Haplocosmia himalayana as freebie

[Yigzatoth]

First of all I was not planning to have any OW in the near future perhaps in a couple of years, maybe a Monocentropus balfouri or a Harpactira pulchripes. However I got this as a freebie surprise tarantula. My experience with fossorials is limited to a couple of juvenile E.cyanognathus (not much).
Definitely a H. himalayana was never part of the plan, mostly because I never heard about this species. I tried to search but apart from the high humidity requirement, dwarf species and fossorial and weber didn't find much more, I take that its fast and defensive after all its a Asian OW, still its a tiny tiny sling (with a huge appetite).
All of this leads me to the question, what experience do you guys have with this species? Is it harder to keep (care and attitude) than the M.balfouri or H.pulchripes?

 

[Liquifin]

Care is very simple, just give it some deep moist substrate and some anchor points for it web around as this species webs up the enclosure like an M. balfouri but a fossorial version. I find them easy to care for just like almost all Asian fossorial species I own and kept. I've had mines for a while, but she passed away a couple months back as an old female. A really great species overall.

H. himalayana mature female:

 

[Yigzatoth]

But is she more on the defensive side? Threat poses and slap the ground during maintenance? Or is she calm and easy going usually?

 

[Liquifin]

But is she more on the defensive side? Threat poses and slap the ground during maintenance? Or is she calm and easy going usually?

All specimens are unique and different individuals, but my female H. himalayana was very shy as she would just run into her burrow if I open her enclosure to feed her or do maintenance. I have never gotten any threat postures or defensive reactions ever for my female when I had her. If I'm being honest, I have gotten way more threat and defense postures from my M. balfouri females than any of my old world species tarantulas in my collection.

 

[Arthroverts]

You must have spent quite a bit to get an H. himalayana as a freebie...

Anyways, as @Liquifin said standard OW fossorial care works for this species. I have heard the Haplocosmia species tend to be more rarely-seen pet holes than defensive threat-posers.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[Yigzatoth]

You must have spent quite a bit to get an H. himalayana as a freebie...

Not really in Europe they aren't that much expensive arround 10€ a sling.

 

[advan]

Never saw any defensiveness from any of mine, even when digging the female up to retrieve her spiderlings.

Not really in Europe they aren't that much expensive arround 10€ a sling.

When I hatched these back in 2015, they were going for $90 a sling. Way over priced for their ease of breeding IMO.

 

[Arthroverts]

Not really in Europe they aren't that much expensive arround 10€ a sling.

Should have checked where you are, I assumed you were in North America, ha ha. In Europe nothing is surprising...

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[MontePython]

I'd say they're not particularly defensive - mine is generally content to go hide in her web + fake plant castle or burrow when I have to do maintenance, and even housing her was pretty simple (she was much less bolty than my P. sazimai being unpacked, though my technique's gotten better I suppose). I do keep springtails and dwarf white woodlice in the tank just so I don't have to do QUITE as much maintenance or worry about mould or anything, but even when I do have to do stuff, she's never given me any problems. That said, I remember reading somewhere that as far as Earth Tigers go, H. himalayana is much less high strung than a lot of other species. That said, I've not personally had any experience with other Earth Tigers (or any other Asian fossorials actually), so my point of reference is in comparison to some of my African fossorials (who in my case, range from very relaxed to a bit bolty).

 

[J.huff23]

Awesome freebie. And super easy to care for as mentioned above.

 

[Yigzatoth]

she was much less bolty than my P. sazimai being unpacked

Funny that you mention specifically a P. sazimai, in the order where i got it as a freebie one of the tarantulas that i ordered was a P. sazimai. Not as bolty as the H.himalayana but still both were manageable (tiny tiny slings both of them).
Then again each individual is unique, my juvenile female P.cambridgei for example is quite sweet, no threat postures, no bolts or anything that resembles a defensive behaviour (I don't handle any of my tarantulas). She is always in the open, outside her cork bark, just pretending to be a rock.

 

[MontePython]

Funny that you mention specifically a P. sazimai, in the order where i got it as a freebie one of the tarantulas that i ordered was a P. sazimai. Not as bolty as the H.himalayana but still both were manageable (tiny tiny slings both of them).
Then again each individual is unique, my juvenile female P.cambridgei for example is quite sweet, no threat postures, no bolts or anything that resembles a defensive behaviour (I don't handle any of my tarantulas). She is always in the open, outside her cork bark, just pretending to be a rock.

Ah yeah, got mine as a juvie, who was NOT impressed with having her paper towel taken away, but a mate of mine got a sling as a freebie, and it was a little less bolty (still fast though).

Definitely true about individuals - figuring out their individual personalities is half the fun for me.

 

[Rebelchast]

First of all I was not planning to have any OW in the near future perhaps in a couple of years, maybe a Monocentropus balfouri or a Harpactira pulchripes. However I got this as a freebie surprise tarantula. My experience with fossorials is limited to a couple of juvenile E.cyanognathus (not much).
Definitely a H. himalayana was never part of the plan, mostly because I never heard about this species. I tried to search but apart from the high humidity requirement, dwarf species and fossorial and weber didn't find much more, I take that its fast and defensive after all its a Asian OW, still its a tiny tiny sling (with a huge appetite).
All of this leads me to the question, what experience do you guys have with this species? Is it harder to keep (care and attitude) than the M.balfouri or H.pulchripes?

So glad I remember this forum so I could search for the H Himalayana as theres no or little information anywhere online and I got one as a freebie. S/he is SO tiny so hes still in his sling pot but unlike my other Ts I had no idea of what his care was sadly.