Avicularia urticans

[Mojo Jojo]

I've been looking at some pictures of Avicularia urticans and am wondering why I have never placed them on my list of to get spiders. It looks to me like a cross between an A. metallica and and A. versicolor.

Does anyone have experience keeping this spider? Is it as stout as the versicolor? It definately looks stouter than a metallica or an avicularia or most other Avicularia species.

BD

 

[Mojo Jojo]

How about temperment and skittishness. Are they more or less prone to jump than A. avicularia, metallica, versicolor?

I think that I have read that the moisture/humidity requirements vary for different species of Avicularia. How hard is it to maintain the proper humidity for this species while avoiding desication?

BD

 

[Immortal_sin]

Here is my female, right here on Scott's site.
Very shy, hides most of the time. Very hardy, no special humidity required, just a nice full water dish. She likes the misting every so often.
Neat species!

 

[Immortal_sin]

another pic, she only comes out at night. I've never handled her, since she built a nice web retreat, and runs into it whenever I open her enclosure

 

[Mojo Jojo]

Uh oh. There is definately a problem here!

Here are links to the three pictures that Rick West has posted on his website of A. urticans:

http://birdspiders.com/archive/1/0104.htm
http://birdspiders.com/archive/1/0168.htm
http://birdspiders.com/archive/1/0124.htm

They don't look anything like the ones posted on this site. In fact, the ones posted on this site look like Avicularia aurantiaca.

http://birdspiders.com/archive/3/0043.htm



Scratching My Head

:?

Big Dragonfly

 

[Mojo Jojo]

Here is the verbatum description of Avicularia urticans, as listed at John Hoke's e-spiderworld.com website, which can be found at:

http://www.e-spiderworld.com/genus_text.htm

Avicularia urticans, Peruvian Pinktoe. From Peru, abdomen is largely black with purple, the carapace and chelicera are purple. Black femurs on the legs, purple patella and tibia with darker metatarsus and tarsus. The tips of the tarsus are light pink. Arboreal, tree dweller, fairly docile.

BD

 

[Immortal_sin]

BD, I am now scratching my head as well :?
I got her from a person that used to wholesale Ts...and got rid of his collection. Her coloration did not change post molt either...that is her true color. She doesn't look a think like the ones on Rick's site, but I believe Art Cerda once posted pics of his, and it looked like mine. I'm going to search for the thread.

 

[Mojo Jojo]

I was thinking about it, and I came to the conclusion urticans share all the same letters as aurantiaca except for an "a" and a "s". I could see how a mistake could be innocently made here!

aurantiaca

BD

 

[pamandron]

Holley,
We have an Aurantiaca and she does look alot like the pic you posted. She also stays in her web most of the time. She is about the size of yours also. Maybe one day we can breed if one of us ends up with the male. Or maybe they are already adult. I know the person we got ours from thought maybe ours was a male. But molted about 6 months ago and definetly no hooks or signs of a male. Pam

 

[Immortal_sin]

mine is definately a female
She molted last Feb, and this fall made an eggsac without having mated. Then she ate it.
Apparently she was making a statement!