Paul the Urupelma(?) Homoeomma(?) Peruvianum

gardener889

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About a month ago I picked up what I thought was a Homoeomma Peruvianum sling from my localish reptile store. I was excited to get this little guy because I haven’t seen much about them, but was distantly familiar with the more popular Homoeomma species.

I brought home this little grain of rice and set them up in a 40 dram vial half fun with dirt and transferred some of their sphagnum moss over with them. I put in a miniature water dish, gave them a starter burrow, and dropped some springtails in to hopefully give them something small enough they could eat. They molted that night.

Since then, my Beatles fan four year old named the little guy Paul. They’ve enjoyed cricket legs and even a micro live cricket once. I read the exhibit fossorial behavior as slings. But Paul often is sitting in or on the moss and has even webbed it a little. They’re skittish and quick to hide under the moss, but eats well. I’ve kept the moisture up more with Paul than I have for my Rosea and versicolor sings and they seem to do well. I also read this little dude grows faster than h. Chilense, so we’ll see how he goes. I hope to keep updating on this little guy my experiences because I’ve found very little information and with a recent reclassification it wouldn’t hurt to have more information out there about them. CBB1CBC3-3720-410E-A094-68EE52F44173.jpeg 67E91290-CCF2-42B4-AFF5-9309A2BDDF25.jpeg
 

gardener889

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As a sling, Paul likes a nice large cricket leg. They definitely have a longer than wide abdomen and their color is a weird shiny brown with a small light spot on their abdomen.

I’m not sure if the spring tails in the via have been a source of food or not, but I’ve noticed they sometimes eat the legs I drop in. Paul ate a leg this week and stuffed the leftovers in the tiny water dish/pen cap.

Paul hides in their moss for the most part, but sometimes comes down to the substrate. They’re, again, a skittish little dude. I’m hoping, though, Paul molts again soon to put on some size.
 

gardener889

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I came home from work the other day and Paul was in a little tiny stress pose and the spring tails were booming. I was concerned the little guy passed so I checked with a paint brush. They reacted. I wasn’t sure what was wrong so I pulled out half its moss to encourage the substrate to dry a little bit as that looked wetter than I wanted. I turned on a fan and monitored them for the next day.

(S)he was fine. Little dude was back to their spastic self. Yesterday I checked on them and they were finally digging which is something I read about this species. It only took a month and a half to start. They were also grooming a bit, but it definitely looked like they were scratching their butt. Today the burrow has increased in depth significantly and it’s about 3/4 the depth of the substrate.

Watching the little dude has been interesting and I’ve thus far enjoyed documenting this little observed/ sporadically kept species.

interesting things I’ve noticed compared to other slings- a longer abdomen than wide, even when full.They also have a cute little light colored spot on the abdomen.
As a tiny sling they’re also a cool shiny brown, almost metallic bronze color.

The downsides so far is there’s very little out there about the care and they are hard to find. I’ve seen two online retailers and I randomly discovered it at my semi-local reptile shop.
They’re also very skittish as slings. I’m curious on the personality and size as it grows up.
 

Charliemum

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Can't believe I missed this post! Such a cute little t .
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This is Fizzgig my af peruvianum 😊 they come from the mountains so like dryer sub and a lower temp and lots of stuff to dig between, as I said mountains which are extremely rocky. In the wild they would dig down in the cracks and crevices between the rocks sometimes webbing sometimes burrowing it depends what the area they choose allows.
They do grow quite fast my girl was tiny like yours when she came and in 2 n a half years she has matured. She's been in her current viv about a year now and as you can see she dug so much it just looks like piled sub n web atm but she has a new one waiting for her to go in next week, she loves her box of dirt but I can't look at it anymore 😆
As a sling she was a nut job would go for my fingers through the plastic when I picked up her viv but as an adult she's so chill doesn't care what I do as long as she gets food as a reward.
If I have missed anything or you have any questions just ask on here and I will answer as soon as I come on 😊

Its lovely seeing someone else with this awesome little sp, it will be interesting to see how Paul behaves and if he shows the same trates as my little Fizzgig 🙂
Congratulations on such an awesome little t 😊🥳😊
 

HOITrance

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This is one of my dream species...but waiting for my Chilenses to get a bit bigger first lol
 

Charliemum

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This is one of my dream species...but waiting for my Chilenses to get a bit bigger first lol
You will be waiting a while 😆 chils grow real slow I have 2 came as 0.5cm slings called Seraphina and Vesta and they are tiny and rarely moult. I have had them about a year (I am not great with time) and they are only just an inch dls.
Fizzgig my peruvianum grew real quickly as I said matured in 2 n a half years ish from a tiny 0.5 cm sling, but both sp are worth having for sure , gotta love a tiny t 😁 🤞 you find one and snap them up 😊 everyone needs a peruvianum imo .
 

HOITrance

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You will be waiting a while 😆 chils grow real slow I have 2 came as 0.5cm slings called Seraphina and Vesta and they are tiny and rarely moult. I have had them about a year (I am not great with time) and they are only just an inch dls.
Fizzgig my peruvianum grew real quickly as I said matured in 2 n a half years ish from a tiny 0.5 cm sling, but both sp are worth having for sure , gotta love a tiny t 😁 🤞 you find one and snap them up 😊 everyone needs a peruvianum imo .
Dang! I have had my H.chilenses for almost a year and a half and it JUST hit .75" lol
 

Charliemum

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Dang! I have had my H.chilenses for almost a year and a half and it JUST hit .75" lol
They don't always grow that well for me . For example, I have a male carabiner versicolor called itsy bitsy, I have had him 3 years n 3 months and he still holds onto the baby stripes on his abdomen 😆 He is definitely male but refuses to grow up (should of called him Peter) , and one of my chalcodes Christina i got as a tiny 0.5cm sling has taken her 3.5 years to get to 2inches .
I think it just depends on the individual t tbh, your temps n food could be exactly what i do and baby can still grow slow .
 

gardener889

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Can't believe I missed this post! Such a cute little t .
This is Fizzgig my af peruvianum 😊 they come from the mountains so like dryer sub and a lower temp and lots of stuff to dig between, as I said mountains which are extremely rocky. In the wild they would dig down in the cracks and crevices between the rocks sometimes webbing sometimes burrowing it depends what the area they choose allows.
They do grow quite fast my girl was tiny like yours when she came and in 2 n a half years she has matured. She's been in her current viv about a year now and as you can see she dug so much it just looks like piled sub n web atm but she has a new one waiting for her to go in next week, she loves her box of dirt but I can't look at it anymore 😆
As a sling she was a nut job would go for my fingers through the plastic when I picked up her viv but as an adult she's so chill doesn't care what I do as long as she gets food as a reward.
If I have missed anything or you have any questions just ask on here and I will answer as soon as I come on 😊

Its lovely seeing someone else with this awesome little sp, it will be interesting to see how Paul behaves and if he shows the same trates as my little Fizzgig 🙂
Congratulations on such an awesome little t 😊🥳😊

I searched the boards for Peruvianum when I got my little dude and followed you because you're possibly the only one who writes about theirs. I've been enjoying my little dude, but they keep saturating their substrate because they pull all their water out. I keep letting the enclosure dry out but it always feels like it's saturated.

Anyway, Paul finally molted 5/15. They don't look any bigger, but I dropped in a pre-killed small cricket for them Sunday night because the pinheads were dead. I saw them eating yesterday, having pulled the cricket into their burrow. Paul is just as spastic as ever, I'll have to open their vial a bit to dry out some. I look forward to getting two molts from them this summer to hopefully rehouse them into a bigger enclosure and get more views of them. As much as I love my versicolor, rosea, and avic, Paul might be my favorite.
 

Charliemum

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Tbh Fizzgig didn't have a dish till she got over 1inch before that she had moss I would wet down everytime I fed her , her sling viv didn't allow a dish. But she killed her dish several times in her juvie viv till she hit 2 inches then she stopped bothering with it 🤷🏻‍♀️ Hopefully Paul will get bored with his soon aswell 🤞🤞🤞
 

gardener889

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So update on Paul, their vial was too moist for my liking, so I made up a new one with more ventilation. Paul was terribly unhappy with this move as it meant their burrow was gone. I also found a slightly better tiny water dish, but in the day or so it’s been in there Paul has filled it with moss. Such is life. Paul is exploring their nearly identical home for now and has settled into their new burrow a little bit, this time underneath a small piece of cork.
Btw, it was funny with the water dish, because I checked in on Paul and I just saw a small piece of moss moving, seemingly by itself, but then I saw the tiny brownish gray legs underneath. What a goofy little spider.
 

gardener889

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Paul update. Since the last time we talked about Paul (s)he molted twice. The most recent of which was a week ago. They’re still a little dude so I feed them their first post-molt meal yesterday and they’re gnashing away at the cricket as I type. Paul is showing some unique coloration and finally reached about 1” DLS. I’m going to move them out of the vial into a 4” cube that the rest of my slightly larger slings are living in. I think they’ll like a chance to have a real water bowl to fill in and more space to dig. Or they’ll hate it the entire time. We’ll see. I hope I can get a good picture of Paul when I do this too, but it probably won’t happen. If I do I’ll update.
 

gardener889

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Here’s my Paul in their new home. Definitely looking chunky, and they’ve come a long way since they were a little grain of rice. The rehome went smoothly. Paul thinks they’re invisible hiding behind that plant. AEC8545E-FDFE-43A5-BDC7-4A4C1AC7C7B8.jpeg
 
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