Ornithoctoninae sp. Phan Cay Red growout project

[curtisgiganteus]

So I have 0.0.3 O sp Phan Cay Red arriving tomorrow. I plan on documenting as much of their care and upbringing here as I can much as I m currently doing with the O sp. Malthai group I have.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

So I have 0.0.3 O sp Phan Cay Red arriving tomorrow. I plan on documenting as much of their care and upbringing here as I can much as I m currently doing with the O sp. Malthai group I have.

So here they are!….. well at east one that didn’t bolt into a burrow lol quite an attractive spider for how subdued the colors are

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

If these are anything like the Phan Cay "Blue", they'll start coloring up at surprisingly small sizes.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

If these are anything like the Phan Cay "Blue", they'll start coloring up at surprisingly small sizes.

I’m on the hunt for the blues right now. Do you have any pictures of yours? These guys are around 1” DLS rn

Update:
All three have taken their first crickets with me. They all have great feeding responses.

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

I’m on the hunt for the blues right now. Do you have any pictures of yours? These guys are around 1” DLS rn

Update:
All three have taken their first crickets with me. They all have great feeding responses.

Ornithoctoninae sp. "Phan Cay" 0.0.1 juvenile

• CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy
• Nov 24, 2022
• 1
• ornithoctoninae

Easily my most visible T, lurks at the webbing entrances most of the time (the entrance it's...

Legs already turning dark (they are blue-ish at certain lighting angles, though not fully blue yet) while the carapace is starting to lighten. I have more pics of my slings but this is the only one in my gallery (I don't usually keep the enclosure so wet there's visible condensation, this was right after a watering)

I got mine less than 1" DLS around 5 months ago, they're around 2" DLS now.

I've also found Phan Cays to have decent feeding responses, though one of mine (the one in the pic) has become significantly worse in this regard for the past few months, to the point I've only confirmed it eating something just once in that time. The other one will fearlessly attack live crickets the same size as itself and win.

 

[su3cl3a8]

What defines the red or the blue? Many Asian spp. have huge change in color from juvenile to adult, or can have color variations from different locales. I currently have 1.4 phan cays and am not aware of this.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

What defines the red or the blue? Many Asian spp. have huge change in color from juvenile to adult, or can have color variations from different locales. I currently have 1.4 phan cays and am not aware of this.

Both sp Phan Cay, and Phan Cay Red are undescribed on the species level. Generally, aside from significant morphological differences such as shape of spermathacae, the setae coloration and structure as well as stridulation organs and such. Given that these have yet to be described on a species level there isn’t much beyond that I can tell you. This is one of the reasons I want to get ahold of the Phan cay. I’d like to do a morphological comparative analysis as they get bigger.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

All of the Phan cay red slings look to be in premolt. I’m hoping the go through with it in then next few weeks.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

Update:

sling #3 has molted successfully. I’m gonna let it harden up for a few days and then offer food and hopefully get some pictures of it for this thread. The other two are not far behind methinks.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

The only molt so far and it’s already out and exploring

 

[curtisgiganteus]

The second of the three molted yesterday!

 

[curtisgiganteus]

Update:

It’s been about a month since my last post on here so here we go.

All three ofmy original 3 have molted successfully and are now close to 2.” They exhibit fossorial tendencies akin to Omothymus, Phormingochilus, etc. They have all excavated little caverns at the bottom of their vials.

This last Sunday I was able to pick up 3 more all around the 2” mark as well. From what I was told these are from a different import and unrelated to the original 3. I now have 0.0.6 Phan cay red from 2 different bloodlines. I’ll try and be better at keeping this updated.

Here are the new ones

 

[curtisgiganteus]

If these are anything like the Phan Cay "Blue", they'll start coloring up at surprisingly small sizes.

One of the three I just picked up is around 2.5” and has that violet iridescence on the femurs. I can’t wait for these guys to get bigger

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

One of the three I just picked up is around 2.5” and has that violet iridescence on the femurs. I can’t wait for these guys to get bigger

My two "Blue"s started coloring up with their most recent molt which brought them to around 2" DLS. More of a blue-black iridescence in this case.

 

[curtisgiganteus]

My two "Blue"s started coloring up with their most recent molt which brought them to around 2" DLS. More of a blue-black iridescence in this case.

Something tells me they aren’t gonna look like the picture in the advertisement though lol. Once I can sex the males out I plan on keeping them cooler so the females grow quicker. I should have a decent ratio with 0.0.6. At least I hope so

 

[curtisgiganteus]

Update:

Im on the lookout for early sexual dimorphism. Here are two of the PCR from group B (2”)

This first one is what I suspect to be female as the male in the second picture has a very clear patch between the top two book lungs not present in the first spider pictured. I have included both dorsal and ventral pictures for comparison.

PCR 2B sus Female



PCR 3B Male

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Pardon me, is that a spider between...

couldn't resist...

 

[curtisgiganteus]

Pardon me, is that a spider between...

couldn't resist...

Cobwebs galore

 

[curtisgiganteus]

I feel like it’s been a while since I updated this so bare with me

All three from the second group I aquired have molted and been sexed. They are all upwards of 2-2.5” currently and are voracious eaters regularly taking down adult female lats

1B - Male
2B - Female
3B - Female

All three from my original group are currently in heavy premolt and I’m anxiously awaiting the day it happens.

The original group has been kept in 50 dram vials using @l4nsky ’s methodology for keeping humidity dependent species, whereas the second group was kept in top ventilated 5.5oz soufflé cups until their molt where I moved them into 32oz deli cups mirroring the aforementioned methods.

After extensive inquiry, it seems that only one bloodline of these has been introduced to the US hobby at this time, however I have it on good authority that another import of unrelated slings should be coming in the next few months.

I would advise anyone keeping this species currently to avoid breeding the spiders from the last import together to maintain a relatively deep gene pool stateside. We should be seeing them more regularly on the market going forward, however I believe we should focus on establishing them here with as much genetic diversity as we possibly can.

1B - Male


2B - Female


I’ll see if I can dig up pictures of the third molt after work.

Edit: 2A molted today

Confirmed Male

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

Have you noticed any external dimorphism between themeless and females?