Azula's fire! My H. Pulchripes juvie.

[Sauga Bound]

LOL,

Little Zool has the electric blue legs and is looking absolutely gorge!

Her name can be read three ways: as in Azul, like the color blue; Azula, my favorite ATLA character; or Zul, the Babylonian demon that changed into the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man in uptown Manhattan. Ghost Busters was the first movie I saw in theater, lol.

I definitely should have gained more experience before buying an OW species, but I'm enjoying keeping her. She's been a sweet and docile girl. I leave her to her spider stuff and she leaves me to my human stuff. I did have to remove the lid to fish out a rotting bolus on Monday. She was in one of her hides, with the door closed, so I went for it. It took me half-an-hour to confirm her location in hide #1, remove some of her web tunnels that connect the two sections of cork, dig out a corner of the enclosure, find the bolus, and tidy everything up.

I think she's a little pissed because I haven't seen her since, but she was being less visible for some reason. Usually she spends the day (and night) looking like a crashed out drunk, draped across a little vertical round of cork that she loves to hang out in. She ate like a champ when I first acquired her five weeks ago, but her abdomen is pretty plump and she appears to be fasting or maybe entering premolt.

Meanwhile, my sweet little Pulchra is also in heavy premolt and I'm getting an Avicularia Jurensis M2 (Peru Purple) on the weekend. I've decided to stop collecting spiders for now and focus on the girls I've got, lol. I've got beautiful adult Tarantula Crib enclosures for each one of them, so my first priority is getting them old enough to use them, even if there are SO many cool spiders to choose from. I think four is a good number for now. It gives me plenty of variety without being overwhelming.

This spicy girl does change the equation a bit, though. She's already about 4" dls, so I may move her to a large slider soon to give us both lots of space. Her temperament has been very chill and I feel glad I have her despite her OW reputation.

 

[viper69]

That's steel blue, almost gray, def. not electric blue

El blue below

Jewel of the forest: New electric blue tarantula species discovered in Thailand

In an exciting discovery, a new species of tarantula with electric blue coloration was found in Thailand.

phys.org

I am very blue and totally fantastic, right? by woxys on DeviantArt

www.deviantart.com

 

[Nitroxide]

She is so pretty!! Congrats on the soon new addition as well. It's always fun to keep a spicy one (or 10) in a collection, keeps things edgy!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Enjoy your baboon!! I don’t have any.

 

[HoneyOilers]

LOL,

Little Zool has the electric blue legs and is looking absolutely gorge!

Her name can be read three ways: as in Azul, like the color blue; Azula, my favorite ATLA character; or Zul, the Babylonian demon that changed into the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man in uptown Manhattan. Ghost Busters was the first movie I saw in theater, lol.

I definitely should have gained more experience before buying an OW species, but I'm enjoying keeping her. She's been a sweet and docile girl. I leave her to her spider stuff and she leaves me to my human stuff. I did have to remove the lid to fish out a rotting bolus on Monday. She was in one of her hides, with the door closed, so I went for it. It took me half-an-hour to confirm her location in hide #1, remove some of her web tunnels that connect the two sections of cork, dig out a corner of the enclosure, find the bolus, and tidy everything up.

I think she's a little pissed because I haven't seen her since, but she was being less visible for some reason. Usually she spends the day (and night) looking like a crashed out drunk, draped across a little vertical round of cork that she loves to hang out in. She ate like a champ when I first acquired her five weeks ago, but her abdomen is pretty plump and she appears to be fasting or maybe entering premolt.

Meanwhile, my sweet little Pulchra is also in heavy premolt and I'm getting an Avicularia Jurensis M2 (Peru Purple) on the weekend. I've decided to stop collecting spiders for now and focus on the girls I've got, lol. I've got beautiful adult Tarantula Crib enclosures for each one of them, so my first priority is getting them old enough to use them, even if there are SO many cool spiders to choose from. I think four is a good number for now. It gives me plenty of variety without being overwhelming.

This spicy girl does change the equation a bit, though. She's already about 4" dls, so I may move her to a large slider soon to give us both lots of space. Her temperament has been very chill and I feel glad I have her despite her OW reputation.
View attachment 493622 View attachment 493623 View attachment 493624

Hey if you’re ready, you’re ready. My H. Pulchripes was my fourth spider, first old world, and I’m not sure which it is yet, calm, or bold. It does not like to hide much, even when the enclosure is disturbed. And I love that even at 1” my sling is already showing that yellow and blue colouration.

 

[jennywallace]

She's lovely, I've got one of similar size, just rehoused and looking great. Enjoy.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

That's steel blue, almost gray, def. not electric blue

El blue below

Jewel of the forest: New electric blue tarantula species discovered in Thailand

In an exciting discovery, a new species of tarantula with electric blue coloration was found in Thailand.

phys.org

I am very blue and totally fantastic, right? by woxys on DeviantArt

www.deviantart.com

When I read electric blue, I first thought Birupes simoroxigorum.

Science | AAAS

www.science.org

Birupes

For pictures of tarantulas from the genus Birupes.

arachnoboards.com

 

[viper69]

When I read electric blue, I first thought Birupes simoroxigorum.

Science | AAAS

www.science.org

Birupes

For pictures of tarantulas from the genus Birupes.

arachnoboards.com

I expected electric blue

 

[Mustafa67]

LOL,

Little Zool has the electric blue legs and is looking absolutely gorge!

Her name can be read three ways: as in Azul, like the color blue; Azula, my favorite ATLA character; or Zul, the Babylonian demon that changed into the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man in uptown Manhattan. Ghost Busters was the first movie I saw in theater, lol.

I definitely should have gained more experience before buying an OW species, but I'm enjoying keeping her. She's been a sweet and docile girl. I leave her to her spider stuff and she leaves me to my human stuff. I did have to remove the lid to fish out a rotting bolus on Monday. She was in one of her hides, with the door closed, so I went for it. It took me half-an-hour to confirm her location in hide #1, remove some of her web tunnels that connect the two sections of cork, dig out a corner of the enclosure, find the bolus, and tidy everything up.

I think she's a little pissed because I haven't seen her since, but she was being less visible for some reason. Usually she spends the day (and night) looking like a crashed out drunk, draped across a little vertical round of cork that she loves to hang out in. She ate like a champ when I first acquired her five weeks ago, but her abdomen is pretty plump and she appears to be fasting or maybe entering premolt.

Meanwhile, my sweet little Pulchra is also in heavy premolt and I'm getting an Avicularia Jurensis M2 (Peru Purple) on the weekend. I've decided to stop collecting spiders for now and focus on the girls I've got, lol. I've got beautiful adult Tarantula Crib enclosures for each one of them, so my first priority is getting them old enough to use them, even if there are SO many cool spiders to choose from. I think four is a good number for now. It gives me plenty of variety without being overwhelming.

This spicy girl does change the equation a bit, though. She's already about 4" dls, so I may move her to a large slider soon to give us both lots of space. Her temperament has been very chill and I feel glad I have her despite her OW reputation.
View attachment 493622 View attachment 493623 View attachment 493624

She’s gorgeous

 

[Sauga Bound]

Haha, so "electric blue" is controversial. I love that so much.

Thanks to everyone who's commented. I enjoyed reading your posts.

HoneyOilers, mine was like that until four days ago. Then she disappeared into her cork, closed the door, and I haven't seen her since. She's probably coming out late at night, but I don't see her any more during the day or evening/morning, which is weird. Anyhow, I'm going to wait until I can see her before I introduce any live feeders. She's not great at snagging stragglers, and then I have to try and fish them out. She wasn't very interested in food the last couple of weeks. When I see her out again, or even just blue feets prowling under the web, I'll toss her a couple crickets.

All my spiders are being wierd right now. I think it's a seasonal thing.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Viper is referring to the fact that Chilobrachys natanicharum was known as “Chilobrachys sp electric blue” before it was formally described (named) not too long ago. So his “electric blue” is more correct, lol. I just think of B simoroxigorum because their legs are completely electric blue (except for mature males).

 

[Sauga Bound]

Viper is referring to the fact that Chilobrachys natanicharum was known as “Chilobrachys sp electric blue” before it was formally described (named) not too long ago. So his “electric blue” is more correct, lol. I just think of B simoroxigorum because their legs are completely electric blue (except for mature males).

Yes, I realize there is a spider with the colloquial name, "Electric Blue." The breeder I've used to buy three of my four spiders has specimens available, so I'm aware they exist. I used "electric blue" as an adjective phrase to describe the vivid, bright blue of her legs when light hits them a certain way, not her species. Does the species now have a monopoly on the phrase "electric blue" because it's in their colloquial name?

I think it's strange that someone would look at photos of a beautiful spider and take the time to correct me on my use of an adjective phrase. How about just posting "gorgeous spider," or even nothing at all? Instead, they took the time and effort to point out that they didn't like a descriptor I used to describe the color of her legs. It's just so pointless and silly.

 

[HoneyOilers]

Wasn’t this supposed to be a thread about one H. Pulchripes? It’s spiraled into a debate about Asian fossorial species

 

[Sauga Bound]

Wasn’t this supposed to be a thread about one H. Pulchripes? It’s spiraled into a debate about Asian fossorial species

I know, right! Careful how you describe your spoods around here!

 

[Charliemum]

I know, right! Careful how you describe your spoods around here!

Don't worry about it Viper just likes to be precise, it's why we like him can always rely on him to be blunt n to the point .

She's beautiful btw mine lives in her turret 24/7 I never get to see her lol.

Ps, personally I always thought they look like stone washed jeans .

 

[HoneyOilers]

That’s a great description

 

[Sauga Bound]

Don't worry about it Viper just likes to be precise, it's why we like him can always rely on him to be blunt n to the point .

She's beautiful btw mine lives in her turret 24/7 I never get to see her lol.

Ps, personally I always thought they look like stone washed jeans .

Yes, I've taken notice of Viper's...concise and occasionally puzzling replies, but I don't hold it against them. Everyone is unique and communicates in their own way. I enjoy engaging with Viper, as he/she seems like an interesting individual.

How old is your H. Pulchripes? It seems that many like to be out at least part of the time, except when they're smaller. Is yours a few inches in size? I'm hoping mine hasn't decided to stay in its hide after almost a month of being out every day. It would be pretty weird of her to just close up shop and never emerge from the cork hide, but if that's what she's done, I want to be able to feed her. I don't leave crickets in her enclosure, because she's not very good at picking off stragglers and I've had to go digging for hiding crickets a couple times, including a dead stowaway that buried itself in a corner and died before she could kill it, stinking up the enclosure. I left a mealworm in the top of a pill container just outside her hide, but she didn't touch it. I'm pretty sure she's in seclusion, planning to change her dress any day now, but if not...I don't know how to feed her.

How do you feed your girl if she's always in her burrow? Do you just drop some feeders in or does she have a door across the top like mine does? Also, did your girl create her own turret burrow, or did you set up a vertical cork round like I did? Has she done any webbing? Mine webbed up the enclosure pretty nicely, and created an express tunnel between her cork round and hide. I have a large Tarantula Cribs slider that I'm going to rehouse her in when she emerges, and I'm thinking of burying the cork round, rather than placing it on top of the substrate. I'll also be able to keep a consistent 6" of substrate for her to burrow in if she wants. In her current enclosure, she has 4"-5" in most places.

Any husbandry pointers you can pass on to help me keep my H. Pulchripes happy? Thanks so much for your post!

 

[Charliemum]

Yes, I've taken notice of Viper's...concise and occasionally puzzling replies, but I don't hold it against them. Everyone is unique and communicates in their own way. I enjoy engaging with Viper, as he/she seems like an interesting individual.

How old is your H. Pulchripes? It seems that many like to be out at least part of the time, except when they're smaller. Is yours a few inches in size? I'm hoping mine hasn't decided to stay in its hide after almost a month of being out every day. It would be pretty weird of her to just close up shop and never emerge from the cork hide, but if that's what she's done, I want to be able to feed her. I don't leave crickets in her enclosure, because she's not very good at picking off stragglers and I've had to go digging for hiding crickets a couple times, including a dead stowaway that buried itself in a corner and died before she could kill it, stinking up the enclosure. I left a mealworm in the top of a pill container just outside her hide, but she didn't touch it. I'm pretty sure she's in seclusion, planning to change her dress any day now, but if not...I don't know how to feed her.

How do you feed your girl if she's always in her burrow? Do you just drop some feeders in or does she have a door across the top like mine does? Also, did your girl create her own turret burrow, or did you set up a vertical cork round like I did? Has she done any webbing? Mine webbed up the enclosure pretty nicely, and created an express tunnel between her cork round and hide. I have a large Tarantula Cribs slider that I'm going to rehouse her in when she emerges, and I'm thinking of burying the cork round, rather than placing it on top of the substrate. I'll also be able to keep a consistent 6" of substrate for her to burrow in if she wants. In her current enclosure, she has 4"-5" in most places.

Any husbandry pointers you can pass on to help me keep my H. Pulchripes happy? Thanks so much for your post!

I am glad you can look at it that way, Viper69 is to the point but it's because he loves t's.... ppl not so much lol he has a great mind though so always worth paying attention to him .

My girl is an adult my veiw if I am lucky n she's waiting for food .

I got her as a saf , she came from a dark shed in a small plastic braplast tub with an inch of sub to a huge 16x12x11inch acrylic enclosure with light n noise and several inches to dig in and lots of stuff to web. When she first came she built a web hid in the corner after about 6 months she made her burrow n was gone.
I leave food at the entrance always pre killed its always gone in the morning , if I am really really lucky she will sit with her legs over the edge but that's maybe happened a hand full of times in the 2 years I have had her.
They are a great sp even if my girls a little shy n the turret she's built from her bark is quite impressive. Not massively tall 3/4 inches maybe but chunky .
No special trick to them my girl Hera sits at 28° I overflow her water dish every few weeks, not loads but a little, really deep sub n stuff to web they are happy campers .
I would imagine if I had raised her from sling she would be much less shy too but I am impatient and wanted a female lol.

 

[Sauga Bound]

I am glad you can look at it that way, Viper69 is to the point but it's because he loves t's.... ppl not so much lol he has a great mind though so always worth paying attention to him .

My girl is an adult my veiw if I am lucky n she's waiting for food .
View attachment 494366
I got her as a saf , she came from a dark shed in a small plastic braplast tub with an inch of sub to a huge 16x12x11inch acrylic enclosure with light n noise and several inches to dig in and lots of stuff to web. When she first came she built a web hid in the corner after about 6 months she made her burrow n was gone.
I leave food at the entrance always pre killed its always gone in the morning , if I am really really lucky she will sit with her legs over the edge but that's maybe happened a hand full of times in the 2 years I have had her.
They are a great sp even if my girls a little shy n the turret she's built from her bark is quite impressive. Not massively tall 3/4 inches maybe but chunky .
No special trick to them my girl Hera sits at 28° I overflow her water dish every few weeks, not loads but a little, really deep sub n stuff to web they are happy campers .
I would imagine if I had raised her from sling she would be much less shy too but I am impatient and wanted a female lol.

I've done a lot of searches on this board and seen Viper's posts going back years. Seems like a decent enough person.

I noticed that his replies from further back often have more detail and weren't so eager to find a way to make a poster he disagrees with seem unknowledgeable or even ridiculous. Like how my casual use of the phrase "electric blue" to describe Azula's legs is all that matters to Viper because her legs are more of a steel blue or grey AND because "electric blue" apparently shouldn't be used outside of describing C. Natanichurum., which has the phrase in its colloquial name. In other words, I was engaging in false advertising, haha.

Hell, if someone thinks Azula's legs are more of a steel blue than an electric blue, that's totally cool and a good description of how they look in some lighting scenarios (She was in premolt when those photos were taken, so her legs will likely be much brighter when she appears in a new dress.) But if that's the only thing they have to add to the conversation, I have to question motives, hehe. I've been posting on hobby message boards since the late-90's. I know the tone can vary a lot between posters, lol. I try not to take it to heart because I've read a lot of Viper's posts over the years and see that he can be a thoughtful, informative, helpful member when he wants to be. He can be tactless, but I don't hold it against him.

But enough about Viper....I want to talk H. Pulchripes and how to encourage our spiders to feed on live prey.

So you feed your girl pre-killed almost exclusively? It's amazing how I encounter complete opposite approaches from equally experienced tarantula keepers and breeders. For example, I just bought a 1" Avic. Juruensis M2 from a respected breeder who's been doing this for years and they told me not to use a water dish, mist every other day, and suggested removing discarded boluses is as important as anything for the Avic's health (her boluses are TINY, so I hope she deposits them somewhere easy for me to reach, lol). I see very different advice from Tom Moran, experienced keepers on this site, Reddit, the British tarantula forum, Tarantula Collective, and Viper too, who stress that misting causes more problems than it solves, a water dish on dry substrate is a MUST, and good cross ventilation is the key. I hope that my investment in a Tarantula Crib enclosure with a canopy lid ensures adequate ventilation. I've also decided to against my breeder's advice to a certain extent, by rarely misting and keeping a water dish.

The reason I mention this is because my breeder advised that I only use pre-killed in the most extreme situations (when your spider cannot subdue and kill prey on its own because of a health issue) and that spiders who are fed pre-killed regularly will realize they never have to hunt and remain hidden until they have to come out for food. Honestly, I don't know which is the right approach, but I'm in the thick of it because my H. Pulchripes disappeared into her cork two weeks ago after being out and visible 90% of the time. I'm assuming that she is in premolt and will come out in another week or two, like my Avic and GBB. If it just decided to stay in there, and never come out except to snatch a pre-killed cricket I leave by the door to its hide seems a pretty unrewarding way to keep a T. Have you thought of trying to coax your girl out of her burrow a little more, or at least getting her to come to the entrance when you have live food for her?

It would be very easy to start feeding my new avic pre-killed, and then I wouldn't have to worry about crickets hiding or simply going undiscovered by a sling of this somewhat delicate species . However, if my spider cannot hunt for herself and find crickets I put in her enclosure, I see that as a major problem for her and tend towards my breeder's philosophy of tough love - the spider has to be made to hunt. I am not comfortable working with this delicate arboreal sling in a tiny acrylic enclosure, but I put her first cricket since she molted in with her overnight and found it hiding in the morning. I grabbed a small paintbrush and guided the cricket to the general area of my avic. Then I opened the top, exposing an easy getaway for the spider if she wanted to bolt, and used the paintbrush to gently turn her around and guide her closer to the cricket. Then I left her and the cricket alone. Within a few minutes she snagged her meal and rewarded me with a happy dance, while I was doing my own. I wonder if this type of motivation and reinforcement need to be used to get lazy, reclusive, and picky eating spiders, helping them hunt and kill their own food until they do it on their own.

I have used pre-killed before, against my breeder's advice, to save myself serious hassle. If I feed a spider live crickets and it doesn't eat them, the next time I offer food, I often leave a single pre-killed cricket to test its hunger. If it eats it, I go back to live prey. I started doing this because finding and removing live feeders and not always easy. My H. Pulchripes' enclosure has lot of fake plants for webbing, but those plants give uneaten crickets places to hide. Azula's enclosure makes it very easy for feeders to disappear, so when she emerges from her cork and has a few meals, I'm going to move her to a large Tarantula Cribs slider that incorporates the lessons I've learned to prevent crickets from escaping and hiding away in the enclosuree. So, my only choice is to wait for her to come out again and hunt for her food, or start leaving pre-killed, hope she eats it, then resign myself to rarely seeing her again. No point rehousing her in that case.

Personally, I want a T that is out sometimes and can hunt for its own food. I want to train my spiders to be this way as much as possible, by making them come out to hunt just like they do in nature. However, my short experience with Azula has been very different than your experience with Hera. I got Azula at an exotic pet store, where she had a hide but was always out when I observed her. She like to snooze in an empty Exo-Terra waterdish, but even when she was awake, she was walking about the enclosure without a care in the world. I don't know what her conditions were like during the time before ended up at the pet store, but her temperament and comfort with lots of noise and people made me think she would be a good pet. You, on the other hand, got Hera (whose legs definitely have an electric-blue sheen to them in the photo you posted) from less-than-ideal circumstances, and she has really engaged in the fossorial part of her nature, while mine was more about webbing the place up and spending her leisure time sleeping on the cork round.

It's interesting to see these two common behavioral characteristics in the species, with yours being more fossorial and mine being more of a terrestrial webber. I can't see the larger context of your enclosure, so I don't know how you set it up. I designed mine to encourage webbing, while giving the spider a choice of hides and hangouts that were very close to each other. I'll post some pics of my Avic and H. Pulchripes setups. The avic has only been in there a couple days, so there is no webbing yet; The web-tunnels that used to connect the two hides have been removed in places by me when I was looking for something rotten, and haven't had any maintenance for at least two weeks.

 

[Requiem4aSpleen]

Lol. My Pulchripes has been waving at me alot lately. But they are usually good. They are a beautiful sp. Congrats