# Huntsman Spiders Worth It?



## ECH (Mar 29, 2018)

I might be interested in obtaining a huntsman spider but I wanna hear what people have to say about them first.


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## Sarkhan42 (Mar 29, 2018)

Absolutely go for it. I love my two little Holconia insignis, I honestly wish I bought more when I had the chance, they definitely make it to my favorite inverts list. With that in mind, all of my recommendation comes from sling/juvenile stages, as I have not yet experienced the adults. Ferocious eaters, very very fast growth, and easy keeping conditions. The only thing to be aware of is that they are FAST, and I mean FAST. Faster than any tarantula, Tapinauchenius included, and faster than any other true spider I've kept. Make the wrong move and they are GONE. If you're careful and prepared however, some of the most enjoyable spiders IMO.

Reactions: Like 2 | Agree 1


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## Sarkhan42 (Mar 29, 2018)

Holconia insignis sling



__ Sarkhan42
__ Feb 19, 2018
__ 2



						So happy to finally have some of these guys, love them already.

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## Sarkhan42 (Mar 29, 2018)



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## Chris LXXIX (Mar 29, 2018)

They look lovely

Reactions: Like 1


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## shutout2000 (Mar 29, 2018)

Huntsman, wolfspiders, I love them all.

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## The Snark (Mar 29, 2018)

Sarkhan42 said:


> The only thing to be aware of is that they are FAST,


They are fun animals to keep. BUT, you have to have a reasonable environment for them. That is, WHEN they escape there are no hazards like cats or idiot people about. And you are comfortable taking your entire house apart now and then rounding the escapee up. Catch cup adeptness and the speed of a warmed up rattlesnake is a definite plus. Unless you live a charmed life, you will mash a leg or two catching them. If young it will be back with the next molt. They also are unhindered in the speed of light thing by the loss of a leg or two.

Otherwise, they are harmless and their antics as they zoom around your house are better than prime time boob tube. The only environment required for most is a vertical surface for them to lurk on. They also usually hunt at night so expect a lot of people to ask if it's dead as it just sits there on a wall of plywood in it's jail cell. Just tell them no, it's only planning it's next escape.

Reactions: Like 3 | Funny 5


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## checkmate (Mar 29, 2018)

I recommend them but like others have said, they are VERY FAST. My Viridasius sp. is the only one faster it seems (another true I recommend). I keep Barylestis, Olios, Heteropoda, and Holconia and they're all pretty easy. I keep slings in dram vials and upgrade accordingly. Keep a catch cup handy (mine is a larger size to make up for my slower reflexes).
I think Fear Not is selling lunula slings now but I've never purchased from them.

Reactions: Like 1


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## The Snark (Mar 30, 2018)

I saw a juvenile Venatoria enter the closet about the first of January. Just ignored it. Let it fend for itself. About 3 days ago the closet doors were open and out it strolled, stopped and looked around. As if "That was a nice nap. Anything around here to eat?"
Cat's locked up I escorted it out onto the porch with a broom and waved goodbye.

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## chanda (Mar 30, 2018)

Everyone mentioning how fast these things can be is not exaggerating! My only spider escape - in all my years of keeping spiders - was a huntsman (_Heteropoda venatoria_). Let me just say, they don't run - they _teleport_. I was trying to rehouse her and she bolted on me. The big Rubbermaid tub I use as a rehousing container didn't even slow her down. I saw which way she went, but when I tore apart that entire half of the room, she was nowhere to be found. (She later turned up - unharmed - on the underside of a table on the opposite side of the room and was successfully recaptured.)

They're beautiful spiders, but can be a bit pet-hole-ish. Mine are usually hiding inside their cork tubes or on the back sides of the cork slabs, so I don't get to see them very often, except late at night. As much as I like them, I probably won't get another one - at least not right away. They've been a bit of a disappointment when it comes to bringing them in to the classroom to show the kids. _"Ok, so you see that hunk of wood in there? Well, there's a really cool spider scrunched up inside that - but you'll just have to take my word for it, because you probably won't actually get to see her."_  If I'm going to bring in unseen "take-my-word-for-it" spiders, I may as well invent something _really_ cool!

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 5 | Love 1


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## The Snark (Mar 30, 2018)

chanda said:


> The big Rubbermaid tub I use as a rehousing container didn't even slow her down.


And they can run on water. They live in the drains around here*. Open up the right drain and off the wall where it was lurking and zooms right over puddles.

* I wonder if that was what Jaeger was thinking of when he referred to Venatoria as 'the sewer rat of spiders'? 
(Actually they are very similar to rats. Survivalists found the world over that pretty much don't care what the environment is as long as there's a meal on the horizon.)

Reactions: Like 1


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## Jimmy Jamblez (Mar 30, 2018)

Go for it bro and post lots of pics for us too. They're stunning looking spiders. I would love to have one but they're like speedy gonzales and way too fast for me to catch.

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## Dave Jay (Mar 30, 2018)

I like the badge huntsman we get here , little orange guys , but they really take a long time to relax .They're fast though, people were warning about Australian tarantulas being fast , not compared to huntsman they're not.

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## Dennis Nedry (Mar 30, 2018)

Absolutely worth it, i love all my huntsmans and there's so much variety of size and colour in them


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## Dennis Nedry (Mar 30, 2018)

chanda said:


> They're beautiful spiders, but can be a bit pet-hole-ish. Mine are usually hiding inside their cork tubes or on the back sides of the cork slabs, so I don't get to see them very often, except late at night. As much as I like them, I probably won't get another one - at least not right away. They've been a bit of a disappointment when it comes to bringing them in to the classroom to show the kids. _"Ok, so you see that hunk of wood in there? Well, there's a really cool spider scrunched up inside that - but you'll just have to take my word for it, because you probably won't actually get to see her."_  If I'm going to bring in unseen "take-my-word-for-it" spiders, I may as well invent something _really_ cool!


Get one of the bigger huntsmen and keep it in a bare temporary enclosure with only an angled piece of flat bark and substrate, it works for showing them off. Beregama sp are always the show stoppers in younger classrooms

Reactions: Agree 2


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## The Snark (Mar 30, 2018)

Dennis Nedry said:


> Absolutely worth it, i love all my huntsmans and there's so much variety of size and colour in them

Reactions: Like 1 | Wow 1 | Love 1


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## chanda (Mar 30, 2018)

Dennis Nedry said:


> Get one of the bigger huntsmen and keep it in a bare temporary enclosure with only an angled piece of flat bark and substrate, it works for showing them off. Beregama sp are always the show stoppers in younger classrooms


I've never seen _Beregama sp. _offered here in the U.S. So far, I've purchased a _Neosparassus sp., Heteropoda davidbowie, _and _Heteropoda venatoria_. _Olios sp._ are supposed to live out here in Southern California, but I have yet to find one while out hiking. 

While the bare minimum enclosure does keep the spiders more visible, my experience so far is that they die a lot sooner that way. My current _H. venatoria_ has a few more options for hiding - and is doing well so far, even if I don't see her very often. Of course, since all of my huntsmen so far have been obtained as adults - and may have been wild caught as well - it's hard to say how old they were when I got them, so that could just have been coincidence. On the other hand, it is definitely true of some of my local scorpion species that they do MUCH better (and live much longer) in captivity if given adequate sand for burrowing and plenty of cover, even if it does mean that I rarely see them.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Veles (Mar 30, 2018)

I only ever kept micrommata virescens, but they were pretty fun to observe.


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## basin79 (Mar 30, 2018)

Huntsmans are phenomenal. But bloody hell they're fast. 

I used to own an absolutely stunning Heteropoda lunula. Unbelievably beautiful.


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## Dennis Nedry (Mar 30, 2018)

chanda said:


> I've never seen _Beregama sp. _offered here in the U.S. So far, I've purchased a _Neosparassus sp., Heteropoda davidbowie, _and _Heteropoda venatoria_. _Olios sp._ are supposed to live out here in Southern California, but I have yet to find one while out hiking.
> 
> While the bare minimum enclosure does keep the spiders more visible, my experience so far is that they die a lot sooner that way. My current _H. venatoria_ has a few more options for hiding - and is doing well so far, even if I don't see her very often. Of course, since all of my huntsmen so far have been obtained as adults - and may have been wild caught as well - it's hard to say how old they were when I got them, so that could just have been coincidence. On the other hand, it is definitely true of some of my local scorpion species that they do MUCH better (and live much longer) in captivity if given adequate sand for burrowing and plenty of cover, even if it does mean that I rarely see them.


I don't mean keep them in a bare minimum enclosure, but if you want to show them to a classroom move the spider into a bare minimum enclosure and the kids will be able to see it easier. I always keep my spiders in an enclosure with as many options for hiding as possible, usually putting the whole enclosure in a dark closet is enough to bring the spider out of its hiding place

Reactions: Like 1


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## Dennis Nedry (Mar 30, 2018)

The Snark said:


>


I've seen pictures of this species here before, do you know what it is they're absolutely stunning!

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## The Snark (Mar 30, 2018)

Dennis Nedry said:


> I've seen pictures of this species here before, do you know what it is


I've reposted pics of it before. Have you seen pics of this on any other site? I suppose I should post it's own thread.  I sent the shots to Senckenberg and Jaeger tentatively IDed it as a Sparassid but so far it's a one of a kind and the only person who has caught one did a catch and release without fully describing it. . I blame this on Dr. Jaeger. No matter what you unearth you send him a pic or two and he tosses back, 'Oh yes, X. Found here, here, and here.' In this case he went Uhhhhhhhhh.
So this is probably a distant relative of the camelepantelopeacoctopusseacow.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Dennis Nedry (Mar 30, 2018)

The Snark said:


> I've reposted pics of it before. Have you seen pics of this on any other site? I suppose I should post it's own thread.  I sent the shots to Senckenberg and Jaeger tentatively IDed it as a Sparassid but so far it's a one of a kind and the only person who has caught one did a catch and release without fully describing it. . I blame this on Dr. Jaeger. No matter what you unearth you send him a pic or two and he tosses back, 'Oh yes, X. Found here, here, and here.' In this case he went Uhhhhhhhhh.
> So this is probably a distant relative of the camelepantelopeacoctopusseacow.


havent seen it anywhere but this site, you were probably the one who posted it. Maybe you need to find some more


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## ArachnidSentinl (Apr 2, 2018)

I recently got back into the hobby and decided to pick up some trues. I've always liked the look of huntsman spiders, so I decided to give them a go. I'm happy I did, and I now find them to be far more fun than my tarantulas!

I don't seem to have the issues with visibility as others have in this thread, but my spider rack is in a low light, low traffic area and lies unmolested for most of the day. My huntsman are oftentimes visible when I wake up and/or get in from work (though they are quick to retreat when the light comes on). They put on a great show during feeding time, too.

I say pull the trigger (...as if you needed an excuse!)!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Ratmosphere (Apr 2, 2018)

100% get one. They are interesting spiders to own, good hunters, and super fast. Make sure to rehouse with a catch cup around.


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## Sally (Aug 6, 2018)

wetwork said:


> I recommend them but like others have said, they are VERY FAST. My Viridasius sp. is the only one faster it seems (another true I recommend). I keep Barylestis, Olios, Heteropoda, and Holconia and they're all pretty easy. I keep slings in dram vials and upgrade accordingly. Keep a catch cup handy (mine is a larger size to make up for my slower reflexes).
> I think Fear Not is selling lunula slings now but I've never purchased from them.


Do you have any huntsman spiders or any for sale I really want the giant Australian ones


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## checkmate (Aug 7, 2018)

Sally said:


> Do you have any huntsman spiders or any for sale I really want the giant Australian ones


Sorry, I don't have any for sale.


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## SonsofArachne (Aug 8, 2018)

I have Olios giganteus, Heteropoda; lunula, davidbowie, venatoria and Holconia immanis. Olios and lunula are the boltyist, Olios jump too. Holconia immanis are the fastest growing (and my favorite), got them at the same time as the lunula and davidbowie and they're 4 x (or more) larger, also less shy than the others. The venatoria were almost full grown when I got them, so I can't say much about raising them. All seem less likely too bolt the older they get. If you buy slings get extra unless you're really fast or really careful because some of them will likely escape. _ 
_


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