush, and often those that do end up with problems. Enjoy the NW terrestrials, there are so many of them and some are gorgeous. You really need to get some Brachypelma. Gradually work your way to the bigger South Americans when you're ready. Lots of beauties there too.

I do not handle any of my T's. I tend to get jumpy very easily and I would be heart broken if I dropped one and it shattered.
I guess what I'm looking for is a slow chain of "step up" tarantulas to get me slowly used to the speed and aggression that I've heard about C. marshalli.

---------- Post added 04-20-2014 at 06:12 PM ----------

Poec54 said:

You're doing it right, take it in stages. No reason to rush, and often those that do end up with problems. Enjoy the NW terrestrials, there are so many of them and some are gorgeous. You really need to get some Brachypelma. Gradually work your way to the bigger South Americans when you're ready. Lots of beauties there too.

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Thank you, I didn't want to just rush headlong into it and regret everything, lol.
Back when I was younger I had two B. smithi but they were like fancy goldfish. Really pretty, and really slow.
Which Brachypelma should I invest in?

CupcakeRosea said:

I do not handle any of my T's. I tend to get jumpy very easily and I would be heart broken if I dropped one and it shattered.
I guess what I'm looking for is a slow chain of "step up" tarantulas to get me slowly used to the speed and aggression that I've heard about C. marshalli.

Thank you, I didn't want to just rush headlong into it and regret everything, lol.
Back when I was younger I had two B. smithi but they were like fancy goldfish. Really pretty, and really slow.
Which Brachypelma should I invest in?

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There's a lot of beautiful Brachypelma. Look at pics online and pick a few species to start with. Great genus. Thank you for being a non-handler. Many of us are.

By OW standards, Ceratogyrus are fairly well-behaved. There's many OW's that are much faster and more confrontational. You may get there one day, or you may fill up a room with NW terrestrials and not want anything else. You have lots of time to decide. For my first few years, all I had was NW terrestrials.

I've watched C. marshalli videos and looked up many care sheets and a lot of them say that they are aggressive for defensive reasons and not just on attack mode 24/7.
I don't know if I'll ever be mentally ready for an arboreal species, pink toe or not lol.
So I'm sticking with terrestrials even though I once thought about getting a Trinidad Chevron, but that speed makes me duck and cover every time.
I'm going to immerse myself in Brachypelma information this evening and see which "1st step up" T I could get.
Thank you very much for your advice, I really appreciate it.

Well you can get familiar with Brachys first, then LPs aren't a bad move into NW terrestrials, from that point you can branch into phormics (hard to kill but can be defensive) and pamphs (gorgeous but also have a little attitude); along with the other genus that I'm not listing. There is actually a NW terrestrial that has a horn so you can go for that if you want a non OW horned T. You could even move into dwarfs as they can be very jumpy,defensive and can bolt when they want to. I personally see more personality traits shared with my H. sp Columbia and C.darlingi then my C.darlingi and P.muticus. Its nice that you are taking it in steps as even though C.marshalli and C.darlingi are considered "beginner OW" they should be taken seriously for example my 3-3.5 inch subadult C.darlingi has 1/2 inch fangs, that's pretty impressive for a small animal and I know if I upset her she would have no issues letting me have a feel.

If you're looking for a gradient, assuming that you're only going the terrestrial route, here are some ideas. I'm going to avoid listing arboreals, simply because I'm going to pretend we're starting at the beginning with keeping a C marshalli being the end goal.

Genus Grammostola, Brachypelma, and Aphonopelma are amazing starters. As are E. campestratus, Euathlus sp. red and yellow. Genus Lasiodora is also a great starter genus, but many prefer to not start with it simply because of its overall larger size, skittish nature, and slight speed difference over the other starters I mentioned.

After you have some experience with those starters, some NW terrestrials that are good steps up include Chromatoplema cyaneopubescens (Green Bottle Blue, or, "GBB") which I would recommend you have simply because of it's amazing colors. Genus Lasiodora again, assuming it wasn't something you'd picked up during your "beginner" run with tarantulas. GBBs are a good bit faster than your beginning species, and being more on the skittish side will help you learn a bit about how to deal with faster, more defensive species. Some other good tarantulas to examine during this phase would be something along the lines of Cyclosternum fasciatum, or anything from genus Nhandu or Acanthoscurria. All of these spiders are slightly (or quite a bit) faster and defensive/skittish than the genera Brachypelma, Aphonopelma, Grammostola, etc.

As a final step before branching out past the New World genera Ts in genus Ephebopus are a good step. They are burrowers (like your marshalli would be), are very quick, and tend to be more feisty than many of the others I've mentioned (though Nhandus and Acanthoscurria can be moreso). After some experience with this genus, you'd be able to safely transition into Old World terrestrials. In my opinion, after dealing with some Nhandus, you'd be safe moving on to beginner OW species, but in the end it will be up to you to decide when you're comfortable with the idea of having a T with medically significant venom.

As beginner OW terrestrials go, genus Ceratogyrus is a pretty good starting point, but just in case you're not comfortable going there right away, a really excellent beginning OW terrestrial is Eucratoscelus pachypus. They tend to be very docile in comparison to other OW species, but still have the venom that you're going to want to be cautious about. Other good beginning OW terrestrials include P. lugardi and M. balfouri. In my experience these spiders all have the speed you'll expect out of OW tarantulas, but they don't have the attitude you'll see with some of the more well-known defensive species like S calceatum or anything from genus Haplopelma.

As an aside, I'll mention that you may have notice I skipped tarantulas in genera like Xenesthis, Pamphobeteus, Theraphosa, etc. The reasoning behind my line of thought is that since we were working from the premise that your end goal was to attain a C marshalli, these genera are an unncessary step in that gradient. The attitudes they have are similar to many of the South American species I mentioned (or did not mention, the spiders in my list are certainly not your only options) but their biggest difference comes in their environmental requirements. Caring for large tropical terrestrials is one of my favorite parts of tarantula keeping. I have plenty of New World species, but I am mostly an Old World guy. The exception to this being these general. They're all very stunning creatures, and if you branch into this kind of care you will not be disappointed; but, C marshalli and the other beginning OW spiders I mentioned are incredibly hardy and have no outstanding environmental requirements. While having the skills to maintain a properly ventilated and humid environment (and balancing the moisture in the substrate) are valuable skills to have they are not required for C marshalli or any of the easy to care for OW terrestrials we discussed.

Hope this helps. I'm nursing a hangover, so my thoughts may not be as clearly stated as they could be.

Yes! That was what I was looking for. A step by step ease into finally getting that marshalli. I have a lot of research to do regarding the listed genus groups, and maybe I can post each "tier" or "step up" I get to help other people. Ya'll are awesome helpers. :biggrin:

---------- Post added 04-20-2014 at 10:14 PM ----------

Okay, so I did some brief research and came up with this list.

Step 1:
Grammostola rosea - Check
Aphonopelma hentzi - Check
Brachypelma albipilosum

Step 2:
GBB
Nhandu Carapoensis
Acanthoscurria geniculata

Step 3:
Ephebopus cyanognathus
Eucratoscelus pachypus

Achievement: C. marshalli.


If anyone wants to suggest swapping out a species for a different one, I'm open to suggestions.

Your list looks good, although to be honest i dont know what those Ts in step 3 are im afraid. Definitely need Brachys and if yoh want to try out arboreal avics are good.

I extremely recommend A.genic, one of my favourite species, one of the most beautiful NW imo and great attitude (as in they have spark, i dont mean teddy bear)

Step 3 common names are:
Blue fang
Stout legged baboon

CupcakeRosea said:

Step 3 common names are:
Blue fang
Stout legged baboon

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Step 4, ignore common names and concentrate on the latin names. Common names causes nothing but confusion in the t world.

I was just at a little LPS today, they had a tiger stripe....that name meant zip in the real world. After much searching they came up with the scientific name....turned out to be Poecilotheria tigrinawesseli...not at all what I expected when I read tiger stripe....There are a lot that go by this moniker and many common names are varied greatly, not to mention abundant (as in many have 4-8 different common names by which they are known....but only one scientific name). Scientific names are the only way to be sure what you are buying, especially with small slings that have not started looking like adults and can look pretty similar.

SuzukiSwift said:

I extremely recommend A.genic, one of my favourite species, one of the most beautiful NW imo and great attitude (as in they have spark, i dont mean teddy bear)

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Shame on you for not noticing the scientific name for the BlueFang at least!

That said - yeah, Acanthoscurria geniculata are awesome! My big girl is currently in premolt again...let's hope she breaks the 7" mark this time

If you consider Eucratoscelus sp. At step 4 i would put Ephebopus sp. At step 5 for their speed

Alright. I will be getting a Brachy soon, and with each new "step up" I will spend a few months learning their feeding habits, doing a transfer, a molt before going to the next step species. Hopefully this will toughen me up to get my C. marshalli.

Storm76 said:

Shame on you for not noticing the scientific name for the BlueFang at least!

That said - yeah, Acanthoscurria geniculata are awesome! My big girl is currently in premolt again...let's hope she breaks the 7" mark this time

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Haha yes I am rather shamed by that

Ah it's so exciting when genic is in premoult, my girl just got to 6.5" a couple of weeks ago and is looking fantastic, three superworms and 5 crickets later and she's barely fattened up, bottomless pits these things =P

---------- Post added 04-23-2014 at 07:55 AM ----------

cold blood said:

Step 4, ignore common names and concentrate on the latin names. Common names causes nothing but confusion in the t world.

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That was my fault not the OPs, I was too lazy to search the latin names haha

---------- Post added 04-23-2014 at 07:57 AM ----------

CupcakeRosea said:

Alright. I will be getting a Brachy soon, and with each new "step up" I will spend a few months learning their feeding habits, doing a transfer, a molt before going to the next step species. Hopefully this will toughen me up to get my C. marshalli.

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Wise thought yes, I love it when people realise there really is no rush ae! Out of curiosity, out of all the OW species out there, what is it about the marshalli that attracts you to put it to the top of your wishlist? I'm not implying it's a bad T, there is no such thing haha I just mean for you personally? :biggrin:

SuzukiSwift said:

Wise thought yes, I love it when people realise there really is no rush ae! Out of curiosity, out of all the OW species out there, what is it about the marshalli that attracts you to put it to the top of your wishlist? I'm not implying it's a bad T, there is no such thing haha I just mean for you personally? :biggrin:

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Well I can only can speak from my experience but, it has a freaking horn and that was good enough for me. Also mine is a sweet heart (as much as an OW can be) and has strange little habits that are very fun to watch. They are also pretty cheap compared to the other good starter OW, M.balfouri.

I don't want to make the OP chose differently but....can't help grinning writing this:

In my very personal opinion, if you want to dive into OWs there's always the dwarfs? Heterothele villosella (Tanzanian Chestnut) or the Heterothele gabonensis (which look lovely blueish even!) - with just 2-2.5" they're small, admittedly fast as H. incei, but very easy to keep and I only ever got a single attempt from my female to bite. She has passed away, but she was easy to keep, beautiful to watch and and my first OW. The only one thing that I could never find out about was the saying over here that the H. villosella would have the venom potency of H. maculata...which kinda sounded odd to me, but weirder things have happened.

I thought about dwarves, are they pretty hardy?

I pushed the marshalli up on my wish list because I have been binging on tarantula videos on YouTube. I go and watch something about all the different species but I always find myself going back to marshalli. They're not colorful or anything like pokies, but they look almost prehistoric. They look alien. They look like God himself threw it together and said, "You want a unicorn? Here's your friggin unicorn." And they look almost majestic.

Well, if the main point is the horn...there's is a NW T that does have one: Sphaerobothria hoffmanni (KARSCH, 1879) comes from Costa Rica northern parts. You could look that one up else...

Also, Heterothele spp. are pretty easy to keep and can even be kept communally afaik.