# My first pokie...



## jbinkc1911 (Jul 25, 2014)

I got a p.ornata last week, and it's gorgeous! It's mind blowing how fast it is! Im really stoked about it it


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## Dowd0 (Jul 28, 2014)

Beautiful pokie..

I also love the pokies..

The Skill of Disgiuse:
The Speed like have "ability to teleport";
And The Top Class Venom..

I think the genus of Poecilotheria is the Clans of Ninjas.. (LOL)








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Reactions: Like 1


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## Rayenicole (Jul 28, 2014)

Dowd0 said:


> Beautiful pokie..
> 
> I also love the pokies..
> 
> ...


Funnily enough I just described a P. rufilata to a friend as a ninja, lol! 

Thanks for sharing OP, please post updates here!


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## Poec9090 (Jul 28, 2014)

Nice poec!


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## fuzzyavics72 (Jul 28, 2014)

Nice ornata and good first choice!  Also your ornata looks like a female from her vents!!! My first tarantula was a p pederseni. I was tired of being told what I could n't have. I did well and had no issues.


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## jbinkc1911 (Aug 1, 2014)

Female huh? Nice. What is generally the difference as far as life span and size between male and female?


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## fuzzyavics72 (Aug 1, 2014)

I usually get males to mature within 1.5 years without power feeding male are ONLY good for breeding, but for most breeders like myself males are generally hard to obtain, depending on species. Females I would say 10-12. Depends on the male really, I've had mm fasaicata's mature out at 3.5 inches and females get approx. 8 or 9 inches. The coloration between the mature males and females in pokies are so different or referred to as sexually dimorphic. Some species are and some aren't. I don't know what you've kept so far.

Did you get the p ornata from Brickster on ab? He has a lot of great starter pokies for cheap.


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## jbinkc1911 (Aug 1, 2014)

Swift's Inverts is where i got it. I'll get some more pictures up soon.


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## Greatwun (Aug 7, 2014)

nice specimen you got there!!


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 7, 2015)

Ok here's an update on my pokie, who I've named Harry Houdini(pending gender id), do to his miraculous escape through his vent holes shortly after my last post. Everything going well eating well, it hard not to power feed it because it has such a veracious appetite but I have refrained I only feed him every other day at most, what about you guys? How often how much? I would say he's around 4" now.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 7, 2015)

Yes I ran into that a little when I first started keeping inverts, I started with some pretty HOT scorpions and was blessed enough to hear anybodys and everybodys oponion about it. But responsibility and common sense always prevails, I haven't been tagged by anything yet, knock on wood.


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 7, 2015)

Harry is a perfect name, since he's a male.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 7, 2015)

You sure? You can tell this because of the folio correct?


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## miss moxie (Mar 7, 2015)

fuzzyavics72 said:


> male are ONLY good for breeding


Wow fuzz, don't be so hard on yourself buddy!



Lovely pokie! I have three P. fasciata slings, all about 1" and I hardly see them. Very good at hide and seek.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 7, 2015)

[YOUTUBE]a8ctVCC_IoA[/YOUTUBE]


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 7, 2015)

Haha miss moxie! Some men aren't even good for that.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 7, 2015)

Miss moxie I have looked through your photo thread, B E A utiful t's you have!

Reactions: Like 1


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 7, 2015)

Yes, the dorsal markings plus his dark dull colors.

 Were you nervous in the video? Your tongs were shaking like crazy.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 7, 2015)

Yeah, maybe a litle, I think I was trying to juggle too many things at once and I was worried about my phone falling into the enclosure lol plus I drink too much coffee and I inherited quite a bit of that from my mother's side.


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 7, 2015)

Oh okay. Your ornata will mature in the next two molts.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 7, 2015)

Does that mean anything for me since I don't plan on breeding?


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 7, 2015)

You can sell or trade him.


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## miss moxie (Mar 7, 2015)

fuzzyavics72 said:


> Haha miss moxie! Some men aren't even good for that.


Sad but true!

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jbinkc1911 said:


> Miss moxie I have looked through your photo thread, B E A utiful t's you have!


Why thank you! I'm very proud of my spider army.

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jbinkc1911 said:


> Does that mean anything for me since I don't plan on breeding?





fuzzyavics72 said:


> You can sell or trade him.


+1 -- You can do a breeding loan as well, if someone is looking for a MM when he does mature. Then you can get some of his slings and start over.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 7, 2015)

Awesome, thanks for all the info. 

This hobby may turn out to be as expensive as my guns (but not quite). We will see what my wife says, I just ordered another Ornata [emoji13]


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 7, 2015)

I don't trust many people for breeding loans. Also there's NO guarantee you'll get a sac. New hobbyists don't understand this. There's so many variables that can go wrong.

---------- Post added 03-07-2015 at 06:57 PM ----------

Unfortunately I can't have many guns due to NY state... I've spent a ton of money on arachnids lol


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## miss moxie (Mar 7, 2015)

fuzzyavics72 said:


> I don't trust many people for breeding loans. Also there's NO guarantee you'll get a sac. New hobbyists don't understand this. There's so many variables that can go wrong.


That's true too. The male could also get eaten and the female could not produce a sac, then you're screwed out of slings and your male, as well as losing the T's value to the wind.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 8, 2015)

I hear ya, it adds up quick. I've been in and out of the hobby since I was a kid, raising all types of stuff, probably my favorite so far have been the pair of adroctonus australis I had and the Latrodectus, had a few of them. Now the ornata of course!


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## miss moxie (Mar 8, 2015)

jbinkc1911 said:


> I hear ya, it adds up quick. I've been in and out of the hobby since I was a kid, raising all types of stuff, probably my favorite so far have been the pair of Adroctonus Australia I had and the Latrodectus, had a few of them. Now the ornata of course!


Mmm, I'm avoiding Australian Ts. They don't interest me enough to risk their venom potency. So far my favorites are my A. geniculata and my Pamphos. I'm also becoming vey fond of all my Avicularia.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 8, 2015)

And miss moxie thanks for the heads up. I don't think I wanna send Harry off just yet[emoji51]  he still needs to move into his new home and make room for the sling in the cereal container

---------- Post added 03-07-2015 at 11:27 PM ----------

I should've put that's a scorpion[emoji51] [emoji27] [emoji28]


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 9, 2015)

Here are a couple of clips I recorded while feeding Harry this afternoon, the second one is just him walking around a bit on his bark. I hope the resolution is good on these uploads because I am rather impressed with the videos on this galaxy s5. They look good on my phone at least. I could also get better shots if the container was more clear, I'll have him a his new terrarium this weekend. Hope you enjoy.[emoji13] 
http://youtu.be/DINXQk_WuB0

http://youtu.be/V5rBipa-cJg


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 9, 2015)

How often do you feed your ornata one cricket? My five inch male ornata will eat six or seven large crickets at a time.


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## IHeartTs (Mar 9, 2015)

fuzzyavics72 said:


> How often do you feed your ornata one cricket? My five inch male ornata will eat six or seven large crickets at a time.


6 or 7?! Like a week?


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 9, 2015)

I usually give him two or three every couple days. But I don't put them in there all at once.

---------- Post added 03-09-2015 at 10:05 PM ----------

I've only really got a general idea of how much he should be eating I think, can you provide any specifics?


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 10, 2015)

Pokies will constantly eat and even eat in premolt. I had an subfusca highland eat an hour before it molted. I love watching my massive pokies have a big ball of crickets lol. I had a four inch P striata eat a anole that was six inches.




This girl will take fifteen crickets at a time, so I started to use hissers.


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 10, 2015)

I feed my pokies unlike any other genus I have. Usually my pokies have issues gaining weight after molting, so I'll use wax worms.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 10, 2015)

Ok, so I'm probably over concerned about over feeding, I'll step it up a little, that's easy! Hell, feeding em is half the fun

---------- Post added 03-10-2015 at 08:04 AM ----------

Thanks for the advice


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 10, 2015)

I'm pretty sure pokies have the fastest metabolism in tarantulas. And I've never worried about feeding pokies too much. Feed them however you want. Remember though, the faster you feed the faster they'll grow and die.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 10, 2015)

Excelent, and breakfast is the most important meal of the day!


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 10, 2015)

I'm feeding my male's because I have three big girls looking to breed.


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 10, 2015)

This is one of my five inch male ornata.


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## IHeartTs (Mar 10, 2015)

fuzzyavics72 said:


> Pokies will constantly eat and even eat in premolt. I had an subfusca highland eat an hour before it molted. I love watching my massive pokies have a big ball of crickets lol. I had a four inch P striata eat a anole that was six inches.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I only give my girl 4 or 5 at a time once a week and she's pretty huge and quite plump. But I agree, I love seeing her stuff her fat face with all of the crickets.


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 10, 2015)

Her fat face?! I love it. My ex's daughter use to say that all the time. She's the smartest kid I've ever met. 

As tarantula's get older their metabolism slows and use less energy for growth.


My gravid P. Metallica was encased in her web for about a month. She tore out for some food and ate 13 large crickets at once lol. And now she's looking like she might drop for me now.


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## IHeartTs (Mar 10, 2015)

fuzzyavics72 said:


> Her fat face?! I love it. My ex'sex's daughter use to say that all the time. She's the smartest kid I've ever met. As they get older their metabolism slows and use less energy for growth.


Oh she's old. Idk how much time she has left . I took a picture of her fangs next to a ruler on my picture thread. Hooooooly poop. I would not want that set sunk in me. I've always been amazed by the size of her famgs.


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 10, 2015)

How old? Pokies live a long time.


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## IHeartTs (Mar 10, 2015)

7.5 inches old? Lol idk. I bought her as an adult. I was scoping her out and the girl that works there said she feels bad for it because it's been there a while. So I tooK her. I got her almost a year ago and she was in the shop at least 2 years because she was there when I first started the hobby. So she's probably around 8 give or take a few years.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 10, 2015)

Ok awesome morning, right on time got my second ornata from Kelly swift,  i just finished up her (fingers crossed) new digs let me know what you all think, any improvements I need to make? 

	
	
		
		
	


	





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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 10, 2015)

I know most pokies live  for 13 years. At least from the hobbyists I've talked to.

---------- Post added 03-10-2015 at 12:59 PM ----------

I would put some holes in the top of the enclosure. Also i would use a piece of cork instead of twigs. I hope you didn't grab those from outside?

 It looks female to me, but can you get a better picture of its vent? 


Here's my P metallica enclosure.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 10, 2015)

Yeah, they have been baked though, had them for a while, used to be in my latrodectus, almost all the stuff I have was hunted for at nearby lakes and woods. I prefer that over buying them when it's acceptable, I found some really BA pieces for the big terrarium I have. Started fabricating it last summer when I got my first one 

	
	
		
		
	


	





---------- Post added 03-10-2015 at 12:28 PM ----------

I can stop and get some cork I'm the the morning though, no problem


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 10, 2015)

Okay good, but I cork is a better choice. She/he is going to need to hide if he feels threatened. If the ornata doesn't have a good place to hide, the ornata might run out of the enclosure instead of the hide.


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## jbinkc1911 (Mar 10, 2015)

She does have this hide from a small piece of bark


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## fuzzyavics72 (Mar 10, 2015)

A small piece isn't the correct hide for an ornata who will eventually become massive. In my opinion your hide is already too small for your ornata.


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