TOP 10 FOR BEGINNERS
Most Popular T's for Beginners:
1. Honduran Curly Hair (Brachypelma albopilosum)
2. Chaco Golden Knee (Grammostola aureostriata)
3. Brazillian Salmon Pink (Lasiodora parahybana)
4. Brazillian Black (Grammastola Pulchra)
5. Mexican Red Rump (Brachypelma vagans)
6. Chilean Rose Hair (Grammostola rosea)
7. Brazilian Giant White Knee Tarantula (Acanthoscurria geniculata)
8. Greenbottle Blue Tarantula (Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens)
9. Mexican Red Knee Tarantula (Brachypelma smithi)
10. xx
This terrestrial Tarantula is a hobby classic with the appearance of a perpetual bad hair day.
This specie is generally docile and slow with moderately itchy urticating hair (if you can push it to use it). It also has no specific humidity requirement.
Some people complain that they are slow growers but I find them to grow very quickly.
Some people also say that they are picky eaters - I totally disagree. All my curlys are fierce eaters, attacking their food most of the time.
The chaco is like a genic, with less black, "golden" knee and less white stripes. It can also grow to a huge 8" but at medium-slow speed (more slow than medium but definitely faster than a Chilean Rose). It makes up for that with a very docile attitude. I have never heard of a "psycho chaco". The urticating hair is a moderately itchy but it won't use it often, if at all. Three other pluses are good appetite, no specific humidity requirement and slow speed.
I have found more and more people recommending LP as the best beginner's Tarantula. Firstly, it can grow to a huge size of 10" in weed growing speed (read: VERY VERY VERY fast). Growing from a 1" spiderling to 6" in a year is not rare. It is also available in abundant due to the large number of eggs in one sac. If genic is the champion of glutony, the LP is not very far behind. But a LP is a lot more docile. I have seen people handling 9"-10" specimen with no problem as the Tarantula just sat contently and move slowly. But don't push it because the fangs can cause mechanical damage (the urticating hair is moderately itchy). It is also very visible, usually hang out in the open for you to marvel at. Be prepare to get a big tank for this one! A 10" LP needs minimum a 20-gallon tank to show off!
Brazillian Blacks are breathtakingly beautiful because of their jet black colour.
They are docile and calm, but are unfortunately very slow growers.. I feel that it is a slow price to pay to have one or more of these in your collection.
This terrestrial Tarantula is velvety black with bright red abdomen hair. It is one of the faster grower of the Brachypelma genus (if not the fastest) - up to around 6". It is generally slow moving and docile but can have some unpredictable stretch of skittishness (and hair flicking - its urticating hair is moderately itchy). The plus is that it is good with food and has no specific humidity requirement.
I prefer to call this Chilean Rose Tarantula. It is another hobby classic and usually recommended to beginner (but as you can see, it is definitely not the number 1). You can usually find them in either Common Color Form (pink hair, pink carapace) or Red Color Form (Bright red hair). Widely considered to be docile, this specie sometimes produce specimen with defensive, even aggressive attitude aka "psycho rosie". It is generally slow (moving and growing), grows to around 6" and its urticating hair is moderately itchy. The two biggest complains are its inactivity (a content Rose Hair basically does nothing - though there is a trick you can use to make it slightly more active) and its unexplained fast (sometimes a Rose Hair will just not eat for no reason for a long period of time - sometimes lasting 6 months or more!). Mine eats well, though. Rose Hair is known for HATING wet substrate - it will hang itself on the enclosure wall for days until the substrate dry out. But keeping bone dry substrate is actually a plus - because you don't need to do anything!
This specie is velvety black with white/yellow stripes on its legs. It can grow quickly to a huge 8" leg span with bulky body. You will often find your genic hungry, ready to eat and crushing its prey in multiple bites - the crunching sound is quite entertaining. Ok, that's kinda not true. You will find your genic ALWAYS hungry and ready to eat - there is just no limit to its stomach, probably the most hungry specie in the top 10.
It has no special humidity requirement but seems to enjoy a bit of misting. This is one of the best specie as a display Tarantula because it simply does not understand the concept of hiding and has no problem hanging out in the open, regardless of the many eyes staring at it. The biggest draw back is that this specie loves to flick extremely itchy hair at disturbance.
This Tarantula is BEAUTIFUL with blue-green carapace and legs and black-red/orange-ish abdomen and orange hair. It is terrestrial but webs as much as an arboreal (though some arboreal don't web much at all).
This specie does not tolerate high humidity which can cause stress and even death. It can reach 6" at medium grow speed. It is moderately to very fast and quick to flick highly itchy hair. This specie eats very well and I have seen mine hunting/digging up prey in multiple occasions.
