S. Schmidti
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Mar 26, 2003
- Messages
- 12
I just got a new 3" golden starburst baboon Fri. to replace the adult female C. crawshayi I lost awhile back.
I was going to wait to get a new spider, but the pet stores here never get any cool T's, and when I saw this little ripper I couldn't pass it up! What's $25 bucks right?
It looked to be pretty dehydrated. The substrate was sand. The water dish was a pill vial lid. The dish was empty and the T's opisthosoma looked rather small. I didn't think this store knew to much about tarantulas. My theory was soon to be confirmed!
I told the teenager working I would take the spider. He was helping some people buying a lizard. They wanted to see him catch the T, so he came over with a crowd in tow.
The spider was in a small PetPal. He took the lid off and touched the spider on the abdomen with his finger. It immediately started to show a threat display. I told him I had read that you don't want to take a hit from a P. murinus at any size, you might want to try a cup. He laughed, told me T's can't do any harm, and proceeded to try to touch the spider some more. Finally, it flipped completely over on it's back with fangs bared. The kid was pretty scared at this point and decided to get a cup. The crowd had cleared out by now. The tenacity of the little spider had definitely put them off!
It's at home now and doing much better. Didn't move off it's water dish for two days. Now it thinks it's arboreal. Came down off the walls to eat two crickets though. It's abdomen is looking a lot fatter than before!
Sorry about the length of this post. I just had to mention the above story!
I do have two questions. The G.S. baboon is a variant of Pterinochilus murinus, right? Different color morphs from varying locations?
Secondly, how easy is it to sex a P. murinus at this size? I believe it is a female. I want a female. I haven't noticed any tibial hooks, and papal bulbs aren't noticeable. At what size do these characteristics show up in males of this species? My spider is 3".
Thank You for taking the time to read this noobie novella, hopefully you good people will answer some of my questions
Scott
I was going to wait to get a new spider, but the pet stores here never get any cool T's, and when I saw this little ripper I couldn't pass it up! What's $25 bucks right?
It looked to be pretty dehydrated. The substrate was sand. The water dish was a pill vial lid. The dish was empty and the T's opisthosoma looked rather small. I didn't think this store knew to much about tarantulas. My theory was soon to be confirmed!
I told the teenager working I would take the spider. He was helping some people buying a lizard. They wanted to see him catch the T, so he came over with a crowd in tow.
The spider was in a small PetPal. He took the lid off and touched the spider on the abdomen with his finger. It immediately started to show a threat display. I told him I had read that you don't want to take a hit from a P. murinus at any size, you might want to try a cup. He laughed, told me T's can't do any harm, and proceeded to try to touch the spider some more. Finally, it flipped completely over on it's back with fangs bared. The kid was pretty scared at this point and decided to get a cup. The crowd had cleared out by now. The tenacity of the little spider had definitely put them off!
It's at home now and doing much better. Didn't move off it's water dish for two days. Now it thinks it's arboreal. Came down off the walls to eat two crickets though. It's abdomen is looking a lot fatter than before!
Sorry about the length of this post. I just had to mention the above story!
I do have two questions. The G.S. baboon is a variant of Pterinochilus murinus, right? Different color morphs from varying locations?
Secondly, how easy is it to sex a P. murinus at this size? I believe it is a female. I want a female. I haven't noticed any tibial hooks, and papal bulbs aren't noticeable. At what size do these characteristics show up in males of this species? My spider is 3".
Thank You for taking the time to read this noobie novella, hopefully you good people will answer some of my questions
Scott
