When is the gap between beginner and intermediate bridged?

On almost every tarantula video they talk about certain species being beginner others intermediate etc but how do you know at which level you stand? Put simpler how much of a difficulty gap stands between them for instance between an A. avic or a G. rosea and something like a Psalmopoeus cambridgei or whatever. Would it take a matter of years or a matter of months? Or does it really just depend on the amount of dedication and research you put in??
I'm asking this mostly out of curiosity because I can't get any more tarantulas at the moment anyway, as I'm busy with college so don't have the time to look after too many animals. Still I would like to disambiguate it, which I think would be helpful for many.

There is no cut and dry answer. Someone could own spiders for years and still only be able to handle novice species, while another person could have an intermediate species fairly quickly. The "jump" is a personal thing. My opinion is, if you have to ask if you are ready, you aren't ready.

Everyone brings to the table their unique set of skills. There are members of this board who work with venomous reptiles so they might be ready for more advanced species earlier on. I've worked with wild spiders for a long time so I made the jump into more advanced species earlier than some people who've never had spiders. The most important skill for this hobby is being calm at all times, especially when one of your OW decide to make a run out of their cage. Fast reflexes are a bonus too but there are older people in the hobby who have the experience to be able to deal with their spiders accordingly. But as free said, if you ask yourself if you're ready then perhaps you aren't, sure the board can give some suggestions but you are the one who has to live with the spider.

Now this is an interesting question. I have found that every "jump" I have made, ie first OW, first fast arboreal, first species with more difficult care requirements, have been built up as scary, scary, but when I had done all the research, and made the decision to move forward, I was surprised at how smoothly everything went because I was prepared for the worst case scenario. The thing to do is always do your research and be prepared for anything and everything. And also make yourself ready for the unknown, because even well-established and widely kept species have individuals that do not fit "the mold." The fact that you recognize the challenges that certain species or categories can present is a good step. Ultimately you have to make up your mind that you have the info, the tools, and the previous experience to build on as you move forward. Almost everything in life is like that, but when you can inadvertently kill an animal or be seriously injured by it, a bit more caution is warranted.

Kron said:

Or does it really just depend on the amount of dedication and research you put in??

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I feel like you answered your own question to a degree here. But experience is also a big part of it. Jumping from G.rosea to P.cambridgei isn't the smoothest transition (although in terms of bad ones, it could be so much worse) because that Psalmo will move faster than the Gram on a bad day. What a lot of people don't understand is you can research and watch videos of the teleporters all you want, but until you experience it, not once, not twice, but have really dealt with it in everything from maintenance to rehousings to escapes/attempted escapes and can react calmly and correctly you really don't know. This is the reason people suggest taking a sort of ladder system. A regular Avic avic to P.cambridgei is definitely doable but why take a chance of making a "My P.cambridgei sling escaped during rehousing" thread because you leaped ahead of yourself? A.avicularia to Iridopelma sp. or a feistier Avic to a Psalmo (maybe not the biggest right off the bat) would make the transition to that speed a lot less jarring and therefore equip the keeper with the ability to react in a way that does not put an animal's life in danger.

There will always be the people who say they did it, you know they bought an OBT right away and it turned out great, not a problem in the world. And that's awesome that it didn't turn out badly. But that doesn't mean it's a good idea and certainly we shouldn't be suggesting other new keepers make these same mistakes. The fact is, they're smaller than us, they're more delicate than us--when we react poorly (like instinctively flinging a tarantula that you were holding only moments prior to it biting you or accidentally shutting a lid down on an escaping tarantula) it's these animals that pay the price for our haughtiness.

Belle Fury said:

What a lot of people don't understand is you can research and watch videos of the teleporters all you want, but until you experience it, not once, not twice, but have really dealt with it in everything from maintenance to rehousings to escapes/attempted escapes and can react calmly and correctly you really don't know. This is the reason people suggest taking a sort of ladder system.

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This, fully agree. Besides the obvious chance to get tagged, you can watch all you want - personal experience can't be "recorded". It's what it is: Experience, 1st hand.

Belle Fury said:

There will always be the people who say they did it, you know they bought an OBT right away and it turned out great, not a problem in the world. And that's awesome that it didn't turn out badly. But that doesn't mean it's a good idea and certainly we shouldn't be suggesting other new keepers make these same mistakes.

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And this, too. You don't jump off a bridge because someone else did to no ill either, right?

Storm76 said:

This, fully agree. Besides the obvious chance to get tagged, you can watch all you want - personal experience can't be "recorded". It's what it is: Experience, 1st hand.


And this, too. You don't jump off a bridge because someone else did to no ill either, right?

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Now if the rest of society would use this as food for thought we could all live in a happier place. But experience matters, if you experience an avic trying to take off out of the cage, when your pslamo tries it, it's not as big of a deal as you've dealt with a similar situation even if the latter is faster and has more attitude. I've caught wild spiders that tried their best to get away from me, so I've learned some of the tricks they trick to employ so when one decides it's going to use my arm as a land bridge I will freeze my arm and catch them accordingly.

awiec said:

Now if the rest of society would use this as food for thought we could all live in a happier place. But experience matters, if you experience an avic trying to take off out of the cage, when your pslamo tries it, it's not as big of a deal as you've dealt with a similar situation even if the latter is faster and has more attitude. I've caught wild spiders that tried their best to get away from me, so I've learned some of the tricks they trick to employ so when one decides it's going to use my arm as a land bridge I will freeze my arm and catch them accordingly.

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You know, I would actually recommend practicing with wild spiders now that you bring that up. Trying to catch them is significantly harder than trying to herd an Avic back into a container. Or playing a rousing game of "Catch the B.lat".

Belle Fury said:

You know, I would actually recommend practicing with wild spiders now that you bring that up. Trying to catch them is significantly harder than trying to herd an Avic back into a container. Or playing a rousing game of "Catch the B.lat".

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I usually like to recommend wild spider to people just because A) They're free or cheap B) They live for a year usually so you can see if this hobby is for you , C) They are much faster and D) It's not going to really hurt if they bite you, depending on the species.

Belle Fury said:

You know, I would actually recommend practicing with wild spiders now that you bring that up. Trying to catch them is significantly harder than trying to herd an Avic back into a container. Or playing a rousing game of "Catch the B.lat".

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B. lateralis..pff. Try Shelfordella...now that's a challenge

I have to agree that a lot of the bridge is mental. To be able to make the jump without issues, you need to develop a healthy respect for what more "difficult" T's. As belle said, there are people who, myself as an example, jumped off the deep end early. But from what I've seen, we are an exception and spreading anecdotes about everything being hunky dory can result in bad things happening. I've been dealing with crazy inverts and reptiles since I was little, so dealing with my baboons and Indian violet isn't anything new.

It all comes down to what you're expecting, and if you're willing to accept the consequences. I jumped in the deep end knowing full well how much it would suck to get tagged, and I accepted that risk. As a result, I tripled down on preparations. (Used the bag method with 2 catch cups that could fit inside one another).

Belle Fury said:

What a lot of people don't understand is you can research and watch videos of the teleporters all you want, but until you experience it, not once, not twice, but have really dealt with it in everything from maintenance to rehousings to escapes/attempted escapes and can react calmly and correctly you really don't know.

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This. I think so many people get a young OW species and go on about how all the hype is overrated - until they actually see an adult go full out. Video doesn't even begin to show you how fast a spider can be.

Belle Fury said:

You know, I would actually recommend practicing with wild spiders now that you bring that up. Trying to catch them is significantly harder than trying to herd an Avic back into a container. Or playing a rousing game of "Catch the B.lat".

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I had owned a couple G. rosea's years ago but other than that these three slings I have now are my first T's. I totally agree with the true spider thing though, I have always caught and kept these over time. A few months before getting my tarantulas I started collecting wild-caught spiders more often and keeping them. I would say that it definitely made it easy to get back into caring for tarantulas although they are indeed very different in several ways. And it certainly is a task to try and capture many true spiders, which probably helps if one is planning on getting an especially fast T.
I still consider myself on the 'beginner' level of course as far as Tarantula keeping goes but I thought I would add my two cents here anyway. +1 True spiders! And if you want my recommendation I have always found the true spiders that hunt their prey to be more rewarding as a pet. Not to put down any true spiders, they are all amazing! But IMO jumpers, wolves, etc... seem to adapt well to captivity whereas things like orb-weavers just seem like they need more space than we can provide as keepers. But I could be incorrect in assuming this, again it is my opinion and my experience so far, that is all.

Dizzle said:

I had owned a couple G. rosea's years ago but other than that these three slings I have now are my first T's. I totally agree with the true spider thing though, I have always caught and kept these over time. A few months before getting my tarantulas I started collecting wild-caught spiders more often and keeping them. I would say that it definitely made it easy to get back into caring for tarantulas although they are indeed very different in several ways. And it certainly is a task to try and capture many true spiders, which probably helps if one is planning on getting an especially fast T.
I still consider myself on the 'beginner' level of course as far as Tarantula keeping goes but I thought I would add my two cents here anyway. +1 True spiders! And if you want my recommendation I have always found the true spiders that hunt their prey to be more rewarding as a pet. Not to put down any true spiders, they are all amazing! But IMO jumpers, wolves, etc... seem to adapt well to captivity whereas things like orb-weavers just seem like they need more space than we can provide as keepers. But I could be incorrect in assuming this, again it is my opinion and my experience so far, that is all.

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Credit goes to awiec for that idea though; I was just saying it was a good one. :3

Ah! good point, my bad. Well forget you Belle, thanks awiec jk

Dizzle said:

Ah! good point, my bad. Well forget you Belle, thanks awiec jk

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It's cool, it's an over looked thing people don't think about. Wild spiders are excellent pets even outside of being training wheels for tarantulas because there is so much variety than Ts have.

Thanks guys, most of what you said pretty much went along with how I was interpreting it but it's good to have it clarified. Also I've looked after quite a lot of true spiders in my time plus my Avic is quite lively (as well as my red claw scorpion), Not that it matters as I'm not planning on getting any more tarantulas for quite a while anyway, but still. Though it does seem to me that their is a bit of conflict between what's more important, Experience or research (and perhaps your character and such) Personally I think you need a lot of self doubt (kinda contrary to What freedum said ) as it means you aren't going to just assume things are going to be alright and instead do more research and seek second opinions as I did. I'm also guessing you need to not be panicky and use really long forceps lol.

Kron said:

Thanks guys, most of what you said pretty much went along with how I was interpreting it but it's good to have it clarified. Also I've looked after quite a lot of true spiders in my time plus my Avic is quite lively (as well as my red claw scorpion), Not that it matters as I'm not planning on getting any more tarantulas for quite a while anyway, but still. Though it does seem to me that their is a bit of conflict between what's more important, Experience or research (and perhaps your character and such) Personally I think you need a lot of self doubt (kinda contrary to What freedum said ) as it means you aren't going to just assume things are going to be alright and instead do more research and seek second opinions as I did. I'm also guessing you need to not be panicky and use really long forceps lol.

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I usually assume the worst so when it does happen it's not so shocking, nothing is going to prepare you for when your pokie tries to bolt out of the cage until it happens. Using other species to work up to a pokie helps reduce the shock factor. Nothing could prepare me for that experence so I did what I could to keep the spider comfortable so its less likely to happen and I kept calm; spider didn't get out of the cage and I didn't get bit.

Some advice I was given- if u feel its time go to the next level get ur OW's as sling. That way u grow together and u slowly become use to the differences and the speed factor of 'next level' T's...

Draven said:

Some advice I was given- if u feel its time go to the next level get ur OW's as sling. That way u grow together and u slowly become use to the differences and the speed factor of 'next level' T's...

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A lot of OW grow rather fast, I got a little 3i pokie sling and he's already a juvie, granted he is a very calm pokie but you see a lot of people who come home with a cute little OBT and then a year or two later have to get rid of it because it's too much to handle. But slings are always a good idea if you are unsure, you get to know the spider's personality and habits, making it easier on you in the long run.