Sauga Bound
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2024
- Messages
- 8
I posted some pictures of my H. Pulchripes on this board recently and replies from other H. Pulchripes keepers made me realize just how useful it would be to have a thread where keepers of this species could share and discuss their experiences, because I've done extensive research and found very little from keepers documenting their experiences of caring for these increasingly popular spiders. I'd love to know the opinions of those who keep them, but there are some specific areas of inquiry I'd really like keepers to share, so that we can learn from each other and not just count on a few big names to tell us more general information in an article or YouTube video.
I started this series of questions after talking to a couple keepers who offered a portrait of a spider that was completely fossorial and had to be fed pre-killed to get it to eat reliably, while mine is more of a terrestrial webber, and a third poster shared a great shot of their girl showing of her teeth while waving with both hands, lol.
I noted that the photo highlighted the defensive traits of H. Pulchripes, which contrasts with the common "very chill" description I've heard from plenty of keepers. Besides their disposition and temperament, I also became interested in the split between fossorial vs. terrestrial webber behavior. These three cases brought together specimens along the spectrum from more defensive to more relaxed and more fossorial vs. more terrestrial. I think all of them have the potential to be spicy OW specimens under the right circumstances, but individuals seem to lean more towards one temperament than the other.
I know the photo of the H. Pulchripes in a threat display could have just been a chance pose or temper tantrum, so I want to know from keepers if theirs is spicy or mild. What behaviors have helped your form this opinion? What about those keepers who have fossorial recluses and those whose specimens are more of a terrestrial webber that is out and on display most of the time? The correlation of this data could help determine if individuals who prefer to live underground are more defensive than those that are terrestrial, vice versa, or a roughly equal mix. For example, are most terrestrial webbers more relaxed while tunnelers are more defensive? Is it the other way around, or is temperament completely unrelated to how they live and there are just as many spicy ones who prefer the fossorial existence as there are spicy terrestrials who web a lot. Also, what kinds of situations are likely to make a specimen defensive? Is it just luck of the draw or does enclosure play a role? 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 a relaxed species that is to be respected, but is not nearly as defensive as an OBT.
I've come to learn that this species is a relative newcomer on the scene, who has been in North America about a decade or so, was pretty highly priced here for a while, but whose price has fallen to average during and after COVID, as NA breeders got their hands on them and increased the supply. Nonetheless, I have a hard time finding much information about these spiders from actual 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 and husbandry by keepers on the web. Since they are like an OBT in that they can be fossorial or more like a GBB, defensive or pretty relaxed, I'm really excited to know what determines this preference and temperament.
What I find 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, 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? Anyone been bitten by theirs?
Anyways, I'd really love to 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, what and how do you mainly feed them? I'd really love to hear about anything noteworthy people have observed in their husbandry, like how long their specimen typically goes into premolt for, do they disappear to molt and resurface a few weeks later, or do you not know because yours spends all its time underground? What's their feeding response like and are they good hunters? 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 and discuss this species and create an excellent resource for keepers and researchers, because I think there simply isn't enough specific, practical information out there about them. I look forward to the two members who originally shared their experiences with me in my photo thread to contribute here, and for any other H. Pulcripes keepers - past or present - to answer as many of the questions I posed as possible, or add any other interesting information about your experience to this thread.
Thank-you to everyone who participates in this discussion. It will be excellent for our own learning and becoming better keepers, but it will also create a valuable resource that everyone who googles the species will see when they consider acquiring a specimen or already has one and wants to know about the experiences of other keepers. Ideally, this discussion can continue for years as new keepers and contributors add information about their experiences until this becomes the most thorough and useful collection of information about the Blue-Legged Golden Baboon.
Sauga
I started this series of questions after talking to a couple keepers who offered a portrait of a spider that was completely fossorial and had to be fed pre-killed to get it to eat reliably, while mine is more of a terrestrial webber, and a third poster shared a great shot of their girl showing of her teeth while waving with both hands, lol.
I noted that the photo highlighted the defensive traits of H. Pulchripes, which contrasts with the common "very chill" description I've heard from plenty of keepers. Besides their disposition and temperament, I also became interested in the split between fossorial vs. terrestrial webber behavior. These three cases brought together specimens along the spectrum from more defensive to more relaxed and more fossorial vs. more terrestrial. I think all of them have the potential to be spicy OW specimens under the right circumstances, but individuals seem to lean more towards one temperament than the other.
I know the photo of the H. Pulchripes in a threat display could have just been a chance pose or temper tantrum, so I want to know from keepers if theirs is spicy or mild. What behaviors have helped your form this opinion? What about those keepers who have fossorial recluses and those whose specimens are more of a terrestrial webber that is out and on display most of the time? The correlation of this data could help determine if individuals who prefer to live underground are more defensive than those that are terrestrial, vice versa, or a roughly equal mix. For example, are most terrestrial webbers more relaxed while tunnelers are more defensive? Is it the other way around, or is temperament completely unrelated to how they live and there are just as many spicy ones who prefer the fossorial existence as there are spicy terrestrials who web a lot. Also, what kinds of situations are likely to make a specimen defensive? Is it just luck of the draw or does enclosure play a role? 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 a relaxed species that is to be respected, but is not nearly as defensive as an OBT.
I've come to learn that this species is a relative newcomer on the scene, who has been in North America about a decade or so, was pretty highly priced here for a while, but whose price has fallen to average during and after COVID, as NA breeders got their hands on them and increased the supply. Nonetheless, I have a hard time finding much information about these spiders from actual 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 and husbandry by keepers on the web. Since they are like an OBT in that they can be fossorial or more like a GBB, defensive or pretty relaxed, I'm really excited to know what determines this preference and temperament.
What I find 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, 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? Anyone been bitten by theirs?
Anyways, I'd really love to 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, what and how do you mainly feed them? I'd really love to hear about anything noteworthy people have observed in their husbandry, like how long their specimen typically goes into premolt for, do they disappear to molt and resurface a few weeks later, or do you not know because yours spends all its time underground? What's their feeding response like and are they good hunters? 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 and discuss this species and create an excellent resource for keepers and researchers, because I think there simply isn't enough specific, practical information out there about them. I look forward to the two members who originally shared their experiences with me in my photo thread to contribute here, and for any other H. Pulcripes keepers - past or present - to answer as many of the questions I posed as possible, or add any other interesting information about your experience to this thread.
Thank-you to everyone who participates in this discussion. It will be excellent for our own learning and becoming better keepers, but it will also create a valuable resource that everyone who googles the species will see when they consider acquiring a specimen or already has one and wants to know about the experiences of other keepers. Ideally, this discussion can continue for years as new keepers and contributors add information about their experiences until this becomes the most thorough and useful collection of information about the Blue-Legged Golden Baboon.
Sauga
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. Morio/super worms are known to bite and dig when she does come out once I have gone to bed I want her to be able to find her food easy so morio gets beheaded n left at the entrance to her burrow and even though the head is gone the worm still wriggles fir hours after just doesn't burrow, the head keeps going too, pretty gross stuff tbh. But prekilled for safety not coz she won't eat live 
.
. That's what I was lead to believe anyways n my baby's have never complained or turned down a meal unless premoult is happening. 
