I need more spiders - please help

boina

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Sooooo, the expo in Hamm, the biggest in Germany (maybe even Europe) is coming up again (2 more weeks) and I'm planing. Last year I've started collecting arboreals, so that's whats on my list. (Why, oh why did I start? There are so many of them and I'm really out of space!)

I've extensively studied the sales lists of all the big vendors and now I can't decide:
Do I want (all spiderlings, I usually would buy 3 slings and hope for at least one female):

Psalmopoeus pulchra ?
Tapinauchenius gigas?
T. elenae ?
T. sanctivincenti?

As I said I'm out of space, so I should preferably only buy one species. After chasing my brand new P. ecclesiasticus sling in circles while housing on the weekend I'm not so sure I'm ready for a Tap... but then I'm a fast learner. (Psalmopoeus ecclesiasticus = church affiliated Psalm maker = the most ridiculous name for a spider ever o_O)

Which one on the list is most visible? Which one is the prettiest? I've seen none of them in rl.

Btw, I've already pre-ordered 1 juvenile female C. schioedtei and 1 juv. female C. sp. hatihati. and from my favorite breeder I pre-ordered 1 juv. female L. borneo black. (Should I get a L. nigerrimum, too, sometime, or is it very similar to the borneo black?)
 

boina

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Sorry, this was supposed to go into chat, but I don't know how to get it there now - sorry.
 

Venom1080

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are you sure you only have room for one species? whenever i have to make a tough choice, i google pics of the different species and pick the one i like the most.
 

boina

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are you sure you only have room for one species? whenever i have to make a tough choice, i google pics of the different species and pick the one i like the most.
That's what I did - and now I can't decide. They all look great!
 

Jeff23

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I own multiple slings in each of these.
Psalmopoeus pulcher
Tapinauchenius gigas
Tapinauchenius sanctivincenti

I don't own T. elenae but would love to get it since they look beautiful. Tapi's are a favorite for me. But I haven't done much rehousing yet so I could be in for some fun one day.......

On visibility, some of this depends on where you want to see your arboreal. I have several species of Tapi's and almost all of them hang out just above the substrate. The T. gigas probably venture up higher in the enclosure than my other Tapi's.

I bought four 4 cm (1.5") P. pulcher's several months ago. My pulcher's tend to hang out at the top of the deli cup. When I open the cup they will usually be a little shy and go down a little ways into the cup but still be visible. Sometimes when they are hungry, they don't always go down in the cup when I open it. I have been forced to feed them with tongs when they don't retreat. None of mine have given me defensive postures, but they are aggressive feeders for me. My biggest one is now just under 8 cm.

My T. gigas can be stubborn but I have not found them to be skittish in my little experience with them. I bought five 2.5 cm (1") slings several months ago. One sling molted during shipment to me, so I placed the shipping vial inside a small deli cup where I could place moist cotton balls while letting it finish molt/heal. When time came to get this T into the new home it wouldn't move. It would try to bite the straw if I touched its leg. I ended taping the small deli cup upside down to the larger deli cup to let it leave on its own. My T. gigas create webbing all over the place and some of it is like a dirt curtain. Sometimes I struggle to find my slings because they are a similar color to the dirt curtain and cork bark. When I occasionally see one at the top of the cup the sling does not move unless it goes after prey that I provide. They are much less skittish than my T. violaceus and T. sp. colombia

I bought a couple T. sanctivincenti slings (2.5 cm) a couple months ago. Mine are both webbing up under a cork bark slab near the substrate. My slings are too small to comment on personality but they are good eaters.
 
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boina

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OMG, they all sound so cool! I still want them all. :arghh:. I could probably free more space if I box some of my books... who needs books anyway. Hmmmm...
 

TownesVanZandt

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OMG, they all sound so cool! I still want them all. :arghh:. I could probably free more space if I box some of my books... who needs books anyway. Hmmmm...
Hahaha, the same happened to me! I have a small apartment and originally I had two large book shelves and a TV. When I got more tarantulas, I got rid of the TV to make space for another shelve for the tarantulas. That one soon became to small, and now I keep moving books to my parents house as I get more and more Ts o_O
 

boina

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Ok, found a juvenile female T. gigas for sale and placed a (pre-)order. Waiting for confirmation. I think I'll skip the pulcher, but since I got only one T and not three spiderlings I may still have space for another species.:D

edit: Confirmed! :D

edit 2: And I've just preordered 3 T. sanctivincenti slings. They are from my favorite breeder and he may even trade them for a few of my T. cyaneolum slings, which would solve the space problem - this seems to be working out really well!:D:smug:
 
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user 666

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I can barely afford my own Tarantula habit; there's no way i could fund your addiction as well. :)
 
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boina

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I'm not exactly sure I get what you mean, but we are talking European prices here - with all the Ts I preordered I'm still well under 200 Euros...
 

Andrea82

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late to the party, but if you can handle fast and flighty OW, you can handle a Tappie. Tappies are actually easier than Psalmopoeus imo, because with a Tap you KNOW it is going to go spazzy on you and doing laps. (and, in the case of the T.gigas, get defensive ). Psalmopoeus lures you with slow movement only to make a brake for it half a second later. Nice choices, glad the space issue has been resolved.
For now. :D
 

boina

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and, in the case of the T.gigas, get defensive
Thanks for the hint... Btw, both my Psalmos (irminia and cambridgei) have been VERY well behaved so far, even let themselves be poked an prodded for a photo shoot here and there and rehousing was a breeze, so I'm still waiting for the big surprise :eek:

And what do you mean by *For now* ? I will be very reasonable and not buy any more spiders :angelic:
 
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