The least desireable species...

[cbsuen]

Hear! Hear! the G rosea...and whatever the hell the native ones are that live around here(Arizona). They all look alike, and none, wild or otherwise have ever bit me so ive always been a big fan. I think Iappreciate them because when people see them get picked up and how docile they are they don't get squeamish, jittery, edgy or whatever...about the fact that you have more one and you dont know where the rest are

 

[catfishrod69]

S. calceatum is a gorgeous and amazing tarantula...especially the MM, they have very feathered legs...i would have to say my least desirable would be N. chromatus, for some reason just dont care much for them...but after recieving so many as freebies, and giving them away, and eventually winding up with more, i have decided to go ahead and keep 1 of the slings....

 

[Jones0911]

you can keep all your rose hairs grow way too slow for me and have a bland color except the REDS

 

[dementedlullaby]

The pet hole isn't my favorite. I prefer a pet rock spider over a pet hole spider. Care for T. Stirmi/Blondi makes me nervous so I doubt I'd buy one, at least anytime soon. Teleporting tarantulas with high potency venom are another I need a lot more experience for. I can't particularly say I dislike any species for looks. They're all cool looking in one way or another. Brown tarantulas are a bit drab but I have nothing against them specifically.

 

[cold blood]

Bland is the reason I'm not a fan of the LP. Most unappealing t I have seen yet, probably the only species I don't want....Many of the bland, brown Aphonopelmas don't do anything for me either.

 

[Beary Strange]

Phlogius sp., I see no need to ever own one. They just don't appeal to me. I know, they get big and they're from Australia, but meh. Also have no interest in S.calceatum. It looks like a scrubby version of an H.mac...and given that they're so similar in just about every other way, I'd rather get the smoother looking H.mac.

 

[hmbrower]

I just hit the 70 different species mark. I can say that the least desirable T I have had is T. blondi. Beautiful species with terrible UH's. Rash city. LOVE LOVE LOVE old world terrestrials. Poor G. rosea. The victim of pet stores everywhere. Sad to see the amount of mature males in pet stores, because the locals are capturing them when they are they are trying to mate!

 

[lawrencebugboy]

Well, I have to go with Haplopelma lividum. I got one thinking it would be cool to have something that actually fed agressively, but now I think it's just a mean SOB. I can't open the tank without it trying to bite me. I do agree about G. rosea being frustrating. They don't know how to hunt. I'm concerned that mine will die of starvation because they are too docile and careful to catch food. Best to get something that is easy to manipulate, but not too shy to eat.

 

[Rowdy Hotel]

I started off keeping only docile terrestrials from North America and considered anything with bad urticating hairs or from the OW as not desirable. Over the years, I warmed up to some pretty defensive OW terrestrial Ceratogyrus, then some defensive and fast arboreal Heteroscondra and Poecilotheria, even a few pet hole Ceratogyrus and Pelinobius, all tarantulas I thought I would never get.

The only ones I just haven't been able to warm up to are the ones with the bad urticating hairs.

I also happen to prefer smaller tarantulas and find a large size a bit unappealing due to my lack of space. Currently I'm really liking the Cyriocosmus which means I'll probably end up buying some more with my tax returns. But really, I don't see a giant, brown tarantula with really bad urticating hairs in my collection at any point at this time. I'd go so far as to say that Theraposa sp. and their kin as being overrated *

*Please don't flame me.

 

[BobGrill]

Rose hairs.

 

[LythSalicaria]

For me it's OW burrowers, OBTs, Tapinauchenius species and Stramatopelma species.

I'm also leaning toward saying, "Nay-nay!" to anything that falls into the category of "swamp-dweller" as well - there's just too much that can go wrong in a super-moist enclosure. I learned the hard way with my H. gigas slings; rehousing them was nothing compared to the other issues I ran into. Mold, mites, more mold, fungus, and did I mention mold? And to top it off, just when I thought I'd worked out all those issues (bigger enclosures, more ventilation, large water dish rather than moist sub), I had to go away for four days and that was the end of it. Came home to dead H. gigas slings in bone-dry enclosures. We had to turn the heaters on just shortly before I left, and it seems like they have a noticeable desiccating effect - before the heaters were turned on, I only had to water my Ts about once a week. Now that the heaters are on all the time I have to give everyone fresh water just about every day. Regardless, losing my slings to something so stupid after working so hard to get them to thrive was a highly discouraging experience. I'm going to try again somewhere down the line once I can think about this experience without wanting to cry, but for the time being I'm sticking to nice, forgiving NW species.

 

[cold blood]

Lyth, don't give up on them, some really great species live like that (Xensthis/Pamphobetus/Phormictopus, etc.)....you don't want to miss out on them:wink:. When you get mold there are 2 basic things to consider/do. The first should be to really do a good search and cleaning, bolus', food, really anything organic will attract mites as well as molt. The second and just as important thing is to increase ventilation. With really good ventilation, mold will have a very tough, if not impossible time growing.

Also don't mist, rather pour in water at a side and let it run down into the bottom part of the substrate. This will create good, sustained moisture in the burrow. Then you can maintain the surface dry (for the most part) with a water dish.

Once you get it down, which you will, you'll see its easier than your experiences have led you to believe. Having the heat kick on the day you leave for 4 days...that's just really bad timing (call it bad luck). I can sense your frustration, I felt that way when I first tried keeping a few dozen crickets alive for more than a week, now I can't believe I ever had problems.

 

[PanzoN88]

Least desirable- ah that is a tough one since i own only one species, so i am going to say none are in my least desireable list,all are distinct.

 

[BobGrill]

Does anyone actually like OBTs besides me? [emoji14]

 

[awiec]

Lyth, don't give up on them, some really great species live like that (Xensthis/Pamphobetus/Phormictopus, etc.)....you don't want to miss out on them:wink:. When you get mold there are 2 basic things to consider/do. The first should be to really do a good search and cleaning, bolus', food, really anything organic will attract mites as well as molt. The second and just as important thing is to increase ventilation. With really good ventilation, mold will have a very tough, if not impossible time growing.

Also don't mist, rather pour in water at a side and let it run down into the bottom part of the substrate. This will create good, sustained moisture in the burrow. Then you can maintain the surface dry (for the most part) with a water dish.

Once you get it down, which you will, you'll see its easier than your experiences have led you to believe. Having the heat kick on the day you leave for 4 days...that's just really bad timing (call it bad luck). I can sense your frustration, I felt that way when I first tried keeping a few dozen crickets alive for more than a week, now I can't believe I ever had problems.

I have never had any issues with my more moisture loving species, they seem pretty tough, I water mine about once a week and never had any mold problems. A monthly bolus clean-up makes things pretty easy and I've found Kritter Keepers to work pretty well as the slats are spaced enough to allow ventilation but can be covered to keep a micro-climate if desired.

 

[Poec54]

I'm also leaning toward saying, "Nay-nay!" to anything that falls into the category of "swamp-dweller" as well - there's just too much that can go wrong in a super-moist enclosure.

There are no 'swamp dwellers.' Stan really needs to improve some of the husbandry parts of the TKG. Too many people take those things literally, you got bad advice from someone with little experience with those kind of tarantulas. I have Theraphosa, Hysterocrates, Ephebopus, lots of Asian terrestrials, and none are kept swampy. I have no problems with mites, mold, fungus, etc in any of those cages because of cross ventilation. When you went away for a few days, you should have put those cages in plastic bags and they wouldn't have dried out from the heat.

---------- Post added 02-05-2015 at 10:09 PM ----------

Does anyone actually like OBTs besides me? [emoji14]

Yes, unfortunately many of them are beginners looking to prove their masculinity. Too bad, because it really is an interesting spider; it draws some people for the wrong reasons.

---------- Post added 02-05-2015 at 10:10 PM ----------

Rose hairs.

Now there's a real 'least favorite' tarantula.

 

[LythSalicaria]

There are no 'swamp dwellers.' Stan really needs to improve some of the husbandry parts of the TKG. Too many people take those things literally, you got bad advice from someone with little experience with those kind of tarantulas. I have Theraphosa, Hysterocrates, Ephebopus, lots of Asian terrestrials, and none are kept swampy. I have no problems with mites, mold, fungus, etc in any of those cages because of cross ventilation. When you went away for a few days, you should have put those cages in plastic bags and they wouldn't have dried out from the heat.

Sorry, I should have clarified that I was just using "swamp dwellers" as a blanket term for species that require higher humidity levels. We had a similar discussion about this when I posted here asking for help dealing with the mites several months ago. I moved the H. gigas slings to larger enclosures that were big enough to offer a large water dish and added plenty of cross ventilation; after that, mold and mites were no longer an issue (I believe I thanked you for the help back then, but thanks again for that). The suggestion about using plastic bags is a new one for me though. I just wish I'd thought to ask about it before I went away. Those slings would probably still be alive.

I've got a little notebook that I keep handy for recording any particularly useful advice that people give on here just so that I don't need to go digging for it when I need it later. Gonna add that bit about putting enclosures in plastic bags to the list. Thanks to everyone for the advice. I feel a bit more confident about trying again in the future.

 

[Poec54]

I've got a little notebook that I keep handy for recording any particularly useful advice that people give on here just so that I don't need to go digging for it when I need it later. Gonna add that bit about putting enclosures in plastic bags to the list.

The plastic bag trick also works for house plants when you're away. There are clear plastic yard bags, although not easy to find; white would be my second choice.

 

[14pokies]

Does anyone actually like OBTs besides me? [emoji14]

I love them for there coloration and webbing..I have "owned" more obts second only to G.rosea..
Apart from working with probably o man its hard to accurately say..175-250 from adults to slings at a LPs I worked at where they were purchased in 20 lots and taken in on trades in nauseam
I run an add on my local graigslist offering to rehome any unwanted tarantulas( I'm not a craigslist animal troll) I only take Ts that can't be taken care of anymore for whatever reason...sometimes people contact me about a species that I'm into and I pay them fair value for them,but that is rare..
I do it for the animals...most times when I'm contacted its for p.murinus or G.rosea...
I would keep them all if I had the time and space so i know they will have the best care possible,but I don't so I can't..All of the ts get rehoused to close friends of mine and close friends of there's(for no fee of course!)that have the patience and skill to take care of them.

With seeing so many of them though and the hassle it can be just doing routine maintenance on them I don't know that I would miss the species if they stopped coming around...and of course Murphy's law has struck! My girlfriend has fallen in love with P.murinus and wants to keep the next one we rescue!! I can see why so many love them, for me I'm just burnt out from the shear number that I have worked with!

Back on topic...brachypelma sp! Except for albopilosum and auratum..

---------- Post added 02-05-2015 at 11:00 PM ----------

When you went away for a few days, you should have put those cages in plastic bags and they wouldn't have dried out from the heat.

Hmm..That's a really good idea...

 

[Ghost Dragon]

....I'm also leaning toward saying, "Nay-nay!" to anything that falls into the category of "swamp-dweller" as well - there's just too much that can go wrong in a super-moist enclosure....

I agree, Lyth. The 'Swamp Dwellers' don't hold all that much fascination for me either. While it would be cool to have an 11-12 inch T. stirmi, there seems just too much that can go wrong in their care, and end up killing them. Same with the Avics.

I'll stick with my 8+ inch LP, my NW terrestrials, and my pokie collection, thank you. If I want excitement, I'll try re-housing my 4+ inch P. irminia.