Texas Tan

[Susan]

I did a search here for Texas Tan and found none. Has anyone here kept a Texas Tan? Rosie is my first T & I'm finding very little literature online specific to Texas Tans.

Rosie's rump has been getting progressively more bald over the last 5 to 6 months & she refuses to eat. I keep expecting to find her flipped over & molting, but she's taking her sweet time. Her abdomen is still nice & plump. She poops occasionaly, so I doubt she's starving.

Since her native habitat (she was found in central TX) is wet part of the year & bone dry part of the year, I'm a bit unsure if her house is humid enough.

Anywho, anyone with Texan Tan experience out there?

Regards,
Susan

 

[becca81]

You should probably do a search by the latin name, Aphonopelma anax. This will give more search results.

A bald abodmen is not indicative of an upcoming molt. However, if the skin on the abdomen is dark (which you will be able to see more easily if the abdomen is bald) it indicates a molt. From my understanding, this species is VERY slow growing.

Concerning the humidity, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Don't look too hard, there really isn't much useful information to be found. Here or on the rest of the internet.

What is it you need to know exactly?

-Lonnie

I did a search here for Texas Tan and found none. Has anyone here kept a Texas Tan? Rosie is my first T & I'm finding very little literature online specific to Texas Tans.

Rosie's rump has been getting progressively more bald over the last 5 to 6 months & she refuses to eat. I keep expecting to find her flipped over & molting, but she's taking her sweet time. Her abdomen is still nice & plump. She poops occasionaly, so I doubt she's starving.

Since her native habitat (she was found in central TX) is wet part of the year & bone dry part of the year, I'm a bit unsure if her house is humid enough.

Anywho, anyone with Texan Tan experience out there?

Regards,
Susan

 

[Cory Loomis]

I was given a wild caught male A. anax in early September, and enjoyed watching after him during his last three months. He was such an interesting specimen that I picked up a captive bred spiderling in my first purchase of spiderlings this year. They are underrated tarantulas. Care for your Texas Tan as you would any of the Brachypelmas or Aphonopelmas. Dry substrate with a full water dish is my preference for all of them. I usually provide a hide as well as enough substrate for some excavation.

 

[Susan]

Thanks!

Ok, I didn't know that they were slow growers. Good to know! Thanks!!

Here is a photo of her "archnid pattern baldness" LOL http://susanadams.smugmug.com/gallery/70524/4/4533958

Her habitat is exactly as Cory recommended, so no worries there.

There was nothing specific I needed to know right away. I was just wondering if there was some hidden wisdom about Tans around here that I hadn't been able to find elsewhwere.

 

[becca81]

Abdomen still looks very pink to me...

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Although I'm sure it's not really "hidden" wisdom, but if you were to put your A. anax in a tall enclosure and set it up like it were an Asian or African burrower, you will get to witness the simple, yet interesting burrows that they make in the wild. The one Aphonopelma sp. that came from west Plano, TX I have dug a deep, winding 'tube' with chamber in a tall narrow container. And the "neighbor" to A. anax, A. texense, did the same thing. In my experience, most Aphonopelma spp. from Texas no matter from the desert in west Texas, scrub in south Texas, or plains of north Texas exhibit the same behavior in captivity and require the same temperature & humidity regardless of what it was in their natural habitat. Because of this, if you read a care sheet of say, Aphonopelma texense or Aphonopelma moderatum, it would be the same for A. anax or A. clarki.

- Lonnie