Tawny red baboon?

[dopamine]

So this LPS has a pretty nice looking spider that they have labeled as a 'Tawny Red Baboon'. It's a pretty good size, and really resembles a King Baboon with it's thick rear legs. Anyone heard of one of these? I googled it and an H. gigas(?) came up. Sorry i don't have a pic.

 

[skippy]

H gigas or possibly H crassipes.

obligat burrower i believe is the term. cool Ts if you like pet holes

 

[satanslilhelper]

Going on the common name and your description it definitely implies that it's a H. gigas.

 

[Moltar]

Yes, that would be H. gigas. I believe that H. crassipes is very rare in the US hobby, if it's here at all. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm mistaken.

H. gigas is a great species. Although they resemble C. crawshayi (King Baboon) at first glance, they're actually pretty different. H. gigas grows rather quickly and prefers very moist conditions (think haplopelma care). King Baboons are basically the opposite of that. Your gigas will need a larger enclosure with plenty of deep, moist soil to dig in. An adult would be happy in a 5 or even 10gallon tank mostly filled with substrate. Since they like it moist you'll need to take precautions against mold and fungus. That means introducing isopods to the enclosure and (IMO) using peat instead of coco fiber. They have been known to take a dip in shallow pools of water and even catch small fish.

This is a fairly shy species that will get very feisty if you mess with it too much so excercise appropriate caution. They are also very aggressive feeders.

AB user RobC has some great videos of a fantastic enclosure for this species. Try a little searching out his stuff for a closer look.

Oh, even better, here's his Youtube channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/tarantulaguy1976

 

[dopamine]

Alright thanks 4 the great info i'll post pics when she's home

 

[Moltar]

Alright thanks 4 the great info i'll post pics when she's home

How big is it? A great container for mid-sized gigas' is a large plastic "pretzel jar" Mine had a burrow that circled all around the bottom with multiple entrances and exits which it was constantly filling in and re-digging. I think they burrow around looking for the moistest soil and when they find a nice, wet pocket they like, wallow in it.

 

[DeathsPyro12]

H.Gigas are really fun to keep! I miss the one I had, she was about 4" and I had her in a 10 gallon tank, made the most complex burrow I had ever seen. Plus if you look up Robc's vids on youtube he has some pretty amazing set-up for future ideas. Congrats on the new addition!

 

[dopamine]

She is beautiful! About 6 inches, female, and quite a digger. I'll check out the pretzel jar idea thanx.:}

 

[Moltar]

Nice! You're gonna love that T. See if you can find the big 2.5 gallon jars, not the 1 gallon, they're perfect for that size/type of T.

 

[Buckwheat]

Wally World on the big plastic jars..