Filling the void

[mistertim]

Ok, so as some of you know my juvie female B. smithi made like Clint Eastwood in Escape From Alcatraz and I haven't been able to find her yet. I'm still hoping, but I'm not going to delude myself about the chances of it as I didn't see her escape and she's in the basement with tons of places to go/hide.

At this point I'm getting sad every time I open up my T cabinet for feeding/watering and see her empty enclosure sitting there. So I've decided to fill it. If I do find her, I have temp places to put her until I can get another permanent enclosure. Its an 8x8x14 inch acrylic enclosure from Jamie's so I can use it for terrestrial or arboreal, but I would need for the spider to be at least a well along juvie or sub-adult/adult to make sense because of the enclosure size. Its also really good for viewing so I'd rather not use it on a pet hole. Here are a few thoughts...

- M. balfouri - obviously beautiful and there's an adult one available. a little pricey but not too bad. temperament not too bad for a baboon.
- A. genic - eating machine and very visible but haven't found a larger one available
- C. darlingi - a classic and found a sub-adult female available
- P. subfusca - really love Pokies and want to get one in the near future but would probably be more comfortable starting off with a sling for my first...so this one is a 50/50
- X. sp blue - holy crap, what a beautiful spider. holy crap, how much????

Thoughts?

 

[Chris LXXIX]

I would buy without hesitation A.geniculata and C.darlingi. Great T's and IMO a must have (genus Ceratogyrus in general).

M.balfouri is nice, but the US prices are IMO unacceptable, I can have a female for max 25/30 Euro ($35 max) <-- please note that this is only my opinion about and I don't want to rant at all about how other people spend their earned cash, uh

About the 'Pokie' I don't get why not, I think you could own one without issues man. You know how to deal with T's, and venom & of course speed is the only 'weapons' they have, those aren't crazy like a S.calceatum.

 

[Steelo Johnson]

I have to agree with the genic. Beautiful and always out on display. What size are you looking for? There are some 3" genics for sale in the classifieds (last time I checked).

 

[Kymura]

I am mad crazy about my genic, hungry, beautiful, active, hungry, usually always out and visable, did I mention hungry...?

 

[Steelo Johnson]

My genic loves to lug the big dubia around instead of hiding and eating.

 

[shining]

You should leave that enclosure empty for a few months as punishment for your crime!!!!!

Meanwhile, growing an A. geniculata to an appropriate size for that enclosure.

 

[mistertim]

You should leave that enclosure empty for a few months as punishment for your crime!!!!!

Meanwhile, growing an A. geniculata to an appropriate size for that enclosure.

Thanks, I didn't feel bad enough already.

 

[viper69]

C. darlingi - a classic and found a sub-adult female available

Petholes- sometimes out, sometimes not.

M. balfouri - obviously beautiful and there's an adult one available. a little pricey but not too bad. temperament not too bad for a baboon.

Petholes- sometimes out, sometimes not. Extremely fast, deceptively so. They make Ceratogyrus look slow.

 

[KezyGLA]

Ceratogyrus. Any species in the genus. Hehehh

 

[mistertim]

I would buy without hesitation A.geniculata and C.darlingi. Great T's and IMO a must have (genus Ceratogyrus in general).

M.balfouri is nice, but the US prices are IMO unacceptable, I can have a female for max 25/30 Euro ($35 max) <-- please note that this is only my opinion about and I don't want to rant at all about how other people spend their earned cash, uh

About the 'Pokie' I don't get why not, I think you could own one without issues man. You know how to deal with T's, and venom & of course speed is the only 'weapons' they have, those aren't crazy like a S.calceatum.

Oh I'm confident that I can own a Pokie in general and be ok. Its just that having a 7-8 inch P. subfusca lowland as a first one just feels like a bit much...because I don't have ANY Ts that size right now so I would be dealing with a size as well as potency that I've never had before. Feel like I might want to ease into the genus a bit more than that.

 

[mistertim]

I have to agree with the genic. Beautiful and always out on display. What size are you looking for? There are some 3" genics for sale in the classifieds (last time I checked).

That size would work...I was looking through the For Sale forum and didn't see that. Do you happen to have a link?

 

[Steelo Johnson]

That size would work...I was looking through the For Sale forum and didn't see that. Do you happen to have a link?

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/tarantula-availability.286091/

 

[TarantulasWorld]

I would go with the A.genic and get yourself another striped T

 

[mistertim]

For those of you that have re-used enclosures, does a new tarantula require completely new substrate? I would assume that any indication of another spider, even if not present, wouldn't be too welcome to them.

 

[Steelo Johnson]

I don't know if it matters, but I always clean the enclosure and put new substrate in.

 

[Vanessa]

For those of you that have re-used enclosures, does a new tarantula require completely new substrate? I would assume that any indication of another spider, even if not present, wouldn't be too welcome to them.

I reuse substrate all the time. Some of mine will put a thin layer of webbing over the surface and, once I remove that, the substrate underneath is pretty much the same as the day I put it in there.
If there are no problems with it - mites, mould, mushrooms - I would have no problem using it again. I just usually remove the top thin layer and let it dry out if it has gotten a bit damp around the water dish.
Unless there is some sort of unexplained death. I would not reuse that substrate again, even though it probably wouldn't have caused a death.

 

[antinous]

- M. balfouri - obviously beautiful and there's an adult one available. a little pricey but not too bad. temperament not too bad for a baboon.
- A. genic - eating machine and very visible but haven't found a larger one available
- C. darlingi - a classic and found a sub-adult female available
- P. subfusca - really love Pokies and want to get one in the near future but would probably be more comfortable starting off with a sling for my first...so this one is a 50/50
- X. sp blue - holy crap, what a beautiful spider. holy crap, how much????

Thoughts?

M. balfouri - Haven't owned one yet, but it's high on my wish list. But if you want something similar to your smithi, I'd search elsewhere.
A. geniculata - Very high on my wish list, I'd still try getting one as a sling to watch them grow (which is pretty fast apparently).
C. darlingi - The ones I owned weren't really out in the open a lot, gorgeous T still.
P. subfusca - No experience so can't really comment.
X. sp. blue - Expensive. A 2" can be upwards of $200. I paid around $95 for my intermedia, but that was due to a year or so of searching for a good deal. Mine's around 3" right now and loves to hide. Can't comment on the larger ones just yet.

My own inputs:
Pamphobeteus fortis - Great, not too expensive and they get pretty large.
Lasiodora itabunae - Love the coloration on these guys, not too common as juvies and adults though.
Phormictopus species - Just love these guys in general. Not too big on hiding even when young. Nice attitude as well!

 

[mistertim]

Well, I think I'm going to go with the best of both worlds, since the seller has both of these...

3" A. genic juvie for my B. smithi's old enclosure
1" P. regalis sling because I really want a Pokie but don't want to start with a full grown one