Azula's fire! My H. Pulchripes juvie.

[Ultum4Spiderz]

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

I miss my obts butt they were a short lived species it seems. Or I-got inbred ones.

 

[Sauga Bound]

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

Are you sure you didn't say "cheese" for this photo?

Your photo highlights the other traits of H. Pulchripes, besides the fossorial vs. webber behavior I discussed at length in my last reply to Charliemum. That is the two personality types I encounter with this species - spicier ones with the "typical" baboon defensiveness and relaxed specimens that are very tolerant of human activity in and around their enclosure. I think they all have the potential to be spicy OW fossorials, but seem to lean more towards one temperament than the other. I've encountered so many H. Pulchripes keepers since I got mine and started doing serious research, and realized that they only come in two flavors: mild and spicy. This is reminiscent of the dichotomy between the more fossorial specimens who usually stay out of sight and the webbers who may make use of hides or burrows, but are much more visible day-to-day.

I know the photo could have just been a chance pose or temper tantrum, so I want to ask you if you think your girl is spicy or mild. What behaviors have helped your form this opinion? What about a fossorial recluse or a webber that is out and on display most of the time?

I've learned a lot about this species during two months of research, but I've also found detailed reports by keepers to be all-but-absent outside the main tarantula content creators: Tom Moran, Dave from Dave's Beasties, Tarantula Collective, and a few others. As a result, I really want to hear from other H. Pulchripes owners to compare notes with and see how our experiences are similar or different. I'd like to know if fossorial recluses vs. more terrestrial webbers who are out most of the time decide that for themselves, or if it is enclosure design that more profoundly determines whether they are mostly fossorial or more terrestrial and more visible. If so, what kinds of enclosure design elements seem to encourage a terrestrial lifestyle with lots of webbing vs. fossorial pet holes.

I'd also like to know if there are any correlations between perceived spiciness and a specimen's fossorial vs. webbing preference. For example, are most terrestrial webbers more relaxed while tunnelers are more defensive? Or, is it the other way around, or is temperament completely unrelated to how they live and there are jsut as many spicy ones who prefer the fossorial existence as there are spicy terrestrials who web a lot. Because I bought my H. Pulchripes very early in my tarantula keeping, I have encountered other keepers who have regaled me with horror stories and at least as many who have echoed my own feelings about my girl, Azula - that they are an excellent first OW species because of their relaxed disposition.

I've come to learn that this species is a relative newcomer who has been around about a decade, was pretty highly priced in North America prior to COVID, but whose price has fallen to average as NA breeders got their hands on them and increased the supply some time during COVID. Nonetheless, I have a hard time finding much information about these spiders from experienced keepers outside some of the more prominent figures in the hobby, a few of which I've mentioned. Still, I see this species listed in the inventory of most North American breeders and sellers, but have been able to find so little discussion of their traits by keepers on the web.

What may be especially interesting is the utter lack of bite reports. One thing I have not encountered in my research is more than a single anecdotal account of a bite by this species, and it was communicated second-hand. Otherwise, I haven't been able to find a single story of someone's experience getting bitten by this species. That leaves me to believe bites are highly underreported, but knowing how much spider keepers like to share information about bites from OW species, I have to assume that very few people are actually being bitten. Is this just my impression or have other owners observed the same thing?

Anyways, I'd really love to make a new thread or continue the discussion here among keepers of H. Pulchripes regarding your experiences. Like, how long have you had the specimen, how old are they, how big were they when you first got them, what was your enclosure design, did they act more fossorial or terrestrial, is their temperament relaxed or defensive? I'd really love to hear about anything noteworthy people have observed in their husbandry, like how long they typically go into premolt for, do they disappear to molt and resurface a few weeks later, or do you not know because you girl spends all her time in underground burrows? What's their feeding response like, in your experience, and how/what do you feed your girls? What made you acquire this species in the first place? Did you have more than a year of experience keeping Ts before your acquired this OW species? If, like me, you bought it just a few months into your Tarantula-keeping journey, what made you think you'd be able to handle it or were you anxious about that? Was their temperament what you expected, more relaxed, or more defensive?

Anyhow, I'd really love to find a place to collect this information and create an excellent resource for keepers by keepers, because I think there simply isn't enough detailed information out there about them. I might cut and paste this post into a new thread in the Tarantula Chat forum to get as many posts from keepers as possible. I would really love to know the opinions of those who have replied to me about their H. Pulchripes in this thread. Check the chat for a new H. Pulchripes thread and reply there if you want, to get the discussion going.

 

[Requiem4aSpleen]

Are you sure you didn't say "cheese" for this photo?

Your photo highlights the other traits of H. Pulchripes, besides the fossorial vs. webber behavior I discussed at length in my last reply to Charliemum. That is the two personality types I encounter with this species - spicier ones with the "typical" baboon defensiveness and relaxed specimens that are very tolerant of human activity in and around their enclosure. I think they all have the potential to be spicy OW fossorials, but seem to lean more towards one temperament than the other. I've encountered so many H. Pulchripes keepers since I got mine and started doing serious research, and realized that they only come in two flavors: mild and spicy. This is reminiscent of the dichotomy between the more fossorial specimens who usually stay out of sight and the webbers who may make use of hides or burrows, but are much more visible day-to-day.

I know the photo could have just been a chance pose or temper tantrum, so I want to ask you if you think your girl is spicy or mild. What behaviors have helped your form this opinion? What about a fossorial recluse or a webber that is out and on display most of the time?

I've learned a lot about this species during two months of research, but I've also found detailed reports by keepers to be all-but-absent outside the main tarantula content creators: Tom Moran, Dave from Dave's Beasties, Tarantula Collective, and a few others. As a result, I really want to hear from other H. Pulchripes owners to compare notes with and see how our experiences are similar or different. I'd like to know if fossorial recluses vs. more terrestrial webbers who are out most of the time decide that for themselves, or if it is enclosure design that more profoundly determines whether they are mostly fossorial or more terrestrial and more visible. If so, what kinds of enclosure design elements seem to encourage a terrestrial lifestyle with lots of webbing vs. fossorial pet holes.

I'd also like to know if there are any correlations between perceived spiciness and a specimen's fossorial vs. webbing preference. For example, are most terrestrial webbers more relaxed while tunnelers are more defensive? Or, is it the other way around, or is temperament completely unrelated to how they live and there are jsut as many spicy ones who prefer the fossorial existence as there are spicy terrestrials who web a lot. Because I bought my H. Pulchripes very early in my tarantula keeping, I have encountered other keepers who have regaled me with horror stories and at least as many who have echoed my own feelings about my girl, Azula - that they are an excellent first OW species because of their relaxed disposition.

I've come to learn that this species is a relative newcomer who has been around about a decade, was pretty highly priced in North America prior to COVID, but whose price has fallen to average as NA breeders got their hands on them and increased the supply some time during COVID. Nonetheless, I have a hard time finding much information about these spiders from experienced keepers outside some of the more prominent figures in the hobby, a few of which I've mentioned. Still, I see this species listed in the inventory of most North American breeders and sellers, but have been able to find so little discussion of their traits by keepers on the web.

What may be especially interesting is the utter lack of bite reports. One thing I have not encountered in my research is more than a single anecdotal account of a bite by this species, and it was communicated second-hand. Otherwise, I haven't been able to find a single story of someone's experience getting bitten by this species. That leaves me to believe bites are highly underreported, but knowing how much spider keepers like to share information about bites from OW species, I have to assume that very few people are actually being bitten. Is this just my impression or have other owners observed the same thing?

Anyways, I'd really love to make a new thread or continue the discussion here among keepers of H. Pulchripes regarding your experiences. Like, how long have you had the specimen, how old are they, how big were they when you first got them, what was your enclosure design, did they act more fossorial or terrestrial, is their temperament relaxed or defensive? I'd really love to hear about anything noteworthy people have observed in their husbandry, like how long they typically go into premolt for, do they disappear to molt and resurface a few weeks later, or do you not know because you girl spends all her time in underground burrows? What's their feeding response like, in your experience, and how/what do you feed your girls? What made you acquire this species in the first place? Did you have more than a year of experience keeping Ts before your acquired this OW species? If, like me, you bought it just a few months into your Tarantula-keeping journey, what made you think you'd be able to handle it or were you anxious about that? Was their temperament what you expected, more relaxed, or more defensive?

Anyhow, I'd really love to find a place to collect this information and create an excellent resource for keepers by keepers, because I think there simply isn't enough detailed information out there about them. I might cut and paste this post into a new thread in the Tarantula Chat forum to get as many posts from keepers as possible. I would really love to know the opinions of those who have replied to me about their H. Pulchripes in this thread. Check the chat for a new H. Pulchripes thread and reply there if you want, to get the discussion going.

She's not what i would call spicy but she has her moments. She's a good T overall.

She has been living in that mainstay and from what I've seen, she could use more space. I have a bunch of T's that i had to move into smaller enclosures because I'm moving. They'll be moved again into something better later.

I got her as a freebie a while back so age, I'm not sure. My Harpactira are pretty slow growing, so I'd imagine she's been around for over a 1.5 years (just a guess)

I started with old worlds and new worlds. My 1st order I had 10 or so slings.

 

[Sauga Bound]

She's not what i would call spicy but she has her moments. She's a good T overall.

She has been living in that mainstay and from what I've seen, she could use more space. I have a bunch of T's that i had to move into smaller enclosures because I'm moving. They'll be moved again into something better later.

I got her as a freebie a while back so age, I'm not sure. My Harpactira are pretty slow growing, so I'd imagine she's been around for over a 1.5 years (just a guess)

I started with old worlds and new worlds. My 1st order I had 10 or so slings.

I would SO love for you to check out the new thread I just created in the Tarantula Chat board about this species. If you could answer some of the specific questions I pose in the OP or even just copy and paste this, I'd really like to get keepers of this unique species discussing their husbandry, answering some of the questions I've come up with to help us understand the tendencies of this species better, or just talking a bit about their experience keeping an H. Pulchripes, like is yours more fossorial or terrestrial, defensive or chill, what does it do during premolt and how long does the process normally take, what do you feed yours, how, and how often? Stuff like that, so we can create a great resource for people to discuss these spiders and share their experiences keeping them.

 

[HoneyOilers]

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

I love this species, I can’t wait until mine gets bigger, it’s my first old world

 

[Requiem4aSpleen]

I love this species, I can’t wait until mine gets bigger, it’s my first old world

Great choice

 

[HoneyOilers]

Great choice

Mine’s just little right now, around an inch, approaching a moult, I’m excited. I just moved it into a 5” tarantula cribs hex enclosure

 

[Requiem4aSpleen]

Mine’s just little right now, around an inch, approaching a moult, I’m excited. I just moved it into a 5” tarantula cribs hex enclosure

Looks like your little dude is giving you a threat posture in the 1st pic Nice setup, looks good

 

[Charliemum]

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.

My girl was actually set up similar to yours originally but she decided to burrow. Please excuse the reflection it's 5am n dark here but as you can see she had web points just never used em .


There was a furn she did web up where her turret is now. (the heap of sub at the back.) She buried n squashed it when she burrowed. You can see it on the pic on the other post or what's left of it lol.
I feed her prekilled because I use morio/super worms things are vicious and will burrow and possibly hurt my t so I leave her beheaded/ prekilled. I do this with all 110 of my baby's they don't all hide like her alot are out 99% of the time just her that hides oh n my Cyriocosmus, girl burrowed as a sling n never lost the habit .

I will say I do occasionally feed off locust n crix live but as a treat rather then a main food source and more often locust then crix.
I had a bad experience with one laying eggs in my pulchras enclosure. Thing was only in there 4 hours max n I didn't see it lay either , once my pulchra didn't eat I took her out a month later my pulchra flipped to moult n boom baby crix all over his viv! Never again. I was so scared spent ages trying to get them out n away from him. So I don't trust pray anymore n make sure its headless before it goes in. T's don't care either way , scoop em up n eat em regardless.

That's one of the cool things about t's , what works for one may not work for another and they are individual just like ppl. Each will have its own quirks and habits, unfortunately for Hera she is shy , likes it dark n quiet like the shed she spent 5 years in. Unfortunately for her she's come to a busy home with my son who is definitely not quiet . From a tiny 8x4x3 inch braplast tub to a large clear 16x12x10 inch enclosure so she coped how she coped by building a small space she can live in . T's gunna t regardless of what you offer.

Spraying ups humidity and I know alot that do use it but it comes with drawbacks for me, I have as I said 110 baby's if I had to spray every enclosure every day or 2 I would never be done, so a large water dish, slightly damp sub n good ventilation helps me not have to be Spraying every evening or so. Again it's down to the person and what they prefer but Spraying t's is an art if you don't get the ventilation time of day ect just right it will kill your t quicker then anything else. I find water dishes much safer, although I do sprinkle a few drops on arboreal webs when I fill dishes just because they seem to prefer web/wall drinking but it's only once a week when I do their dishes, twice if tiny slings but I prefer fossorial t's so I don't really have tiny arboreal any more.

At the end of the day you will learn what's right for you n your t's , compile information like I did n a million keepers before me and based on you your lifestyle and your baby's you choose what you think is right , if it works great if it doesn't try something else, everybody's right way is different and there are lots of them ready to tell you this is the only way but its not. It takes time to find your way, it doesn't happen over night .

 

[Sauga Bound]

I love this species, I can’t wait until mine gets bigger, it’s my first old world

How big is yours specimen now?

Mine was about 4"+ dls before she disappeared to molt. I'm not how sure she'll be when she re-emerges. I don't think they get bigger than 6", and 5" or so seems to be the norm for mature females. From what I've read, they are a fast-growing species that typically takes 3 years to mature (for females.) That means mine is around two-years-old and will probably reach full size in a year or so.

Since they are fast growers, you won't have to wait too long for yours to get bigger. If one calculates their average size when mature and considers that it takes a female about three years to reach maturity at 5"-5.5", that means they must add about 1.75" per year, give or take.

 

[Sauga Bound]

Mine’s just little right now, around an inch, approaching a moult, I’m excited. I just moved it into a 5” tarantula cribs hex enclosure

Oh yeah, she's still a wee sling. Hasn't gotten her colors yet. I love the TC hex enclosure. I just bought mine a large TC slider (terrestrial style) to rehouse her permanently after she emerges from her molt and has a few good meals. I've learned A LOT about how to design an enclosure for this species to encourage it to be more terrestrial, with heavy webbing, and good visibility while also making it much harder for stray feeders to use fake plants and other web anchors along the periphery as long term hiding spots.

I've found that if you get a typical terrestrial enclosure with lots of floor space, you can give them plenty of substrate, but deter them from burrowing by providing a good hide and adding a vertical cork round to one of the corners. It can sit right on top of the substrate or be buried an inch or two, and my girl has used it as her home base, sitting or lying across the top like it's an elevated turret burrow.

Make sure to have fake plants along the periphery as primary web anchors, but do so in a way that stray feeders cant easily access the "roots" by planting them 1/2" away from the edge so you can completely bury the roots and not have them exposed up against the acrylic, where crickets will often squeeze between the enclosure wall and base of the plant to hide among the roots. When they end up dying there - which they usually do eventually - they will stink up the enclosure and force you to go digging for dead crickets while your baboon is probably out and about - not ideal.

As for sticks and dried branches or plant parts that you might wedge into the substrate where it meets the acrylic to create additional anchor points for webbing, move them in about 1/4" from the side and you can again make it impossible for errant feeders (crickets especially) to wedge themselves between the acrylic and the anchor by having a bit of substrate separating them, preventing the cricket or other small feeders from using the slippery acrylic as their way to wiggle into the tight cavity where the anchor is planted.

 

[Sauga Bound]

My girl was actually set up similar to yours originally but she decided to burrow. Please excuse the reflection it's 5am n dark here but as you can see she had web points just never used em .
View attachment 494448

There was a furn she did web up where her turret is now. (the heap of sub at the back.) She buried n squashed it when she burrowed. You can see it on the pic on the other post or what's left of it lol.
I feed her prekilled because I use morio/super worms things are vicious and will burrow and possibly hurt my t so I leave her beheaded/ prekilled. I do this with all 110 of my baby's they don't all hide like her alot are out 99% of the time just her that hides oh n my Cyriocosmus, girl burrowed as a sling n never lost the habit .

I will say I do occasionally feed off locust n crix live but as a treat rather then a main food source and more often locust then crix.
I had a bad experience with one laying eggs in my pulchras enclosure. Thing was only in there 4 hours max n I didn't see it lay either , once my pulchra didn't eat I took her out a month later my pulchra flipped to moult n boom baby crix all over his viv! Never again. I was so scared spent ages trying to get them out n away from him. So I don't trust pray anymore n make sure its headless before it goes in. T's don't care either way , scoop em up n eat em regardless.

That's one of the cool things about t's , what works for one may not work for another and they are individual just like ppl. Each will have its own quirks and habits, unfortunately for Hera she is shy , likes it dark n quiet like the shed she spent 5 years in. Unfortunately for her she's come to a busy home with my son who is definitely not quiet . From a tiny 8x4x3 inch braplast tub to a large clear 16x12x10 inch enclosure so she coped how she coped by building a small space she can live in . T's gunna t regardless of what you offer.

Spraying ups humidity and I know alot that do use it but it comes with drawbacks for me, I have as I said 110 baby's if I had to spray every enclosure every day or 2 I would never be done, so a large water dish, slightly damp sub n good ventilation helps me not have to be Spraying every evening or so. Again it's down to the person and what they prefer but Spraying t's is an art if you don't get the ventilation time of day ect just right it will kill your t quicker then anything else. I find water dishes much safer, although I do sprinkle a few drops on arboreal webs when I fill dishes just because they seem to prefer web/wall drinking but it's only once a week when I do their dishes, twice if tiny slings but I prefer fossorial t's so I don't really have tiny arboreal any more.

At the end of the day you will learn what's right for you n your t's , compile information like I did n a million keepers before me and based on you your lifestyle and your baby's you choose what you think is right , if it works great if it doesn't try something else, everybody's right way is different and there are lots of them ready to tell you this is the only way but its not. It takes time to find your way, it doesn't happen over night .

Interesting! Hera's enclosure does seem to invite a more terrestrial, webbed up T, but it's hard to see what kind of hide she has/had initially that may have offered her the privacy she wanted sometimes without having to burrow. That's why I'm asking H. Pulchripes keepers posting here to check out the other thread I created and share this information there. Then, the combined experience and dialogue between many keepers using different setups will help us create a much-needed source of information on the species for those considering acquiring a specimen, or helping those of us who already have one to improve our husbandry or learn more about how they act in different setups.

 

[Charliemum]

Interesting! Hera's enclosure does seem to invite a more terrestrial, webbed up T, but it's hard to see what kind of hide she has/had initially that may have offered her the privacy she wanted sometimes without having to burrow. That's why I'm asking H. Pulchripes keepers posting here to check out the other thread I created and share this information there. Then, the combined experience and dialogue between many keepers using different setups will help us create a much-needed source of information on the species for those considering acquiring a specimen, or helping those of us who already have one to improve our husbandry or learn more about how they act in different setups.

There was a corkbark hide enclosed on 3 sides by sub that sloped upwards . Moss at the sides to make the entrance more cozy . I did have pics of her set up before she burrowed but I can't find it atm , I will have a look later once I get time to see if I can find it for you .

 

[HoneyOilers]

blanket response here:
Mine take loves the hex enclosure and with the bark I gave it, it really seems to enjoy being out mostly. It has been mostly hiding or heavily webbing, and the bum is shiny lately, so I suspect a moult soon. I wish they made 12” hex enclosures though, I really like it for fossorial species. I can’t wait until it starts packing on size, it’s a little bit smaller than the rest we got in it’s order, and got a good body to leg ratio so I’m hoping for a female.

 

[Sauga Bound]

Enjoy your baboon!! I don’t have any.

Why not get one? See if you can buy one that's already been sexed so you have a good 10+ years to enjoy them.

You mention that you used to keep OBTs, but that they are a short-lived species. How long did yours live, typically. From my reading, OBTs have a similar lifespan compared to H. Pulchirpes, so are you looking for very long-lived genus and species like Grammostola or Brachypelma, or is it possible you ended up with a lot of males?

Regardless, OBTs are pretty cheap and often given as freebies, so it wouldn't be much of an investment to buy one or three. Try to buy ones that have been sexed or that are big enough for you to estimate their sex with a dorsal view. I've found the attached image helpful and the document it comes from has a long section on sexing: https://tarantulas.su/en/sexing

 

[HoneyOilers]

Why not get one? See if you can buy one that's already been sexed so you have a good 10+ years to enjoy them.

You mention that you used to keep OBTs, but that they are a short-lived species. How long did yours live, typically. From my reading, OBTs have a similar lifespan compared to H. Pulchirpes, so are you looking for very long-lived genus and species like Grammostola or Brachypelma, or is it possible you ended up with a lot of males?

Regardless, OBTs are pretty cheap and often given as freebies, so it wouldn't be much of an investment to buy one or three. Try to buy ones that have been sexed or that are big enough for you to estimate their sex with a dorsal view. I've found the attached image helpful and the document it comes from has a long section on sexing: https://tarantulas.su/en/sexing

I’m assuming that left is 0.1?

 

[Sauga Bound]

I’m assuming that left is 0.1?

Left is female, right is male. The text is translated from Russian.

 

[HoneyOilers]

Perfect. Good to know.