P. ornata chaos

boina

Lady of the mites
Active Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2015
Messages
2,217
About a month ago I got my first Poecilotheria, a P. ornata. After posting pictures here people suggested it might not be the female I ordered but instead a male. So, I contacted the seller and asked if he was absolutely sure of the sex of the spider. We had a friendly email conversation and agreed to wait for the next molt and have another look at the sex then.

Last week I found a notification in my mailbox that I had a package to pick up at the local post office. Since I had ordered some stuff online I expected that would be it. I stopped by the post office the next day on my way to work, picked up the package, threw it in my car, went to work and forgot about it. The next day I remembered I still had a package in my car and finally started to unwrap it - you can guess where this is going, right? I opened the package and found not one, but two completely unexpected (and unpaid for) P. ornata!! I was totally shocked, especially since the spiders had spent more than a day unnecessarily in my car, just because I didn't expect any spiders! Of course, I hadn't prepared enclosures for them either. I had one more tall glass terrarium that I got ready for one and the other one... well, I emptied out a somewhat taller acrylic pasta container, melted some holes in there and the last one had to make do with that. It will work for the time being, at least until the next molt.

I contacted the seller and he said he'd had so many egg sacs this spring and he needed space, so he thought he'd send me two more to make sure I had a female now... I'm still floored, writing this. When I asked what I owed him he told me to just pay what I thought, since I hadn't really ordered them... (I paid him a fair price, of course.)

So, here they are:
ornata vergleich.jpg

What do you think about the sex? On the left is the one I got first and the pattern looks like he may be male, as I learned. The other two are new. I think the middle one looks female and I'm not sure about the last. Btw, they are 3.75". Unfortunately the lighting isn't so good because I didn't get them to keep still for a picture yet after housing them.

Well, now I've three P. ornatas instead just the one juvenile female I wanted...
 

14pokies

Arachnoprince
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Messages
1,735
Gun to my head I would say the one in the middle will be female.. If you have vent shots of the "suspect" male that was supposed to be female post it and tag me.
 

boina

Lady of the mites
Active Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2015
Messages
2,217
Gun to my head I would say the one in the middle will be female.. If you have vent shots of the "suspect" male that was supposed to be female post it and tag me.
IMG_4584a.jpg

That's the first one from ventrally. I don't have anything remotely useful (meaning where you'd see anything important) from the others yet, but I will keep trying. Thanks.
 

Nightstalker47

Arachnoking
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,612
Are they all supposed to be females?
The middle one does look possibly female...you should ask the vendor to send you pics of their molts. Something has me thinking they are unsexed.
 

boina

Lady of the mites
Active Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2015
Messages
2,217
Yea looks female.. The one on the right could go either way. What's it's DSL?
3 3/4.

I'm worried about the one I got first. It just sits at the very bottom of it's nice cork round and doesn't move or eat or anything. This is all the more conspicious since I've seen the behaviour of the other two - hidden during the day, active at night, both have eaten already, and at least they react if you move their enclosure. do you think something could be wrong and if so, what?? I'm not exactly a noob, even though this is my first Pokie, but this one's behaviour seems off to me.
 

boina

Lady of the mites
Active Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2015
Messages
2,217
Are they all supposed to be females?
The middle one does look possibly female...you should ask the vendor to send you pics of their molts. Something has me thinking they are unsexed.
Well, I was supposed to get one female, the first one. When I asked the seller about it I kind of got the impression he didn't really know much about sexing, sooo.... He doesn't have pics of the molts, he gives them to a friend, who sexes them. If the middle one is female, as it looks, I'll be happy :).
 

14pokies

Arachnoprince
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Messages
1,735
3 3/4.

I'm worried about the one I got first. It just sits at the very bottom of it's nice cork round and doesn't move or eat or anything. This is all the more conspicious since I've seen the behaviour of the other two - hidden during the day, active at night, both have eaten already, and at least they react if you move their enclosure. do you think something could be wrong and if so, what?? I'm not exactly a noob, even though this is my first Pokie, but this one's behaviour seems off to me.
Sounds like premolt.. I wouldn't worry..

They do appreciate a moderate amount of humidity so make sure the substrate is slightly moist and it has access to large water dish. If dehydrated pokies can become less active and refuse to feed. Same goes for alot of species..
 

boina

Lady of the mites
Active Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2015
Messages
2,217
Sounds like premolt.. I wouldn't worry..

They do appreciate a moderate amount of humidity so make sure the substrate is slightly moist and it has access to large water dish. If dehydrated pokies can become less active and refuse to feed. Same goes for alot of species..
Yeah, I know... he has a water dish, but I can't make him actually go over there... Maybe I can find something a little smaller that I can push very close to his hide. Thanks.
 

Nightstalker47

Arachnoking
Joined
Jul 2, 2016
Messages
2,612
Well, I was supposed to get one female, the first one. When I asked the seller about it I kind of got the impression he didn't really know much about sexing, sooo.... He doesn't have pics of the molts, he gives them to a friend, who sexes them. If the middle one is female, as it looks, I'll be happy :).
Sounds like something else is going on behind the scenes, it seems odd for him to send you another pair if he knew the first one was female from the start, the vendors I buy from would be clear on the fact that they sexed it and would know the gender for certain, they would not just send more...

It seems he probably didn't know wether it was female or not, anyway I'll let you deal with that but it's not good business in my eyes. I really hope they aren't all males, that's ridiculous, if you buy a sexed spider at a premium you should be getting what you paid for. Keep us posted on their next molts, fingers crossed you have a female.
 

boina

Lady of the mites
Active Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2015
Messages
2,217
Sounds like something else is going on behind the scenes, it seems odd for him to send you another pair if he knew the first one was female from the start, the vendors I buy from would be clear on the fact that they sexed it and would know the gender for certain, they would not just send more...

It seems he probably didn't know wether it was female or not, anyway I'll let you deal with that but it's not good business in my eyes. I really hope they aren't all males, that's ridiculous, if you buy a sexed spider at a premium you should be getting what you paid for. Keep us posted on their next molts, fingers crossed you have a female.
Oh, you probably will hear me swearing over there in Canada if they are all male :yuck: ;). I'm waiting anxiously for the molts.

I'd never bought from this vendor before and I'm not sure what to think of this... we'll see what sexes I'll end up with.
 

boina

Lady of the mites
Active Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2015
Messages
2,217
Sexing Poki's is best done via the dot method if one is not using the molts.

Here's ~1.75" male P. rufi of mine.

Thanks. I'll try that if I ever manage to get a reasonably good picture. A NW spider I'd poke and prod into the right position for a pic, but I don't feel comfortable enough with the Pokies yet to do that.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
Thanks. I'll try that if I ever manage to get a reasonably good picture. A NW spider I'd poke and prod into the right position for a pic, but I don't feel comfortable enough with the Pokies yet to do that.
I waited until it was on the container wall ;) You have to get the right angle of light to see it at times. My Rufi's was very prominent.
 

Nixphat

Arachnosquire
Joined
Oct 8, 2016
Messages
62
I'm cautious of Ts that are unsexed over 2.5 - 3" (or so) but I have very little actual experience so I'm not sure if that's large enough to be accurate about the sex. Also I feel like you shouldn't have really had to pay for the other two Ts he sent. It is definitely very nice that you did, but you didn't ask for them and they are supposed to be making up for the possible MM he sold you as a suspect MF. If one ends up being female, you probably came out of the situation okay, but if they are all MM, I'd be... :shifty: pretty furious
 
Top