Pterinochilus Murinus

[Den]

Hey People. I'm getting my first old world spider soon. Obviously it's an OBT, hence the title. I know a lot about them from watching videos and reading care sheets and such, but I want people on this forum who have serious experience with the species and give me some pointers. Thanks!

 

[phily1579]

How long have u been in the hobby? I have 22 ts. N let me tell u, out of all of them, i have a 5" obt. She is big, fast n has an attitude u wouldnt believe. My first pointer to u is leave it alone! Neva try to touch it or mess with it. Make sure its got a retreat n a water dish in there. That species requires the up most Respect! Enjoy it. I just seen mine 2 days ago. For the first time in months. She faced me as though she looked right at me. It was cool as hell! I call her the orange monster! Her name is betty! Shes so bad A$$. I love her!! Any more questions ask away! Ohh n feed her or him once a week. If they dnt take the cricket in24 hours. Take the cricket out!!!:}

 

[Den]

Thanks man. I been in the hobby for about a year, but I learned SO much.

 

[T o m]

How long have u been in the hobby? I have 22 ts. N let me tell u, out of all of them, i have a 5" obt. She is big, fast n has an attitude u wouldnt believe. My first pointer to u is leave it alone! Neva try to touch it or mess with it. Make sure its got a retreat n a water dish in there. That species requires the up most Respect! Enjoy it. I just seen mine 2 days ago. For the first time in months. She faced me as though she looked right at me. It was cool as hell! I call her the orange monster! Her name is betty! Shes so bad A$$. I love her!! Any more questions ask away! Ohh n feed her or him once a week. If they dnt take the cricket in24 hours. Take the cricket out!!!:}

That pretty much sums it up, DO NOT MESS WITH IT! Give them plenty of substrate and something to climb and web on...Ive had 2 specimens from slings one burrowed the day I got it, the other one is happy to just retreat to a plant pot in her enclosure which she has webbed up nicely between the pot and a piece of cork bark thats in there. Both are pretty well behaved and allow me to carry out maintenance without any trouble but if you get too close especially when it comes to rehousing them dont be surprised if it gives you a threat posture! Mine like to lap there tanks then attempt to shoot out the top. I am a noob T collector but this is the one i find gets your heart racing the most! A must have in any collection IMO

 

[Rob1985]

they hate the world... nuff said

 

[blooms]

I bought a 6 inch female about 3 months ago. The guys at the shop were very afraid of handling her stating that she had "tasted blood" before. The packed her up for me and since I've gotten her home she's been very well behaved. On the other hand, I do accord her the utmost respect and rarely bother her. I tried to make her enclosure more "africa like" so i used pvc and then a mix of coco coir and clay to mold a semi ant hill with three entrances. I also put a snake plant in there for her. I see her out and about about twice a week. She also loves hiding in the center of the snake plant, go figure. I keep it very dry, but she does have a water dish.

 

[phily1579]

Welcome to the hobby dude! Ive been in the hobby for 9 years now. Myfeatherleg just molted n greew about 1 1/2. Shes getin big! Shes about 4 inches now. God i love this Hobby!!

---------- Post added at 08:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 PM ----------

Becare with this species. I just read a bunch of storys on here, that they got bite n it caused severe muscle cramps, and swelling redness. so just be very careful. Dnt get bite

 

[KoriTamashii]

It's been said before, but it's worth noting again - leave it alone! No reason to tempt fate by bothering the Orange Bitey Thing!

They are gorgeous specimens, but they pack a huge attitude!

 

[bobusboy]

How long have u been in the hobby? I have 22 ts. N let me tell u, out of all of them, i have a 5" obt. She is big, fast n has an attitude u wouldnt believe. My first pointer to u is leave it alone! Neva try to touch it or mess with it. Make sure its got a retreat n a water dish in there. That species requires the up most Respect! Enjoy it. I just seen mine 2 days ago. For the first time in months. She faced me as though she looked right at me. It was cool as hell! I call her the orange monster! Her name is betty! Shes so bad A$$. I love her!! Any more questions ask away! Ohh n feed her or him once a week. If they dnt take the cricket in24 hours. Take the cricket out!!!:}

Would it kill you to type out the words and, you, and don't? Additionally proper punctuation would go a long way too.

 

[Spidershane1]

Number one tip is to wear a diaper before handling.

I tell you this from personal experience....

 

[Bill S]

OK. Time for someone to offer something nice about OBTs. The spider that got me into keeping tarantulas was an OBT. I currently have several OBTs, including one that I hope will soon produce a bunch of little OBTs. They're among my favorites, largely because they are both pretty and very easy to keep. On occasion I see one go into a threat display, but not very often. They usually just dive for cover and hide. I do not tend to handle any of my tarantulas beyond what's necessary to sometimes transfer them to new cages or set them up for breeding or something like that. One of the rare exceptions was when ants invaded my tarantula room and got into several of the cages. I had to pull animals out of cages fast and use a small brush to knock the ants off them. Several of the spiders affected were OBTs, and they behaved surprisingly well. They were obviously not happy about the situation, but tolerated the handling.

Overall, I'd say OBTs are easy to keep and not near as scary as some people make them out to be. Yes, if you do something dumb with them they're likely to teach you a lesson. And they can be fast moving, which means you need to be alert and paying attention to what you are doing. But I could say the same for a lot of other tarantulas.

 

[kush]

p.murinus is the best! Semi arboreal,fast,hardy,tough and there color is crazy. To name a few reasons why there great,i just dont understand why there so cheap on the T market.even if there easy to mate and are always in stock.these t's are perfect.i know this is not advise or anything,but anybody in this hobby that does not have one in there collection is really missing out. So please adopt an obt today!

 

[SonnyAZ]

Awesome T, enjoy it. Haven't seen mine for months. She created a web/substrate cocoon in the corner of her tank and is very reclusive.

 

[Suidakkra]

Awesome T, enjoy it. Haven't seen mine for months. She created a web/substrate cocoon in the corner of her tank and is very reclusive.

That's exactly the same behaviour of my P.murinus (OBT). She would skitter about in the open when I first received her, but after she got acclimated I only see her when I accidentally startle her (slight cage bump by moving it,etc.) or at feeding time.

There are times where I believe I could of held her, but I rather just keep her as a "look but not touch" tarantula, not because of defensiveness, but of the reasons of her extremely fast darting.

 

[Poxicator]

I've kept and bred hundred of OBTs, packaged loads off and yet rarely seen much to call aggressive. The trick is respect, firm but gentle approach and to have a back-up plan. There have been occassions where Ive had strikes but these have usually been on tubbing up MM or after unnecessary disturbance.

Marshall describes these as they seem to "thrive on neglect". Occassional water in a dry enclosure, provide a retreat, 2 crickets a week is e asily enough.

My personal preference whilst they are slings is 1cm of substrate in a cricket tub, communally kept. Chuck in some crickets or small morio worms, a squirt of water and observe. To rehouse them you merely need to use tweezers to pick up the webbed substrate, they'll cling to it like a kid with a beachball. Put that, or even the whole tub in the new enclosure and you'll likely not have incident.
For juveniles/adults I prefer a well furnished enclosure of branches to provide elevated webbing anchors. A similar set-up to GBB.
I havent found a need to provide a tub that sits happily between the cricket tub and Exo/faunarium, they'll surive well as they are hearty eaters.
Breeding is fairly easy and the pair will cohabitate for long periods. They often double clutch so make sure you remove the slings/sac before feeding up the female for the 2nd.
They are lightning fast, they'll repeatedly strike, they can jump, float from a height and are very adaptable to a variety of enclosures.
The 2 things worth considering - don't poke for a reaction like we see in YT, and provide a good secure hide - they'll defend this rather than run.