Blondi vs. Apophysis vs. Parahybana -lots of questions

[cacoseraph]

And, just in the spirit of a friendly debate, this isn't really irresponsible for me; a bite is only painful and probably doesn't have permanent damage. As far as the tarantula goes, I frankly don't see how any severe emotional trauma could be caused by occasional disturbances. If that.

heh, you sound like me.

i hate to cloud what is apparently a pretty clear choice so far... but one thing to consider: i have a female L. parahybana and i will NEVER EVER breed her. i am actually looking to get rid of her for that reason. i just plain don't want to deal with that many slings. For either theraphosa, that is definitely NOT a problem you will run into =P

of course, if you don't intend to breed it at all then parahybana is awesome.

 

[CopperInMyVeins]

Well, I've had experience caring for all three species, mostly an adult female T. apophysis at work. Like you I also had a desire to keep a really big species, but I didn't want to spend the money or deal with the humidity requirements of T. blondi. So I ended up with a sub-adult A. geniculata and two L. parahybana slings. I to say, the A. geniculata quickly became my favorite one my tarantulas, it's around 7" right now, but they can reach 9"+. It never hides, it's very fast and aggressive when it comes to catching prey as well, and of course strikingly pretty.

Not an animal I handle, but she's pretty easy to work with when switching tanks, probably would be handleable if I chose to do it. She was also recently on exhibit as part of a live spiders exhibit at the Museum of Natural History for a week. I have to say, few of the spiders there got more attention, with the exception of the T. blondi, mostly because I could do more feedings with the T. blondi.

Having said all that, after two weeks caring for my friend Mitchell's great looking T. blondi, I wanted one for myself. So, as of right now, the A. genic is still at the museum and the T. blondi is in my room. I like the L. parahybanas too, I can't wait until they get bigger, but right now they're really leggy, really jumpy 4 inch spiders. For me, the Theraphosa genus isn't just about the size, especially with T. blondi, they have that really distinctive huge carapace, thick femora, and the velvety, rather than furry appearance. The "attitude" is a big plus too, hissing, threat displays, lots of speed, and a bigger appetite than any other species I've seen.

Anyway, I'm tired and rambling here, my feeling is that you'll eventually end up with all three species of you stay in the hobby, hopefully A. geniculata too, it's really a great display spider. I didn't say that much about T. apophysis, love those too, the one at the museum is the biggest live spider of any kind that I've seen, and they seem a lot less humidity sensitive than T. blondi. However, I still think the build of T. blondi is more impressive, and a big T. apophysis for sale will also be hard to come by. Enjoy whatever you're getting, for me, "substituting" L. parahybana for T. blondi didn't stop me from eventually getting it anyway, so I figure you'll likely be the same way. Start with L. parahybana or A. geniculata and see how you like those.