Just purchased a new breading pair of G. rosea that should be arriving soon. I'm stoked, hopefuly I can successfully breed an army of little tarantulas!

I also own a few scorpions. H. iperators and H. spinifers. mean looking little bastards, but pretty much harmless.

I fully intend on buying up some african rhino beetles, maybe some giant millipedes, and tanzanian pillbugs too.

I'm going completely crazy for collecting exotic invertebrates now!

I'm fascinated by arachnids, actually. I don't own any exotic species, just had a rose-haired tarantula before. I don't have the proper means to start a mini-zoo just yet.

On the other hand, SHARP is a big spider guy with a vast collection of many exotic species. It would be sweet to see all his little guys in person.

__________________
When people screw up, things explode.

Hmm, yeah, I guess you could say I'm an arachnophile of some sort, although I prefer the term arachnoholic
At the moment I've got 62 birdeaters, distributed on 45 different species.
Mostly from the American continent like your G. rosea's, but also a couple from Asia (Poecilotheria regalis, Poecilotheria pederseni, and Poecilotheria rufilata).

Hmm, I don't know if you've bred birdeaters before, and Grammo's in particular, but as far as I know, they are in no way an easy species to breed.
I've tried breeding Grammostola aureostriata's, and that nearly ended with a dead male, eventhough the female had been fed loads in the weeks before...
For some reason, spiders that are normally considered docile, can be quite agressive towards eachother during mating, while the Pokes are known as "eternal lovers", not something you'd expect...
Then of course there's the A. geniculata's, they're pissed off no matter what, but they'll make HUGE egg sacs, if you succeed.
And, unless you give the Grammo's a cold period of several months prior to a mating attempt, there's very little chance they'll get in the mood.
It has something to do with their natural cycle, if you want me to, I'll see what I can dig up, I know I've got a thorough guide on breeding Grammo's around here somewhere...

I just got a scorp' a couple of months ago (Pandinus imperator), and I'm really looking forward to getting to learn what there is to learn about the species, but I' just thought I'd start off with one, they can be kept in colonies, ya' know.

I've never heard of a H. iperators (could it be a mislabled P. imperator? I mean, there's not much difference in the species name), but then again, I'm not that experienced with scorpions.
The H. spinifers you mention however, has got an "s" too many, it's only "spinifer".

Sounds like a great plan, if I had the time and room for a fuckload of beetles, I think I might get a bunch of Eudicella sp. although I prefer predatory animals over all others.

So, you got the fever too, I see...

On a different note:
I have a sneaky suspicion I might get a camera soon, and if everything goes the way it should, I'll post a bunch o' pics of my set up and whatnot, I think I remember someone requesting just that.
Kickass thread by the way, I'm a sucker for threads like these.

PS: I'm busy as a beaver on speed in a lumber yard at the moment, so it might take a while for me to reply.

EDIT: PPS: Here's a pic of one of my Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens, for great justice, the lulz ,and just for the Hell of it...

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p124/Arachnoholic/PICT7659a.jpg

I just purchased a 5" male P. regalis last night for the bargain basement price of $25, he should be showing up sometime thursday. The poecilotheria species are all incredible. I'm looking at maybe maybe picking up a female for him, or even getting a P. metallica as my next tarantula. I'm excited to be in a possible position to pick up a P. tigrinawesseli sling (i'm sure you've seen the talk of this new species if you're a pokie fan) in a pretty incredible trade for a totally un-arachnorelated item.

I've dug up quite a bit of information on their breedingonline, but any tips or advice you can pass along would be appreciated. I'll be patiently waiting on the female to moult before i go ahead with breeding, so it could be a while yet.

yes, it is a P. imperator, mistyped on my part. I've been told that P. imperator and H. spinifer will live quite well communally, but I've yet to find out, and i'm not really interested in chancing it. they are living quite happily apart from one another as is. Alot of the reading I've done so far seems o point towards the breedingof scorpions being fairly easy going as compared to breeding T's. P. boreus can be found in the wild a short drive from my place, so I'm going to make a weekend trip in a couple weeks in an attempt to dig up some WC Northern Scorps. ..

Beetles overall don't hold as much interest to me, aside from some of the large stag and rhino beetles, which are pretty badass in my opinion. I wouldn't mind a few big African Rhino Beetles.

Great looking species, it's on my want list too But hey, there's a good 40 species of T's on there and counting now, lol. and at least a half dozen more species of scorpion, and another half dozen or so different pedes. Some of the colorful exotic millipedes look awesome...

Definitely do that!
Of course it won't matter until he matures but you already know that.
As far as I know, they should be pretty easy to breed, and can be kept together for months without any problems, as long as the female is kept well fed.

Yeah, we're allowed to dream, aren't we...
Seriously now, the first sac of that species (here in Denmark) hatched about six months ago, the prices I've seen so far has been through the roof, and I won't pay a shitload for an unsexed individual.
It's just like the B. smithi and A. geniculata, when they first showed up in the hobby, the prices were crazy, but eventually they dropped with each successful mating, so at this stage, there's nothing to do but wait.

Of course they don't produce nearly as many slings as the B. smithi, and nowhere close to what the A. geniculata does, so it maght take some time...

Yup, already read a bit about it, and I can totally follow you, if it's a good deal, go for it.

Ok, I've gone through every piece of literature I have on the subject, and I havent been able to locate it so far.
I remember something about some Scottish dude who kept his Grammo's in his garage during the winter, to give them a cold period before the mating season in the spring.
The temperature was at 8 degrees Celsius on average, and the spiders did just fine.
I'll try to see if I can find it, but I can't promise anything.
Hmm, maybe I read it in The Tarantula Keeper's Guide or something...
BTW, if you don't already own a copy, get one.

What do you mean, two different species kept together?
I don't think that would be a good idea, if that's what you meant, otherwise, I'll agree, as long as they have lots of places to hide, preferably more places than animals, and have plenty of food.

Well, happy huntin' then.
Unfortunately, we don't have any real scorps where I live.

More or less the same with me, I got some Pachnoda marginata peregrina larvae to use as food for the monsters, but decided to let them reproduce just to see if it worked, and it did, but I kind of lost interests, and used 'em as originally intended.

Yup, you definitely got the fever...

What species do you keep so far?

Here's what I have at the moment:

Acanthoscurria geniculata
Aphonopelma bicoloratum
Aphonopelma chalcodes
Aphonopelma moderatum
Aphonopelma stoicum
Avicularia braunshauseni
Avicularia minatrix
Avicularia purpurea
Avicularia sp. "Amazonas Purple"
Avcularia urticans
Brachypelma albiceps
Brachypelma albopilosum
Brachypelma auratum
Brachypelma boehmei
Brachypelma emilia
Brachypelma klaasi
Brachypelma smithi
Brachypelma vagans
Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens
Cyclosternum fasciatum
Ephebopus cyanognathus
Euathlus truculentus
Grammostola aureostriata
Grammostola iheringi
Grammostola pulchra
Grammostola rosea
Iridopelma sp. "Recife"
Lasiodora difficilis
Lasiodora klugi
Lasiodora parahybana
Lasiodorides striatus
Megaphobema mesomelas
Megaphobema robustum
Nhandu carapoensis
Nhandu chromatus
Nhandu coloratovillosum
Phormictopus atrichomatus
Poecilotheria pederseni
Poecilotheria regalis
Poecilotheria rufilata
Psalmopoeus cambridgei
Psalmopoeus irminia
Psalmopoeus reduncus
Thrixopelma pruriens
Xenesthis immanis
Pandinus imperator

And then I have two running cultures of Blaptica dubia and Gromphadorina portentosa...

Well, I'm off to play some BF2.

and then knows how long i'll have to wait on the female to moult, unless i can find one shortly post-moulted. /me shrugs...

... or to become one the indivduals breeding a rare species! which in itself would be pretty badass...

I do professional graphic design, and blogging themes. I might be able to pick one up in exchange for a wordpress theme at the moment, which usually doesn't take me much more than a few hours. An empty sunday afternoon could do it up no problem, so if he's still into the idea, i know i am...

that's what i would have thought too, but i've heard of on more than one occasion now, of people keeping p. imperator and h. spinifer together communally succussfully with no cannabalism. i've yet to see anyone speak of trying it unsuccessfully...

tarantulas...

Avicularia avicularia
Grammostola rosea
Haplopelma lividum
Poecilotheria regalis (on his way)
Pterinochilus murinus

plus my scorps of course...

Pandinus imperator
Heterometrus spinifer

awesome list !

Yup!

Ok, that's a surprise to me, thank's for the info.

Hmm, how come you decided to get some of the most docile species, as well as some of the most insane?
I mean, it's not like H. lividum and P. murinus are known to be gentle...
I started out with some of the most docile species around, and then moved on to the Lasiodora's A.geniculata and Phormictopus atrichomatus.
I expect to see some aggressive behaviour from my Xenesthis immanis's too, but they're only around 10 cm in legspan, so they haven't tried anything yet...

Speaking of X. immanis, if you see one up for sale, get it, they're friggin' cool!
They'll reach 20+ cm in legspan, and display the most kickass colors when they get older.

How often do you see your H. lividum?
I've heard that they mostly stay underground, only to move to the top of the burrow in the evening.
And, what color variant is your P. murinus?

Thanks, as you can see I've got some of the most common species, as well as some the more rare.
I'd very much like to add a P. metallica and some other Pokies soon.
And I haven't even started on the Africans, yet.

I never paid much attention to anyone tellin me to start with a beginners species. H. lividum was actually the first I purchased. I've always been more concerned with what looked cool than anything else, and I like my T's to have a little attitude They'll asume defensive stance, and occasionally attempt to make a break for it, but i haven't had much real trouble with them.

Of the T's I have I see the H. lividum the least, but I still get plenty of good shows. I don't think they're antisocial by any means, they just prefer to be down in the substrate. The H. lividum is still my favorite species that i have now...

Oh, ok then.
I assume you meant "I never paid much attention to anyone tellin me to start with a docile species".
Some of the ones that aren't good to start out with, are pretty docile, but have certain habitual needs that can be a bit difficult to meet, like M. robustum, for example.

I can only agree that it is a very nice spider indeed, the only reason I don't have one, is because I fear I won't see it much, like my E. cyanognathus...

They're just so damn cool looking, that catching them old for a stroll the odd time makes it completely worthwhile.They certainly aren't a show species though. That's what people need pokies for!

I'm debating over my next purchase for the next couple weeks. Until no I've bought my T's as adults or half grownalready, but this time around I'm thinking I'll probably just pick up an assortment of slings. There's quite a few Canadian online dealers hatching out and offering some tasty deals on slings atthe moment...