Everything Phormictopus

[Colorado Ts]

Here is one location to show us your Phormictopus slings, your juveniles, and your adults. Tell us about your likes and your dislikes of this genus, Phormictopus. Link your favorite Phormictopus resources and bring us all up to speed on your discoveries when keeping species of this genus.


Phormictopus sp southern hispaniola juvenile 2.5”

So I have been jumping around to various Phormictopis threads, here at Arachnoboards, posting my content, my images and sharing my thoughts on this genus, Phormictopus.

My personal interests in the Genus Phormictopus began innocently enough with a phone call to a breeder. We were discussing some things that I had noticed concerning my Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens slings, and I was looking for clarification on my observations, and during the course of the conversation he said, “You should really look into getting some Phormictopus.” Well I took his words to heart and I spent the next 30 days collecting resources, downloading as much information as I could find, and reading...reading ...reading.

I now have slings in groups of 2 different species of Phormictopus, and I’m looking for sources for my 3rd through 7th species on my list.


Phormictopus cautus sling 3/4”

My first slings that I brought in have captivated me, I love this genus. I find them to be truly amazing spiders. The slings are fearless feeders and certain of their habits I find comical and entertaining.

Their care is really strait forward and basic, not demanding at all. I keep most of the enclosure dry, with one area that is moist. Once that area dries out, I pick another area and moisten it. I always include a water dish, no matter the species. Their growth rate is staggering, none of my other species moult with such clock work regularity, and the size increase between moults...crazy. My advice when you buy Phormictopus slings, go ahead and buy the adult enclosures at the same time...you’ll be rehousing into them in a few weeks anyways.

Favorite Phormictopus Threads:

Phormictopus sp south hispaniola

Are phormictopus sp south hispaniola the same thing as sp green femur. I just ordered 2 from fear not t's. So many phormics with alot of different names. Either way I wanted more phormics

arachnoboards.com

Phormictopus availability?

Any reason this genus seems to be less available than say Pamphobeteus? Some of the more colorful species seem to be rarely offered. Just curious.

arachnoboards.com

Phormictopus cancerides and Phormictopus auratus difference

I noticed that there maybe a slight difference between the two. I think one looks darker than the other. I have a p.cancerides and am thinking of getting the p.auratus but was just curious of the difference?

arachnoboards.com

 

[Asgiliath]

One if my favorite genus!

Here's my P. auratus!

 

[Magicis3]

I just love them. They have great feeding response even has a sling. I gave my sling a superworm 2x its size and it was like I was watching a wrestling match. . The sling took it down with ease. I love the colour transformation has they get older. I have Phormictopus atrichomatus so when it's in Sub-adults phase or maybe juvenile I'll be able to see the Pink and purple colourdes. And they also put on a lot of size when they molt that also really attracts me to them. Overall they're one of my top 5 tarantula genus right now

 

[Colorado Ts]

My Phormictopus...so far.

I started with Phormictopus sp southern hispaniola. When they 1st arrived, they were slightly larger than 1”, probably closer to 1.25”.



The first thing that attracted me was their fearless behavior for such a relatively tiny spider. The slings immediately set out to rearrange their enclosures.



I cannot say this enough, their feeding response is 2nd to none. They are not afraid to rake down prey items equal to their own size. I don’t do that with regularity, yet when I’m running low on correctly sized B.lateralis feeder roaches, because I haven’t sorted the colony, I know I can feed the Phormictopus slings last...and they will pounce on whatever comes into the enclosure.



Growth with each moult is pretty incredible. The slings gain size and they gain confidence. Only a couple of them have burrows, the rest have simply excavated pits.



Since this last moult I’ve noticed that the blueish highlights are giving way to various shades of metallic pink. This species has so impressed me that I’ve stuck to my list and collected my 2nd Species of Phormictopus.

Phormictopus cautus

These little slings are a recent acquisition, only about 4 days as of today. They could not wait to get out of their shipping ampules.



The sling are all right around 3/4”. And they look so delicate and methodical when they move about the enclosures. They are a bluish hued sling, but a completely different shade of blue.



Feeding response is definitely standard Phormictopus. They are lightning quick when going after prey items, but these little guys tend to miss often...not yet experienced hunters.



So here is my entire Phormictopus collection to date. I’m actively searching out the other species on my list...and I’m very excited to watch these slings that I do have, grow and mature.

This is a cool genus...

 

[spideyspinneret78]

I only have a crappy cell phone camera, so sorry for the potato quality. This is Carmen, my female P. auratus. She's somewhat shy but has a really strong feeding response. Beautiful species. Next on my wishlist for this genus is Phormictopus sp. dominican violet. Really interesting genus of tarantulas.

 

[Jaye182]

My phormictopus sp. Purple grow from first to second picture in about five months. She’s about five inches and keeps burying herself, I think it’s just to molt but even after she molts she doesn’t come out. Last time I got anxious because it has been so long that I dug her a little bit out so I could see her and she come out a ate a ton.

 

[Curlyblond42]

Heads up, if your interested 03Arachnids has some phormictopus on his import list including green femurs at a decent price.

 

[Daniel S]

I love phormics!! Hoping to keep the ‘entire’ genus eventually! This is my new ~3” female P.sp. Dominican purple! Super excited to have her put on some size and colors!

 

[Colorado Ts]

Phormictopus sp southern hispaniola



My slings have really put on size with this last moult. Their current 4X4X4 AMAC enclosures have gotten small. I’ve ordered 4 intermediate enclosures, these will arrive Friday. I’ll be setting up 8 new enclosures over the weekend. I don’t want these to be thrown together sling enclosures, I’m going to take my time and see what I can create for them.



The attitude of the slings is changing AGAIN with this latest moult, 5 have moulted...still waiting on 3. They are acting starved, several have come out of the enclosure during feeding times. So that can get a little exciting...

Phormictopus cautus

These little slings are simply COOL. They are all between 3/4” & 1” in size. These are the smallest Phormictopus slings that I’ve owned, so I’m seeing behaviors that my other P. species did not exhibit.



These little guys are gangly and delicate in their movements...until they detect prey, then they are lightening fast. Each time I open the enclosure, on feeding day, they seem tense and excited.



Phormictopus Thread:

Difference between Phormictopus sp. Dominican purple and violet?

Was just wondering if anyone knew if these were different species? I know the taxonomy for Phormictopus is as bad as any, so finding info was rough. When TBS covered them he mentioned violet but not purple. Pic is my sp. Dominican “purple” that came today.

arachnoboards.com

 

[Colorado Ts]

Phormictopus cautus...getting ready for a moult

Changes in the air, half of my 7 P.cautus slings have decided that prey items no longer interest them.



The abdomens are darkening and only just a little bit of a gloss, so there is still time before the big event.



This sling is the most progressed. Its abdomen has greatly darkened, but still not overly glossy. It’s amazing how they just suddenly go off food. For the 1st time I saw a P.cautus flick hairs....at the roach.



The remaining slings have become very good hunters. They still miss, but not as often as they did a few weeks ago.



The blues on these slings is simply cool.

They like to move substrate from the edges of their enclosures and pile it up in the middle, creating a tiny mound. The fact that they are pulling substrate from the edges tells me that they might key on structure...I wonder if they will be strong burrowers as compared to the Phormictopus sp southern hispaniola.

 

[Daniel S]

...so I ordered 3 more Phormic slings today.
P. sp Dominican purple (my 2nd)
P. auratus
P. Atrichromatus
I realllly wanted to get a female P. Green femur, but that can wait I suppose

 

[Colorado Ts]

Phormictopus sp southern hispaniola

My 8 slings have been going through a moulting cycle. Most of them have moulted, a couple are being stubborn. The slings’ behavior as a group have changed, these are not the same animals. They’ve become very defensive, and I was not expecting that...they're small, maybe pushing 3“ +/-...still a sphincter factor of about 7 on the Oh-Crap Meter.



I’ve had them give me threat poses before, but nothing like this...it was also followed with lunges. So yeah, exciting times feeding them tonight. 10/10 would highly recommend.



Course they didn’t hate just me, the B.dubias seemed to draw some negativity as well.



Fortunately, once the feeding started, all was forgiven.

This last moult has definitely brought forth changes in the Phormictopus sp southern hispaniola slings. They still move slowly and very deliberately as they pace around inside their enclosures, but the time for rehousing into larger enclosures has arrived...after the growth from this last moult, they are quite cramped and they have again gained significant size.

By the end of next week, they’ll be in their new accommodations and I’ll post about the enclosures as I set them up, and put them together.

 

[mjzheng]

I love my two baby Phormictopus cancerides . I have a thread about one of mine , my little sling that has impaction/some type of anus deformity . This spider is such a trooper and I am incredibly attached to it . I have had to pseudo handle it about 10 times (cup and swab it's rear) to try my best to help it and keep it healthy , and it is an incredibly special spider. It never has gone into a stress curl or kicked hairs , just gets bolty and wild and sassy lol. It wants to eat every time I open enclosure , strikes at water or air currents . Last week I got an enormous amount of poop out and 3 hours later it was giving feeding responses. If there is a spider that will pull through impaction it will be this little guy. Here it is in its glorious finally non bloated state :


And it's sac mate is also a hoot. ALWAYS BUSY . I dropped a cricket the same size of it in the enclosure last week because the store had no smaller ones and I didn't want to rip it in half. This thing attacked it before it even hit ground and wrapped it's legs around it. It made itself a cricket couch, had trouble walking with it so much laid on it - Completely massive prey item. Took 12 hours to eat lol. I won't be feeding that one again . You can see the crickets head alone is about carapace size and nearly abdomen size ..lol

 

[Smotzer]

What are the adult size ranges for some of these species?

 

[Goopyguy56]

What are the adult size ranges for some of these species?

I think 6 - 8 inches depending on species. A few might get larger but I doubt by much. I am not a complete know it all I am just going based on what I have read on them. From what I heave read the Cuban species don't get as large as the species from hispaniola. Supposedly, Cancerides is the largest.

 

[Daniel S]

Phormics get pretty big. I would agree with above but add MMs are probably in the 6-7in range while older females probably hit 8 and then some.

 

[Smotzer]

I think 6 - 8 inches depending on species. A few might get larger but I doubt by much. I am not a complete know it all I am just going based on what I have read on them. From what I heave read the Cuban species don't get as large as the species from hispaniola. Supposedly, Cancerides is the largest.

Phormics get pretty big. I would agree with above but add MMs are probably in the 6-7in range while older females probably hit 8 and then some.

Thanks for the information guys. They do get pretty sizable based of what y’all say. @Colorado Ts is slowly making me want to get into this genus and turn over to the terrestrial “dark side” away from my almost pure arboreal collection

 

[Daniel S]

Thanks for the information guys. They do get pretty sizable based of what y’all say. @Colorado Ts is slowly making me want to get into this genus and turn over to the terrestrial “dark side” away from my almost pure arboreal collection

do it. I just got my first (second, had a P.auratus sling die) and have 3 more coming! Hopefully will luck out with a male for my 3” fem P. Dominican purple. Another auratus and an atrichromatus too

then when you’re hooked on big, pretty spoods, you go for the Pampho’s and Xenesthis

 

[Goopyguy56]

When xenesthis don't cost a small fortune, I will get some. As for pamphos, when one of the cool ones aren't priced through the roof I will get one of those. Phormictopus for now

 

[Daniel S]

When xenesthis don't cost a small fortune, I will get some. As for pamphos, when one of the cool ones aren't priced through the roof I will get one of those. Phormictopus for now

Depends where you go through! What would you be willing to pay for one?