Runaway Mystery Tarantula in my House - No Idea! (pic)

Sharno

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So, I mostly have slings and juvies. I probably have less than 20 adults or sub-adults all in cages on a couple of bookcases.

I walked into my office where I co-hab with my collection this morning and saw a tarantula sitting on the floor. Scooped it into a large deli cup with ease and thought it must be one of my few a. chalcodes (I have 5) as it looked around the right size and color.

After checking my cages, I saw they were all accounted for. As well as EVERY cage on my shelf. I have no idea where this guy came from.

I have not had a "runaway sling" in maybe a year - and never anything in the Aphonopelma genus. I'm at a loss!

Can anyone tell by the picture what it might be? I have to figure out if it is a sling that somehow lived (I highly doubt that!).

Sadly, the tarantula is not doing well and I do not think it will make it.

Picture attached. Size is approx 3inch DLS
mysteryt.jpg
 

Marijan2

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This is probably MM, can you look for emboli if its present?
 

EulersK

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This is probably MM, can you look for emboli if its present?
You can actually see it - right side, just under the first joint of the first right leg. A better picture would help, but I'd bet three donuts that it's a MM.
 

Chris LXXIX

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It's a poor MM Theraphosidae that, transcending space & time, with his last stamina reached you for announce the new U.S President :-(
 

Marijan2

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You can actually see it - right side, just under the first joint of the first right leg. A better picture would help, but I'd bet three donuts that it's a MM.
We still need confirmation by OP but yes, 99% sure that's MM. In that case someone have freed/runaway pet T and it somehow got to @Sharno 's office. That's definitely not Aphonopelma. Or Ephebopus in that regard
 
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dopamine

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Looks like some kind of baboon species. Really odd that you'd find one in California lol.
 

Sharno

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I thought MM too for sure, but there are no tibal hooks, and I don't think emboli - but I am taking a better picture and will post it shortly. If he has any signs of MM they are way more subtle than anything I have seen before.

Also, when using a small flashlight to look closer while having him flipped over, I noticed there's almost a blue tint to the legs on the underside.

I only have one Ephebopus uatuman and I verified it's cozy in its burrow.
 

Sharno

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Looks like some kind of baboon species. Really odd that you'd find one in California lol.
I have had some baboon species in the past, but it would have been a baboon sling that escaped YEARS ago and somehow lived until now? Also, when I interacted with it to get it into a deli cup, using tweezers and a couple of cups, it was not at all defensive or fast. Of course it's injured / on death's door (sadly) but it just had the body language of a new world (I know that sounds silly, and maybe it IS a baboon that is just super old and slow).
 

dopamine

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yeah like you said, it's just on it's way out.
On the baboon sling escaping years ago, i really don't see it being any other scenario lol. Somehow it managed to find food and water. Otherwise it'd be an odd coincidence.
 

Sharno

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Could not upload another image so it is here - http://imgur.com/a/PhpGI
Closer look at the pedipalps.
Don't see any hooks either. Honestly I am stumped. This is not the kind of area where tarantulas wander into houses, and I cannot imagine a sling living long enough to grow this big and me never see it around.
 

Marijan2

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Could not upload another image so it is here - http://imgur.com/a/PhpGI
Closer look at the pedipalps.
Don't see any hooks either. Honestly I am stumped. This is not the kind of area where tarantulas wander into houses, and I cannot imagine a sling living long enough to grow this big and me never see it around.
Uh... you're right, that's not MM. In that case try to keep it alive/fed and wait for moult for fresh colors to emerge
 

EulersK

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I owe you three donuts.

Side note: tibial hooks are a terrible MM test. Many, many genera do not display tibial hooks. The only surefire way is looking for those bulbous pedipalps.
 

sdsnybny

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With those yellow colored leg bands it looks like E. uatuman or E. rufescens. Although its rough looking and faded it appears to have the striping on the patella as well
 

Sharno

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Uh... you're right, that's not MM. In that case try to keep it alive/fed and wait for moult for fresh colors to emerge
I don't think I can keep it alive. It has some small tears in a few places on the underside, I think it was up high perhaps the ceiling and took a fall. It's barely hanging on :(
 

Sharno

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With those yellow colored leg bands it looks like E. uatuman or E. rufescens. Although its rough looking and faded it appears to have the striping on the patella as well
I have never had the E. rufenscens. I have had maybe 2-3 E. uatuman slings but not for so long...I mean that guy would have lived like 1+ years in my office, with three dogs, a cold winter (it gets pretty chilly in here), with other spiders in webs in the nooks and crannies....I am so baffled! And I never recall "losing" one of those slings, they were kept until trade.
 

Andrea82

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Really sad it is in such a bad shape.:(

Just a random thought;could it have been a freebie you missed while unpacking other spiders?
It is truly baffling that a tarantula can survive on its own in the conditions you mentioned!
 
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