Tarantula Keepers in Central Kentucky

I was just curious to see how many Tarantula Keepers there were in the area.

What species do you have?

Do you breed or just own/collect?

Are there m/any available at the Lexington Show? Are there usually anything other than Rose Hairs?

Hey there, I was an avid hobbiest of Ts back a few years ago then went to the military and had to rehome all mine. Right now I have a Cobalt Blue and a P. Metallica on the way. I had a Chilean Rose, but they are actually a horrible species of T to own... they are known as the "bipolar" spider. though docile, they tend to be picky when they want to eat and such, and sometimes tend to turn and bite.
I know way too much about T's and Im actually tryin to get other people interested.

Kentucky dont sell any cept Rosies really. On ocassion you can get other species. I know a lot of breeders in teh trade, both in the US and overseas that I can obtain almost any species of T from. After I receive my P. Metallica, I am planning on getting another Indian Ornamental. Ive had the Indian Ornamental, Mexican Red Kneed, Black Baboon, Bird Eater, Rosie, Cobalt, another species of Metallica, and a few others.

If your interested in a certain species, I can obtain most of them. Right now, the only P. Metallicas are available in Cameroon. The females are 60 pounds, and the males are 50. They are packed exceptionally well with a guarentee of live arrival but shipping is crazy international one day. However, the P. Metallicas are super rare, and to own one is a prize in itself as not many American hobbiests own one. They are one of the most expensive of the hobby.

Feel free to chat me up. When I get my hobby up, Ill set up at the expo, and Im into breeding as well, so I will have slings available.

I do not have a use for the more expensive Ts until I am ready to breed them. P. metallica is one species that I will leave to others right now.

I would LOVE an Avicularia geroldi. I find them quite beautiful. I think I am going to get just a common A. avicularia sling to start with though. I have not had an arboreal or Avic yet, and would rather spend the least amount I can in case I make a mistake and my sling dies.

I don't know. I really like my rose hair. Granted, she is my only adult. So far she has been eating well, but I know what they say "Rose hairs have two feeding modes: Garbage truck or Runway model.". She has been fun to watch.

I do agree though, that there are only Roseas in KY and NOTHING else. All my slings I ordered from the West Coast.

Here are my current Ts.

L. parahybana


B. smithi


B. emilia. This one has finally started staying a fair amount of time out of the burrow. I need to get a picture of it when it is out.


And of course my Rose Hair.

Beautiful! Your rosie looks like an active little one! As for your Avicularia Geroldi, one of my guys has a few left at 3". He is asking $30 each and is from Mississippi. Shiping is guarenteed live and I believe its $25 for overnight, and $8 for priority w/o being guarenteed live.
I am about to order an Ornamental Baboon (heteroscodra maculata) from him and would go half on shipping if you want your Pinktoe. Let me know. Just send me a private message. I would be willing to pay for it up front and then deliver it to you in person if you have any trust issues. Keep me posted. Cheers!

Are they sexed?

I dont believe he sells them knowing the sex because too many people ask for females. He just grabs one and ships it. He calles it a 50/50 chance. However if your interested in a specific sex, I can ask.

Naturally I want a female, the main reason being lifespan. Regardless, this might be a deal I wouldn't want to pass up. Paul Becker has slings right now for $38. I will have to think on this one. I wonder if a deal could be made for a suspected male and a suspected female... Gah, I am getting way too far ahead of myself. Landlord(aka. mother) would likely kill me. I am free to do what I wish, but as it is her house I live in, out of courtesy, I still like to ask permission. She still doesn't know about my LP.

I don't want to say anything for sure right yet, about getting one. I am hopefully about to head back to school in January, and would have to come up with some creative housing arrangements. Smaller slings would be more practical right now. If I had to take them home... let us just say there will not be heat in my room while I am away. But hey, I managed to conceal a couple hundred hissing cockroaches under my bed without detection for a semester and a half, what trouble would five spiders be? I just need to plan things out a little more.

Is there any . . . frowning upon the mating of two from the same sac?

Are you a member of Arachnoboards?

No am I not. I dont have much time to keep up with boards. This one is good for the local madness! :-D
As for heat... there is a big misconception about heat... and it may help you.

T's do well in 70-70 degree temps. Some T's require more humidity, but that is controlled by your substrate as well as low light plants, and misting. Be careful though with over dampening your env though as it can bring on mites and such.
Daytime temps being within a comfortable range for you, would be good for your T. As night times, being cooler is fine and normal. T's tend to burrow and be less active when it's cooler, and more active when its warmer. My house always stays at typical room temp around 70 and I have never had a problem. When you get your own place, then ya, go for that exotic set up, keepin your T room warm and humid! But you should be ok in the meantime.

As for the sexing, I will ask Kelly if he can guarantee me a female for the same price. If so, I will hit you up. He just usually grabs a pick out of the batch, and ships it off. Sometimes arrangements can be made.
I know females live much longer! 20-30 years, and sometimes more depending on the species. Though most Ts mature in time, and Im assuming you will want to mate them, a male is always nice. Or you could get one of each!!! Raise them, and then have your mates (assuming your female dont kill your male, then that was a long wasteful process! (Though it happens)

Anyways, Ill keep you posted. Ill contact Kelly...
And actually... Kelly Swift, you may of heard of him. He is out of Mississippi. He usually gives you free T's of specific species when you get one from him.
Most of them are the more tropical species which I think your tryin to avoid right now. I planned on getting an Ornamental Baboon before I found you on here, which are only $12. And that is one of the free ones to choose from if you order one of his other species over $20. That's why I offered to split shipping! Either way, Ill try and see if he can sex it and guarentee a female. If not, Im going to order my baboon here shortly.

=]

If you need to grease him, tell him I love his website. His id the main site I check when I find a species name I don't recognise and need a visual. I usually send people to his site when showing them how beautiful Ts can be. His is a great reference site for me.

My heating problems are not keeping the room above 80. I have a 100+ old farm house with lousy insulation and when I am not there, the heat has to be turned off to my room. The slings are easy. I just keep them in a "warm box" (tub with a candle warmer) that keeps them between 68-80 depending on the temp of the room.

Thank you for all your help.

ETA: I told a friend about this. He was about to order 3 slings for a higher price. He is very interested. He has .5"-1" H. mac slings right now. He told me that he would be willing to order his three, and send the freebie and an extra to me/us for telling him about the deal. Does this sound like a good plan for you?

That sucks about the heating issue. As for your friend, Im not quite understanding what you mean with his slings and whatever else, Im a bit confused.

I was not really planning on getting an A. geroldi until spring(if it can be a sexed female for that price, I may go ahead and do it. Did you hear back from him?). He wants to order them now. I told him about the price of the ones from Swift. He would like to order his, and he said he would send the freebie to me/us as well as one of his H. mac slings for telling him about it.

Make more sense now?

Okay, I have thought about this and have decided that I would really like one. Have you talked to Kelly about the price of sexed individuals? My friend is interested in getting more than one, but also is in need of at least one female.

Kelly said he can sex em, same price. Just let em know how many and its golden.

Well, sorry things didn't work out. Be sure to post pics of that H. mac when you get it!

My B. emilia has finally stopped diving into its hole every time I look at it and I managed to get some decent pictures.

Hey sorry I have not been on in a while. I have been wicked busy with work and all. I dont have a camera so I been using my cell. I havent had time to get my mac yet but I got my H. Lividum. She finally came out of her cave the other day. I had to put more substrate in her cage and I used a fork. She is so aggressive as soon as I put anything in her cage she attacks it. But she ran right up the form and I had to leave it in her cage till she crawled off it.


This is Ratana. Ill get more pics up when I can!

Hi All:
My wife and I keep and just started breeding T's for a few years and from time to time I have friends that breed and I purchase some from them to have for resale, just to increase our hobby! I will either have some at the show in Lexington or will be sending them with my son at the Double JZ table at the show. We currently have Pink Zebra Beauty's, Chaco Golden Knees, Mexican Fire Legs, Curly Hairs, B. Vagans or Mex. Red Rumps, and A. Avic's. We will be bringing or sending some B. Vagans Slings about 1 inch or so that are C. B. and some A. Avic's around 1 inch or so that are also C.B. Slings to the show, and may bring a couple of the bigger T's just for people to look at! I do also have currently 1 mature male G. Plu. ( Chaco Golden Knee) that has already bred our girl and is looking for some more mates that will be for sale as well unless sold before then. He matured about 50 days ago and is still eating like a champ! Our fingers are crossed we will have some Chaco Golden Knees slings available as well before long! If you are interested in any of the above e-mail me at Edingtonj7@aol.com and I will gladly send you a list of what is available and the pricing!

Welcome to the forum! It is nice to see other T keepers out there. I still just have my four, but next week I should be getting in a 5" female H. lividum and a few B. vagans slings in trade. I am excited. I am a little nervous because of the cold, but hopefully HOPEFULLY everyone will arrive okay.

I'll definitely check out what you bring to the expo. I might email you for a pricelist soon. I like to keep an eye on what's available locally.

Hey

I'm another T keeper in the area. I am located on the Kentucky/Tennessee border, in Clarksville, TN. I have a whole crap load of tarantulas at this point.

Here's my collection:

0.0.1 Selencosmia crassipes (2.5") Australian Thick Foot Whistling Spider
0.1.0 Holothele incei (2.5") Trinidad Olive
0.1.2 Grammostola porteri (5"/4"/4") Rose Hair
0.1.1 Avicularia avicularia (4", 3") Guyana Pink Toe
0.0.1 Lasiodora parahybana (2") Salmon Pink Bird Eater
0.0.2 Poecilotheria fasciata (.75") Sri Lankan Ornamental
0.0.2 Pterinochilus murinus (.50") Usambara Baboon
0.1.0 Poecilotheria regalis (6") Indian Ornamental
0.1.0 Citharischius crawshayi (6") King Baboon
0.0.1 Aphonopelma hentzi (4") Texas Brown
0.0.1 Cyclosternum fasciatum (4") Costa Rican Tiger Rump
0.0.1 Brachypelma boehmei (2.5") Mexican Fire Leg
0.0.2 Brachypelma smithi (2.5", 2.5") Mexican Red Knee
0.0.2 Grammostola pulchripes (1.5", 1") Chaco Gold Knee

And here's my pride and joy:

My 6"+ female King Baboon, Babs, having a tea party with a lobster roach:



Go ahead and add me to the list of people who will definitely be there looking for T's. I am interested in every type to. From arboreal, to bird eaters, to burrowing and normal terrestrials. Everything. I hope you vendors bring all you've got.

I saw someone talking about getting a female P metallica. What's up with that? You know someone around HERE that can supply those?

Just came across this forum because someone posted a link on a-boards, but my name is Eric and I have kept tarantulas since I was 16 so that makes it 10yrs now. I live in louisville and frequent as many shows as possible. I am a member of the not allowed forums but it seems that theyre arent many tarantula people on there. Sometimes my Tarantulas dont always get the attention or recognition that they deserve because of some geckos or other reptiles I own, but I truly do enjoy these creatures! I have owned TONS of different species, and have had my shot at breeding also. I have only hatched out one sac and that was B.vagans. But have gotten eggsacs out of various others, but just didnt work out for whatever reason.

Previously owned:
A.genicualata
A.bicoloratum
A.moderatum
A.flagstaff
A.avicularia
A.metallica
A.versicolor
A.hurriana
B.cyanefemur
B.vagans
C.cyanopubescens
C.fasciatum
E.purcherrimaklasii
G.iheringi
G.pulcra
G.rosea
G.aureostriatum
H.lividum
H.maculata
H.incei
L.parahybana
N.chromatus
P.scrofa
P.nigricolor
P.cancerides
P.regalis
P.fasciata
P.ornata
P.irminia
P.pulcher
P.cambridgei
P.murinus
T.gigas
T.blondi
T.apophysis

And this is what I have in my current collection:
B.baumgarteni
B.boehmei
B.albopilosum
B.emilia
B.klaasi
B.verdezi
B.smithi
B.albiceps
N.vulpinus
N.carapoensis
N.coloratovillosis
A.anax
A.henzti
A.chalcodes
And all are females.....

Hey guys......just came across the forum here.....some of you might know me from other local forums or Arachnoboards.....been in the invert hobby for quite a while now. As Mr. Favez will tell you, theres not a lot out there I haven't kept. I've bred several species of buthid scorpions, and am currently working on building my invert collection back up after a brief hiatus from the hobby.