P.Metallica ... Your experiences with them ?

[Retic730]

Hey every one , this is my first post ! Just thought it be cool to get some honest input on p.metallica. Any neat facts or experiences anyone has with them. I recently traded two kingsnakes for a female gooty lol yes I know odd but the kid was gung ho on them and I have only owned a p.regalis as far as pokies... So feel free to reply , add info , and thank you all for the comments !

 

[Formerphobe]

My P. met is still a wee little thing. I have noticed that it has established a daily routine. It comes wandering out of its hide about the time the sky gets light, then follows a sun-wise rotational path around its enclosure throughout the day, ending up back in its hide by sundown. It does burrow for a few days before and after molts. (I'm sure that time will lengthen as it gains size.) It's not particularly skittish, but is only ~1.25" dls, so that could change. (The other day I dropped a heavy object on my dresser by accident. Nearly every other spider parked on the dresser disappeared immediately. P. met slowly turned and faced the other way...) The only time it has turned down food was when it was in pre-molt.

The P. met is far more entertaining than my P regalis, but I just rec'd the ~4.0" regalis recently, so it's not really a fair comparison. She is still acclimating to her new enclosure and East Coast time which means she webbed up both ends of her tunnel hide within 12 hours of arrival and hasn't been seen since.
My other poecis (formosa and subfusca) tend to be primarily night owls.

 

[Poec54]

Great spider! Same as keeping regalis. All of them like a tall cage, an inch or two of slightly moist substrate, a few pieces of cork, and a waterbowl. As with all arboreals, there's a balance between ventilation and humidity. The only Poecilotheria that need anything special are rufilata, smithi, and subfusca, as they're from high elevations and don't like to be too warm.

 

[Retic730]

hey thanks for the info guys !!! ya my P.Metallica only having for a few days now , I have noticed shes quite photo sensitive ... I got her in the exoterra she grew up in looks like a great size for her .. Cork bark / pothos ivy plant / and eco earth substrate / med water dish . The kid said he got her as a 1inch and now shes about 4 1/2 inches.. wonder how long the females live in this species ?? basicly the tank is 78 ish night time is a little lower and humidity is about 60 % but that changes with a mist .. so far she ate 2 large crickets and a small super worm .. going to wait a week and feed about the same amount .. what do you think as far as feeding amount and frequency ?? ... I have about 40 T's in my collection but only 2 pokies... I am going to a reptile expo this weekend to pick up a male ( hope they have one ) so I can breed her for the local florida market , and put some good quality and fair priced gootys out there ! ... again thanks to all who reply on the post !

 

[Poec54]

Are you sure it's a female? Have you verified that? For a male, you'll want to get one smaller, like an inch or two. Again, the sexing is an issue. Poecs are easy to vent sex at 1 1/2", if you know what to look for. Of course, getting a second female isn't the worst news in the world.

You can keep metallica warmer if you want, like 5 or 10 degrees, they're from the low elevations of central India. If your spider room is 78, I'd put her on a higher shelf. Feed her all she'll eat, she's still growing. The sooner she matures, the sooner you'll get hatchlings.

 

[grayzone]

I have noticed shes quite photo sensitive ...

This is typical of P. metallica.
They DO NOT like bright light.

My P met is by far the most "out and about" Poeci ive ever owned. It does fine in normal/ambient lighting, but runs in circles around "her" enclosure non stop if i shine the LED on it.

I keep my Pmet identically to all the other Poeci i own/ have owned (regalis, ornata, pederseni, subfusca) and have had no problems with it. Room temps (roughly 60-70f), no water dish, once weekly substrate and side of the enclosure misting!
I have noticed P metallica grow a lot slower than other Poeci (at least this is MY experience :sarcasm .. I bought mine back in early/mid September at about 1" and it is now mid April and it is about 2.5" and in premolt. It eats like a beast, and has molted 3x in my care (it is currently 6i).

My Pmet looks obvious female already, so i really hope that my eyes arent seeing what i WANT to see.

 

[Formerphobe]

I guess they will each be individuals dependent on themselves and husbandry.
The P. met is my only Poeci that doesn't run from light, natural or artificial, ambient, direct or flash.
Unless all my poecis decide to go through a sudden growth spurt, they all seem to be growing at a comparable rate to each other (slow) and to my Brachypelmas of similar age/size.

 

[Poec54]

Unless all my poecis decide to go through a sudden growth spurt, they all seem to be growing at a comparable rate to each other (slow) and to my Brachypelmas of similar age/size.

How warm and humid are you keeping your Poecs and how often do you feed them? Are you keeping them in the fridge? I have slings of various species of Poecs that were 1" last fall, that are now 3-4", which is much faster than B. smithi. I have a couple male ornatas that were 3-4" last fall that just matured at 7+". Growth is significant with each molt for all Poec species and sexes. I feed my Poecs 2 or 3 times a week, and keep them 80-90 degrees during the day and 10-15 degrees cooler at night (cooler for the high elevation species).

 

[Retic730]

Poec54 .. I have not been able to verify 100 % female .. just going by who I got it from , and them seeing her last molt .. as soon as she is on one side of the glass exoterra im sure to take a pic and upload it for verification. and thanks for the help on that ! , as far as where I keep my T's ... I live in south florida so its like a jungle out here lol , but inside the house its set at about 78 ish during the day at work , and when I come home turn the A/C down to about 75 , thow the thermostat where I keep my T's never goes below 73 ... since it rains quite a bit I usualy open the window for an hour or two to help raise natural humidity.. also do a mist every few days , keep a small water dish , and have a live pothos ivy plant in cocofiber.. she ate twice already so i assume shes comfortable. My only other species of Pokie is the regalis , which I owned less then a year and it does awsome with that set up... thanks for all the info to everyone whos commenting , i realy want her to thrive so I can breed the p.metallica.. My other species of T's brachys , gramms , etc .. are in the same temp but I do way less misting , just water overflow in the dish and there more on the bottom shelf. those been like that for a while and do brilliant.

 

[Jones0911]

Since buying my P metallica back in February I think....I've only seen it twice and that was at night which didnt last long once he felt the enclosure being moved. now I just see crickets walking around.

 

[Formerphobe]

How warm and humid are you keeping your Poecs and how often do you feed them? Are you keeping them in the fridge? I have slings of various species of Poecs that were 1" last fall, that are now 3-4", which is much faster than B. smithi. I have a couple male ornatas that were 3-4" last fall that just matured at 7+". Growth is significant with each molt for all Poec species and sexes. I feed my Poecs 2 or 3 times a week, and keep them 80-90 degrees during the day and 10-15 degrees cooler at night (cooler for the high elevation species).

LOL No 'fridge unless the power goes out, then the bulk of the collection goes in the closet with heat packs.

Temp range in the house: 68 - 75F Slings < ~2.0" live on or beside the scorpion tanks so they get a little extra warmth.
Humidity, hmm, well, Oscar the weather boy on my mom's home weather station says it stays around 30% RH in the house. Dependent on the species, some of my arachnids enclosures are set up to retain higher humidity than that, but I seat-of-the-pants it, no gauges.
I could move them to the sun-porch this summer for higher temps (+~10 - 15 degrees), but that room is that much colder than the rest of the house in the winter.

Wow, you're really pushing the food to them!
Rough feeding guidelines that I use for all species:
<2.0" get fed weekly
2 - 4" ~every 2 weeks
> 4.0" ~every 4 weeks
Varies dependent on individual spider. If skinny, gets fed more often, if heavy in the heiny, less often, regardless of DLS.
Available prey items and size thereof factor in, too.
(And I'm frequently accused of power feeding... )

I haven't had any of my Poecis too long. Here's the breakdown:
P rufilata - acquired 10/13/12 @ ~1.0", two molts, appears pre-molt now, currently ~2.25"
P. formosa - acquired 10/23/2012 @ ~3.5", one molt, currently ~4.5"
P. metallica - acquired 1/19/2013 @ ~1.0", one molt, currently ~1.5"
P. subfusca - acquired 2/16/2013 @ ~1.0", one molt, currently ~1.25"
P. regalis - acquired 4/9/2013 @~4.5", no known molts, haven't seen it since 4/10...

Except for the hidden regalis, all seem to be doing well - webbing, eating, established routines, normal spider stuff. (I'm assuming the regalis is doing well. Prey items disappear and I regularly appreciate new webbing in its enclosure.)

Using B. smithi as a comparison (one of my moderate growth Brachys), 1.25" to 4.5" in 19 months.
Faster growing B. vagans went from 0.25" to ~6.0" in 18 months.