Something interesting

[Kenshin]

a mate of mine has just got this anyone got any ideas on the actual species this spidy is its surprisingly non aggressive <well it will have a go but not nearly as aggressive as others i seen>

bought from a petshop in brissy

[Kenshin]

heres a pic of a local scorpion to

[nuthn2do]

I'd say a Selenocosmia or Phlogiellus, but I can't tell the difference.

And the scorp looks like mine - Liocheles waigiensis

[instar]

Wow, check out the pincers on that scorpian! Amazing!

[Nome]

Looks like a Phlogiellus sp., either a juvi or a smaller species of that genus. It's very hard to just tell from a photo. Pet shops never know what species they are selling, one of the many reasons I hate the whole wild collecting trade with tarantulas The scorp is a Liocheles waigiensis as nuthn2do said.

Just because she's (looks like a she) is not aggressive now doesn't mean anything. She should be put in a quiet tank for a week and be left alone. Most spiders that come from the pet shops are docile at first due to shock, as they were usually in the wild 2 weeks or so before. If your friend wants her to survive, she needs to be kept in a dark place and left alone for some time, with a burrow and peat moss in her tank. Don't feed for a week or until she has webbed up her enclosure. Just sitting there like that is not normal for them. They are defensive spiders.

It makes me sick the wild collecting from pet shops, but you can counteract buying one of these by letting her be a spider....left alone and not touched...they are a look and no touch animal. Keep her in a dark place, and make no attempt to handle ever, it is not good for them.

Let her be a spider....aggression is a healthy sign.

Here's a pic of one of my Phlogiellus girls:

[boa]

As a general rule the bigger the pincers the weaker the venom.

[BROWNS]

That's a big mother that one Nome!!! Apparently i have hundreds of bird eaters on my property just in one small area but unless you actually look and know where to look for one you rarely see them and definitely a look don't touch animal and are amazing creatures on their own to look at without the need to handle them...i prefer to leave them where they are.

[ssssnakeman]

shes beautiful nome,definitly not one of the hug em and squeeze em pets,,do you handle any of yours nome?

[insectovor]

It is hard with Bird Eating Spiders to identify the exact species. Even spider experts have trouble identifying the actual species. Bird eating spiders can be very specific in one area while 1 km away another sub species is present. Wild collecting is not a good way of getting these spiders and hopefully this will stop at some time soon. Captive breeding has started by numerous people so if you can buy one of these rather than wild caught specimens.

[diamond_python]

SPiders - oooh, now thats freaky

[Koula]

Hey Nome, Steve Nunn says that Phlogiellus no longer exists in Australia, and any spider that was previously deemed Phlogiellus has now been reclassed as Selenocosmia Sp # 2. True Phlogiellus Spp tarantulas are found in Papua New Guinea.

Also, many pet stores that sell "Phlogiellus" spiders are actually 99.9% of the time Coremiocnemis Sp # 3 from Northern Territory.



The above spider is "Kana", a Coremiocnemis Sp # 3 that was sold to a friend of mine as a "Phlogiellus Sp" - Kana is from a beautiful species of mid-sized tarantulas (average size of adults is 12-13cm), they have small electric blue setae under their femurs as shown here: http://www.evoker.net/~swiftrat/tara...cor_3_blue.jpg

[Kenshin]

whats involved in keeping various spiders and scorpions?? just out of interest

and whats the legal stance on them do they need licences and movement advices?

[Koula]

They are easy to keep. A plastic kritter keeper tank or glass tank with a heavy plastic lid is what many people keep them in. (I prefer the light-weight kritter keepers myself). A good depth of moist peat moss for them to burrow in, some fake plants or some rocks/branches for them to web up and keep them in a dark "low-traffic" area of the house. Keep em between 22-28 degrees and feed them on crickets, mealworms or woodroaches.

I live in QLD, so the below info is what I've found from the QLD EPA/NPWS mob:

For licences, you don't need a licence to keep spiders or scorpions but you DO need a Wildlife Harvesting licence if you plan on taking them from the wild and/or supplying them (wild-caughts) to pet stores. You will also be required to keep a Records Book that demands a quarterly hand-in. However, captive-BORN spiderlings from gravid wild-caught females do not require a licence.

As for captive-bred spiderlings from captive-bred mothers, you do not require a licence to keep or sell (privately or to pet shops).

And I second what Nome's mentioned about not supporting the wild-caught industy - if anyone here is interested in keeping arachnids, please locate a private breeder who has captive-bred/born spiderlings/scorplings for sale. Just ask Nome or myself and we'll be glad to help.

[Nome]

Hey Hayley,

Is that the new classification system that Raven has been working on? And is he now saying that all spiders that were originally classed as Phlogiellus sp. from NQ are now all Selenocosmia sp.# 2?
Did you end up getting any males to start your captive breeding yet?

I have only handled my spiders when I was de-miting them and that was because at the time it was absolutely necessary, otherwise I leave them alone.

[Koula]

Hey Nome, Yes - Steve Nunn and Raven are working together on it and thats what they've announced. I dont have any males, but my friend who lives locally has a male that he is breeding to his females first. One of his girls "Octo" is working on eggsac construction right now. Kyle (my friend) is going to breed the male to his other female (the VERY fiesty "Ark"). If Ark doesnt kill the male "Max", Kyle will be letting me borrow Max to do Lilith.

You'll see "Max" posted on my foum and My Tarantula.com's forums.