African Arboreals

[YungRasputin]

i’m a man on a mission - are there any African arboreal species available in the hobby that’s not H. mac, S. cal or E. olivacea?

 

[14pokies]

Not that I’m aware of. I have seen P.mirinus collected from under tree bark from waste to chest height. I don’t know if that was a permanent den or just something to escape the heat and light of day. Some people have kept them arborealy as you may know but I I never have, so I’m no help there either.

 

[YungRasputin]

Not that I’m aware of. I have seen P.mirinus collected from under tree bark from waste to chest height. I don’t know if that was a permanent den or just something to escape the heat and light of day. Some people have kept them arborealy as you may know but I I never have, so I’m no help there either.

well first i would say, i started this thread mainly because i have gotten super into African arboreals and already own H. mac, E. olivacea and have an S.cal on the way and was wondering/hoping there might be more lol

also I think the whole arboreal OBT thing is interesting - on the one hand, as has been argued elsewhere on AB, i think there’s something to the idea that P. murinus might be a composite of several different species and i do think the concept of “mountain dwelling” arachnids should be explored

however, on the other hand, i have 2 OBTs currently, UMV and DCF, and so far this is what I’ve noticed:

the DCF was provided a standard fossorial enclosure and took to it immediately, whereas the UMV, wandered the enclosure walls for a bit upon the initial housing and, even despite being provided a sloped enclosure which was designed to mimic small slopes in mountain ranges, with multiple pre-made burrows, it instead has made it’s burrow at the top the slope but the burrow goes p deep which is where it stays the majority of the time and I’ve really only seen regular fossorial behavior from both

^to which I’m start to regret the experiment because i feel i may have to disturb them and change up the enclosure as the entrance of their burrow is super close to the top of the enclosure

so I’m curious as to whether or not the behavior described in your comment happens out of necessity because it’s all it’s got or if it’s a mimicry of some wild behavior hitherto under-documented or something

 

[Edan bandoot]

H gabonensis
C olivaceum

Maybe look into heterothele, holothele and Ischnocolus there may be some in those genera that I'm drawing a blank on

 

[l4nsky]

There was another species of Stromatopelma (or color form of S. cal, no one is quite sure) that showed up in European collections quite a few years back. It was pretty much a black S. cal and it was thought to be Stromatopelma satanas or possibly Stromatopelma fumigatum. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they never got established in the hobby.

 

[viper69]

H gabonensis
C olivaceum

Maybe look into heterothele, holothele and Ischnocolus there may be some in those genera that I'm drawing a blank on

Gabonensis- arboreal-true

bad memory.

it’s a great field report

 

[Edan bandoot]

Gabonensis- arboreal- how? I’d like to see that citation. They are terrestrial.

There’s a web page from the person who actually went to Gabon, but he didn’t describe them as arboreal, nor communal.

it’s a great field report

Females are gorgeous of course. They are LIGHTNING fast, according to 2 experienced OW breeders I know. They make most Ts look slow.

Here's Cedrik's report on them. He's the expert on them. If it wasn't for him, I doubt they'd be in the hobby among other species that he was involved with.

@miss moxie and @Trenor

He classified this species as arboreal, and when you read his research findings you'll see why.

http://www.bushdrums.com/index.php/wildlife/item/3345-heterothele-gabonensis---research-report

You're going senile old man

 

[viper69]

You're going senile old man

senile, no, forgetting details about species I haven’t kept in years - YES

I’m not sure why you misquoted me above though

Thanks for the link! Didn’t have it on my phone.

There is one note of his, he used to be an active member here, that Ialways found interesting. I’m not sure if he’s referring to the T or the termites.
These nests of termites are not solely on Uapaca, and by the way it is the only place where I found some which did not reside in the Uapaca.

 

[Edan bandoot]

senile, no, forgetting details about species I haven’t kept in years - YES

I’m not sure why you misquoted me above though

Thanks for the link! Didn’t have it on my phone.

There is one note of his, he used to be an active member here, that Ialways found interesting. I’m not sure if he’s referring to the T or the termites.
These nests of termites are not solely on Uapaca, and by the way it is the only place where I found some which did not reside in the Uapaca.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

So basically what everyone is saying thus far is no, there are no other African arboreal species available in the pet market other than H. maculata, S. calceatum, or E. olivacea.

 

[Kibosh]

H gabonensis
C olivaceum

Maybe look into heterothele, holothele and Ischnocolus there may be some in those genera that I'm drawing a blank on

Weird. My adult female H. gabonensis is in a enclosure large enough where she can live arboreal, terrestrial, or fossorial and she has opted to make a burrow right underneath her water dish where she spends almost all of her time and then made a vast web network across the rest that she hunts in/on at night.

Never would have guessed arboreal. I would rehouse her into a arboreal enclosure, but she is by far my fastest invert and seems perfectly happy where she is. Lol

 

[YungRasputin]

So basically what everyone is saying thus far is no, there are no other African arboreal species available in the pet market other than H. maculata, S. calceatum, or E. olivacea.

most unfortunate, was hoping it was like Poecilotheria - Stromatopelma is such a fascinating genus

 

[Edan bandoot]

Weird. My adult female H. gabonensis is in a enclosure large enough where she can live arboreal, terrestrial, or fossorial and she has opted to make a burrow right underneath her water dish where she spends almost all of her time and then made a vast web network across the rest that she hunts in/on at night.

Never would have guessed arboreal. I would rehouse her into a arboreal enclosure, but she is by far my fastest invert and seems perfectly happy where she is. Lol

From what I read in the field report and what I saw in a video of their habitat they seemed like they live anywhere.

In the video I watched they were found inside a rotting treetrunk a few feet off the ground and the field report is self explanatory.