Top 5 Must Have Tarantulas

[SmokeyMountainInverts]

If you were limited to 5 tarantulas, which 5 species would you choose? Is it based on looks? Rarity? Attitude?

I’m new to the hobby but find myself very addicted to it already.

 

[Leila]

Brachypelma albopilosum for sure. I have two, and they are supper fluffy and adorable and always hungry. My two albos are fat, fluffy butts.

Sorry, I do not have a 'top five,' but the B. albo is a favorite of mine.

 

[TownesVanZandt]

Hmmm.

GBB, a Ceratogyrus species, an OBT, a "Psalmo" species and a P. muticus would be my pick. Plus a bonus E.pachypus of course, they´re lovely!

 

[KezyGLA]

Any 5 Harpactirinae

 

[chanda]

Tough question! I'm sure it will vary considerably from keeper to keeper, according to personal favorites and the reasons they keep them in the first place. I use my tarantulas for classroom demonstrations/display, so that does influence which species I would keep and why. So... if I had to narrow my collection down to 5 tarantulas, I would keep: G. rosea because she is so docile and cooperative, A. geniculata because she's an absolute beast at feeding time, T. stirmi because of her impressive size, Aphonopelma sp. because I like to have the local/native species represented, and... hard to say on the last one. Probably B. albopilosum, because I'm sentimental and she was my first tarantula. I raised her from a sling, so I'd hate to give her up.

Of course, I'm very glad this is a decision I do not have to make for real! I'd hate to have to get rid of any of my pets!

 

[Chris LXXIX]

- Goddess*
- 0.1
- Pelinobius
- muticus
- PBUH

* Peace Be Upon Her

 

[SmokeyMountainInverts]

I currently only have three slings.
C. Cyaneopubescens, Y. Diversipes, and E. Murinus, but they’re all lovely in their own way.

 

[MetalMan2004]

All of them.

 

[cold blood]

1. A Pamphobeteus sp...any species, it doesn't matter. The greatest terrestrial genus for good reason....I'm not explaining it again, if you don't have, just get one.

Resized952017022895233014

• cold blood
• Mar 1, 2017
• 3

nigricolor.

Gotta love Pamphs!!

Pamph

• cold blood
• Oct 14, 2017
• 1

Nigricolor, hobby form....AF just entering pre molt

2. P. cambridgei IMO the worlds perfectest tarantula...fast growth, insane appetite, insane speed (yet remarkably easy to deal with), large, uniquely colored and generally a very visible t.

Psalmopoeus cambridgei

• cold blood
• Mar 11, 2017
• 7
• cambridgei psalmopoeus psalmopoeus cambridgei trinidad chevron tarantula

cam...the camster..the caminator, the cam-meister...Dr. Camenstein...Cam-a-lama-ding-dong...mass...

3. A. avicularia species (or close relatives like the versicolor)...There are many available, and every single one is worth owning.

Resized952016120995124158

• cold blood
• Dec 9, 2016
• 1

juronesis

Resized952017010795161554

• cold blood
• Jan 13, 2017
• 3

versi

Resized952017020795002707

• cold blood
• Feb 7, 2017

Avic avic, just starting to get adult blues...but holding onto that bright sling abdomen...love...

versi

• cold blood
• Jun 28, 2017

MM versicolor

Avicularia

• cold blood
• Oct 29, 2017
• 2

juronesis mt#2

MM C. versicolor

• cold blood
• Nov 1, 2017

4. C. marshalli One of the coolest fossorials around and also one that hides surprisingly little and web a lot. Very unique species.

Ceratogyrus marshalli

• cold blood
• Jan 13, 2017
• 2
• ceratogyrus ceratogyrus cornuatus ceratogyrus marshalli female great horned baboon tarantula marshalli mature female straight horned baboon tarantula straighthorned tarantula

marshalli

5. Here I thought of naming 50 species, but that wouldn't be fair.;/ So the arboreal side of me says a Poecilotheria sp...any, they are all fantastic, but for me it would probably be ornata.

ornata carapace

• cold blood
• Nov 6, 2017

AF ORNATA

• cold blood
• Nov 1, 2017
• 6

The terrestrial side of me says, you have to have a Nhandu (I would accept A. geniculata as well).View media item 38880

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• cold blood
• Mar 5, 2017
• 3

feasting chromatus.

genic

• cold blood
• Jun 14, 2017

A. geniculata

 

[Swoop]

My favorites of the ones I've had so far:

G. pulchra. Has kind of a steely-blue or dark green iridescence on its legs. Happily takes down dubias larger than itself.

A. geniculata. Feeding is FRANTIC if I drop the feeder more than an inch away.

B. albopilosum. Cute little (big) fluffy spiders.

P. cambridgei. I bought a misidentified 6+" suspect female. Tons of webbing, out all the time. Very impressive to look at.

L. violaceopes. I wouldn't call this a 'must have' and it's the only OW on my list but a large juvenile was one of my first T's and definitely a favorite. She's easily 6" DLS and still a juvenile. Deep purple legs for days and hilariously over-sized footpads (I call her 'Puk' for her pumped-up kicks). Shy, but I see her out a couple times a month and if I'm careful about shadow/vibrations she'll wander around while I refill her water from a ventilation hole right above the dish. Eats 3 large dubias a week.

 

[Venom1080]

Only five..

Poecilotheria rufilata.
Huge, one of the largest arboreal tarantulas out there, if not the largest. Gorgeous as well. Fast growing with a great feeding response.


2. Avicularia variegata
One of the biggest and bluest Avics. With a cherry red abdomen.

3. Lampropelma violaceopes
Very large arboreal. Combines all my favorite traits into one spider. Color, size, attitude, behaviour.

4. Hysterocrates crassipes
Huge, black and brown, interesting behavior. Great eaters and fast growers. Lovely thick rear legs without the glacial growth rate.

5. Ybyrapora diversipes
Brilliant colors and interesting behavior.

 

[Sergic]

1. Brachypelma. Most likely I'd choose either albopilosum or vegans if I had to.

2. P. cambridgei

3. P. ornata

4. C. darlingi. This is the only. Cyratogyrus I've kept, so really any Cyratogyrus could probably go here.

5. A. genic.

I've only kept 15 or so species at this point, so this list is likely to change.

 

[viper69]

This should be transferred into T chat forum.

 

[ErinM31]

I am glad that I can have many more than five and enjoy such variety of appearance and behavior! There are many species and genera that I don’t have experience with yet, but of those that I do my must haves would include:

1) Euathlus sp. “red” or “yellow”
I love their calm but curious temperament and you can’t go wrong with black accented by red/orange.

Euathlus Sp Red male

• ErinM31
• Mar 25, 2016
• 1

This is the gorgeous male I got from TarantulaSpiders.com
He's a laid back guy, doesn't mind...

2) Aphonopelma chalcodes
A classic beauty and one of my favorites.

Aphonopelma chalcodes

• ErinM31
• Oct 1, 2017
• 11
• aphonopelma aphonopelma chalcodes arizona arizona blond tarantula chalcodes desert blond tarantula female tarantula

My second AF Aphonopelma chalcodes beauty has put on some weight since I got her in August and...

3) Poecilotheria regalis (or any of the larger visible species)
I live their patterning and the elegant beauty of mostly blacks and grays set off by unexpected intense color depending on the angle and light!

Poecilotheria regalis

• ErinM31
• Nov 2, 2017
• 10

My freshly molted beauty! ^_^
It looks like they may be around 3” DLS!

4) Brachypelma hamorii
My first tarantula and mine has always been out in the open to admire, and anything but a “pet rock”, my Diva is quite feisty!

My handsome guy <3

• ErinM31
• Jul 2, 2017
• 5
• brachypelma brachypelma hamorii brachypelma smithi mexican flameknee tarantula

The tarantula formerly known as B. smithi ;)

Showing off his fresh look

(Actually my beautiful...

5) I shall leave open... I love my Aphonopelma moderatum and from all the posts, I expect Psalmopoeus cambridgei will be on my list as well. I got a P. cambridgei sling and there was one epic feeding and I haven’t seen them since, probably in pre-molt. I haven’t had an Avicularia yet but expect they may demand a top five spot. (And to think not long ago I said I had no interest in the genus because C. versicolor is too much for my taste! I am looking forward to getting A. metallica slings in a month or so! )

 

[BoyFromLA]

Awwww, no love for Lasiodora difficilis?

 

[boina]

Only 5??? You are kidding, right?

Let's see...

1. A. geniculata - a must.

2. M. mesomelas - great colors, great feeding response, always out.

3. Euathlus/Homoeomma sp. red. - a curious tarantula - everyone should have one.

4. T. cyaneolum - curious, better feeding response than E. sp. red, and cyan blue. A personal favorite.

5. Harpactira sp. - Kezy got me into them and they don't disappoint.

6. - what, I'm supposed to stop here??? What about G. pulchra? And all the arboreals, like P. rufilata and C. versicolor?

Nope. 5 is not enough by a long shot.

 

[Paul1126]

1. C. cyaneopubescens

20171024_062131

• Paul1126
• Oct 24, 2017
• 2

2. B. boehmei

3. B. klaasi

Klaasi

• Paul1126
• Sep 27, 2017
• 1

"I won't use the hide but I'll sit on top of it"

4. B. hamorii

Hamorii

• Paul1126
• Nov 8, 2017

Male

5. B. emilia

Yum yum

• Paul1126
• Aug 14, 2017
• 5

B. Emilia feeding

 

[johnny quango]

This is so unfair i can't even choose a top 5 out of my own collection, If i have to i guess i could try.

1. G pulchra who doesn't love a shiny black tank who in my experience is less grumpy than some other Grammostola species

2. T cyaneolum a beautiful smaller very tolerant little beast and it's blue so what's not to love

3. T sp cajamarca a rarer stunning tarantula that everybody should own if they get the chance

4. P sp mascara a big bulky two toned brown Pamphobeteus with all the feeding response and virtually no attitude of the other members of this genus

5. E pachypus it's a slightly more visible baboon tarantula than most of the others seeing as it builds its burrow straight down so you get to see it more often, also those beautiful thick hug boots that the females wear are amazing and funny at the same time. This species is a great introduction to keeping old world tarantulas as they tend to be calmer and have less potent venom than other African tarantulas.

I never mentioned P cam, B albo or Nhandu species because other members had and I'd agreed with them so that kinda covered me. I will say if you don't want a G pulchra try G iheringi in it's place because that works for me along with G actaeon, anthracina, A chalcodes, E parvulus, T lagunas oh crap this as got to stop so i quit

 

[SmokeyMountainInverts]

Clearly asking everyone to narrow it down to 5 was a bit too much to ask.

 

[PanzoN88]

1. E. Sp. red (I have 3 and this is my favorite species)

2. E. Sp. yellow (I had to wait a while to get one and ended with five)

3. My female B. schroederi (it's rare, I was lucky to get one and she is feisty)

4. A. geniculata (my big female is amusing to watch come feeding time)

5. My B. albopilosum (my first tarantula)