Is this the one that dines on expensive Tarantulas?

Very Nice T!

Grats on the successful molt!

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Added on July 29, 2009, 10:15 pmThat T is only 5 inches?!! From the thickness of that skin, it looks bigger than that!
ETA: BTW grats on the female. I might have a similar situation. Thought I had a male, ventrally sexed it as a male when it was 2.5-3 inches. Dorsally it looked like a male at 4-5 inches. But when it molted recently, its dorsal colors changed and looks like a female. Tried to verify it by examining the exuvia but it was all torn up in that area.
Have to wait for the next molt now.

This post has been edited by Oldfart: Jul 30 2009, 12:00 AM

Grats! Wish my luck was as good as yours!

More venom- a couple of freshly molted Haplopelmas

I don't!. If it does not like it, it knows how to remove it. If it attracts too many mites, I'll rehouse it.

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Added on July 30, 2009, 10:54 pmNot really, but might be closely related. I'm guessing Haplopelma sp. "vietnam"/vonwirthi. Read that it might be a LCF of the minax.

This post has been edited by Oldfart: Jul 30 2009, 10:54 PM

Nice pics! Another perfect skin! Good looking guy.
grats on the molt!

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Added on July 30, 2009, 11:05 pmYou can most certainly try!
A friend of mine got tagged by his lividum. Tried to remove an old exuvia with tweezers and it charged out of its burrow, ran up the tweezers and nailed him in the hand before he knew what was happening.

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Added on July 30, 2009, 11:12 pmThanks.
The H. sp "vietnam"/ H. vonwirthi do get lighter and browner before a molt. Prefer the fresh look better!
Did not see any significant striping develop on my minax when in pre-molt. But it has only molted once and it hardly comes out of its burrow to show me the butt.

ETA: I'm gonna try to take a video of my minax feeding response using my digital camera. Not going to be very good quality but I hope it's good enough to show the action- just fed it tonight so I will try in a few days but this girl is vicious!

This post has been edited by Oldfart: Jul 31 2009, 12:45 PM

Nice pics!
How long has that Brachy had the tumor?

Where's the pic?

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Added on August 2, 2009, 3:56 amHere's a shitty video to get things going- tried to catch my girl in action last night but she was too quick for me. Only barely had time to grab the camera and catch her retreat. Will try to catch her again doing the "lunge" tonite.



ETA: Pet holes aren't that bad.


This post has been edited by Oldfart: Aug 2 2009, 12:41 PM

Congrats on the successful molt! Handsome boy you have there!

No new T's....yet.
Been waiting for over a month for some chinese T's but they haven't come yet.

Well I've been busy making enclosures. I ordered 2 sub-adult Haplopelma hainanum and 4 Haplopelma schmidti slings in mid June. Been a few delays but the vendor should be getting them in any day now.


And I've been trying to get rid of the black widows in my T- room- they are everywhere! I don't mind them when they are killing off the phorid flies but when they start breeding like rabbits and invading my T enclosures and roach colonies- that's where I draw the line. No more Mr. Nice guy!

Babies and males aren't dangerous. They have very short fangs that can barely pierce our skin. Females have short fangs too about 2mm according to the articles I've read. I've walked into their webs before not knowing what they were at the time. I have fans circulating the air in my T- room and the babies use the air currents to disperse- so occasionally there would be long strands of web across the T-room. One day I happened to look at a strand blocking my path and found like 8 babies crawling along the line of web.

more venom..

B. boehmei sling eating a cricket


Aphonopelma sp. "Flagstaff" sling/juvie eating a cricket


Haplopelma albostriatum young female waiting for a cricket

That Holothele sp is nice!



ETA: This is another pretty one. Been waiting for one of these to become available.
E. olivacea

This post has been edited by Oldfart: Aug 6 2009, 02:18 PM

While poaching for the pet and tourist trade may have an impact, I think the problem is a lot bigger than that.
Refusing to buy WC only guarantees that the WC T's will be exported to overseas markets or end up pinned to some cardboard and sold to tourists.
The decline in population is probably a cocktail of pressures from poaching, destruction of habitat and factors affecting their food supply(did the Governement's mosquito eradication program also affect the food supply or the T's themselves? who knows?).
Sadly the decline is going to continue without any Government intervention. And the chances for Government intervention in ALL the required areas are slim since so few actually care about the preservation of bugs.
Thus, the most "likely to succeed" option to preserve the local species is captive breeding (of which hobbyists are the obvious choice). You will need to get some WC specimens- either go out there and collect them yourselves, or pay someone to do it for you. But from time to time, you will need to introduce fresh genes into the breeding program. So for the time being, the taking of WC specimens is unavoidable. So start the breeding program now while there are still WC specimens to supplement the gene pool!

Well if the poachers can do it, I don't see why MTS (with the blessing of the proper authorities of course) can't go out there and grab some specimens for a conservation project! Might be fun to organize a field trip to the general vicinity of where the T's are found and go hunting for some T's! Even if you guys come up empty, at least you got a good camping trip out of it!

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Added on August 7, 2009, 10:31 amWell my LP molted!


This post has been edited by Oldfart: Aug 7 2009, 12:40 PM

No worries mate. Their behavior does not differ much, if they are used to waiting and ambushing prey in captivity, they will do the same in the wild. Only difference is in the wild, prey is not so readily available which is why most WC T's you see have small butts. Of course some will be lost to predators- that is unavoidable. The whole purpose of the breeding program is to make sure most of the slings make it to juvenile/sub-adults where they can better fend for themselves. Parasites are also another factor they will have to contend with- again, this is unavoidable. Anyway, to release it or not is still a long way off. There's research to do, permissions/permits to obtain, trips to plan and specimens to collect. If we are successful in breeding a few pairs then we can discuss whether to release all or some etc and where.

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Added on August 7, 2009, 11:22 pmBorrow your mom's, GF's or sister's tweezers or use chopsticks if it will fit.

ETA: ok you sound like you are quite new to this. If it is a H. lividum you are dealing with, just grab a corner of the tissue and pull. Or use a thin screwdriver and drag the edge of the tissue out of the container. I'm assuming the T is completely wrapped in the tissue.

A 2-3 inch specimen is big enough to have a temper. Or it might be so stressed that it will just sit there and do nothing. Just be prepared for anything and try not to get bit.

This post has been edited by Oldfart: Aug 7 2009, 11:29 PM

Very cool looking bug! Thanks for sharing.

I got dubias! Wanna come organize my T room?!!

Very Nice!

Grats on the molts! Nice bunch of T's!

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Added on August 9, 2009, 3:46 amOne of my 0.75 inch slings-


This post has been edited by Oldfart: Aug 9 2009, 03:46 AM