I need pointers on a Goliath Birdeater

TarantulaMan

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Tomorrow I'm trading my G.rosea in for a birdeater and is their anything I need to know thats important about them???
 

Wade

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Well, lots of stuff...T. blondi is belived to be a high humidity species, requiring much more moisture than a G. rosea. Also, they tend to be more aggressive and flick more hair. Many, especially juviniles, often die during molts.

Out of curiousity, where did you find someone to trade T. blondi (an expensive an sought after species)for G. rosea ( a cheap and common species)???

Wade
 

Mister Internet

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Yeah, I was going to say, that is one hell of a deal... mind hooking me up with an email address for this philanthropic soul? :)
 

krucz36

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intereesting deal...
personally, i'm not all that interested in T. blondi...i like getting my pets as slings, and T. blondi slings are notoriously hard to keep alive. i don't like the idea of forking over $80 for something so fragile. plus, my rosies have given me so much joy and entertainment over the years...i don't think i could ever give them up, unless i had no choice.
if i'm going for expensive species i'm going for the ornamentals...pokeys are intriguing. a store near me recently got a shipment in and they were all sold in about a week. at $200 each for indians. sigh.
what do you guys think? what's the #1 wish list spider for you?
 

Paul Day

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" like getting my pets as slings, and T. blondi slings are notoriously hard to keep alive. i don't like the idea of forking over $80 for something so fragile."

T. blondi is rarely if ever $80 as a spiderling... try 35$...
And they aren't that hard to keep alive. Let's not give this guy the wrong impression because a few peoples isolated problems (many people have kept T. blondi successfully with little problems). While T. blondi is more difficult to keep say, than a Chilean Rose, it really is just the humidity problem that sets it apart from most tarantulas. People either keep them too humid, or too dry, due to a lack of knowledge on their part. I've never understood the fuss, just mist more often and make sure you balance between sufficient ventilation, and restricting enough ventilation so it won't dry out quickly. T. blondi in fact, is a very enjoyable spider to keep. They eat well, and grow well, aside from growing to enormous lengths.

Pokies on the other hand, I think are more difficult to handle. They don't have humidity problems, they certainly can be fast, and aggressive at times, despite what some people say. Transfering these guys from one enclosure to the next has been sort of a challenge for me. I personally try my best to buy as few medically signifigent tarantulas as possible because I don't think it's worth getting bit, or having a handful while the spider is trolluping around on the walls of your apartment. But I wouldn't say Pokies were obnoxiously hard to take care of either, just make sure you are quick and remain vigilant!!

Pauly
 

krucz36

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paul, you disagree with everything. in this case you're disagreeing with personal experiences, which is kind of silly.
i'd rather not have any discussion with you, if that's okay.
 

Paul Day

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"paul, you disagree with everything. in this case you're disagreeing with personal experiences, which is kind of silly.
i'd rather not have any discussion with you, if that's okay."

No rather, this is not with "personal experiences"... you neather have a Pokie nor a Goliath Bird Eater, so how can you say it's from personal experiences? My experience (personal experience) with these species is more valid than your speculation about how difficult the species are to take care of. I don't want you going around giving people unsuitable advice, it is nothing personal.

I don't disagree with everything either. It just happens that I know better.

Pauly
 
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Paul Day

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Personally, I want to talk to the nut who was willing to trade the Goliath for the G. rosea... a species, just as a spiderling, is worth at least 7 times more than an adult G. rosea.

Pauly
 

MrDeranged

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Originally posted by Paul Day
"paul, you disagree with everything. in this case you're disagreeing with personal experiences, which is kind of silly.
i'd rather not have any discussion with you, if that's okay."

No rather, this is not with "personal experiences"... you neather have a Pokie nor a Goliath Bird Eater, so how can you say it's from personal experiences? My experience (personal experience) with these species is more valid than your speculation about how difficult the species are to take care of. I don't want you going around giving people unsuitable advice, it is nothing personal.

I don't disagree with everything either. It just happens that I know better.

Pauly
Paul,

First of all, did you ever think that the personal experience that he was referring to was the fact that he's seen T. blondi slings for $80. Just because you may have dealers selling stuff for $35. does not mean that he does.

Second of all, not to put down your experience, but I know many people with alot more experience than you when it comes to T. blondi and they all agree that raising them from slings can be very problematic if you don't have the conditions just right and many times even if you do. I don't think Garth was giving unsuitable advice, just advising someone that a blondi may be more than they are ready for.

The first true step to learning is understanding how little one knows......

Scott
 

Paul Day

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"First of all, did you ever think that the personal experience that he was referring to was the fact that he's seen T. blondi slings for $80. Just because you may have dealers selling stuff for $35. does not mean that he does."

I highly doubt that... I need an example.



"Second of all, not to put down your experience, but I know many people with alot more experience than you when it comes to T. blondi and they all agree that raising them from slings can be very problematic if you don't have the conditions just right and many times even if you do."

How do you know my experience level with T. blondi?
How do you know other people's? I never said I was a Blondi master, but having kept the species before, I have more experience than Garth.




"I don't think Garth was giving unsuitable advice, just advising someone that a blondi may be more than they are ready for."

Based on speculation... I'm sorry Scott, but I wouldn't support someone's speculation in regaurds to the care of my animal on my forum.



"I know many people with alot more experience than you when it comes to T. blondi and they all agree that raising them from slings can be very problematic if you don't have the conditions just right"

I know a lot of people who disagree with that...



"The first true step to learning is understanding how little one knows......"

Maybe he should do that Scott. I never claimed to be a "master" Blondi keeper, but having kept the species, I think what I say was more valid. Especially for someone who has never seen a baby T blondi for $80 in years, at least not from a major dealer.

Pauly
 
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Immortal_sin

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To answer the original question, I have also heard that keeping T blondi is more problematic, especially as slings. What size are you getting?
 

Paul Day

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Honestly, this attempt to sabatage/insult me because of my former reputation, rather then admit you are WRONG does not impress me. It does little to back up your point either.

In that case, you are no better then what you claim of me. I gave disagreeing advice (based on experience), nothing more, and you chose took it personally. So that makes me bad? Sorry, I don't buy it.

"I have heard"... is not more valid than "What I have experienced.

In conclusion I AM ALLOWED TO DISAGREE!!! These are opinions.

As far as I'm concerned, I am not the problem.

Pauly
 
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MrDeranged

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Yes Paul, you are allowed to disagree. What I have a problem with is that you state your opinions as fact. How long have you been in the hobby Paul? I remember when you first started posting on petbugs about a year ago. To say that you know better is misleading. Personally, I'll take hearsay from Stan Schultz or Joy Reed, both of whom have said that blondi's are not easy to rear to adulthood, over your "experience" anyday. You're walking the edge right now, don't fall into the abyss. Whether or not this is a dictatorship, (it is ;) ) in my eyes, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Remember that and get off of that High Horse before you break your neck. It's fine to disagree with someone, but instead of posting like your way is the only way, why don't you just try to post that you feel your way is better, not that it is as you have been doing.....

Scott
 

Phillip

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I've kept both for over a year...

Well Paul I have kept both blondi and several types of pokies for far longer than you and I can tell you not from speculation but from experience that blondi are a lot harder to raise that you seem to think. I have kept nearly every species around at one time or another and nearly all of them succesfully but I can tell you that I have killed a few blondi slings and it's not that hard to do.

And on the pokes are always fast and aggressive thing... perhaps if you had actually had any poke experience you would not confuse your fear of a quick moving spider with an undeserved bad rap with actuall aggression. Will a poke bite? Sure if you really push the issue but they will run if the oportunity is there to do so long before biting. And the fairy tales of them jumping on people just to bite them are also false. How do I know this? Because I have kept far more pokes than you for a far longer time.

Again for everyone else no pokes are not hyper aggressive and yes blondis are pretty tough to keep. Regardless of what Paul believes.

Phil
 

Paul Day

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"Yes Paul, you are allowed to disagree. What I have a problem with is that you state your opinions as fact."

Uh, this isn't fair. Look at Tony and Phil. I hardly can expect you to accuse me of this when so many other people do the same. All eyes on me, ignore the little people. And that isn't my "problem". I have on several occassions (even within that message) declared my opinions as opinons... a recent example is my "I think" in the Pokie portion of the message. Do I need a red flag to tell you it is "what I think"? So that isn't my problem. I state my opinions as opinions all the time, just because I goofed up in this one doesn't make me a bad person, and I really resent the focus on that and me personally. Any little thing you can use against me, you try your damn hardest to, I can plainly see that.

Anything in regards to tarantula care is really assumed to be an opinion. As you can see, many people have conflicting views. These are either based on experience, or speculation based on what you've read or been taught. I tend to go with the later.

I am not the master of tarantula care, sorry if you thought I thought so. I've been into tarantulas my whole life, I've kept arachnid pets ever since I was young. My "collection" of tarantulas has only been around for a little over a year though. But this is for several reasons, one being my parents never allowed me to have a tarantula. But I vowed the day I moved out I would have one, and shortly after I did. I have been studying tarantula care since I was 7 years old though, so I was more then ready when I entered the hobby. Anyway, I do know some things. I could be wrong, but so could you, and Schultz, or anyone else.

Pauly
 

Bearacuda42

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WELL,, WELL,, WELL,,

Funny thing as i have never had any probs with my goliaths when little or grown so whats the deal..I dont keep them humid and i dont keep them way to dry nither.. so whats up.. Oh by the way old school oh yah,, old, old, old school plays a huge roll here.. ;P ;P ;P
 

Valael

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Well, I know I'm a little late to reply, but the petstore sells (Well, orders.) Goliaths for $80 - $100, plus shipping and handling (Which isn't that much, $2 - 5)


(Btw, it's a 2 inch spider)
 

SkyeSpider

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As for the blondi issue (attempting to post on topic ;) ):
I've had my blondi for about six months. He was about 1" when I got him, and has grown to 7" in only two molts! The things I've learned while keeping him aren't too complicated, but I may have just been lucky.

Humidity is a MAJOR issue! I keep his cage (a 20 gallon terrarium) at roughly 90% durring the day, 80% at night. I do this by placing warm wet towels over 95% of the cover (plastic locking reptile lid). I leave the 5% open near his burrow for ventilation.

As for his burrow, he needs lots of room (this isn't a small spider). I have two large pieces of driftwood in the cage. Under that is about 4" of substrate (80% vermiculite, 20% potting soil). He's made a burrow with three openings under one piece of driftwood and seems to be VERY happy with the setup.

The temperature is a steady 85 degrees. I feel that warmer is better with my inverts. That's just personal preference, though ;)

I never mist his enclosure, but I did pour about 2 liters of water into the substrate while setting up the cage originally. This has created a shallow water-table which also aids in keeping a higher humidity if I forget to wet the towels. My blondi has a water dish, for his liquid requirements. I've seen him use it twice, but the point is that he used it. It's about 6" across, and 2" deep.

That's about all the advice I have. I'm not an expert on blondi care, but I do consider myself an advanced tarantula keeper :) Good luck with your new spider! Be sure to let us know how it goes!!
 

MrDeranged

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Hey Everyone,

Get ready for a book. This is gonna be broken up into parts addressed to different people. Please bear with me as I'll be addressing everything in this thread bit by bit.

@ TarantulaMan,

Please accept my deepest, heartfelt apologies that your request for information turned into a sludge pit. I hope that the people that stayed on topic answered your question for you. I'm not sure if you've had any other T's besides your G. rosea, but I wish you great success in trying to raise a T. blondi. It may not be easy, but know that we are here and if we can help you, we will. :)

@ Wade & Bryan (TheEternal),

Thank you both for staying on topic and trying to give tarantulaman the information that he requested. You have my thanks. Bryan, I did edit your post as the comment about Paul served no valid purpose.

@ Chip (Code_Monkey), Garth (krucz36), Holley (Immortal_Sin), Phillip, Tony (Monantony), Tracey (Bearacuda41), & Kenny

Many of you have had posts deleted or edited. This was in the interest of moderating this thread. There is no reason to bring the past (Petbugs) up. I am attempting to give Paul a second chance here even though it doesn't seem to be working. I will say this once "Whether you are Paul or if you are my wife (Hi Debby :) ) Personal attacks are not allowed. Some of the posts had valid points and just had the personal attacks edited out of them and some were just deleted. End of story. NO MORE PERSONAL ATTACKS from anyone!!! If you don't like someone, put them on your ignore list and you never have to see another post by them. This can be done by clicking on their name and viewing their profile, and then clicking on the link to "add ____ to your ignore list".

Now, to the heart of the matter....

@Paul,

Never in the history of my forums has someone caused as much strife as you have in the short time you have been here. You stated to me in an email that many of my points lack strength. Lets see if I can reinforce them....

The whole purpose of this thread was to inform TarantulaMan of anything he might need in raising a T. blondi. Wade gives some useful information and asks a question. Mister internet wonders the same thing and then we get to Garth's (krucz36) post.

What is it you found so misleading in this post that you had to attack what he said. The fact that he has seen slings for $80. in a pet store? I've seen them for $100 in pet stores for a 2" sling and apparently, I'm not the only one as a post that Valael made shows that he has seen them at this price as well. The only thing that gives you a leg to stand on in your reply to Garth is the fact that he didn't mention that it was that he has heard that blondi slings are hard to raise but stated it as if it was his personal experience when he hasn't kept them.

To be honest with you, the reason that I did not offer TarantulaMan any advice is because I also have not kept blondi. Not that it matters, but this is due to a lack of space to put a proper enclosure for one. You then go on to say not to give Tarantulaman the wrong impression. What impression did he give that was wrong? That T. blondi are hard to keep? The only people that I know of that have not had some problems with raising T. blondi over the years are you and Bearacuda. According to the people on this board who have kept them (Phil, Wade, Tony), those of us who have heard anecdotal reports (myself, Holley, Garth) and some people on other boards whom I have great respect for (Stan Schultz (who has been collecting T's longer than you've been alive), Joy Reed, Rhys Brigida) the common consensus is that they are hard to raise to adulthood. This is not even taking into consideration that Tarantulaman, I believe (and I apologize if I'm wrong), only has experience with G. rosea. Quite a jump if you ask me.

Irregardless of all this, your post technically doesn't even stay on topic. All it does is belittle another forum members beliefs. There is no pertinant information in your post on how to maintain the "humidity problem that sets it apart from most tarantulas. People either keep them too humid, or too dry, due to a lack of knowledge on their part. I've never understood the fuss, just mist more often and make sure you balance between sufficient ventilation, and restricting enough ventilation so it won't dry out quickly." Where is the information in your post on how to do this? Besides misting which research has proven doesn't really last long enough to make a difference in the time it takes to put away the mister without restricting ventilation enough to cause other problems... Once again, not taking into account that as someone with experience only with G. rosea, Tarantulaman may have no idea how to do this.

In later posts, you go on to say that: we're tying to "sabotage" you. That we won't admit we're wrong. That you never claimed to be an expert. That ""I have heard"... is not more valid than "What I have experienced."" That Tony and Phil state their experiences as fact.

Lets go through these statements.

In what way are we trying to sabotage you?

Have I been editing your posts and making it look like you're saying things that you're not? Have I purposely turned people against you by attacking you personally? The only one here sabotaging you is you.

We wont admit we were wrong

What do we have to admit we were wrong about? In what way were we wrong? Were we wrong because we disagreed with you? Was it because some of our experiences differed from yours? Was it because some of us passed on what we heard from people that are more experienced in keeping T's than anyone here? All we did was offer a viewpoint that differed from yours. Why should we admit that we were wrong?

You never claimed to be an expert.

By making statement like "It just happens that I know better" it may not be claiming to be an expert, but it is claiming that you know better than the rest of us and frankly at the very least, that is just your opinion.


"I have heard" is not more valid than "What I have experienced."

You got this one absolutely right. What we have heard is not more valid than what you have experienced, but neither is it less valid. Even though the experience is not ours does not mean that the experience of others is any less valid than your experience. Yet with your "I know better" statement, you are belittling the experience of those others.

That Tony and Phil state their experiences as fact.

We'll leave Tony's statements out of this as they have been deleted due to them being personal attacks which I will not allow. I hope you're listening Tony... On to Phil. Now while Phil's experience is no more valid than yours is, he clearly states in his post that "I can tell you not from speculation but from experience". That to me is not stating that it is fact, but that it is his experience. While his experience is no more valid than yours, he does have a lot more of it than you do.

As for your reply to Kenny, that was outright insulting. While I think that his post would have been better as a private email to you, there was no call for you to insult him like that. His post was there to try and get you to look at the way you respond to people and maybe get you to think about how you could be less confrontational. Once again to Paul and Everyone. PERSONAL ATTACKS ARE NOT ALLOWED!!!

Paul, it's the bottom of the ninth, there's two outs, you're up to bat and you've already missed one pitch. The second strike will get you moderated and the third will get you banned. I really want to give you a chance here, but you're making it very hard for me. Please keep on topic and stay out of the watering hole as I asked you when you first returned.

This thread will be reopened shortly to allow replies.

Thank you all for your time,

Scott
 
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