Tenevanica
Arachnodemon
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2015
- Messages
- 726
I got a nice deal on Craigslist recently. $150 for six adult or juvenile Ts, a large Heterometrus spinifer, and a fire belly toad along with the enclosures they were in. The collection I bought used to belong to the son of the seller, and she didn't know what species she had beyond a few vague common names. The Ts were in deplorable setups, so I've been spending my free time the last few days cleaning up enclosures, rehousing spiders, getting them ID'd and ventrally sexed if possible. First few specimens were nice: a 6" female B. smithi, 4.5" male A. seemanni "blue", a 4" male A. rufa, and a 3.5" specimen that I think is a female LP.
The last two scare me a bit. In one of them was a large Heteroscodra maculata. I've been in the hobby for about two years now, and I've only kept new worlds. I was in the market for my first OW, but I was looking for something more like Ceratogyrus or Pterinochilus lugardi. I don't know if I'm ready for an advanced OW like an H. maculata!
Things get better still... The last enclosure looked to be a terrestrial setup. About an inch of dry coco fiber with a little webbed up hide at one end. Given these conditions, I expected a nice calm NW terrestrial. Looked inside the hide, and it's a bloody Cyriopagopus lividum.
I'm scared to even open the enclosures of those two. Both are in awful conditions: terrestrial setups, an inch or two of dry coco fiber, sponges in the water dishes. Feisty OWs in terrible stress inducing conditions sound like disasters waiting to happen. I have a guy who said he'd buy or trade for them, but he won't be available for another week. I feel bad for the poor T's too. I want to at least get them in appropriate setups, but I've never worked with OW's before. I wet down the substrate in both enclosures, removed the sponges, and filled the water dishes but I'm terrified of one getting out if I do any more maintenance than that.
My options are as follows. I could let them stay where they're at until I can sell them. As much as it pains me to see them in stress positions in unsuitable environments, I think they'll survive another week. Or, I could try to keep them. It would be a big jump, and definitely a challenge. I've kept fast semi-defensive species before, I was on the market for an OW anyway, and I know people have successful kept these species with much less experience than I have. I'm not a huge risk taker, but because I got such an awesome deal on them I'm (tentatively) tempted to make the leap to these...
I know this post was long, but I'm just looking to see any opinions or suggestions about the situation. Also, what are the two worth? The C. lividum is about 4.5-5 inches DLS. The H. maculata I didn't see all the way because it was hidden pretty well in a piece of cork bark, but I'd say it's at least 4 inches. I don't know the sex on either of them. What could I sell them for?
The last two scare me a bit. In one of them was a large Heteroscodra maculata. I've been in the hobby for about two years now, and I've only kept new worlds. I was in the market for my first OW, but I was looking for something more like Ceratogyrus or Pterinochilus lugardi. I don't know if I'm ready for an advanced OW like an H. maculata!
Things get better still... The last enclosure looked to be a terrestrial setup. About an inch of dry coco fiber with a little webbed up hide at one end. Given these conditions, I expected a nice calm NW terrestrial. Looked inside the hide, and it's a bloody Cyriopagopus lividum.
I'm scared to even open the enclosures of those two. Both are in awful conditions: terrestrial setups, an inch or two of dry coco fiber, sponges in the water dishes. Feisty OWs in terrible stress inducing conditions sound like disasters waiting to happen. I have a guy who said he'd buy or trade for them, but he won't be available for another week. I feel bad for the poor T's too. I want to at least get them in appropriate setups, but I've never worked with OW's before. I wet down the substrate in both enclosures, removed the sponges, and filled the water dishes but I'm terrified of one getting out if I do any more maintenance than that.
My options are as follows. I could let them stay where they're at until I can sell them. As much as it pains me to see them in stress positions in unsuitable environments, I think they'll survive another week. Or, I could try to keep them. It would be a big jump, and definitely a challenge. I've kept fast semi-defensive species before, I was on the market for an OW anyway, and I know people have successful kept these species with much less experience than I have. I'm not a huge risk taker, but because I got such an awesome deal on them I'm (tentatively) tempted to make the leap to these...
I know this post was long, but I'm just looking to see any opinions or suggestions about the situation. Also, what are the two worth? The C. lividum is about 4.5-5 inches DLS. The H. maculata I didn't see all the way because it was hidden pretty well in a piece of cork bark, but I'd say it's at least 4 inches. I don't know the sex on either of them. What could I sell them for?