TrinityJayOne
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2011
- Messages
- 0
Hello chaps & chappettes, apologies if this is in the wrong place.
A little while ago I entertained the thought of getting a pet T (no stranger to exotics here, kept a large number of tropical fish and lizards when I was a kid), but I never got around to it. Yesterday the idea came back to me and I looked into it a bit further, only to find out that Australia sucks and it's illegal to import spiders. It would seem that my chances of (legally) owning a G.pulchripes are very slim if not impossible.
My problem now is that the only native species I can find are not really my cup of tea, being dull browns/blacks and thin & spindley as opposed to the plumper ones that I like. I'm also not sure that they're suitable for a T beginner anyway, as they mostly appear to be without urticating hair and with stronger venom that they're all too happy to share. A painful bite I can handle*, but from what I've read the local varieties can leave you vomitting and/or require a trip to the doctor. Not sure if these would be classified as New or Old World, but they seem to have more in common with the latter.
So, should I even bother with this endeavour? I wanted a Chaco Golden originally because they look plump (and kinda cute ), are slow and happy to be picked up from time to time. I would have named him/her Charlie.
*I grew up in a slightly-rural area with a lot of forested areas. As kids we would go out hunting bugs and one day stumbled upon (and being none-the-wiser kids, disturbed) a bull dog ant nest. A couple of them crawled up the underside of the long stick I was poking their mound with and bit me on the hand. Mum freaked out because I'm extremely allergic to their jumping jack relatives, but I got off with nothing more than some very painful swelling.
A little while ago I entertained the thought of getting a pet T (no stranger to exotics here, kept a large number of tropical fish and lizards when I was a kid), but I never got around to it. Yesterday the idea came back to me and I looked into it a bit further, only to find out that Australia sucks and it's illegal to import spiders. It would seem that my chances of (legally) owning a G.pulchripes are very slim if not impossible.
My problem now is that the only native species I can find are not really my cup of tea, being dull browns/blacks and thin & spindley as opposed to the plumper ones that I like. I'm also not sure that they're suitable for a T beginner anyway, as they mostly appear to be without urticating hair and with stronger venom that they're all too happy to share. A painful bite I can handle*, but from what I've read the local varieties can leave you vomitting and/or require a trip to the doctor. Not sure if these would be classified as New or Old World, but they seem to have more in common with the latter.
So, should I even bother with this endeavour? I wanted a Chaco Golden originally because they look plump (and kinda cute ), are slow and happy to be picked up from time to time. I would have named him/her Charlie.
*I grew up in a slightly-rural area with a lot of forested areas. As kids we would go out hunting bugs and one day stumbled upon (and being none-the-wiser kids, disturbed) a bull dog ant nest. A couple of them crawled up the underside of the long stick I was poking their mound with and bit me on the hand. Mum freaked out because I'm extremely allergic to their jumping jack relatives, but I got off with nothing more than some very painful swelling.
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