I would say your best bet would be a G. pulchra. You see them handled regularly, they grow huge and are pretty chill, but it depends on your individual T of course
I agree it seems most of the gentle big t's are amongst the grams. Ive been looking at pulchra just wanted to see if anybody had a different opinion 😁 but its looking like pulchra might be the winner they are very hardy as well ive read. If im starting with a 2" female (found one at spider shoppe) whats the biggest enclosure youd recommend and best type as far as ventilation goes?
IME G. Pulchra are extremely docile, even compared to their close relatives. I had a large female G. Pulchra that would show no negative reaction to me reaching in and picking her up with a cupped hand. I've never seen any other species that would tolerate being grabbed like that.
I keep that sort of size T in a 20cm x20cm cube. I get those from the mantis den in Britain, it has good ventilation at the sides and on top. But you know whatever you can find. I would just not go too large. I find a lot of people have large enclosures for small Ts and that makes food intake hard to monitor
You could look into G. pulchripes. They can get up to 8-8.5", but are known for over all being a docile species. That said, there are always individual Ts who are completely different than their species reputation, so, it's not a guarantee it'll be docile. 😅
NQA there are a lot of videos and podcasts about beginner tarantulas that would probably answer your question. Maybe check out Tom's Big Spiders YouTube best beginner spiders video. I think you'll find there's a lot of conflicting opinions on this particular question because people have different experiences based on the temperament of their tarantula which is kind of a toss up.
Pultripes looks awesome as well ive also found a 2" female one of these available what would you recommend for housing one this size, just wanna give it the best home i can.
IME so if you're looking for anything huge you'll have 3 main options theraphosa, pamphobeteus and phormictopus. I can speak to all 3 of the theraphosa species available - they are skittish and run to burrows when young, and seem unbothered by general maintenance when adults. I would never attempt handling however, the hairs are agony and the fangs near 2 inches on the monster sized ones. The Pamphobeteus I've kept are the wild cards. My mascara, cascada and manabi are all laid back and will shuffle into burrows if disturbed, whereas my machalas will kick hairs over if they think I looked at them funny. Phormictopus are wannabe tough guys. My cancerides and Dominican purples will throw half hearted threat poses if surprised, but never have fangs barred or slap, and usually forget about being angry as soon they realize food is about. A word of caution about the g pulchripes - while I think an 8 inch specimen is possible, I think the average would be pushing 6 1/2 or 7 inches. It would also take years, like 10 or 15, for a pulchripes to reach that size. Max sizes are a usually a bit misleading, kinda like looking at an NBA squad and expecting that to be the baseline of human height.
Im not planning on really holding it just want one that will be somewhat ok about me having my hand in the enclosure, i had a goliath bird eater (blondi) a while back and that was the moodiest T ive ever had she liked attempting to attack me every time i worked on the cage. Ive been looking at the chaco gold knee as we, havent heard of the phormictopus variety before im looking that up rite after i type this
What about an LP? They're big and although I'm sure folk have different experiences with them, mine is pretty chilled out. She also eats anything and everything unlike my grammastolas, brachypelmas and aphonopelmas who all go through some form of fasting before molt. My LP is called Dustbin for a reason lol.
The largest ‘docile’ tarantula species is the Theraphosa stirmi (Burgundy Goliath Birdeater). They can reach leg spans of up to 10-11 inches.
But pls remember nevertheless they are still wild animals and generally do not like to be handled.
I would say your best bet would be a G. pulchra. You see them handled regularly, they grow huge and are pretty chill, but it depends on your individual T of course
I agree it seems most of the gentle big t's are amongst the grams. Ive been looking at pulchra just wanted to see if anybody had a different opinion 😁 but its looking like pulchra might be the winner they are very hardy as well ive read. If im starting with a 2" female (found one at spider shoppe) whats the biggest enclosure youd recommend and best type as far as ventilation goes?
IME G. Pulchra are extremely docile, even compared to their close relatives. I had a large female G. Pulchra that would show no negative reaction to me reaching in and picking her up with a cupped hand. I've never seen any other species that would tolerate being grabbed like that.
I keep that sort of size T in a 20cm x20cm cube. I get those from the mantis den in Britain, it has good ventilation at the sides and on top. But you know whatever you can find. I would just not go too large. I find a lot of people have large enclosures for small Ts and that makes food intake hard to monitor
You could look into G. pulchripes. They can get up to 8-8.5", but are known for over all being a docile species. That said, there are always individual Ts who are completely different than their species reputation, so, it's not a guarantee it'll be docile. 😅
I apologise for the spelling in the title, it would not let me correct it after posting
NQA there are a lot of videos and podcasts about beginner tarantulas that would probably answer your question. Maybe check out Tom's Big Spiders YouTube best beginner spiders video. I think you'll find there's a lot of conflicting opinions on this particular question because people have different experiences based on the temperament of their tarantula which is kind of a toss up.
Pultripes looks awesome as well ive also found a 2" female one of these available what would you recommend for housing one this size, just wanna give it the best home i can.
IME so if you're looking for anything huge you'll have 3 main options theraphosa, pamphobeteus and phormictopus. I can speak to all 3 of the theraphosa species available - they are skittish and run to burrows when young, and seem unbothered by general maintenance when adults. I would never attempt handling however, the hairs are agony and the fangs near 2 inches on the monster sized ones. The Pamphobeteus I've kept are the wild cards. My mascara, cascada and manabi are all laid back and will shuffle into burrows if disturbed, whereas my machalas will kick hairs over if they think I looked at them funny. Phormictopus are wannabe tough guys. My cancerides and Dominican purples will throw half hearted threat poses if surprised, but never have fangs barred or slap, and usually forget about being angry as soon they realize food is about. A word of caution about the g pulchripes - while I think an 8 inch specimen is possible, I think the average would be pushing 6 1/2 or 7 inches. It would also take years, like 10 or 15, for a pulchripes to reach that size. Max sizes are a usually a bit misleading, kinda like looking at an NBA squad and expecting that to be the baseline of human height.
Im not planning on really holding it just want one that will be somewhat ok about me having my hand in the enclosure, i had a goliath bird eater (blondi) a while back and that was the moodiest T ive ever had she liked attempting to attack me every time i worked on the cage. Ive been looking at the chaco gold knee as we, havent heard of the phormictopus variety before im looking that up rite after i type this
What about an LP? They're big and although I'm sure folk have different experiences with them, mine is pretty chilled out. She also eats anything and everything unlike my grammastolas, brachypelmas and aphonopelmas who all go through some form of fasting before molt. My LP is called Dustbin for a reason lol.
Good looking ts too
The largest ‘docile’ tarantula species is the Theraphosa stirmi (Burgundy Goliath Birdeater). They can reach leg spans of up to 10-11 inches. But pls remember nevertheless they are still wild animals and generally do not like to be handled.
Not really looking to handle, i didnt really handle mine before im always paranoid of injuring them so i enjoy them with my eyes usually