Start with smaller T.... Bigger tank.... grow with it.... expect the worst. Got it! I shall meditate on this in preparation for his arrival, hopefuly tomorrow.

Marius wrote: 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.

LOL!!! Funniest post of the year!!!
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :thumbsup:

If you want to see truly unsettling speed, try rehousing a H.Maculata from a courier package to its new enclosure....I almost crapped myself! Nothing could prepare me for the speed at which this spider moves. I thought rehousing my 13cm P.Irminia was fun...but this spider took it to the next level.

I even watched videos on Youtube to try and get a feel for it's speed....it did not help :laugh:

I just want to add here, my first arboreal spider, was a full grown female H.maculata... I didn't even get the chance to raise it and learn about it's speed, attitude or anything. I'm still alive.

We must all remember that although species are type cast with a particular "personality", each specimen must be rated on merit. My H.maculata is the biggest scardy cat T I have, will always run and hide at the smallest sign of action, and will undoubtedly bite you if cornered. But she has never, not once, EVER shown a threat pose or any form of aggression. She did hide under the rock in her water bowl once, under water... weirdo.

Then the most defensive and angry spider I know of currently will put any Poecilotheira, Stromatopelma, Haplopelma or OBT to shame, and it's a.... Grammostola rosea... That's right, a Chilean rose. You need to wear a hazmat suit to get near this demon of a tarantula.

So this is just to clarify my argument, you might have a species that's well know of aggression, but it might have a very peaceful disposition or vice versa.

If you get a T and feel that it's too fast or scary for you, rather sell it and get something else. But if the same T proves relatively easy to keep and maintain without making you break a sweat every time you just think about re-housing it, then as was said above... it's suitable.

HS

@hetero, Im hearing too many stories of super aggro G rosea's.
Mine is about 2cm DLS, if not a little smaller, and when I come near it it raises it abdomen almost completely vertical to the point that it looks more like a scorpion than a T. Never attacks though. Not looking good for the future though. Hasnt eaten in a month either crazy little thing.
Sorry for hijacking the thread......

Kudu wrote: Haha! Nice thanks Marius!

So it's likelyhood of bite vs. severity of bite?

Maybe start a thread with this on all the T's you're familiar with Marius? :laugh:

Hehe! Wish I had the time for that : (

HeteroScuderia is right of course. My post was a very gross and unashamed generalization. Everything depends on the individual spider, time of day, molt cycle, temperature, age, alignment of Mars in relation to Jupiter and Venus and so on and so frothff.