Ornithoctoninae sp Malthai growout project

[curtisgiganteus]

Come January 3rd I will be having five O sp. “Malthai” arrive. My hopes is to extensively document the husbandry of these slings throughout their life span. There doesn’t seem to be too much on them here in the states or anywhere else really for that matter. I had a juvenile female YEARS ago, unfortunately no one was really working with them here so I sent her off to another AB member that I knew had extensive experience with Ornithoctoninae. Here we are now (not 19 anymore) hoping to establish these guys here in the states. I will update this when I receive the slings!

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

For starters, can you share some aspects of their natural history? Like what country they are found in, kind of habitat, fossorial or arboreal, etc? What does the word “ Malthai” mean? I’ve never heard of many of the Asian tarantula species seen on price lists these days.

 

[campj]

Whoa those are nice looking. Never seen them before, best of luck raising and breeding some. It'd be dope if an importer could bring some Ornithoctoninae sp. hon-sej into the US, those things are smoking!

@AphonopelmaTX Yeah would have been cool if they'd made the species name the collection location. The only thing on maps that came up with Malthai is a restaurant in Malaysia. Maybe they caught them in the kitchen.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

For starters, can you share some aspects of their natural history? Like what country they are found in, kind of habitat, fossorial or arboreal, etc? What does the word “ Malthai” mean? I’ve never heard of many of the Asian tarantula species seen on price lists these days.

So, unfortunately there is very little available on their natural history. They are an medium sized unidentified fossorial trap door building species endemic to the South East parts of Thailand near the Malaysian border, hence the name (Naming conventions tend to follow the locale the species was collected from.)

Here is a link to a polish seller that has some good pics of a juvi with their trap door structure. I wanted to just post the image, however I want to avoid any copyright issues haha

Ornithoctoninae sp Malthai - Szczecin - www.terraristik.com

0.0.16 Ornithoctoninae sp Malthai FH 22 = 100 euro5 = 230 euroalles zusammen = 640 euroshipping from Poland

www.terraristik.com

Here is my 3” juvi female from around a decade ago.

Whoa those are nice looking. Never seen them before, best of luck raising and breeding some. It'd be dope if an importer could bring some Ornithoctoninae sp. hon-sej into the US, those things are smoking!

@AphonopelmaTX Yeah would have been cool if they'd made the species name the collection location. The only thing on maps that came up with Malthai is a restaurant in Malaysia. Maybe they caught them in the kitchen.

Malthai actually started as Mal-Thai because of the border region they are endemic to. At least as far as I have read.

For starters, can you share some aspects of their natural history? Like what country they are found in, kind of habitat, fossorial or arboreal, etc? What does the word “ Malthai” mean? I’ve never heard of many of the Asian tarantula species seen on price lists these days.

Many of the unidentified Ornithoctoninae available are named after the locale they where collected from.

 

[campj]

Malthai actually started as Mal-Thai because of the border region they are endemic to. At least as far as I have read.

Pretty much where that restaurant is.

That trap door looks amazing. Did yours build one?

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Many of the unidentified Ornithoctoninae available are named after the locale they where collected from.

When you point out that Malthai is an abbreviation for Malaysia and Thailand, the pet trade name makes more sense. But what location(s) is "hon-sej" an abbreviation for?

 

[curtisgiganteus]

When you point out that Malthai is an abbreviation for Malaysia and Thailand, the pet trade name makes more sense. But what location(s) is "hon-sej" an abbreviation for?

Given that they are endemic to Vietnam I would guess it’s a province somewhere there. I’ll do some research on it.

Pretty much where that restaurant is.

That trap door looks amazing. Did yours build one?

It did, that was actually how I was able to identify it as O sp. malthai. I originally picked it up as an unidentified Asian T for a regalis sling back in 2011

 

[su3cl3a8]

I think the hobby material O. sp. malthai has already been identified at least down to the genus level by @Theraphosid Research Team , which is the Haplopelma genus.

There is another sp in Vietnam that the local collectors are calling Ornithoctoninae sp.yok don, which looks identical to maithai and also makes trap doors. It could be the same sp under two names.

I missed an opportunity to grab some this year and it was instant regret, will def get some next time!

 

[curtisgiganteus]

I think the hobby material O. sp. malthai has already been identified at least down to the genus level by Volker (@Theraphosid Research Team ), which is the Haplopelma genus.

There is another sp in Vietnam that the local collectors are calling Ornithoctoninae sp.yok don, which looks identical to maithai and also makes trap doors. It could be the same sp under two names.

I missed an opportunity to grab some this year and it was instant regret, will def get some next time!

I would love to find any publication on these species. Unfortunately I have yet to do so. It wouldn’t surprise me if these were classified at genus level into Haplopelma. I haven’t seen sp. yok don before and after a cursory googling I have only found one picture, presumably of a sling. Once my Malthai come in I’ll post some pics and you can make the assessment since you’ve seen them and I haven’t. I assume mine are coming in around 1”

 

[su3cl3a8]

I would love to find any publication on these species. Unfortunately I have yet to do so. It wouldn’t surprise me if these were classified at genus level into Haplopelma. I haven’t seen sp. yok don before and after a cursory googling I have only found one picture, presumably of a sling. Once my Malthai come in I’ll post some pics and you can make the assessment since you’ve seen them and I haven’t. I assume mine are coming in around 1”

There is no publication about sp. malthai that I currently know of, it was just a FB post by @Theraphosid Research Team showing their findings on the sp malthai in the hobby. I think since that post many European started to label it as Haploplema sp malthai.

I have only seen pics and clips of the sp. yok don. But as you may know pictures aren't the best method to differentiate spp. Also many spp. in Ornithoctoninae look similar at sling stage so it's hard to tell what is what.

That being said in the future when I get sp. yok don I'll also post pics here.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

There is no publication about sp. malthai that I currently know of, it was just a FB post by @Theraphosid Research Team showing their findings on the sp malthai in the hobby. I think since that post many European started to label it as Haploplema sp malthai.

I have only seen pics and clips of the sp. yok don. But as you may know pictures aren't the best method to differentiate spp. Also many spp. in Ornithoctoninae look similar at sling stage so it's hard to tell what is what.

That being said in the future when I get sp. yok don I'll also post pics here.

Do you have a link to that post by chance?

And please do keep me in the loop. Ornithoctoninae are kind of a focus for me haha.

 

[su3cl3a8]

Do you have a link to that post by chance?

And please do keep me in the loop. Ornithoctoninae are kind of a focus for me haha.

Here is the link

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www.facebook.com

I'm not sure if you can see it as it is a private group.

Also I'm not sure if you know, there is also a FB group dedicated to Ornithoctoninae, which I'm sure you will enjoy it.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

Here is the link

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

I'm not sure if you can see it as it is a private group.

Also I'm not sure if you know, there is also a FB group dedicated to Ornithoctoninae, which I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Thank you!

 

[curtisgiganteus]

Vials drilled and awaiting inhabitants

 

[Smotzer]

Congrats on the new additions! They are quite attractive from your photo. Look forward to seeing updates on this thread.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

So here they are, fresh off the plane. And getting them into their vials. They have some attitude even at 1”

@Smotzer



And yes I need to cut my nails lol

I’ll update more after work

 

[campj]

And yes I need to cut my nails lol

I was thinking of saying something before I read this. We all get there I think.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Sorry, too busy staring at the spiders to notice your nails! ;-}

 

[curtisgiganteus]

SO!

With O. sp Malthai being a fossorial trap door building species I opted for smaller dram vials for several reasons.

1. In a smaller vial it’s easier to monitor slings as the are forced to build their burrows/turrets/webs up against the side of the vial (except for that one that always seems to build it dead center)

2. Given the fossorial trap door nature of this species, they don’t need a ton of room. Once they establish their tube, they remain pretty sedentary.

3. A smaller vial makes feedings easier as there isn’t a ton of room for feeders to wander around. Not much room for a feeder to avoid the slings trap doors.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

All 5 slings took their first meal with me this morning. Tossed a baby cricket in each vial and their feeding response is amazing!

And we have the beginnings of our first trap door!