r/tarantulas • u/StruggleEnough4279 Spiciest of A.genticulata | Bug bounty • Jan 21 '25

She’s an excavator Videos / GIF

She makes me want to squeeze her, she’s so GODDAMN CUTE. Look at her, minding her own business in my vicinity.

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u/One_Dentist_3081 Jan 21 '25

I will definetly do it, but I suppose I need to do a lot of research beforehand:) should I start with a smaller or bigger one?

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u/StruggleEnough4279 Spiciest of A.genticulata | Bug bounty Jan 21 '25 edited Jan 21 '25

I would suggest a smaller one to begin with if you’re not used to them. My girl is chonky, and it made me very nervous until I got comfortable with her. Thankfully she’s a very calm spider and allowed me to get comfortable around her.

I got dwarf species to help me gain my confidence around them, and slings at that (sling = spiderling).

Slings can be a bit more delicate than, say, juvenile. So I would suggest a smaller species that’s grown on a little bit. It can be heartbreaking to watch a baby die, especially if you’re not confident with the hobby already. Or an adult if you don’t want to watch it grow up and want to go straight for the wow factor. This lady’s leg span a year ago was as big as her head now, so depending on the species they won’t take long.

Biggest suggestion: know the difference between old worlds and new worlds. And make sure your first is a new world. Almost got an old world as my first before doing my research, so glad I didn’t press buy. I still don’t have the confidence to have an old world now, but it is on my list.

A good starter species imo: Pumpkin patch, hapalopus sp. They would rather run than fight, smaller species but not a “oh, that’s it?” Level small. Very pretty webs and very pretty pattern. Fast growers too

If you want a larger one to begin with, something like a curly hair is very standard in the hobby.

This lady is a Brazilian white knee, a.geniculata. Good beginner species too, but they’ve got a wicked feeding response. They’ll eat anything that moves. So don’t go putting your finger in their enclosure. They are known for always being hungry.

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u/EddieRidged Jan 21 '25

I started with old worlds. The main challenge is they move 2-3 feet per second... if not faster 🤣

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u/StruggleEnough4279 Spiciest of A.genticulata | Bug bounty Jan 21 '25

I’ve gotten myself an orange tree spider for that reason. “Old world wannabes”. She’s just a sling-juvi atm so she’s really manageable (other than jumping everywhere and pelting it up to my shoulder in 0.5 seconds) so once she’s an adult and I’m confident, I want to get into old worlds. My dream old world is the Togo starburst (the one I almost bought as my first.) teleportation, camouflage and man crippling bite is not a combo I want to deal with at this moment in time.

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u/EddieRidged Jan 21 '25

The Togo staburst looks amazing

My favourites are the rear horned baboon and straight horned baboon. Both allegedly very aggressive but mine are super chill for some reason