Tarantula Poll - most defensive T

[Ultum4Spiderz]

i love this.

you love your tarntulas being themselves, but you don’t like provoking them.

this is the key.

Hands off approach! don’t mess with your furry 8 legged freinds.

 

[Mike Withrow]

I see my chilos a lot, the Huahini I didn't see much my Sp Kaeng Krachan and Sp Prachuap Khiri Khan are out quite a bit. My C doraie pops out when it's hungry and is probably my favourite

Is it true the haribon get huge? If so how big do they get? They look like a cool species

So do I. But I also use methods I've adopted from others in the way I set up my enclosures that helps as well as the way I feed my mature spiders...and...I'm up at 3am every morning.

Most of the Chilobrachys I keep if it's not been dark and quiet for a while they won't be out.
My experience with C. huahini has been the opposite as yours.

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

Are ornata bigger than regalis? I know rufilata area supposedly the largest of the pokies.

Ornata are the second biggest

 

[inquisitivechemist]

My Davus pentaloris is so fiesty. I have 33 old worlds and none have been anywhere near my Pentaloris.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

I'm most impressed by my N. chromatus defense pose, as it does the "all-in, back on four legs" posture.

My adult LP rockets away from a disturbance, kicking hairs as she goes. If she has ever took the standard defense position, I can't recall it.

B. smithi (hey that's what she was back when I got her, and she remains that classification as far as I'm concerned ) scuttles off, sometimes flicking hairs but not at the level that the LP does.

G. Pulchripes, much the same as the B.smithi

G. porteri. Just scuttles off. Mainly because though I've had it two or three years, it is still pretty small, relatively speaking. Slow growers, those spiders.

And finally, my sole OW, C. Darlingi. When it was a small 'sling, the slightest disturbance sent it diving into the burrow.Now it takes a bit of commotion to cause it to not stand its ground. Blowing at it through the lid seems to cause it to retreat better than anything else. For now. If I had to make an estimate, I'd say that at this time, it has the leg-span of a U.S. fifty-cent piece, perhaps a bit under that. I'm not good at estimating. In fact, I'd estimate that I pretty bad at it.

But its speed is nothing less than astounding. That's the nature of OW's, of course.

So for now, the winner for "most impressive defensive stance" amongst my small group goes to the N. chromatus.

 

[Butterbean83]

Mine has to be my 4 legged Selenocosmia javanensis Sling. Threat posing the small red runners and staying in threat pose especially when I go near the little plastic pot that it's in. If it had all 8 legs it would be 3 cm I would say, I've been prekilling it's food from now until it gets its legs all back in a couple of molts.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Mine has to be my 4 legged Selenocosmia javanensis Sling. Threat posing the small red runners and staying in threat pose especially when I go near the little plastic pot that it's in. If it had all 8 legs it would be 3 cm I would say, I've been prekilling it's food from now until it gets its legs all back in a couple of molts.

Should included Pic wow I’ve never had a t lose half its legs. Ever ..except if it was a mm that got munched.

 

[Butterbean83]

It's only a sling still I will get a pic it still gets around just not quite as fast

 

[Butterbean83]

Should included Pic wow I’ve never had a t lose half its legs. Ever ..except if it was a mm that got munched.

This is the Sling. It would be about 3cm or so if it had its back legs but only has it's front 4 legs. Keeping in a small deli sauce type pot to keep my eye on it. There are some small prekilled red runners near it which will be taken out tomorrow if it doesn't eat them. Few drips of water added to the moss when needed and feed it prekilled items for a molt or two. As soon as it's grown it's legs back, hopefully with a couple of successful molts it will be going in a much deeper clear plastic cube like my S crassipes that likes to burrow.

My C doraie loves the deep plastic cubes, great for larger slings, not a massive area on the surface of the substrate but allows for a good depth of substrate which is great for fast Ts like Selenocosmia species. You don't want these guys near the top when you're doing maintenance. They could escape or run up your arm and not something you want a nip from haha.

It has a small burrow in there now and uses it plenty, but I can keep my eye on it in that small pot.

 

[Butterbean83]

This is the Sling. It would be about 3cm or so if it had its back legs but only has it's front 4 legs. Keeping in a small deli sauce type pot to keep my eye on it. There are some small prekilled red runners near it which will be taken out tomorrow if it doesn't eat them. Few drips of water added to the moss when needed and feed it prekilled items for a molt or two. As soon as it's grown it's legs back, hopefully with a couple of successful molts it will be going in a much deeper clear plastic cube like my S crassipes that likes to burrow.

My C doraie loves the deep plastic cubes, great for larger slings, not a massive area on the surface of the substrate but allows for a good depth of substrate which is great for fast Ts like Selenocosmia species. You don't want these guys near the top when you're doing maintenance. They could escape or run up your arm and not something you want a nip from haha.

It has a small burrow in there now and uses it plenty, but I can keep my eye on it in that small pot.
View attachment 480491

This T now has all its legs from one molt, looks darker. I've just rehoused this one now. Got a Chilobrachys sp Prachuap Khiri Khan, a Pterinochilus murinus RCF and a Pterinochilus murinus TCF to rehouse tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to rehousing the P murinus TCF juv!!

 

[Teds ts and Inverts]

I once had a Kaeng Krachan that took any maintenance I did inside her enclosure as a declaration of war. Definitely one of the only Ts I’ve kept that I was intimidated by, as not only was she a menace but she was huge too (7”+). Interestingly, she never adopted the starter burrow I gave her, instead choosing to sit out in the open, which probably contributed to her defensiveness. Still loved her, even tho she needed an exorcist, lol.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

I once had a Kaeng Krachan that took any maintenance I did inside her enclosure as a declaration of war. Definitely one of the only Ts I’ve kept that I was intimidated by, as not only was she a menace but she was huge too (7”+). Interestingly, she never adopted the starter burrow I gave her, instead choosing to sit out in the open, which probably contributed to her defensiveness. Still loved her, even tho she needed an exorcist, lol.


View attachment 490197

I do love a good threat pose. I never get any out of my tarantulas and I feel cheated