Howdy, spiderfolk

grumbledog · Howdy, spiderfolk

Hey, kids. I'm a new tarantula papa, having yesterday picked up an Avicularia urticans at the East Bay Vivarium. While I was deciding on who to adopt I met a super nice BATS member who gave me much helpful advice. I wish I'd gotten his name, but I was looking at habitats and he was gone when I came back.

Anyway, he told me I should drop by and say hullo, so here I am. It's great to meet you all.

northswan04

Hey! And congradulations on your new pet. We have a lot of fun around here, hope to see you at the next meeting in Jan. too!

Marlene

UglyKid2

Welcome to our humble abode! I used to have an urticans, that's a cool spider you got there. Come to the meetings and meet the fanatics in person...

BayLee

Welcome to our grouip.

Avicularia urticans eh. Did not know that anyone is selling these ow. Very rare species.
Would love to see a picture of it. Better so, drop it off at my house I will take good care of it.

grumbledog

A spider sitter, eh? That might come in handy.

I think I was incorrect in my classification, and that this spider is Avicularia avicularia, not A. urticans. I was so excited about the whole thing that all I remember the good folks at the EB Vivarium saying was "pink toe." It wasn't on display, but came from the back room and was apparently the last they had. When I got home, calmed down and thought to look up its real name on their listings I saw urticans first and didn't notice avicularia.

So the poor dear may be misidentified. I'll call them tomorrow and see if I can get a positive ID. I'll try to get pics when he/she has acclimated. It is also as yet unsexed. Until I know for certain I am calling it Horrible Spider, which it seems to like.

BayLee

Send that horrible spider my way immediately.
Oh no I wont Spider sit, that one is going to stay for good.

Ya, if you really have an A. urticans you are one lucky person.
Make sure it is logged up good, I might drop by and take it from you.

grumbledog

Horrible Spider came out last night. The dogs woke me up around 2 to go out, and when I came downstairs HS was climbing around. I managed to get a pic.

Being a newbie, avicularia and urticans look the same to me from pics I've seen. But perhaps someone with a bigger brain knows for sure.

BayLee

This genus is a big mess. Lots of confusion and misidentified species.

Sparky

Oh he's lovely! Yeah he could be avic. avic...and he may not. :P I have an avic. avic. and an avic. versicolor.

Welcome! You are a good photographer. ;)

BayLee

What a horrible ugly looking spider. Ekkk.
Send that ugly thing my way immediately!!!
No need to keep it, you are only going to scare who ever comes to your place.
I do however agree you do have a great eye.
Here check out this link, maybe you can figure out what species it is, I am not going to touch that one with a nine-and-a-half foot pole.

http://www.the-t-store.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=8120

grumbledog

So I called the East Bay Vivarium yesterday and said, "I got a pink toe from you folks the other day and I was so excited that I forgot to ask what its exact species is. Could you tell me?"

To which the fellow replied, "What did we say it was?"

Sigh.

After I explained again that I never asked, and that the spider came from the back stock room and not from a labeled tank, I was put on hold. A few minutes later I was told that I have an A. avicularia.

So there we go.

At any rate, Horrible Spider seems happy. She (I'm calling her she in hopes that this turns out to be true) has made a lovely web and has eaten three crickets. Of course she built the web in the upper right front corner, which means I have to slide the screen all the way out to get in there. I fully anticipate an escape attempt.

I'm having a bit of trouble keeping the tank as humid as I think she would like. I can keep it around 65 - 70% by misting two or three times a day, but from what I've read she would prefer it around 80% Any advice on that? She's very active (even comes out during the day) and is eating, so perhaps it's not a problem.

Thanks for the photo comments. I'll get more of her and her web. She's quite photogenic.

Mike

northswan04

Can you post a picture of your set up? I got mine to stop building webs up in the corner by providing a large structure at the bottom for it to incorporate into it's web

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