Phormictopus sp. “Dominican Purple” - A New World with Old World Temperament

[MrFuzzBugz]

I have 2 Phormictopus sp “Dominican Purple”, and wanted to give you guys a little heads up about their temperament.

Mind you, I have a lot of experience with tarantulas, both new world and old world, and I am still very surprised by this behavior.

I have had my female for about 3 years now and raised her from a 1.5” sling. She is about 6” now, probably about 1 molt from maturity. She has always been highly defensive, no matter how carefully I act or how I set her up. Whether I feed her, give her water, or clean her enclosure (she is a messy b****), she will never hesitate to slap me and give me a threat posture. She is by far, even compared to my old world species, my most ornery tarantula. I have a smaller juvenile male, about 4”, and he acts in a very similar way, so it should be interesting when I go to pair them.

To add insult to injury, while my female has very rarely kicked hairs at me, her abdomen is perfectly bald, which indicates that she is laying down urticating hairs all over the ground, a hazard when the day comes that I need to change substrate.

Tl;dr My female Dominican Purple is a large, feisty, “death machine” who is difficult to deal with, hard to feed, hard to clean, and hard to rehouse. She has deployed hairs all over her enclosure, so no matter what, she spells danger. This is a warning to anyone wanting to keep this spider.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

Temperaments are different with each individual. Venom is not an issue with most NW's. UrS are the biggest concern. Also a T that reaches 8 inches and up the second hazard is mechanical damage. T's like T. blondi and stirmi pose higher mechanical damage risk with bigger fangs.

With yours the UrS are the biggest concern.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I had two phormictopus cancerides sadly both ended up males and I couldn’t breed them. But they were very skittish behaved similar to my lp. I can’t remember how often I got threat poses but I’d definitely get them again.

Temperaments are different with each individual. Venom is not an issue with most NW's. UrS are the biggest concern. Also a T that reaches 8 inches and up the second hazard is mechanical damage. T's like T. blondi and stirmi pose higher mechanical damage risk with bigger fangs.

With yours the UrS are the biggest concern.

Yes the UrS Are much more likely to cause issues then a low chance of being bitten.

 

[MrFuzzBugz]

I had two phormictopus cancerides sadly both ended up males and I couldn’t breed them. But they were very skittish behaved similar to my lp. I can’t remember how often I got threat poses but I’d definitely get them again.
Yes the UrS Are much more likely to cause issues then a low chance of being bitten.

Yeah I cared for an auratus who was much more flighty. Grew a lot slower than the purples as well.

 

[sparticus]

I'm pretty sure the whole genus has a reputation for being kinda spicy. My P. cancerides are definitely on the defensive/spicy side, although they settled into their burrows and I haven't seen them in a bit. If you don't enjoy your Phormictopus sp. purple I'd gladly take them off your hands.

 

[Wolfram1]

i got a juvenile male, he really doesn't like moist substrate

i know not to disturb him and no prey lasts longer than the millisecond it takes for them to drop in front of it, the moment they impact the ground they are already caught

sadly though that does not translate to a quick molting cycle, he takes forever and ever between each molt, i try to space out feedings as much as i can so he does not get overly fat, but even with maybe one small meal every 1-2 months he eventually turns fat becsuse he just does not molt

and i have tried just stuffing him at first, that does nothing to quicken his rythm, he still takes forever except he then fasts for half a year, hence my routine now

i think the seasons/temperatures influence him more than most of my other juvenile spiders who sometimes molt in winter, not him

he does not kick, but if i do anything, but feed him, he threatposes.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

i got a juvenile male, he really doesn't like moist substrate

i know not to disturb him and no prey lasts longer than the millisecond it takes for them to drop in front of it, the moment they impact the ground they are already caught

sadly though that does not translate to a quick molting cycle, he takes forever and ever between each molt, i try to space out feedings as much as i can so he does not get overly fat, but even with maybe one small meal every 1-2 months he eventually turns fat becsuse he just does not molt

and i have tried just stuffing him at first, that does nothing to quicken his rythm, he still takes forever except he then fasts for half a year, hence my routine now

i think the seasons/temperatures influence him more than most of my other juvenile spiders who sometimes molt in winter, not him

he does not kick, but if i do anything, but feed him, he threatposes.

Hmmmm I must have one of these T's. I do like a good threat pose.

 

[MrFuzzBugz]

Temperaments are different with each individual. Venom is not an issue with most NW's. UrS are the biggest concern. Also a T that reaches 8 inches and up the second hazard is mechanical damage. T's like T. blondi and stirmi pose higher mechanical damage risk with bigger fangs.

With yours the UrS are the biggest concern.

i got a juvenile male, he really doesn't like moist substrate

i know not to disturb him and no prey lasts longer than the millisecond it takes for them to drop in front of it, the moment they impact the ground they are already caught

sadly though that does not translate to a quick molting cycle, he takes forever and ever between each molt, i try to space out feedings as much as i can so he does not get overly fat, but even with maybe one small meal every 1-2 months he eventually turns fat becsuse he just does not molt

and i have tried just stuffing him at first, that does nothing to quicken his rythm, he still takes forever except he then fasts for half a year, hence my routine now

i think the seasons/temperatures influence him more than most of my other juvenile spiders who sometimes molt in winter, not him

he does not kick, but if i do anything, but feed him, he threatposes.

This is so peculiar, because my male acts the same way. You may be onto something, that the temps affect the molting cycle. Ive definitely noticed more molts in spring and summer in all of my spoods, but especially the tropical ones.

 

[A guy]

This is so peculiar, because my male acts the same way. You may be onto something, that the temps affect the molting cycle. Ive definitely noticed more molts in spring and summer in all of my spoods, but especially the tropical ones.

Not peculiar at all. That's how their metabolism works. Warmer temperatures results in faster growth. Hence more frequent molts during the spring and summer.

It works like that for all tarantulas. Nothing new.

 

[Arachnophobphile]

The molting cycles for all the T's I've had and have is Spring and Winter.

Winter due to the smaller room I keep them in during this season and warmer temps. I have more molts during Winter than Spring.

This is due to furnace running and the radiator heater I use to keep temps higher.

Summer with central air conditioner running and not using the radiator heater the temps are lower and never change.

So this jives with higher temps = tarantula's metabolism working faster = more molts.

 

[viper69]

which indicates that she is laying down urticating hairs all over the ground

had one like that...just so much fun

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

had one like that...just so much fun

Yeah I had a post on one like that because the hairs were so itchy and I broke out in hives severely . Sadly it died of old age . https://arachnoboards.com/threads/w...antulas-ouch-which-ones-hurt-the-most.222664/

 

[MrFuzzBugz]

Not peculiar at all. That's how their metabolism works. Warmer temperatures results in faster growth. Hence more frequent molts during the spring and summer.

It works like that for all tarantulas. Nothing new.

Interesting. While I get that increased temperatures increase their metabolism, appetite, and their growth rate, I still think this is species specific in defining the entire molt cycle. My less tropical species still seem to have a finite appetite, no matter what time of year or how warm it is. They just have that internal clock that tells them how much food they can store year round before a molt. Thats why I hardly ever feed my Grammostola

 

[viper69]

Interesting. While I get that increased temperatures increase their metabolism, appetite, and their growth rate, I still think this is species specific in defining the entire molt cycle. My less tropical species still seem to have a finite appetite, no matter what time of year or how warm it is. They just have that internal clock that tells them how much food they can store year round before a molt. Thats why I hardly ever feed my Grammostola

every animal has a finite appetite, but all Ts have increased metabolism due to increased temps

 

[MrFuzzBugz]

every animal has a finite appetite, but all Ts have increased metabolism due to increased temps

Read “lower”

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

I take it that my tiny T with the tiny bald spot is not so much “cute” as an omen of what’s to come..

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Interesting. While I get that increased temperatures increase their metabolism, appetite, and their growth rate, I still think this is species specific in defining the entire molt cycle. My less tropical species still seem to have a finite appetite, no matter what time of year or how warm it is. They just have that internal clock that tells them how much food they can store year round before a molt. Thats why I hardly ever feed my Grammostola

One guy had a pulchra grow 2-5” in a year but he kept it at 85 degrees or something and fed it like crazy . Wish I saved the link .
Typical my Ts grow glacially slow. At 70-76

 

[viper69]

Read “lower”

You lost me

 

[sparticus]

You lost me

I think they are saying that some species have a slower metabolism than other species even when the temperature is kept as a constant, but that's pretty well known, so I'm slightly confused as well. Both temperature and species, as well as food availability and quality will impact sling growth rates pretty heavily as far as I can tell.

 

[viper69]

I think they are saying that some species have a slower metabolism than other species even when the temperature is kept as a constant, but that's pretty well known, so I'm slightly confused as well. Both temperature and species, as well as food availability and quality will impact sling growth rates pretty heavily as far as I can tell.

Same here that is well known - that’s why I’m lost by the persons 2 word reply that meant nothing to me