My two unidentified pet store tarantulas

CosbyArt

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 26, 2016
Messages
11
I adopted (rescued) a Rose Hair(?) tarantula on Saturday, my 2nd T, at the encouragement of my wife strangely enough. The T is extremely docile/friendly, likes to sit around and climb a bit, and measures around 4" if her legs are laid flat apart.

The local pet store said she is thought to be 8 months old and the rest (including actual species name, wild or captive breed, sex, etc) are unknown as they were helping someone rehouse her/him. They assume she is a rose hair, which it appears to be.

We named her Harley, as it is unisex name, and is after Harley Quinn - my niece's favorite character. My niece has personally named many of my other pet spiders (arachnids) - so it was only fitting to name one related to her.


In the photos you can see how I got Harley - with gray duct tapped green wine box(?) with mold, cedar bedding chips (toxic to them), and five crickets. The photos are of her climbing/resting onto the tank side, she was not rearing back or making a defensive pose. Even after the trip home, moving her to another container to clean, and everything else - she has yet to act defensive.

Since bringing her home I finished scrubbing clean and setting her home up with a 4" hide (PVC), about 4" deep of mixed sphagnum/soil/sand for her to dig tunnels (and less height inside her home in case of a fall), and such. She appears much happier now, and I'll give her a better setup once she has time to adapt to her new surroundings.

harley1.jpg harley2.jpg harley3.jpg harley4.jpg harley5.jpg harley6.jpg

My other T I named Georgena (or if need be George) I got back in October 12, 2016 from a local PetCo has been molting steadily, albeit very slowly growing in size.

Here are some more recent photos of her too, but she is ready to molt again so has been hanging out in her burrow..

georgena1.jpg georgena2.jpg

I hate supporting pet stores and their treatment of tarantulas, but when I see them especially in such bad care I feel like I have to take them home. That just means their get another... I just need to quit looking and just buy crickets there and get my T's from the classifieds. :)
 

nicodimus22

Arachnomancer
Arachnosupporter
Joined
Sep 26, 2013
Messages
715
The local pet store said she is thought to be 8 months old
:rofl:

8 years old is probably more like it for a 4-inch female. G. rosea is a very slow grower.

Very pretty girl. Glad that she's no longer in such horrid conditions. Have you thought about telling the manager that the setups are completely wrong?
 

Anoplogaster

Arachnodemon
Joined
Jan 15, 2017
Messages
675
Yup! 8 months old at 4" DLS is a wildly uneducated guess from that worker, who clearly knew nothing.
 

CosbyArt

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 26, 2016
Messages
11
:rofl:

8 years old is probably more like it for a 4-inch female. G. rosea is a very slow grower.

Very pretty girl. Glad that she's no longer in such horrid conditions. Have you thought about telling the manager that the setups are completely wrong?
Thanks for the details and laugh. ;) I thought as much, especially with my tiny baby T's slow growth, but there was no arguing with the guy.

I did try to inform him of the toxicity of the cedar chips, about hides, the damp conditions, and such but as the owner of the store he pulled the typical line of, "that's the way I've done it for years" type of response regarding the bedding and everything else. Trying to discuss it further (and the duct tape) he said he rarely sold them and is no concern of his as that was how he received her.

They recently had a King Baboon 1/2" T too, but it was in a appropriate sized deli container and substrate thankfully. I'd venture a guess it was one shipped to them that way already, and they just slapped on a $35 sticker. When I arrived to buy my female, the baboon was already sold, which is good as I'm not ready for a baboon T yet - but hopefully it found a knowledgeable local keeper.

I'm curious what is a typical price guess of a G. rosea of that size? I ask as I ended up paying $71.72 with tax for the T, critter keeper tank she was in, and water dish. Either way I'm glad to have gotten my pretty girl so she can live out her years with me. :happy:

Yup! 8 months old at 4" DLS is a wildly uneducated guess from that worker, who clearly knew nothing.
Your quite right and he is the owner. During my questioning and examining of the T, he bragged he held a single T once so he could say he "knows" what he is selling. :arghh:
 

scorps

Arachnosquire
Old Timer
Joined
May 22, 2011
Messages
135
Have you thought about telling the manager that the setups are completely wrong?
I did this at Petco. I even went into detail on everything that was wrong in their enclosures and the health issues that the problems would cause. The persons response was "Sorry, It's store policy..." and they walked off.
 

Jacko65

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 7, 2017
Messages
29
I adopted (rescued) a Rose Hair(?) tarantula on Saturday, my 2nd T, at the encouragement of my wife strangely enough. The T is extremely docile/friendly, likes to sit around and climb a bit, and measures around 4" if her legs are laid flat apart.

The local pet store said she is thought to be 8 months old and the rest (including actual species name, wild or captive breed, sex, etc) are unknown as they were helping someone rehouse her/him. They assume she is a rose hair, which it appears to be.

We named her Harley, as it is unisex name, and is after Harley Quinn - my niece's favorite character. My niece has personally named many of my other pet spiders (arachnids) - so it was only fitting to name one related to her.


In the photos you can see how I got Harley - with gray duct tapped green wine box(?) with mold, cedar bedding chips (toxic to them), and five crickets. The photos are of her climbing/resting onto the tank side, she was not rearing back or making a defensive pose. Even after the trip home, moving her to another container to clean, and everything else - she has yet to act defensive.

Since bringing her home I finished scrubbing clean and setting her home up with a 4" hide (PVC), about 4" deep of mixed sphagnum/soil/sand for her to dig tunnels (and less height inside her home in case of a fall), and such. She appears much happier now, and I'll give her a better setup once she has time to adapt to her new surroundings.

View attachment 243223 View attachment 243224 View attachment 243225 View attachment 243226 View attachment 243227 View attachment 243228

My other T I named Georgena (or if need be George) I got back in October 12, 2016 from a local PetCo has been molting steadily, albeit very slowly growing in size.

Here are some more recent photos of her too, but she is ready to molt again so has been hanging out in her burrow..

View attachment 243229 View attachment 243230

I hate supporting pet stores and their treatment of tarantulas, but when I see them especially in such bad care I feel like I have to take them home. That just means their get another... I just need to quit looking and just buy crickets there and get my T's from the classifieds. :)
Well done you, I hate seeing any animal kept in inhumane conditions :hurting:. You should be proud. :)
 

Thelema777

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 30, 2017
Messages
23
Petco is the devil when it comes to most, if not all, animals. I got my b. Albo as an unidentified sling, in too small of a container, had reptibark as substrate, and they were starving and dehydrating all the arachnids. Sadly i didnt have the space or money for 5 more slings, a 5 inch emperor scorpion, and an adult female red knee though. But i did get the ever friendly masamuné, and put him in the proper environment. Sometimes rescues are better for the soul than hittin stores that properly care for animals. Especially if it works out in the end.
 

CosbyArt

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 26, 2016
Messages
11
After a year now my unconfirmed PetCo tarantula has been doing great. I had to upgrade her to a larger habitat again, so I got a photo and thought I'd update the post.

She is roughly 2 1/2" DLS and keeping the same coloration now, so I am hoping she can be ID'ed. Originally labelled a Curlyhair (Brachypelma albopilosum) at the pet store, looking at photos online it seems likely.

Anyone know for certain her species?

12-23-17Georgena.jpg
 

miss moxie

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jun 13, 2014
Messages
1,804
Looks a little like a curly hair, but that red setae is throwing me off. I'm not the best at IDing Brachypelma though.

@KezyGLA knows stuff.
 

CosbyArt

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 26, 2016
Messages
11
Looks a little like a curly hair, but that red setae is throwing me off. I'm not the best at IDing Brachypelma though.

@KezyGLA knows stuff.
Thanks, seems the username call out worked too. :) I thought perhaps it was just the camera or lighting, but under any lighting when viewing her with my own eyes the setae is always visibly red.

Thats a heavily hybridized B. albo HF
Many thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear a positive ID was quickly established, even if it wasn't the best.

After some searching it seems I found what you are referring to with HF, a "Hobby Form" species. I found this article, and it covers the species and aspect of it in particular. It points out the Brachypelma vegans is usually one of the crossbred species, which would explain the coloring and other aspects.

I'm curious though as a hybridized T is there any concerns or care that I should alter that is done for a pure B. albopilosum?
 

miss moxie

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jun 13, 2014
Messages
1,804
Thanks, seems the username call out worked too. :) I thought perhaps it was just the camera or lighting, but under any lighting when viewing her with my own eyes the setae is always visibly red.



Many thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear a positive ID was quickly established, even if it wasn't the best.

After some searching it seems I found what you are referring to with HF, a "Hobby Form" species. I found this article, and it covers the species and aspect of it in particular. It points out the Brachypelma vegans is usually one of the crossbred species, which would explain the coloring and other aspects.

I'm curious though as a hybridized T is there any concerns or care that I should alter that is done for a pure B. albopilosum?
No, just keep them like an albo but here is a trick you can do-- Albo like more humidity but a lot of Brachy like it dry. Dampen down one side of the substrate for a week or two and leave one half dry-- see which side they seem to like more. Tarantulas will avoid wet substrate if they don't 'like' it or will search for the most humid spot in their enclosure if they do 'like' it. I say like, but it's more like instinct.

Either way, if they seem to like the drier side more then you can get away with just overflowing the water dish once a week.

Keep in mind that you should NEVER breed this T, and it would actually be rather good for the hobby if you kept this T her entire life. If you can't, find someone who understands that she shouldn't be bred. Hybrid blood lines dilute the hobby gene pool, which might seem unimportant but a lot of hobbyists feel it is our duty to preserve these animals as best we can. It's already been put out there that P. metallica could go extinct in the wild and will only be found in captivity. So imagine if people kept hybridizing Poecilotheria? We could lose the P. metallica species entirely. Just an example.

That's about it. Other than that, just treat her like an albo. Try the half-tank thing. Enjoy her. She's unique, even if she the product of a detrimental practice.
 

CosbyArt

Arachnopeon
Joined
Sep 26, 2016
Messages
11
@miss moxie Thanks for the write-up. Indeed I agree about breeding and will not be doing that, and she has a forever home. ;)

I have been doing a small water bowl and spraying water around that corner only as necessary. Typically I don't see her around it often, but did see her going for a swim yesterday. She has also been making use of the about 4" of substrate and has dug around her PVC home and bark, digging it all out and making a large dirt mound on the back too. So it seems she is happy in the new enclosure.

Today her new dark setae is really visible in her opisthosoma (abdomen) so she is preparing to molt.
 
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