Aphonmpelma enclosure

[Austin S.]

Yes, definitely A. moderatum.

We conducted research this past August in locations near the Rio Grande. I will not disclose locality information, however I can honestly say that more than a few people have read the revision, and entirely wiped those locations OUT. Each location on the paper was empty when we arrived to them. All that we found were A. anax. However we did not come back empty handed. We will hopefully preserve this species, as well as get it back into the hobby, with the few pairs we picked up.
Here is one of my breeding pairs. Both male and female were collected in the same area, and are both the same size (3")
Female top, male bottom.

Second 3" female which was collected in the same area, freshly molted.

If I prove to be successful with these females, slings will be exported into the UK.

 

[ErinM31]

Yes, definitely A. moderatum.

We conducted research this past August in locations near the Rio Grande. I will not disclose locality information, however I can honestly say that more than a few people have read the revision, and entirely wiped those locations OUT. Each location on the paper was empty when we arrived to them. All that we found were A. anax. However we did not come back empty handed. We will hopefully preserve this species, as well as get it back into the hobby, with the few pairs we picked up.
Here is one of my breeding pairs. Both male and female were collected in the same area, and are both the same size (3")
Female top, male bottom.

Second 3" female which was collected in the same area, freshly molted.

If I prove to be successful with these females, slings will be exported into the UK.

Wow, I would not have expected there to be so much interest and it's terrible that they were over-collected like that! It's shocking how the population could go from being seen everywhere as described in the review to just... gone...
I really hope that you are successful in breeding and maintaining this species!!!

 

[Austin S.]

Wow, I would not have expected there to be so much interest and it's terrible that they were over-collected like that! It's shocking how the population could go from being seen everywhere as described in the review to just... gone...
I really hope that you are successful in breeding and maintaining this species!!!

I have to agree. Here in Oklahoma, you can find A. hentzi almost everywhere you look out in the field. Literally theres an adult burrow every 3 ft.

Down there, absolutely no adults anywhere to be found. Four days and an avg. of 31 miles of walking each day, and no adults. Mostly 3/4"-1.5" moderatum. Within 300 yards, you may find one. Very, very sad.

 

[ErinM31]

I have to agree. Here in Oklahoma, you can find A. hentzi almost everywhere you look out in the field. Literally theres an adult burrow every 3 ft.

Down there, absolutely no adults anywhere to be found. Four days and an avg. of 31 miles of walking each day, and no adults. Mostly 3/4"-1.5" moderatum. Within 300 yards, you may find one. Very, very sad.

Maybe it's a stupid question but why would this happen??? It's not like they were previously unknown and indeed, are mentioned in a tarantula care book as the one member of the genus you might not wish to keep because they can be more defensive. What made people suddenly want that species in particular and so much so that the population has basically been stripmined?

 

[Austin S.]

I can literally name a few names as to who wiped them out.
There is one person who comes there once a year for a week and collects.
I know this because we were pulled over several times by local police, state troopers, and border control, every day we were there.
After a lot of questions on my end, we found information in regards to them being mia.
Also, there are two main dealers that have paid off locals to collect. One which collected several hundred adults in 2012-2013, and sold them. This species, as well as bicoloratum are quickly becoming extinct in nature.

 

[KezyGLA]

According to the 2016 paper on the Aphonopelma genus in the U.S. by Hamilton et al., it sounds like they are plentiful in their range. It's worth a try and I may find some millipedes too while I am out there. While I by no means limit my collection to North America, I do like to focus on collecting and culturing our native species. And while there is always demand for the biggest and the most colorful, I do appreciate the subtle beauty of the under-appreciated Aphonopelma tarantulas.

Well then.. Keep me in mind. I would go through whatever process possible to obtain a few pairs of these

 

[KezyGLA]

I can literally name a few names as to who wiped them out.
There is one person who comes there once a year for a week and collects.
I know this because we were pulled over several times by local police, state troopers, and border control, every day we were there.
After a lot of questions on my end, we found information in regards to them being mia.
Also, there are two main dealers that have paid off locals to collect. One which collected several hundred adults in 2012-2013, and sold them. This species, as well as bicoloratum are quickly becoming extinct in nature.

See this is what I thought. I know the bicoloratum was suffering aswell. It does my head in when big ego'd dealers pull huge hoards of specimens from the wild. Urban development and agricultural companies are damaging enough. But if there has been papers released this year saying they are on the rise again then thats great news.

@ErinM31 Where can I read these for myself?

 

[Austin S.]

Well then.. Keep me in mind. I would go through whatever process possible to obtain a few pairs of these

Well they would not be pairs.
Local pairs will not be sold, nor shipped out of country.
For now, they are strictly for US breeders. What will eventually be imported into the UK will be slings.
That is unless we can collect much more breeding pairs, and we can find the right Aphonopelma breeders over there.

 

[KezyGLA]

Well they would not be pairs.
Local pairs will not be sold, nor shipped out of country.
For now, they are strictly for US breeders. What will eventually be imported into the UK will be slings.
That is unless we can collect much more breeding pairs, and we can find the right Aphonopelma breeders over there.

I was late to the party and super confused myself. Didn't read page 3 until now. If the habitats have been ripped to shreds then of course not. I was away in a bubble thinking my luck was in..

But I kept in mind what you said on IG. I never knew that papers were revised and released on this sp..

So the damage is already done. That didnt take long at all

 

[ErinM31]

See this is what I thought. I know the bicoloratum was suffering aswell. It does my head in when big ego'd dealers pull huge hoards of specimens from the wild. Urban development and agricultural companies are damaging enough. But if there has been papers released this year saying they are on the rise again then thats great news.

@ErinM31 Where can I read these for myself?

I fear the information in the paper saying that they were common was before they were stripped from the land.

Unfortunately, the article is not open access: http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=6264
I think the authors may have posted it on ResearchGate, however. (Send me a PM)

For now, they are strictly for US breeders. What will eventually be imported into the UK will be slings. That is unless we can collect much more breeding pairs, and we can find the right Aphonopelma breeders over there.

I am probably too much of a newb to qualify but I would definitely be interested! I can definitely raise slings! I want to do my part to preserve this species. I wanted one too, but my thought to collect a tarantula or two was based on my thinking this species was not that popular in the hobby and were yet abundant in the wild. I will not go searching now.

 

[KezyGLA]

I would happily wait until slings were available. I would buy as many as I could and also be super happy about raising them to maturity

 

[ErinM31]

I was late to the party and super confused myself. Didn't read page 3 until now. If the habitats have been ripped to shreds then of course not. I was away in a bubble thinking my luck was in..

But I kept in mind what you said on IG. I never knew that papers were revised and released on this sp..

So the damage is already done. That didnt take long at all

Sorry! I'm super disappointed and saddened too! A few greedy people would take this species from the environment and everyone else now and future!

 

[ErinM31]

I would happily wait until slings were available. I would buy as many as I could and also be super happy about raising them to maturity

Me too! Raising slings is very rewarding!

 

[Jeff23]

I can literally name a few names as to who wiped them out.
There is one person who comes there once a year for a week and collects.
I know this because we were pulled over several times by local police, state troopers, and border control, every day we were there.
After a lot of questions on my end, we found information in regards to them being mia.
Also, there are two main dealers that have paid off locals to collect. One which collected several hundred adults in 2012-2013, and sold them. This species, as well as bicoloratum are quickly becoming extinct in nature.

It is too bad that posts like this one can't be posted as a sticky note somewhere. I keep seeing people rationalize the taking of the chalcodes from the wild. It would not surprise me to see it join this list eventually as well. They are for sale at $50 for an adult female on many tarantula shop sites.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Yes, definitely A. moderatum.

We conducted research this past August in locations near the Rio Grande. I will not disclose locality information, however I can honestly say that more than a few people have read the revision, and entirely wiped those locations OUT. Each location on the paper was empty when we arrived to them.

How many field trips and how many different times of the year did it take to come to the conclusion that your checked locations have been wiped out? I would think you couldn't come to that conclusion based on one field trip during the hottest month of the year in Texas.

 

[Gods Spartan]

Yes, definitely A. moderatum.

We conducted research this past August in locations near the Rio Grande. I will not disclose locality information, however I can honestly say that more than a few people have read the revision, and entirely wiped those locations OUT. Each location on the paper was empty when we arrived to them. All that we found were A. anax. However we did not come back empty handed. We will hopefully preserve this species, as well as get it back into the hobby, with the few pairs we picked up.
Here is one of my breeding pairs. Both male and female were collected in the same area, and are both the same size (3")
Female top, male bottom.

Second 3" female which was collected in the same area, freshly molted.

If I prove to be successful with these females, slings will be exported into the UK.

I wound up with this specimen thinking it was a chalcodes, but I must say it was a pleasant surprise to find out what I had on my hands.

Knowing more about them, I might inquire on finding a breeder. Is it one if those specimens where it is all hands on deck to keep their numbers up?

I have never packed a T before and would absolutely hate to have something happen in transit so I would need to find someone local to the Carolinas if I felt compelled to. Thoughts?

 

[Leonardo the Mage]

I have a male who can be shipped out if someone knows how to get them down to the states. He matured this summer, and is still eating and making sperm webs. He should still be good to breed.

 

[Austin S.]

How many field trips and how many different times of the year did it take to come to the conclusion that your checked locations have been wiped out? I would think you couldn't come to that conclusion based on one field trip during the hottest month of the year in Texas.

It was only during August when we went.
There were four total people. We checked each GPS location for our surrounding area, which consisted of driving a few hundred miles day and night to get to them. There are several other locations we could not make it to, however these are the particular ones that are empty:
-0.59 miles E US-277 on FM-693
-7.8 miles W Hwy-131 on Hwy-90 (W of Brackettville)
-4.6 miles ESE Eagle Pass (jct US-57) on US-277
-off dirt road near Hwy-277
-1.93 miles NE Zavala County Line on FM-481
-Uvalde, near Nueces River
-0.25 miles N Kinney County Line on Hwy-277
-4.3 miles E Loop-20 on US-59 at Los Tios Creek
-10.15 miles SE Maverick County Line on Eagle Pass Rd
There are a few more spots we checked, however I cannot find them on the revision for some reason. One was a picnic area S. HWY 277.
We could only spend a few days there because of work schedules. However during that short amount of time, we did cover a lot of ground, both day and night. With four very experienced T hunters, we didn't miss much. However, the locations above, do not have moderatum anymore. Unless we came during a bad time of the year?

 

[ErinM31]

It was only during August when we went.

However during that short amount of time, we did cover a lot of ground, both day and night. With four very experienced T hunters, we didn't miss much. However, the locations above, do not have moderatum anymore. Unless we came during a bad time of the year?

I have zero experience hunting T's (unless the time I've spent searching but finding nothing more than an impressive wolf spider counts for anything ), but wouldn't one expect to find tarantulas in their burrows any time of year? In the winter perhaps they might seal off their burrows with more than webbing (I don't know, just conjecture), but shouldn't they be equally easy or difficult to find the rest of the year? It would seem to me that only mature males would have a season when they can be found wandering in search of love.

Please correct me if I am mistaken!

 

[Austin S.]

I have zero experience hunting T's (unless the time I've spent searching but finding nothing more than an impressive wolf spider counts for anything ), but wouldn't one expect to find tarantulas in their burrows any time of year? In the winter perhaps they might seal off their burrows with more than webbing (I don't know, just conjecture), but shouldn't they be equally easy or difficult to find the rest of the year? It would seem to me that only mature males would have a season when they can be found wandering in search of love.

Please correct me if I am mistaken!

It differs from species to species. Some locals and other hobbyists told me that you would only be able to find adult moderatum during May-July. After that the adults plug their burrows up. Which makes absolutely no sense to me. Not sure I can entirely believe that.
The time we went was probably the worse time to go though. The thickness of the grass was almost impeccable, and up to your thighs or higher. Going earlier in the year would be a better idea as it would not be as thick.

Certain Aphonopelma species, mostly dwarf species, can only be found during September-November in the surround AZ areas. Months before and after those dates, the burrows are plugged. It is very interesting to me.