Most advanced T?

[Chris LXXIX]

Quite frankly I'm still surprised so many keep Chilobrachys spp without any problems? When I got my couple, I was sure I could get along with them just fine, but there was still some anxiety in case I overestimated myself. At any rate, comparing the Aussie T's with Asian ones, both have potent venom and the majority a bad attitude additionally. So what's the difference between them? Why are people so adamant about Aussie T's, but stamp Asian burrowers apparently as "easier than those"?

As for the venom that can kill a dog, the very same venom can't kill a human to my knowledge, but canines are very succeptible to it for some reason - if memory serves me right.

You're right but let me say that while i think they're venom (Chilobrachys fimbriatus for example) is one of the most underrated and could be even compared to Poecilotheria sp, they are in general a bit calmer than Pterinochilus murinus or a Stromatopelma calceatum.

Every of us knows that OW T's have potent venoms, and that, some of them are more potent than the mass of OW (some Poecilotheria sp, arboreal baboons, Pelinobius muticus and OBT, Haplopelma hainanum etc) here it's when temperament issue enters.
Haplopelma lividum is depicted as a high defensive one. My opinion differ, because, if housed well, with lots of rightly moist inches of substrate, 90% is a "spook and hide T".

Not the OBT. I have looked at my AF behavior for a long time. That orange, evil eliteness. Sometimes during rehousing or maintenance got the feeling of "look, i know i'm better than you, but i will play the game for fun".

About Australians, i doubt Phlogius crassipes, for instance, could be more potent than a Poecilotheria ornata. Sometimes there's a lot of myth behind those T's being Australia the home of really hot inverts.. they are somewhat rare to find unlike OBT, Asians in general and Poecilotheria sp. I think that's why.

---------- Post added 07-30-2015 at 10:35 AM ----------

What about the ctenidae red fangs?

I don't know if they are potentially deadly like their Brazilian "cousins" (Phoneutria nigriventer) but.. what i know is that they can climb easily, and have a good eyesight, much better than T's.

 

[Felidae]

I love this post... Nice input on the venom potentancy but I'm curious as to what you feel is the most difficult to "keep?" Or would you have the same answer? Great pic n post

I didn't find the difficulty about keeping any of them, but I try to make optimal conditions for every T what I have. Some need more humidity, some less, some hardier species and some less tolerant. If you do your best to meet with their requirements, they're easy to keep. I think my answer still the same. It's not just about venom potency, cause the goal is to don't been bitten by any T, but have some aggressive (defensive) species where you need to be much more careful.

 

[klawfran3]

I'd also like to throw in, based off of venom, some Australian tarantulas. I'm not well versed with Ts from Oz, but I know some of them have venom potent enough to kill a dog.

But being potent enough to kill a dog with venom means nearly nothing in regards if it will kill a person. Look at Atrax Robustus. Dangerously venomous to humans, possibly even fatal, but dogs bitten by this spider supposedly have little to no reaction. Different animals are affected by venoms differently. This is the reason why we have LD50.

Dysdera crocata has venom specifically designed to immobilize woodlice. Woodlice need a significantly lower LD50 dose than other invertebrates of the same size, and the woodlice are killed much quicker. Again, different venoms affect different animals differently. Jeez that hurts to read that last sentence...

I'm going to look through a few books I have and find that information on the venom. I know "Biology of Spiders" by Foelix Rainer has a good short article on it.

__EDIT__

I searched through the book and found the page on LD50 (p.53 onwards). This has to do with one of the black widows, Latrodectus Mactans. As you can see from the chart below (taken from the book, I assume no credit, all credit goes to the creator), the venom of a black widow is much more potent to a fly or a mouse than it is to a frog or even a cockroach. Heck, it affects chickens more than it does cockroaches. Note how even though the chickens needed more venom per animal to succumb to the venom, the amount injected was still .0007 milligram of venom per gram of bodyweight less than what was needed for cockroaches. Cockroaches are more closely related to flies (the targeted species of the widow) than they are to chickens and yet they still had a better resistance to the venom than a chicken. Like I said before, different venoms... you get the point.

Source: Foelix, Rainer F. "Venom Glands and Toxicity." Biology of Spiders. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. 53-56. Print.

And I highly recommend this book, it'll open your eyes on spiders haha

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

3.5" fangs...where do you get that info?

Sheesh! And you call your self a tarantula hobbiest?
You never heard of the Philippine Sabre-fanged tarantula, Fangus bogusii?

 

[Jarvis]

I originally created this thread to get a list of Ts that a novice or those that ask am I ready for this T? to stay away from (if you have to ask than the answer more than likely is no). Wether it is because of care conditions, venom, speed, or defensive nature, the point is if it's been mentioned in this thread do some research before purchasing something that your going to be afraid of, or kill do to poor conditions. I hope that this thread helps some of the members on the boards.

I would have to agree with all of the Ts that have been mentioned.

 

[Sam_Peanuts]

I would have to agree with all of the Ts that have been mentioned.

Even the Fangus bogusii?

 

[Jarvis]

Even the Fangus bogusii?

Lol... if it existed, a fast, venomous, defensive T with a insane fang to abonomen ratio would have to be number 1 on the list.

 

[El Consciente]

3.5" fangs...where do you get that info?

I actually misread the report from where I saw it - it was in reference to body size, NOT fangs...I thought that sounded a bit cartoonish when I read it:sarcasm: My fault!

 

[klawfran3]

Lol... if it existed, a fast, venomous, defensive T with a insane fang to abonomen ratio would have to be number 1 on the list.

That would be fun!

But to be fair the Wikipedia page about phlogius crassipes has some pretty bad wording and reading quickly it seems like their fangs can get 3.5" but it's just because the phrasing is cruddy,

 

[Storm76]

That would be fun!

But to be fair the Wikipedia page about phlogius crassipes has some pretty bad wording and reading quickly it seems like their fangs can get 3.5" but it's just because the phrasing is cruddy,

Wikipedia is one of the worst sources for information about tarantula species! There's so many errors on that page, it's probably a years works to correct it all. I tend to stay away from it

 

[Ashton]

Wait a second! This is "Tarantula Chat," not Ctenid Chat.

The only dangerous Ctenid is the genus Phoneutria as a whole. Every other genus and species belonging to Ctenidae that is not Phoneutria hurts when it bites and is quick, but not medically significant.

I say all tarantulas vary greatly. And how many bite reports on dogs are there for Poecilotheria, Heteroscodra, Stromatopelma, ect.? This shouldn't be a venom comsideratiom thread from the sounds of it, and even if it is, there are plenty of other posts describing venom. There's even a section on here called "Bite Reports" that you can browse.
I say the most difficult Ts I have ever had were all WC Theraphosa stirmis because no matter what I do to male their tank stay at the appropriate humidity, they always seem to have molts that aren't 100% auccessful.

 

[Burchling]

Wikipedia is one of the worst sources for information about tarantula species! There's so many errors on that page, it's probably a years works to correct it all. I tend to stay away from it

it looks like it would be fair to say T. Blondi is in the running... I just found out some info on them today that kind of surprised me and I made a mental note to mention it on here.

I was over at my buddy Tylers picking up something, and we got to talking about his Goliath. He told me that despite his efforts to not get haired accidentally by his girl, i.e. wearing latex gloves. However, the urticating hairs go right through the latex gloves apparently! Talk about awesome... anyway, just another reason these huge fellas are my number 1 most difficult to keep. Just bc they require some special exceptions... This wouldn't stop me from getting one. As with every T I own, I buy it anticipating 10+ years of caring for it. Whatever that entails.

Also, I'm going to agree with Storm (yet again lol) on the Wikipedia deal... If you want to use wikipedia, use it to gather sources from the bottom of the page, and that's about it.

 

[MrsHaas]

Stromatoplema calceatum...Heteroscondra maculata....maybe Poecilotheria ornata.

Agreed... H. Mac and S. calceatum for sure. Do u think P. rufilata would be on the list too if ornata is? I'm not sure, it's hard to gauge.

 

[BobGrill]

I'd put any Pokie on that list as well as P.murinus and Haplopelma species.

Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

 

[magneto]

I must say that reading this thread makes me thing I must have been either extremely lucky or (less likely) naturally skilled at keeping difficult/dangerous tarantulas. When I started out four years ago, being a rookie/idiot, I just bought whatever I liked based mostly on the appearance of the T's. Within the first six months, among others I had acquired a P. regalis, three P. mirandas that i kept in a communal set up, a P. metalica a C. marshalli, a P. irmina and a P. murinus. Within the first year I had also picked up a H. Maculata and a T. stirmi too. Had them for maybe a year and a half without problems until I took a break from the hobby and sold them. (Boy do I regret doing that now)

I'm guessing it boiled down to a combination of a healthy respect for the T's mixed in with a lot of blissful ignorance and blind luck.

 

[Poec54]

I say the most difficult Ts I have ever had were all WC Theraphosa stirmis because no matter what I do to male their tank stay at the appropriate humidity, they always seem to have molts that aren't 100% successful.

Not that difficult. I have a bunch of stirmi, all sizes from sling to adult, and have never had a bad molt with them. Humidity and moist substrate is the key.

 

[Beary Strange]

it looks like it would be fair to say T. Blondi is in the running... I just found out some info on them today that kind of surprised me and I made a mental note to mention it on here.

I was over at my buddy Tylers picking up something, and we got to talking about his Goliath. He told me that despite his efforts to not get haired accidentally by his girl, i.e. wearing latex gloves. However, the urticating hairs go right through the latex gloves apparently! Talk about awesome... anyway, just another reason these huge fellas are my number 1 most difficult to keep. Just bc they require some special exceptions... This wouldn't stop me from getting one. As with every T I own, I buy it anticipating 10+ years of caring for it. Whatever that entails.

Also, I'm going to agree with Storm (yet again lol) on the Wikipedia deal... If you want to use wikipedia, use it to gather sources from the bottom of the page, and that's about it.

I'm not sure about them getting through gloves, but if the gloves are his only defense, it's entirely possible the hairs are being transferred to his hands from: his arms, the instruments he's using and anything else that the hairs may have drifted onto. As if their hairs being intense on their own wasn't enough, from my understanding, they make sure they're everywhere. So merely opening the tank can cause them to drift out. You hear of people having full PPE for Theraphosa maintenance.

 

[Poec54]

I'm not sure about them getting through gloves, but if the gloves are his only defense, it's entirely possible the hairs are being transferred to his hands from: his arms, the instruments he's using and anything else that the hairs may have drifted onto. As if their hairs being intense on their own wasn't enough, from my understanding, they make sure they're everywhere. So merely opening the tank can cause them to drift out. You hear of people having full PPE for Theraphosa maintenance.

I wear disposable vinyl gloves when I work with my spiders, and have never had Theraphosa hairs get thru the gloves. Just about everywhere else, but not thru the gloves. Maybe I need a vinyl body suit. When transferring cages and otherwise getting them worked up, I wear a plastic painter's/grinder's face shield, along with long sleeves and pants.

 

[windscorpions1]

I wear disposable vinyl gloves when I work with my spiders, and have never had Theraphosa hairs get thru the gloves. Just about everywhere else, but not thru the gloves. Maybe I need a vinyl body suit. When transferring cages and otherwise getting them worked up, I wear a plastic painter's/grinder's face shield, along with long sleeves and pants.

I understand the gloves and long sleeves but doesn't the face shield seem a bit excessive?

 

[edgeofthefreak]

I understand the gloves and long sleeves but doesn't the face shield seem a bit excessive?

Urticating hairs are designed to irritate mucous membranes. The itchy skin is just icing on an already inedible cake. You'd want the shield to protect your face, and all the mucous membranes attached to it. If Rick gets a full face flick, he can just wipe off the mask and continue.