Where do I go from here?

[Stimpack]

A little history first. I've always ben into entomology and arachnology since I was a baby, I've collected and collected until my early teens and last year I was able to get back into touch with that side of me as an adult and I'm beyond thrilled and enthusiastic about arachnid keeping. I go out in the woods or search around my apartment building or friends houses and catch our seasonal spiders that I now care for. I also wish to get into centipedes and millipedes someday to!

So I have 6 containers covering 3 different species, a 20 gallon tank with grass spiders, and my first tarantula which is a Grammostola rosea. Basically my vision is to have a wall of arachnids/tarantulas, yes I'm thinking big and I'm in no rush. From all of yalls experiences and such where should I start expanding from my Grammostola rosea? Money will be no issue and neither will personally building cages/environments. Which species should I start
looking at? Preferably species in the range of 80-85 degree temperatures because that is what I keep my apartment at. (I decided to get used to the temperature when I knew I was going to start getting T's, a little out of the norm for a Wisconsonite ^___^ )

 

[Keith B]

Is it a G. rosea or G. porteri? We've been working on clearing up this confusion lately. If it's a pet store specimen it's likely G. porteri. I consider G. porteri and Brachypelma smithi to be staples of an early collection. These are both lovely first tarantulas. Others skip smithi and go more exotic, getting less common Brachypelmas, but personally I think they're still missing out if they don't have a female B. smithi. My female is probably my favorite tarantula, and I have had dozens.

 

[Keith B]

My pretty girl

 

[kean]

+1 on the Smithi.. a true Classic sp. I'd also go for other Brachypelma's.. Aphonopelma's, Grammostola's.. then some more beautiful ones like The GBB.. C. Fasciatum.. then eventually leading to M. Robustum.. X. Immanis.. P. Ultramarinus.. T. Stirmi.. then get some of these as well A. Breyeri.. M. Balfouri.. Blue Fang.. Lampropelmas.. then to the Avics and Pokies.. and the list goes on.. oh man I wish money & space wasn't an issue for me too..

 

[Stimpack]

I believe its a G. rosea but I cannot be sure because google pics look alike for my subtly colored Grammostola hehe, and ty both keith and kean! I'll do some research on them tomorrow night!

 

[Pinoy25]

Nice Smithi. I am looking for a female Smithi as well. Hehe. I already have 2 Ts in just 2 weeks. Haha.

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[Femangel]

Brachypelma is always a good way to go! Lots of lovely species with gorgeous colours, some diversity in temperament too. Some of the gentle giants might interest you too such as Lasiodora parahybana or Acanthoscurria geniculata. They grow to be a realy decent size and have lovely markings. My adult LP is one of my favourites, a real looker too! It all just depends really on what you are looking for in a t, wether its beautiful color, verocious appetites, active species... All come with their own little character or in spme cases their own BIG charachter lolz

 

[viper69]

Money no object? Get H. pulchripes it's a LOOKER, P. metallica, and female Singapore Blue

Surprised no one mentioned- you don't need to keep the temps so high in your apt just because you are keeping Ts. Ive always kept my place 70-75 at most.

 

[kean]

the flame knee has always been one of my favorite Brachy's..

 

[Bugmom]

My advice?
BUY ALL THE T'S!!!

Oh wait. Maybe that's just me.

Also your screenname is awesome.

Also... um... are you looking more for terrestrial or arboreal or both or...?

 

[Keith B]

Nice Smithi. I am looking for a female Smithi as well. Hehe. I already have 2 Ts in just 2 weeks. Haha.

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Thanks I got lucky with mine. 1 sling turned into 1 female. She's a little over 4 years old now. If money is no object, like kean said, you could go for B. auratum as they can get pricey. I've heard speculation that they don't live as long as other Brachypelma species, but I couldn't tell you if there's any merit to that.

 

[Femangel]

the flame knee has always been one of my favorite Brachy's..

Beautyfull it was also our very first tarantula. Bought in the pet store as a B. smithi at the time (paid about 20 euro's less then i would have paid an auratum so thats good ) as proper noobs we didn't realize what we had for the first month, i even named him/her smithi and i'm sticking to that name. I still realy want a B. smithi though

 

[Ghost Dragon]

I'm hoping to get a female smithi in the spring. She'll grow to be bigger & more colourful than my emilia, and hopefully will be just as mellow.

 

[Keith B]

I'm hoping to get a female smithi in the spring. She'll grow to be bigger & more colourful than my emilia, and hopefully will be just as mellow.

More colorful probably, as mellow more than likely, bigger? I doubt it, if your emilia is female. Stan Schultz had a B. emilia that lived over 35 years. He posted that on here recently, and her DLS was about 8". While B. smithi will possibly reach that size, i doubt it'll surpass it. They grow VERY slow, and still grow gradually once they've reached the general full size for an adult. My girl mentioned above is still only about 4.5" after 4 years. She should be due or a molt soon, and I await anxiously!

 

[Pinoy25]

If I may add, Brachypelma Boehmei :-*

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[Stimpack]

My advice?
BUY ALL THE T'S!!!

Oh wait. Maybe that's just me.

Also your screenname is awesome.

Also... um... are you looking more for terrestrial or arboreal or both or...?

Hah thanks! No its not just you I want a plethora of critters, and for now terrestrial until possibly april or may time.

To everyone else, ty for the plethora of research yall have thrown at me!

 

[Ghost Dragon]

More colorful probably, as mellow more than likely, bigger? I doubt it, if your emilia is female. Stan Schultz had a B. emilia that lived over 35 years. He posted that on here recently, and her DLS was about 8". While B. smithi will possibly reach that size, i doubt it'll surpass it. They grow VERY slow, and still grow gradually once they've reached the general full size for an adult. My girl mentioned above is still only about 4.5" after 4 years. She should be due or a molt soon, and I await anxiously!

It's funny, Keith, I named my emilia partially after Stan's [Duchess], and partially after his late wife, Marguerite, as it was reading the first edition of their TKG that got me interested in the hobby.

This is Duchess Marguerite, or Maggie for short.

 

[Keith B]

Aww it's great that you honored them!! We also have a B. emilia here we got recently, but we named her Lady. She's still only about 1.25". B. emilia is so cute at that size!