# Phlogius sp. "aussie goliath"?



## GiantVinegaroon (Mar 29, 2010)

Does anybody here know much about these spiders?  All I know is that they're giant Australian Ts.  I've been considering getting one since Aussie Ts are rare around here, but I could use some help learning about care.


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## tiger cowboy (Mar 29, 2010)

I have 2 small ones. They're pretty interesting The two I have behave completely differently, one has gone pet hole, the other is always out and about. Very quick and apparently pack a nasty bite, so be kinda careful.


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## GiantVinegaroon (Mar 29, 2010)

tiger cowboy said:


> I have 2 small ones. They're pretty interesting The two I have behave completely differently, one has gone pet hole, the other is always out and about. Very quick and apparently pack a nasty bite, so be kinda careful.


How are they kept?


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## robd (Mar 29, 2010)

Yes good question. I was wondering this myself for my Phlogius crassipes. Not getting too many hits on my thread yet though.


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## tiger cowboy (Mar 29, 2010)

I've heard keep them like haplo's. I keep mine with plenty of floor space and a pretty deep substrate. Past that I let them do as they please. They do a bunch of webbing. There was a thread somewhere around here where a bunch of us got some all at once and talked about it.


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## GiantVinegaroon (Mar 29, 2010)

tiger cowboy said:


> I've heard keep them like haplo's. I keep mine with plenty of floor space and a pretty deep substrate. Past that I let them do as they please. They do a bunch of webbing. There was a thread somewhere around here where a bunch of us got some all at once and talked about it.


I really tried searching before posting here and didn't find anything except the other members of Phlogius.  I also just registered on the Australian Tarantula Association's site and will be posting there for info.  If you could link me to the thread that'd be great.


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## jbm150 (Mar 29, 2010)

Here's a previous thread where we were talking about 'em.  I have a P. sp. aussie goliath and a P. crassipes.  Both just molted in the last few weeks.  They're pretty cool critters and make neat webs and burrows.  I see both several times every day, in light or dark.  Very skittish though, you touch their enclosure and 'poof,' they're gone


http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=172406


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## tiger cowboy (Mar 29, 2010)

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=172406&highlight=aussie+goliaths
Here it is. Nobody around here really seem to know much (myself included). Post up if you find out anything from the Aussies!


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## GiantVinegaroon (Mar 29, 2010)

Oh duh I did read that thread....I completely forgot lol!

These guys seem awesome...I might try and get one....think a 20 long would be a good size for an adult?


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## jbm150 (Mar 29, 2010)

Tough to say, might want something with more depth to it so that it can burrow.  That said, I've read that the members of the Phlogius genus tend to use their burrows less and less as they grow so maybe lots of floor space would be good.  My goliath has only one burrow (my crassipes has 3 entrances!) and it sits at the entrance all the time.  Not sure how often it gets out and wanders.  I'm still unsure what a full grown aussie goliath looks like.  The pics I've seen weren't very clear.  It must be an impressive sight!


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## GiantVinegaroon (Mar 29, 2010)

jbm150 said:


> Tough to say, might want something with more depth to it so that it can burrow.  That said, I've read that the members of the Phlogius genus tend to use their burrows less and less as they grow so maybe lots of floor space would be good.  My goliath has only one burrow (my crassipes has 3 entrances!) and it sits at the entrance all the time.  Not sure how often it gets out and wanders.  I'm still unsure what a full grown aussie goliath looks like.  The pics I've seen weren't very clear.  It must be an impressive sight!


[YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kI0Eo8czp4Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kI0Eo8czp4Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]


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## jbm150 (Mar 29, 2010)

Wow, for a plain brown tarantula, they are so beautiful.  And at 13 cm, thats only half grown?   I'm excited for mine but I'm also sad because I'm pretty sure my goliath is male.  I have my suspicions that my crassipes is as well.


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## robd (Mar 29, 2010)

jbm,

Thanks for sharing your insight and a few links on this thread. Basically answered my question on the thread I had created. So I'll do it up Haplo style. If that's what the "Australian Tarantula Association" does then that probably ought to be the way for us to do it as well.


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## jbm150 (Mar 29, 2010)

No problem man.  One thing, I have read that Phlogius like things dry, unlike Selenotypus.  When I set mine up, their substrate was quite damp.  I was assuming that it would dry out quickly; well, its really holding onto its moisture despite a lot of ventilation.  They don't seem to mind though so I think they can probably be kept either way.  If they start to become stressed, I'll change things up and update one of these threads, just in case anyone's interested.


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## robd (Mar 29, 2010)

In regards to how mine has behaved, with the dry substrate it's been in lately, it's less likely to want to burrow straight down. It instead webs everything from the substrate surface to the ceiling like an OBT. So I am inclined to think housing it like a Haplo is more ideal.


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## syndicate (Mar 30, 2010)

All the _Phlogius_ species can be kept in moist to semi moist burrowing setups..
There are some desert species from Australia to tho which need to be kept more dry..these would be the _Selenotypus _and _Selenotholus_
There neat spiders and its great to see more people interested in them!
I should have a couple hundred _crassipes_ ready soon ;]





Also keep an eye out for some _Phlogius sp_."PQ113" from Philth!
-Chris


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## Merfolk (Mar 30, 2010)

The one on the video reminds me of Hysterocrates...

What I do when unsure of care is simply keep the enclosure dry and flood a little patch at one end. The spider will keep where the humidity fits its needs.


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## robd (Mar 30, 2010)

Dave Pederson, whom I am not sure whether or not he is an active poster on this forum, but is an admin on the Middle TN T Group on Facebook said:

"the aussie tarantula society recommends babies and juvies be kept much more humid than adults.  I keep my adult female dry like an OBT.  The slings I have are kept pretty damp, like haplopelma."

Perhaps that's what I will do.


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## GiantVinegaroon (Mar 30, 2010)

syndicate said:


> All the _Phlogius_ species can be kept in moist to semi moist burrowing setups..
> There are some desert species from Australia to tho which need to be kept more dry..these would be the _Selenotypus _and _Selenotholus_
> There neat spiders and its great to see more people interested in them!
> I should have a couple hundred _crassipes_ ready soon ;]
> ...



Awesome!  Congrats on the sac!


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## robd (Mar 30, 2010)

Yeah no kidding. Looks exciting. That's a big sac too.


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## jbm150 (Nov 18, 2010)

Its somewhat off topic but I figured I'd bump this old thread instead of creating a new one.

My Aussie goliath just molted to about 5" or so and has seeminly matured (palps now look swollen).  He grew fast, from 2" in January when I got him to being mature now.

For those in the know, roughly how long could I expect him to live from this point?


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## syndicate (Nov 18, 2010)

In my experience with the Aussie T's so far I've noticed the males can live for a long time!!I had a mature male crassipes here last around 2 years.I believe Steve Nunn also mentioned that he believes males of some of the Aussie tarantulas will mate with females for more than one season in the wild.
Good luck finding a female for your male!I only got one female out of 5 slings but she is not even close to be breeding size.trying to speed her growth up now!
-Chris


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## jbm150 (Nov 18, 2010)

syndicate said:


> In my experience with the Aussie T's so far I've noticed the males can live for a long time!!I had a mature male crassipes here last around 2 years.I believe Steve Nunn also mentioned that he believes males of some of the Aussie tarantulas will mate with females for more than one season in the wild.
> Good luck finding a female for your male!I only got one female out of 5 slings but she is not even close to be breeding size.trying to speed her growth up now!
> -Chris


Thanks Chris, good info indeed.  Thats good to hear, I was a little worried that I'd have to find a taker in the next month or so.  At least I have time.  We definitely need more of these in the hobby....and more importantly, I need more of these in my collection


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## Guesswhof96 (Nov 19, 2010)

Hey guys! I've been wanting one of these for an ickle while now. They truly are awesome, but like most aussie T's, don't get past the 16-18cm mark. It's not terribly uncommon to see someone in Aus with an 18cm Tarantula, but it's not common either  I've only seen about 7-9. To my recollection the largest Tarantula in the hobby is 23cm and it's some sorta phlogius - not goliath, I forget what the thread said. Keep them nice and humid, I've always been taught all aussie T's should have high humidity all the time no matter what species, pleanty of water, crinkled abdomens are what you see in petstores alot here and that's what usually kills petstore ones 

Enjoy your goliaths


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## Steve Nunn (Oct 6, 2011)

Hi,
I'm the one with the monster _S/P.crassipes_, with a legspan over 22cm, easily. BUT, I have a young Goliath female that is the same size and is young, she will no doubt exceed the big _crassipes_. The Aussie Goliath is without doubt the largest species from Australia. Raven showed me one in the QM that was HUGE, like _Acanthoscuria/Xenesthis_ huge. The specimen was over 100 years old and the only one known, we found them back in the early 2000's again, and they breed easily, but the males vary in size, so much so it's crazy, I've seen mature males so small, like legspans of 5-6cm.....amazing...both will eventually be put inot the genus _Phlogius_, once Raven revalidates the group properly.

Steve


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## jim777 (Oct 7, 2011)

I was under the impression it was terribly difficult to get Australian T's outside of Australia? Are there P. rubiseta floating around in the US?

I've also heard the Phlogius PQ113 species is a lot of fun as well, as in 'keep the lid locked'?


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## zonbonzovi (Oct 7, 2011)

jim777 said:


> I was under the impression it was terribly difficult to get Australian T's outside of Australia? Are there P. rubiseta floating around in the US?
> 
> I've also heard the Phlogius PQ113 species is a lot of fun as well, as in 'keep the lid locked'?


You can thank the man above your post for breeding multiple generations and exporting them 

Haven't seen P. rubiseta around here before?  And, PQ113 is a joy to keep(for me at least)- great tunnelers and reasonably fast growers.


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## Steve Nunn (Oct 7, 2011)

jim777 said:


> I was under the impression it was terribly difficult to get Australian T's outside of Australia? Are there P. rubiseta floating around in the US? I've also heard the Phlogius PQ113 species is a lot of fun as well, as in 'keep the lid locked'?


They are terribly difficult to get outside of Australia  I legally exported to Japan, the US twice, Canada once or twice, Germany, the UK and Denmark (I think that's it). Because the demand overseas could not match the costs of maintaining those permits (very expensive, about 5 permits and licences required, as well as a federal approved breeding facility), I will no longer be exporting any Australian tarantulas, so what you guys have over there will be it. I'm sure some still get smuggled, as I've seen both funnel-webs and mouse spiders in overseas collections........but rubiseta has never been exported by myself, although Stent's Birdspider (another Phlogius species) is most likely synonymous with rubiseta (rubiseta has more red hairs, but that's about the only difference).

On a side note, I would think if CITES wish to act upon their rather strange laws surrounding Brachypelma and Poecilotheria, they should impliment an international breeding standard, whereby breeders can apply and have approved operations for these genera. I know with Brachypelma, gettting approval would be almost impossible, as very few have ever actually bred some of the slower growing species (such as B.smithi). Brachypelma still get smuggled (largely gravid females), and this is the obvious origin of most of those species (although every commercial seller will argue otherwise). Poecilotheria on the other hand seem fairly easy to breed from what I've read and understand about them, they should be no problem.

Steve


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## jbm150 (Oct 7, 2011)

That's really too bad, they're way too underrated.  I hope the breeders here can sustain the species we have....


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## Steve Nunn (Oct 7, 2011)

It is a shame, but the combination of licencing and international demand just didn't meet up. I had lots of requests for adults by overseas buyers, but the reality is I (nor could anyone else) could not afford to grow tarantulas to adult stage for wholesale purposes, it's not just difficult, it's impossible (and if anyone states they commerically sells "captive bred" adults of any species, there is only two real ways of them obtaining those spiders, through hobbyists who privately sell off one or two here and there, or via illegal poaching (or legal wild collection), trust me if anyone tells you otherwise, they are flat out wrong--no question of it). I did send very few adults (you could count the total with your fingers), and I did manage to send some larger juveniles, but 99.5% of everything that went overseas were 2nd instar spiderlings. The very few adults that did go out were not sent just for the sake of it either, they went because they all went to friends who'd emailed me personally in special requests, it took me MANY years to grow some of those species, and after keeping specimens for that long, it's hard to see them go out the door at ANY price. 

I should add some more to the above mentioning of adult stock for sale by commercial sellers, I don't accuse anyone of them for selling wild caught adults under the guise of being captive bred to maturity, as I'd also be certain many big sellers obtain adults from perhaps hundreds of individual enthusiasts that are legit CB raised stock. But if any commercial sellers have vast quantities of certain adult stock, I'd give serious question as to it's origins. I know what it takes to raise captive stock to maturity, the cost by far exceeds the sale price, making it a completely unviable task. I would think that area about as grey as the so-called "captive bred" stock of many collectors, who just also happen to collect same said stock from the wild, at, coincidently, the same time as all adult females in any given population are in pre-lay condition. Sorry for the rant


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