Hi! I would like to find out if the Mexican red rump would be a good spider for my daughter to begin with. She is 12 years old.

Hi JV,

Ye sure the Mexican Red Rump should be ok, other options one can look at that are good for beginners are:
Grammostola rosea (Chilean Rose)
Brachypelma albopilosum (Curlyhair) - Very common for beginners
Nhandu chromatus (Brazilian Red and White)
Grammostola pulchripes (Chaco Golden Knee)
Acanthoscurria geniculata (Giant White Knee)

Please do take into consideration that all T's vary and some may bite and kick hairs where as others tend to be more docile and relaxed. I recon the above list should be suitable for your daughter. what sort of size T did you have in mind???

Generally the Brachypelma's are good begginer T's with one exception, most of them tend to flick which kids don't take well to! Also the redrump is slightly more aggro than other Brachypelmas but nothing too serious.
As Thor mentioned, there's a lot of good begginer T's, not too sure about Nhandu chromatus (Brazilian Red and White) though.
I personally would go for any of the brachy's, most of the grammostola's (especially the Grammostola pulchripes (Chaco Golden Knee) and Grammostola rosea (Chilean Rose) )
And the Avicularia's

I agree with taki, i dont reckon N. chromatus or A. geniculata are suitable for a little girls first spider. What about a B. smithi(mexican red knee) cool coloration and hardy!

yup I agree with taki! Grammostolas are great spiders...but they do grow veeery slow. Chacos is one of the few spiders im not scared of and will let walk on my hand if it must. N.chromatus....our female escape once and the male is a BITCH.veeery scared of them.. Im sure she will enjoy the spideys..if you are not too far from pretoria and didnt come right by then..give me a shout. I have chilean rose slings and a chaco of about 3cm available.