Sauga Bound
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2024
- Messages
- 8
LOL - My Azula emerged from two weeks of seclusion as a Zuko. She turned out to be a he.
Now I understand what people mean by spicy OW species. Jesus. This happened about 10 days ago and feeding / maintenance has been quite the rush. He's a fast, unpredictable, even aggressive SOB.
But I think the experience is a good addition to this thread. Azula was a 4"+ girl, indecipherable from a female when I brought her home. I paid a reasonable price. Premolt is quite short for this species. About a week or so after she stopped eating, she closed up her hide, then re-emerged in exactly two weeks as a boy. Compare that to my Pulchra, who just molted today and has been in premolt since mid-January. Even my GBB took a week longer.
These spiders get ugly in every way when they hook out. Gone is the ball of orange/gold fuzz with pretty blue legs who was always on display, chilling. She's been replaced by a psychotic, brown menace with long, skinny legs, who grew about an inch in dls and thunders around the enclosure like a giant looking to grind bones to make his bread. He spends most of his time inside a cork hide, but when he's out, he makes his presence known.
After a couple days of caring for him, I wanted him gone ASAP, lol, so I put out word and made some calls. It took a couple weeks, but I found someone who's interested in breeding and I can be rid of him this weekend. I feel terrible wanting him gone like a guest who's outstayed their welcome, but this thing is an abomination. Of course, I'm joking, but at the same time, this mature male specimen is not something most people would want to keep unless they are breeding him. He'll be dead in a year or less and in the mean time, he is not a pleasure to interact with, lol. As a result, I recommend that keepers who aren't interested in breeding only buy confirmed females.
He was little terror from the moment he came scrabbling out of his hide after molting on a Saturday morning, like a bag of hammers in a clothes dryer. I fed him a couple fat crickets and that placated the little demon for a while, but he is seriously deranged. I imagine this is what keeping a cupiennius or bromeliad would be like, except with the potential to put me in the ICU. I'm prone to rhabdo, have been in the hospital for it before, and OW tarantula venom can cause rhabdo from the muscle cramping and spasms. I didn't know that when I bought Azula/Zuko. Kidney failure absolutely blows.
I knew this species had significant sexual dimorphism when males reached maturity, but I took a gamble buying it, thinking it was big enough that it would have hooked out already. I was off by one molt, but I got to enjoy keeping H. Pulchripes for six weeks, lol. I definitely have a couple slings or a female coming my way for donating the male, but I'm getting a Brachypelma Albiceps instead. No more OW for me.
On the positive side, my GBB molted and I have a ravenous Avic sling who is demolishing crickets. My Pulchra also FINALLY molted today after three months of premolt. I can't wait to see her when she's ready to leave her burrow.
Now I understand what people mean by spicy OW species. Jesus. This happened about 10 days ago and feeding / maintenance has been quite the rush. He's a fast, unpredictable, even aggressive SOB.
But I think the experience is a good addition to this thread. Azula was a 4"+ girl, indecipherable from a female when I brought her home. I paid a reasonable price. Premolt is quite short for this species. About a week or so after she stopped eating, she closed up her hide, then re-emerged in exactly two weeks as a boy. Compare that to my Pulchra, who just molted today and has been in premolt since mid-January. Even my GBB took a week longer.
These spiders get ugly in every way when they hook out. Gone is the ball of orange/gold fuzz with pretty blue legs who was always on display, chilling. She's been replaced by a psychotic, brown menace with long, skinny legs, who grew about an inch in dls and thunders around the enclosure like a giant looking to grind bones to make his bread. He spends most of his time inside a cork hide, but when he's out, he makes his presence known.
After a couple days of caring for him, I wanted him gone ASAP, lol, so I put out word and made some calls. It took a couple weeks, but I found someone who's interested in breeding and I can be rid of him this weekend. I feel terrible wanting him gone like a guest who's outstayed their welcome, but this thing is an abomination. Of course, I'm joking, but at the same time, this mature male specimen is not something most people would want to keep unless they are breeding him. He'll be dead in a year or less and in the mean time, he is not a pleasure to interact with, lol. As a result, I recommend that keepers who aren't interested in breeding only buy confirmed females.
He was little terror from the moment he came scrabbling out of his hide after molting on a Saturday morning, like a bag of hammers in a clothes dryer. I fed him a couple fat crickets and that placated the little demon for a while, but he is seriously deranged. I imagine this is what keeping a cupiennius or bromeliad would be like, except with the potential to put me in the ICU. I'm prone to rhabdo, have been in the hospital for it before, and OW tarantula venom can cause rhabdo from the muscle cramping and spasms. I didn't know that when I bought Azula/Zuko. Kidney failure absolutely blows.
I knew this species had significant sexual dimorphism when males reached maturity, but I took a gamble buying it, thinking it was big enough that it would have hooked out already. I was off by one molt, but I got to enjoy keeping H. Pulchripes for six weeks, lol. I definitely have a couple slings or a female coming my way for donating the male, but I'm getting a Brachypelma Albiceps instead. No more OW for me.
On the positive side, my GBB molted and I have a ravenous Avic sling who is demolishing crickets. My Pulchra also FINALLY molted today after three months of premolt. I can't wait to see her when she's ready to leave her burrow.
