User Josh's Frogs Picture Thread

[Joshs Frogs]

Everybody loves a blue spider!! One of the most famous and desirable of the many blue tarantulas is the Gooty Sapphire Ornamental Tarantula (Peocilotheria metallica). This spider is always breathtaking to behold. High contrast blacks and whites blend perfectly into the iridescent blues and canary yellow. This is not a subtle spider. When it first hit popularity in the US, almost 20 years ago, ¾” spiderlings were selling for $250!! That was if you could even find one to buy. Luckily, since then, enough people have bred enough of these spiders for the price to become much more reasonable. This is not a spider for the beginner. It is intolerant of conditions other than those similar to its southeast Asian rainforests. While no tarantula has venom that has ever killed a human, this tarantula has medically significant venom and could probably wreck your whole week. Even so, with proper care and caution, these amazing tarantulas make incredible display animals.
Do you have a P metallica? If so, we would love to see yours in a reply to this post!


Meet Betty White Knee! Betty is a Brazilian Giant White Knee Tarantula, Acanthoscurria geniculata. Her kind comes from the Amazon basin of northern Brazil. Her species was first described by Anton Ausserer in 1871, but were not popular in the Tarantula Keeping Hobby until around 25 years ago. The genus name, “Acanthoscurria” comes from Greek words meaning "spine" and "to run". This reflects the spiny appearance and agile movements of these tarantulas. The word geniculata comes from the Latin word geniculum, which is a diminutive of genu meaning "knee". Geniculata means "on bended knee". This reflects both the typical stance of this tarantula as well as the bright white epaulettes on the “knees”, also known as the patellas. Betty is generally a very tolerant and confident tarantula, often seen out and about in her habitat. We expect to have her for quite some time to come, due to her 20+ year life spam! We will keep you updated on Betty as she grows, molts, or breeds again. Do any of you have Brazilian Giant White Knees? We would love to see pics of them! Please post them below!

 

[Joshs Frogs]

Meet Esqueleta, The True Skeleton Tarantula (Ephebopus murinus)! Her kind come from the humid forests of northern Brazil, French Guiana, and Suriname. There, they live in intricate, multi pronged underground silk lined tunnels. They are well adapted to tunnel life. It shows in their anatomy. True Skeleton Tarantulas have bulky, extra strong number 1 and 2 leg pairs oriented towards their front. These are great for capturing and overpowering prey, at the mouth of their burrow. Their numbers 3 and 4 leg pairs are oriented to the side and the rear, respectively. This allows the spider to grip the sides of the tunnel to support the tarantula on those two pair while they use their first two pair for prey. This allows them to hoist up their prey and drag them down into their burrow to consume. They have urticating hairs, like most New World Tarantulas. Theirs is more highly adapted to tunnel life as they also have them on their pedipalps. They can throw urticating hairs at a threat they are facing, while they defend their burrow. True Skeleton Tarantulas get their name for their gorgeous high contrast jet black base color on their legs with bright white “boning” stripes going down the center of their length. These hole dwellers are rarely seen on the surface of their habitat. That is why it seams so special when you actually do see them out, like I did with Miss Esqueleta on the day I took these photos. I hope you find her as beautiful as I do. Do any of you have True Skeleton tarantulas? We would love to see them! Please post them in a reply below!

What’s in a name? The Goliath Pink Toe is much more commonly known in the tarantula keeping hobby as Avicularia braunshauseni, although it may have been recently reclassified as Avicularia avicularia morphotype 2. It may be one of the hardest of the Pink Toe names to pronounce, but there is no doubt that they are one of the prettiest!! As you can see here, these Brazilian beauties sport a metallic teal carapace and metallic blue legs with long frizzy, “hairs” (setae) all along them. These legs are tipped with pink tips to their “toes” (tarsi). They have dark black abdomens with crimson red racing stripes on either side. All together, this is one breathtaking tarantula to behold in person. Not the least because females can attain a whopping eight inch leg span (although some think this is exaggerated)!! The name may be hard to say, but you would learn it pretty quickly, when you are the proud owner of one!

 

[jennywallace]

Just seen this thread for the first time and love it, well done and please keep them coming

 

[Joshs Frogs]

Thanks! Your positive feedback really means a lot to me!

 

[Joshs Frogs]

Colombian Giant Red Leg (Megaphobema robustum) There are few tarantulas that are both as beautiful and as dramatic as the Colombian Giant Red Leg Tarantula! They are known for their exaggerated movements as they spread their legs to maximum width and raise their butts straight up in the air. They will do this to intimidate you if you try to give them food. They will do it when you give them water or remove boluses from their habitat. Heaven forbid you move their hide log! Absolute tarantula tantrum! An adult female may reach a legspan of up to eight inches, so her moods are not to be taken lightly. You can see why people keep them, anyways, though. Those electric crimson legs and that bright ring around their carapace are just so pretty!


Purple Earth Tiger (Phormingochilus hatihati) The species epithet, “hatihati" comes from Indonesian and translates to "be careful". This name is a warning about the spider's bite and the caution required when dealing with it. This species is known to become defensive quite easily. Immediately after snapping this picture, this individual raised up her front legs to invite me to be anywhere in the entire world except right there. I decided to take her up on her offer after I gave her a couple of crickets, respected her wishes, and DID NOT test her boundaries!!

 

[Requiem4aSpleen]

The Thai Golden Fringed Tarantula, known scientifically as Ornithoctonus aureotibialis, is an uncommon tarantula that definitely deserves a bit more attention. This Thai beauty from the tropical rainforests of Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia is rarely seen where it comes from. That is because this species is an inveterate burrow dweller that never leaves its home except for if it is destroyed or if it becomes a mature male. This gorgeous tarantula looks like it is reflecting back a golden light source hitting its front legs. You might not see this beauty out of its home much, but when you do, it is all worth it!!
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Amazonian Pink Toe Tarantula After quite a lot of re-classification, the Amazonian Pink Toe Tarantula is known as Avicularia juruensis Morphotype 2. Like other Pink Toe Tarantulas, they change quite a bit as they age. When they are babies, they have pink legs with black toes and orange stripey butts. As they grow, their legs darken, they gain the famous pink tips to their toes, and the stripey pattern on their abdomen fades into a red blush on either side.
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I love my aureotibialis. Very elusive but I see mine when I sneak up on them. Do you keep yours in sterilites?