Found a new friend

[Lohendi]

Hi, just call me V
We just moved to the country and my friend found a little one outside. I scooped it up to show my kiddo tomorrow (hes all into animals.) I wanted to know if I was right in assuming this is a Texas brown and female?

Forgive the glove, but until I know for sure how I can handle (her) I would rather be safe...

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

It's a male and since you are Pleasanton, TX (info in your profile) it could be either Aphonopelma hentzi or Aphonopelma anax. Both are brown and in Texas so Texas Brown is a suitable common name for both species.

 

[Lohendi]

Thank you!

 

[LirvA]

I had an A. hentzi and it was distinctly more brown than this spider, the one I had was a MF though.

 

[Ghost56]

That's a nice looking specimen. Also a fantastic ventral example of a male.

 

[Lohendi]

Thank you guys. I think we are naming him Sherlock then
Thought I would also share my sons' first meeting with the beast... He was in complete awe, stayed very calm and quiet. Sherlock was a good boy and just walked around. My booger loved it! Again, thank you guys for your help!

 

[Ghost56]

Glad the kids happy.

Just a heads up though, that is a mature male. He looks pretty fresh though so he's still got a good while of living. But he will eventually die, that's just the way it works with them. So if your kid really enjoys tarantulas, and you guys plan on keeping him, just keep that in mind. When he passes on or even while you still have him, try to find you a nice female. The females can easily live 30+ years.

 

[Lohendi]

Yeah, I was up doing all sorts of research last night. Was sad knowing he was a male just for that fact, but if this goes over well we will get him a female.

 

[Moakmeister]

Yeah, I was up doing all sorts of research last night. Was sad knowing he was a male just for that fact, but if this goes over well we will get him a female.

Well be prepared for the SLOWEST growing baby spiders ever. I've heard reports of those things taking seven years or more to reach 2 inches in legspan.

 

[darkness975]

Thank you guys. I think we are naming him Sherlock then
Thought I would also share my sons' first meeting with the beast... He was in complete awe, stayed very calm and quiet. Sherlock was a good boy and just walked around. My booger loved it! View attachment 240825 View attachment 240826 View attachment 240827 Again, thank you guys for your help!

Not trying to scare you or anything, but given that you are handling the specimen (not really recommended to do very often) be sure that anyone that touches it washes their hands very thoroughly afterwards. They have urticating setae that you would not want to rub into your eyes.

That being said, I am glad to see a family taking interest in our (addiction) eight legged friends!

 

[Lohendi]

Thanks for the tip! And I do have us both wash hands before and after, because he is a boy (noise with dirt on it) so I dont want to hurt him or the vice versa. I was up till like 4am watching videos on feeding, tank prep, handling, anatomy... they are facinating and smarter than I had previously thought! Glad we got him last night before the huge storm today.

 

[Lohendi]

Until we get in town tomorrow for a real tank, i used his bug box as a temp holdig case. Seems far happier.

 

[Venom1080]

id advise letting him go so he can spread his genes. nice as it is to see young people not screaming over spiders, its still hurting the wild population, females can be found for like 50 bucks in the states. or free in your backyard.

dont follow adice from random places off the internet, people think theyre being responsible looking up all this stuff. but in reality its 99% useless and mostly detrimental.

 

[Olan]

Yeah, I was kind of thinking of suggesting you let him go to mate, but it seems you guys are having a great time with him. I'm sure there are plenty of males out there in Texas, so I say don't feel bad about keeping him. Have fun with the new pet!

 

[cold blood]

Release the guy....for the sake of your local populations....you only found him because he was out looking for a female.

 

[viper69]

His job is to mate, you could keep him for a bit, like a week or two, but I'd release him to he can spread his genes and let nature do its thing. Keeping him doesn't help the species at all, aside from educating your child that they are relatively docile species and potentially interesting to observe at times.

Imagine if you were captured and plopped into a container while looking to mate...

 

[Lohendi]

I didnt come here to be lectured. Thank you to those who have been helpful and kind.

 

[Venom1080]

I didnt come here to be lectured. Thank you to those who have been helpful and kind.

no, you came here for good advice. and like it or not, you got it. whether you follow that good advice is up to you.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Two comments...

- I am going to take back my statement that the species has the possibly of being Aphonopelma hentzi. Pleasanton, TX would be too far south for A. hentzi and would be in A. anax territory. I would call this one Aphonopelma anax.

- I can't believe the backlash over the collection of a single male in a rural area this post has gotten. In all of the years I have personally observed populations of tarantulas in Texas, mainly A. hentzi in the Dallas area, I can say for certain that taking a single male will not harm the local populations any. Aphonopelma anax in South Texas is very plentiful and the collection of a few males and/ or females will have no impact to wild populations, especially in a rural area. I have personally collected a few males and females from smaller more restricted populations of suburban/ urban A. hentzi and repeated visits to the same collection sites show the population remains stable. Based on that, rural populations of A. anax which would be more plentiful than the restricted suburban A. hentzi in North Texas would certainly not be impacted by the collection of a single male. Although it may not appear so at first glance, seeing a single male in one's yard or immediate area is an excellent indicator that the ecosystem is thriving and there are many many more tarantulas around. Tarantulas, generally, are hard to find even in areas of abundance so to see one without putting any effort into it makes it all the more likely there are plenty around in all life stages. If you want to talk about conservation of a Texas tarantula species (perhaps in another thread), we can talk about Aphonopelma moderatum. That is a South Texas species that needs more study in their population numbers to determine if they need protection from sticky fingered pet traders.

This is such an awesome post and I am a bit disappointed by negative turn it has taken.

 

[Kayis]

This is such an awesome post and I am a bit disappointed by negative turn it has taken.

It took the turn that it would have turned to eventually. I started off reading post by post and was wondering when someone would mention releasing it to do it's duty in the wild and further down there it was. Taking one MM would hardly do any type of damage but I do not think it's wrong that others asked the op to release it. It's how it was presented and how it was taken by the op that eventually lead things negative. Unfortunate indeed but thus this is the net.