My friend is wanting to give me his P. Striata, but...

[Poec54]

- I'd say coming in here proves he's responsible enough to care for it and understand the risk

- if he's ready for a 2" sling and he'll slowly gain the experience needed as it grows

- A 2" Poec sling will grow at a faster rate than a person's experience. Scratch that plan.

- Do you realize how idiots come here, lose their temper, argue with experienced people, and get species they aren't able to deal with? Coming here is no guarantee of anything. It's what you do with the info and advice. So far the OP is sitting on the fence.

 

[cold blood]

- A 2" Poec sling will grow at a faster rate than a person's experience. Scratch that plan.

- Do you realize how idiots come here, lose their temper, argue with experienced people, and get species they aren't able to deal with? Coming here is no guarantee of anything. It's what you do with the info and advice. So far the OP is sitting on the fence.

+1 Beat me to the exact points I thought of.

I do think in this case the op will make the right decision for himself.

 

[Poec54]

+1 Beat me to the exact points I thought of.

I'd like to think he's salvageable. So far he hasn't blown up and started swearing; good sign. Beginners need to learn to pace themselves with the species they get. This is not a race. Yes, it's their constitutional right to get in over their head and have escapes and bites, but why on earth go thru that? We see that play out periodically.

Please OP, take your time and enjoy the hobby. Do it right.

 

[Sam_Peanuts]

He hasn't lost his temper and isn't arguing with experience member though. From the way he writes, he seems to understand the situation, I don't see what makes him on the fence other than the few misunderstanding of his intentions and twisting of his words.

As for the experience vs growth rate, feed it less, problem solved
But seriously, that's debatable and it will depend on the individual and how fast they learn things.

There's not a lot of things to learn as far as basic care and dealing with them go. Once you experience how the few different possible scenario, you'll either start adjusting your methods or you'll realize it's just not for you, but you won't know until you try.

He needs facts and tips on how to handle the situations he might face and what they may be so he can judge for himself if he has the right qualities to deal with them, not being told what to do.

If he were saying dumb things like wanting to pet his new pokie, then yes, he'd need to be told what to do.

 

[Poec54]

Once you experience how the few different possible scenario, you'll either start adjusting your methods or you'll realize it's just not for you.

Is that 'adjusting his methods' before or after an escape and/or bite? By the time he figures out 'it's not for him' he may be in way over his head with a spider he's afraid of. One thing that invariably gets overlooked is: what about the other people he lives with? What about the cats/dogs in the house? They get drug into this too. It's usually not just the owner who has a stake in this. His brief miscalculation may mean someone else getting bit. Again, why the race? Set aside any ego and start with beginner species and see how it goes. There's no shame in that. That's how I started. Tarantulas will be around a long time. If they ever do get banned, it will be because of beginners getting species that don't have the experience to work with.

 

[Sam_Peanuts]

But the beginner species won't act like a pokie so you won't be more prepared and even as an experienced keeper, you can't always prevent an escape or a bite. I know I was a lot more careful around a dangerous species(once I knew they were dangerous, unlike the first day I got my OBT, but I was still way more careful than the guy at the pet shop) as a beginner than I am now. You have to make the jump at some point and a slow or an extremely fast tarantula is still way faster than you'll ever be, I certainly won't stick my finger in my rosea cage if she's hungry because she jumps on everything that moves.

Those are the right things to tell him about though. He now know he has to take the others around him into consideration in case things go bad which he might not have thought about.

In this case, it's not about being in a hurry or having an ego, it's about an opportunity that will not come back and making his friend happy by keeping the pet he loves near him so he can visit. He even has a backup plan in case he get's scared or things don't work out for some reason so he clearly doesn't plan on sticking with it if he's not comfortable. All he needs is as much information he can get to make an informed decision based on his current skills and his personality.

We're of course biased by our own experiences. You started slow and I started rather fast without being well informed and I never got bit in 12 years or have an adult escape(I did have 2 or 3 sling escape me though after many years and starting to be a bit careless, one of which I've never been so happy to see again after 2 months and in perfect health).

 

[awiec]

Due to the large quote size and my tablet's limits I'll answer here.

Normally I'd happily rehome a spider but currently I'm in the process of moving so I'm not sure if that would be good for the spider(or my wallet ). As cb said, these are 50 bucks and aren't too hard to come by, I'd suggest trying to find someone here who has the proper experience to care for it. Nothing will prepare you for a pokie but the more time with fast spiders the better off you'll be. These do grow at a very fast rate too, both my male and females have grown over 3 inches in year and I don't power feed either, before you know it you will have a bold large spider. I do not know you but if you wish to take her and you do realize she is above your skill then there will be people who will buy her (including myself if I wasn't moving). You are getting info from good people here so you ultimately decide.

 

[Angel Minkov]

I have 3 Poecilotheria species at the moment. I've owned 4 or 5 different species throughout my 6 years of experience. I've owned OBTS also (Got my first when I had less than a year experience, but it escaped. Got another. It escaped too. Spotted a patern?). As far as I know, P. striatas are fairly defensive and of course fast like all other Pokies (not to mention the nasty venom... even at 2'' it can make you experience very painful cramps, you might have trouble breathing after the bite and many more bad things). I personally think that with only a year, nobody is ready for Pokies, Pterinochilus spp. and so on, but that doesn't mean you can't take it. Heck, I would, but the question is are you responsible enough? It's entirely up to you.

If I was you, I'd carefully read Poec54's opinions in this thread and then decide. He has never been bit and he's been in the hobby for 40 years. That means something I've never been bit too, but my experience is nothing compared to his and my experience with Pokies is at maximum juvie size. A 6'' striata puts my experience with spiders under the table.

 

[David VB]

I truly respect members on here like Poec54, but i think you are the only one who can answer that question. MY personal experience : i bought a P. metallica only a few weeks to months after my very first T (a B. smithi i got for a present from the misses^^) and yes, they're fast and the bite is probably hurting like hell. But with common sense and quite some feeling for responsibility, it's doable to own poecie's as beginner. I even think that met bites come to those more experiences and get sloppy. I have a couple of poecie's now, and they're stunning and tbh, i experience them as pretty calm. Never ever had a threat posure of them, instead they always walk (or sometimes run) to their hide. My OBT and M. balfouri are way ùore defensive and fast

 

[Poec54]

D These do grow at a very fast rate too, both my male and females have grown over 3 inches in year and I don't power feed either, before you know it you will have a bold large spider.

I don't power feed either, and my male Poecs mature in a year at 5" to 7". Females run a little behind.

 

[Sana]

I don't power feed either, and my male Poecs mature in a year at 5" to 7". Females run a little behind.

Thanks for the warning. My S.O. failed to mention that they grow that quickly. Thank goodness the poec is his responsibility. I'm guessing based on common sense that the longer the legs, the faster they move?

 

[Storm76]

Thanks for the warning. My S.O. failed to mention that they grow that quickly. Thank goodness the poec is his responsibility. I'm guessing based on common sense that the longer the legs, the faster they move?

Speed is the same, but longer legs equal covering more ground in the same time

 

[Poec54]

Speed is the same, but longer legs equal covering more ground in the same time

Technically speaking, isn't that how speed is measured?

 

[ARACHNO-SMACK48]

Just be ready for anything.
Make sure the T cannot escape and has a proper setup with good ventilation etc.
Never open the enclosure without knowing exactly where the T is.
Expect the T to be much faster than your reaction time.
Pretend the T is on a mission to bite you at all times. ( this of course is not true, but if you pretend that it is you will be more careful)
Anticipate that the T may climb up your feeding tongs.
Never become careless.
When feeding / doing maintenance, make sure you are in an open space with few places for the T to hide in the event of an escape.

 

[Storm76]

Technically speaking, isn't that how speed is measured?

Hm...now that you mention it...brainfail on my end. It's 6am here, I'm not fully awake yet.

 

[scarhbar]

Well just a quick update. As hard as it was for me to say no, I told him to give the P. Striata to someone else. Sometimes I forget that there will be a day when I can get another Pokie instead, I'm buying my self an Avic! Good starter arboreal I hear. Thanks for the help! All your input helped greatly in making my decision!

 

[Angel Minkov]

Yes, avics are great starter arboreals, but they are notorious to be hard to take care of аnd "die for no apparent reason".

 

[Sana]

What size Avic? They were great for me to learn about the way arboreals move and behave, but they are pretty specific in their care requirements. I've been told that having good cross ventilation and not drowning them in an attempt to create a specific humidity are the keys to success. To that end, mine has cross and top ventilation, a water bowl, and dry sub. I sprinkle a few drops of water on her sub every week or two in different spots, and I never mist her enclosure or web. I monitor the humidity in the room rather than the enclosure and only do that because I live in a very dry area. We have 30% RH on a wet day here. Through a number of easy suggestions from the experienced keepers here though, I have the room my T's are in at 55-65% RH depending on the day. The one fussy thing about my avic is that she tries to burrow if the temperature in the room is lower than 72F, though she's a sub adult. I don't think this a universal avic trait though, as many people are keeping theirs around 68F overnight without any trouble.

 

[awiec]

Yes, avics are great starter arboreals, but they are notorious to be hard to take care of аnd "die for no apparent reason".

Not really, they are "notorious" cause people baby them and you end up with a dead spider. They don't need as much humidity or crazy ventilation like I've seen some cages; you want enough for air flow but you can have too much and ruin your micro climate. My avics might get a little more attention than my other Ts but they are some of the smaller ones in the collection so I monitor them more at that stage anyway. Once you get them to 1.5 inches, they are pretty forgiving as long as you don't drown them, much easier than say, a T.stirmi.

 

[Arachnomaniac19]

I got a 2" ish P.regalis when I was 12. Right now (ATM I'm 15) it's a 6" specimen that has never bitten me (mainly because I'm not an idiot with it). If you want it, read some bite reports on the species and decide from there.