New to forum but not new to tarantulas

Reticguy · Aug 14, 2014

Hey guys. I just thought I'd share what I've got. It's nothing compared to what you guys have. My first I couldn't get a great pic of but it's a versicolor. I got it last year as a tiny thing about half the size of a dime. Now it's about 1-1/2".

The 2nd I got as a Haitian giant bird eater last week. I couldn't find much info because nothing was really popping up when I typed it in but I believe it is a phormictopus cancerides. Is this correct?

skar · Aug 14, 2014

How many doesn't matter. Quality over quantity.
Enjoy it.

Reticguy · Aug 14, 2014

Haha that's true. I really want to get a goliath birdeater 1 day as well as a cobalt blue. Once I get those. I'm pretty much done. Am I correct though that the last 1 is a P. cancerides?

dredrickt · Aug 14, 2014

Reticguy said:
Haha that's true. I really want to get a goliath birdeater 1 day as well as a cobalt blue. Once I get those. I'm pretty much done. Am I correct though that the last 1 is a P. cancerides?

Haha, I remember those days. There were 5 I really wanted- now I'm up to about 60 in my personal "keep" collection, and 175 overall.

If you like H. Lividum's, you'll probably like Ephebopus' too (Blue Fang, Skeleton T).

Reticguy · Aug 15, 2014

Never even heard of them. I'm honestly not even much of a spider guy. I'm way more into snakes but once I saw this girl with this HUGE goliath birdeater, I wanted 1. I probably would keep more but just the 2 I have freak out my gf. It took time for her to start liking the snakes but I can already tell that there's no way she's ever gonna like spiders.

awiec · Aug 15, 2014

Reticguy said:
Haha that's true. I really want to get a goliath birdeater 1 day as well as a cobalt blue. Once I get those. I'm pretty much done. Am I correct though that the last 1 is a P. cancerides?

Most likely, common names are utterly useless for the most part so studying up on scientific names is important. There was just a thread where the person got a spider labeled a goliath bird eater and it ended up being a totally different genus of tarantula as basically any T over 7 inches people wanna call a bird eater. I believe what you want is a T.stirmi so in the future be sure to keep that name in mind but they are certainly not beginner species as they have special care requirements and have the most severe hairs. I'd say get a E.murinus first as they have similar care requirements as T.stirmi but are a little more hardy and smaller.

lacrosse5001 · Aug 15, 2014

Reticguy said:
Never even heard of them. I'm honestly not even much of a spider guy. I'm way more into snakes but once I saw this girl with this HUGE goliath birdeater, I wanted 1. I probably would keep more but just the 2 I have freak out my gf. It took time for her to start liking the snakes but I can already tell that there's no way she's ever gonna like spiders.

I'll give a step by step instruction for my advice.
Step 1: Remove gf
Step 2: Acquire mucho taranantulas
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Happiness

In all seriousness though, that does indeed seem to be a P. cancerides. Try not to take common names into consideration unless it's from a breeder or someone very familiar with T's, as they can get extremely messy.

Storm76 · Aug 15, 2014

Welcome to the forum.

I suggest you use the scientific names (i.e. P. cancerides - if that's really what it is) instead of common names. The latter are confusing like crazy and can cause bad mixups. The sooner you get accustomed to that, the better. As a sidenote, P. cancerides, while NW, are quite the nasty T's the bigger they get. Last but not least, handling, if done at all, -always- low to the ground! A fall can kill your T so if you absolutely want to handle, do so while sitting on the floor with your hand just above it. Or on the bed, or the couch...but always very low over the surface!

Last but not least, get the TKG if you don't have it. It'll answer a lot of questions you might have.

Reticguy · Aug 16, 2014

Wow! Thanks for all the advice guys!! I ended up returning the tarantula to the shop cuz it didn't eat at all. I first tried hissers and it ran away from them so I tried Dubia's and it still ran away from them and then crickets and it was STILL running away from them. The crickets were in there for about 5 days and it didn't even eat 1 of them so I freaked out and didn't want it to die and be out $45. I still got my versicolor though which I really like. I'll start looking into the T's you guys have recommended before just jumping into an impulse buy like this 1. The NARBC show in Anaheim is just in a few weeks and there's always bug breeders there so I'll check out the ones I like, research them, then go back the next day for the ones that aren't too sensitive or picky.

Storm: what is TKG?

---------- Post added 08-15-2014 at 10:45 PM ----------

lacrosse5001 said:
I'll give a step by step instruction for my advice.
Step 1: Remove gf
Step 2: Acquire mucho taranantulas
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Happiness

In all seriousness though, that does indeed seem to be a P. cancerides. Try not to take common names into consideration unless it's from a breeder or someone very familiar with T's, as they can get extremely messy.

Hahaha great advice but I'm not liking that first step too much! She's really hot!

lacrosse5001 · Aug 16, 2014

TKG is the Tarantula Keeper's guide, a book written by Stan and Marguerite Schultz, which is basically the tarantula keeping bible. Extremely thorough information about keeping tarantulas.

awiec · Aug 16, 2014

Reticguy said:
Wow! Thanks for all the advice guys!! I ended up returning the tarantula to the shop cuz it didn't eat at all. I first tried hissers and it ran away from them so I tried Dubia's and it still ran away from them and then crickets and it was STILL running away from them. The crickets were in there for about 5 days and it didn't even eat 1 of them so I freaked out and didn't want it to die and be out $45. I still got my versicolor though which I really like. I'll start looking into the T's you guys have recommended before just jumping into an impulse buy like this 1. The NARBC show in Anaheim is just in a few weeks and there's always bug breeders there so I'll check out the ones I like, research them, then go back the next day for the ones that aren't too sensitive or picky.

Storm: what is TKG?

---------- Post added 08-15-2014 at 10:45 PM ----------

Hahaha great advice but I'm not liking that first step too much! She's really hot!

That sounds very unusual as P.cancerides are very voracious eaters, I think it was still adjusting to you, was in pre-molt or simply was not hungry. All uneaten food needs to be removed after 24 hours as those loose crickets running around will stress out the animal further. I also suggest only one prey item at a time until you get to know your spider better (if its large anyway), some spiders are not intimidated by more than one cricket and some are. I would highly suggest getting a GBB sling if you go to a reptile show as they are hardy, avid eaters and very pretty (they can be a little pricey however). I suggest reading the Tarantula Keeper's guide and other books before you delve too far into spiders.

cold blood · Aug 16, 2014

Reticguy said:
Wow! Thanks for all the advice guys!! I ended up returning the tarantula to the shop cuz it didn't eat at all. I first tried hissers and it ran away from them so I tried Dubia's and it still ran away from them and then crickets and it was STILL running away from them. The crickets were in there for about 5 days and it didn't even eat 1 of them so I freaked out and didn't want it to die and be out $45. I still got my versicolor though which I really like. I'll start looking into the T's you guys have recommended before just jumping into an impulse buy like this 1. The NARBC show in Anaheim is just in a few weeks and there's always bug breeders there so I'll check out the ones I like, research them, then go back the next day for the ones that aren't too sensitive or picky.

Good exhibition of patience...lol. They need time to adjust...the species you gave back was in fact a species known to be excellent eaters and aren't in the least bit sensitive. All it took was a small amount of patience.

Reticguy · Aug 16, 2014

Haha I guess I'm just not used to having a T that would run away from prey items. I've kept a few salmon pink birdeaters in the past as well as my current versicolor and they've all been voracious eaters after only a couple days. Next time I guess I'll just have to be more patient.

1 question though. With snakes, if they're in too large of an enclosure, they stress out and won't eat. Does the same go with T's?

awiec · Aug 16, 2014

Reticguy said:
Haha I guess I'm just not used to having a T that would run away from prey items. I've kept a few salmon pink birdeaters in the past as well as my current versicolor and they've all been voracious eaters after only a couple days. Next time I guess I'll just have to be more patient.

1 question though. With snakes, if they're in too large of an enclosure, they stress out and won't eat. Does the same go with T's?

Depends on the T but all that extra space is wasted on them as Ts generally only go maybe 2x their leg span from their hide. I have a T.gigas that is comfortable leaping from side of the cage to the other but most of the Ts I have stay in smaller cages as they don't need all that space. All that extra room makes it harder for the T to find food and water so a smaller cage is the best option.

Tongue Flicker · Aug 17, 2014

Hey there welcome aboard and congrats on your first. Enjoy, learn and grow your collection more!

bscheidt1020 · Aug 19, 2014

Don't get rid of your girlfriend. That was probably bad advice. If she can tolerate the spiders then that will do. I am a snake guy first also but can't afford to add to my collection right now for time and space constraints. I got into tarantulas and they are definitely addicting! So much variety and less maintenance than snakes….I will have my Python/Boa collection going soon enough!

Reticguy · Aug 21, 2014

Ya snakes will always be #1 animal wise for me. I honestly don't know how addicted I will get to inverts cuz honestly, out of all the ones I've seen, the goliaths and cobalt blues are the only ones that caught my attention. I love how bright blue the cobalts are as well as how aggressive they are and I just love how HUGE the goliaths are. I definitely haven't seen enough though to make a sound judgement of how many I want. Even though it's boring, I do enjoy watching my versicolor change as it grows

Sent from your girl's house

awiec · Aug 21, 2014

Reticguy said:
Ya snakes will always be #1 animal wise for me. I honestly don't know how addicted I will get to inverts cuz honestly, out of all the ones I've seen, the goliaths and cobalt blues are the only ones that caught my attention. I love how bright blue the cobalts are as well as how aggressive they are and I just love how HUGE the goliaths are. I definitely haven't seen enough though to make a sound judgement of how many I want. Even though it's boring, I do enjoy watching my versicolor change as it grows

Sent from your girl's house

Why not get some pamphs and phormics? They don't get as big as T.stirmi but they certainly have the attitude like one but are not as prone to kicking (also have less severe hairs) and they are big and bulky.

Reticguy · Aug 22, 2014

Because the size the stirmi achieves it what attracts me to it. I've been researching it but just haven't gotten around to actually buying 1 yet

Sent from your girl's house

awiec · Aug 22, 2014

Reticguy said:
Because the size the stirmi achieves it what attracts me to it. I've been researching it but just haven't gotten around to actually buying 1 yet

Sent from your girl's house

Well you need experience to be able to give them the best care possible. I'd suggest a pamph of phormic and then an e.murinus as that will give you what you need to know to be prepared the fastest for a therapohosa. You said yourself that you won't have a ton of ts so that is how you will be ready for the one you want

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