I couldn't agree with you more Spinnerkop ,the ornata is a bit aggresive thou ,
my 1st aboreal was a P. cambridgei but would definatley say an avicularia or poecilotheria as a 1st aboreal specie
I have received more aggresive behavior from my Psalmopoeus spec then poecilotheria , then again tapinauchenius is also a good option

I disagree with the above two posts. Poecilotheria are not aggressive for starters, they are defensive.

@spinnerkop - As an experienced keeper you should know better than to be giving such species to complete novices. This is irresponsible. Like I have stated before, they are fine when they are small but they do grow fast, and then what? This novice keeper will have to re-home a very unpredictable and fast tarantula, with a very potent venom to boot. What if it escapes into their house to reappear in their babies cot?

I cannot advocate complete novices keeping any Poecilotheria. No amount of reading and research can take the place of experience. If you make a mistake you will end up paying for it with a very painful bite. They can turn and bolt with no warning given. They can run up your feeding tongs. A sneeze or a cough can send them running for cover, up or down.

You MUST get experience with another 'quick' species before jumping into Poecilotheria if you want to be a responsible hobbyist.

cascade wrote: I would say yes to the P. irminia as your first Arboreal species.

Well my First "arboreal" species was a couple of OBTs that I won in a competition, but I got a P. irminia and P. cambridgei into my first year in the hobby. The main thing is, long tweezers and re house outside on the grass and you will be fine, also you can put the spider into larger tank and the spider can grow up in, less cage changing.

Sum it up, the Psalmopoeus 's, for that matter are a good arboreal species to start with.

At the end of the day, It will come down to your comfort level in "handling" your spiders.

I see there is some disagreement on the subject. I'll take comfort in that nobody said anything negative on the irminia directly.

I like the idea of putting it in a bigger tank, question is, how big can I go? He's about 2-3cm. I don't want to lose him in there, make feeding difficult or anything like that.

I had irminia that were much more defensive than any pokie that I have ever owned (Except maybe my regalis female :starwars: )
My first "tarantula" that I kept was a C.darlingi. Hardly a starter tarantula if you ask over seas boards.
I would have no problem in suggesting a pokie as a starter as long as it is a sling and the buyer understands the risks of the spider (Venom, speed)
In my limited experience with Psalmopeus species, I have found them to be much more skittish than pokies, but might just come down to individual temperaments.

Kudu wrote:

cascade wrote: I would say yes to the P. irminia as your first Arboreal species.

Well my First "arboreal" species was a couple of OBTs that I won in a competition, but I got a P. irminia and P. cambridgei into my first year in the hobby. The main thing is, long tweezers and re house outside on the grass and you will be fine, also you can put the spider into larger tank and the spider can grow up in, less cage changing.

Sum it up, the Psalmopoeus 's, for that matter are a good arboreal species to start with.

At the end of the day, It will come down to your comfort level in "handling" your spiders.

I see there is some disagreement on the subject. I'll take comfort in that nobody said anything negative on the irminia directly.

I like the idea of putting it in a bigger tank, question is, how big can I go? He's about 2-3cm. I don't want to lose him in there, make feeding difficult or anything like that.

P. irminia are quick and can be a little skittish. At that size you should keep it in a 500ml container any more would be a waste in my opinion. Great looking spiders, fast growers if fed right, pretty bomb proof. Keep slightly moist with occasional spray. Once at a decent size, offer a water bowl and overflow it twice weekly. Once water bowl is given keep spraying to a minimum.

Take caution when feeding spraying etc...

No pokies for begginers :starwars:

Based on nothing but my own observations I classify behaviour into the following flavours:

When given the choice between stand-and-fight and flight:
Wasabi: (Aggressive): The spider will hunt you down and eat your eyeballs. (Haven't seen one of these yet. S calceatum wants you to think it will though.)
Hot:(Defensive): It will dig in worse than Mel Gibson in that face-paint movie.
Mild: ( ): The T will run like a little girl for the nearest cover.
Lemon & Herb:I am pet rock. Do what you want with me. I have no care.

Then:
How skittish: In other words, how much fiddling does it take to get the T to do one of the above.

Then:
Venom:
Weaker: "Ouch, that hurt you silly little spider" Mostly New world.
Stronger: "Oh the pain! Please just let me die! Aaarrghhhh..." Mostly Old world.

Then:
Speed:
Teleporter: Houdini on acid and intravenous Red Bull with a doctorate in Aperture science.
Medium: Still pretty fast, but you can at least almost keep up.

So:
Psalmopoeus:
Flavour: Hot
Skittish: Very
Venom: Weaker
Speed: Teleporter

Poecilotheria:
Flavour: Mild
Skittish: Very
Venom: Strong
Speed: Teleporter

Note:
- Being defensive is not such a bad thing considering most arboreals will teleport in the general direction of Up, using you to achieve said up-ness. Once it has reached Up, and can't decide what to do it may well decide to just bite you for not being Up enough, or your lack of hiding places in your upper parts or just for the hell of it because it is out of options.
Speed:I don't think there is such a thing as a slow spider. Any and all of them, when startled, can move at speeds which are faster than your reaction times. It's their willingness to use said speed which makes the difference.

Oh. Based on Venom alone I would go for the P irminia.