Desert Tarantulas

LAKingsGeek

Arachnopeon
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Dec 6, 2015
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Other than the Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens are there any other interesting desert dwelling T's that are commonly kept as pets? As a native to So Cal I've always enjoyed the desert. I loved creating a naturalistic desert vivarium for my GBB but would be interested in finding other species that live in a similar environment. Any recommendations.
 

Ungoliant

Malleus Aranearum
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Other than the Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens are there any other interesting desert dwelling T's that are commonly kept as pets?
Aphonopelma chalcodes (the Arizona blond) lives in the deserts of Arizona and adjacent parts of Mexico.

They are slow growers, so get a juvenile.
 

skyvie

Arachnopeon
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Well, most Brachys, Grammys and Aphonopelmas come to mind...

If you're big into "American desert tarantulas" you'll probably want to look at keeping the various Aphonopelma species. One downside is that they are usually available as tiny slings and don't grow very fast (kind of a bad combination).

SoCal has cool Aphonopelmas like iodius and eutylenum, though not very common in the hobby. When I lived in California, you could see these Ts wandering around in search of a mate (sometimes in large numbers). There's also American desert scorpions (Hadrurus) to consider, too.
 

LAKingsGeek

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Thanks for the replies. I'll look into the Aphonopelmas species. The Arizona Blonde is quite attractive.
 

user 666

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Thanks for the replies. I'll look into the Aphonopelmas species. The Arizona Blonde is quite attractive.
Be sure to look up where each alpha species is from; the A hentzi, for example, is not a desert species. You can find it as far north as the suburbs of St Louis.
 

Rob1985

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Aphonopelma chalcodes is a really good choice! I have an adult female Aphonopelma sp. New River, which is basically the same T, but with different coloring and found in the New River region of Arizona. Either are a great American T!
 

Jeff23

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Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens are from Venezuela and it isn't really a desert. But it can be treated similar to most Aphonopelma, Brachypelma, and all of the other species where dry substrate and a water dish is the only moisture requirement. Just don't confuse Aphonopelma from the USA with Aphonopelma from Central America / Costa Rica (seemanni) which does require some moisture.
 

boina

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A lot of places are hot. It is not a desert. It is scrublands. Scrublands have lots of plants.

EDIT* I don't know about all Brachypelma, but many of them are also on scrublands.
Shrublands can be deserts, too. *Desert* doesn't mean that there are no plants at all, it just means that there is very little rain (< 250 mm/ year). Some shrubs can live with that. It's called xeric shrublands and the whole north of the Sahara looks like that. So yes, Paraguana is a desert with some shrubs. And several Brachys seem to be from xeric shrublands, too, meaning they'd do well in a desert setup, e.g. auratum, schroederi...
 

Jeff23

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Shrublands can be deserts, too. *Desert* doesn't mean that there are no plants at all, it just means that there is very little rain (< 250 mm/ year). Some shrubs can live with that. It's called xeric shrublands and the whole north of the Sahara looks like that. So yes, Paraguana is a desert with some shrubs. And several Brachys seem to be from xeric shrublands, too, meaning they'd do well in a desert setup, e.g. auratum, schroederi...
I think it all depends on who's definition you plan to use. The technical definition from my understanding is defined by rainfall.

From what I read, a shrubland gets 200 mm - 1000 mm of rain per year which will support different and more plants, but not support tall trees. A desert gets less rain than a shrubland and has more barren spaces due to the lack of rainfall.

If you search for this species you will find that most sites call it shrubland, but I have never been to Venezuela so I won't argue on what they call it there or actual rainfall they receive. The Googled pics seem to show more plants than I see in a desert.

http://www.venezuelatuya.com/occidente/paraguana.htm
 

boina

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I think it all depends on who's definition you plan to use. The technical definition from my understanding is defined by rainfall.

From what I read, a shrubland gets 200 mm - 1000 mm of rain per year which will support different and more plants, but not support tall trees. A desert gets less rain than a shrubland and has more barren spaces due to the lack of rainfall.

If you search for this species you will find that most sites call it shrubland, but I have never been to Venezuela so I won't argue on what they call it there or actual rainfall they receive. The Googled pics seem to show more plants than I see in a desert.

http://www.venezuelatuya.com/occidente/paraguana.htm
Well, yes, it depends on which definition you use. You obviously went with NASA's and I went with the WWF, who places deserts and xeric shrublands in the same biome. So... whatever. It's shrublands and whether that still counts as desert or not depends on anybodies favorite definition :)
 

Jeff23

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Well, yes, it depends on which definition you use. You obviously went with NASA's and I went with the WWF, who places deserts and xeric shrublands in the same biome. So... whatever. It's shrublands and whether that still counts as desert or not depends on anybodies favorite definition :)
Thanks for mentioning WWF. I will read up on it. I did not look at it.

Since the huge majority of us can't mimic the plants, rocks, substrate, etc from where the T originates anyway, it is best to just set up the landscape you might enjoy. I would guess that any terrestrial or burrower would look good in any climate except Artic.:D
 

Ungoliant

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I think it all depends on who's definition you plan to use. The technical definition from my understanding is defined by rainfall.
You are correct that deserts are defined by precipitation. Of course, not all deserts are equally dry. Many deserts support some xeric plant life.

A hot desert climate (BWh) like that of the Paraguaná peninsula is defined as:

These climates are characterized by actual precipitation less than a threshold value set equal to the potential evapotranspiration. The threshold value (in millimeters) is determined as:

Multiply the average annual temperature in °C by 20, then add (a) 280 if 70% or more of the total precipitation is in the high-sun half of the year (April through September in the Northern Hemisphere, or October through March in the Southern), or (b) 140 if 30%–70% of the total precipitation is received during the applicable period, or (c) 0 if less than 30% of the total precipitation is so received.

According to the modified Köppen classification system used by modern climatologists, total precipitation in the warmest six months of the year is taken as reference instead of the total precipitation in the high-sun half of the year.

If the annual precipitation is less than 50% of this threshold, the classification is BW (arid: desert climate); if it is in the range of 50%–100% of the threshold, the classification is BS (semi-arid: steppe climate).

A third letter can be included to indicate temperature. Originally, h signified low-latitude climate (average annual temperature above 18 °C) while k signified middle-latitude climate (average annual temperature below 18 °C), but the more common practice today, especially in the United States, is to use h to mean the coldest month has an average temperature above 0 °C (32 °F), with k denoting that at least one month averages below 0 °C.
 

Jeff23

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You are correct that deserts are defined by precipitation. Of course, not all deserts are equally dry. Many deserts support some xeric plant life.

A hot desert climate (BWh) like that of the Paraguaná peninsula is defined as:
I am going to read up more on that type of stuff. It would be interesting to understand some of the differences better.

Nonetheless, I want to setup my Avicularia Versicolor on the side of a large cactus.

EDIT* Large FAKE cactus :D Just kidding.
 

Exoskeleton Invertebrates

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Unlike common believe, there a few Brachypelma species that adapt well in desert like environment in captivity, same with Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens. Some of these species I have them in desert set ups. Through my years of experience of keeping these beauties in a desert like environment they've done extremely well with no problems for many years.

In 1990 I purchased a Brachypelma vagans for an x-girlfriend of mine, the vagans enclosure/environment was set up with white silica sand, she lived in that environment for 8 years. My x-girlfriend and I broke up from that point on I don't know what happened to her spider.
 
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