Profile of the week- Week #10

[OttawaChris]

Wow... 10 weeks of this and people aren't even sick of it yet! It's very nice getting the occasional PM asking for advice or giving me a pat on the back for all this.

Well... enough babble its time to get to the meat!

Species: Hysterocrates gigas

Common Name: Cameroon Red Baboon

Hails from: Cameroon, Africa! (duh LOL)

General Description:
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite spiders. The way mine behaves really gives off an air of intelligence! Its hard to explain but you can just get the feeling. I often see her working on the entrance to her enclusure with her fangs as if trying to pry it open! (did I mention this species is a renowned escape artist?) She also seems to know when its feeding time because she is much more relaxed than when I open her cage for anything else.

This species is normally on the reclusive side, prefering to hang out in their burrow and keep out of your way. They will explode into a furious monster that is all legs and fangs if you provoke them though (my avatar photo is an H. Gigas threatening) This species will not hesitate to bite! I know a few people that have been hit by this one. Mine has lunged at me several times at the side of the cage when I look in on her. She is VERY quick and can burst into a lunge faster than you can blink.

From my experience, this spider also seems to have keen eyesight. Any time I go near her cage she always turns to stare me down and you can really see her eyes well. Rarely does any meal that I throw in her cage even touch the ground... she is better than most dogs at catching things mid-air!

Another interesting thing about this spider is how much they change in colour during their molt cycle. When they are freshly molted they come out velvety black, as they go through their molt cycle they get more and more rusty red colour and almost orange when they are about to molt. They are also a relatively large species, with adult females having reached 8 inches.

Here is probably the coolest fact about these spiders... they actually go fishing!! This species has been known to pluck fish right out of the water.

I would label this species as between an intermediate and advanced keeper's species.

Temperature and Humidity:
I keep mine at around 80F and I try to keep around 75% humidity.

Housing:
This is a burrowing species so you will need to provide deep substrate for it to dig. Pre-made burrows are also readily accepted by this species (they web and dig and make a few of their own touches) A shallow water dish should be kept full at all times. For substrate I use a soil/peat/vermiculite blend. With this species it is important to use a very secure enclosure because they are very good at prying things open and escaping (They rival snakes for their escape ability)

Feeding:
I feed mine large crickets once a week with the occasional pinky mouse (my personal rule with large spiders is always a pinky mouse after a molt) I also toss in the occasional goldfish for variety.

Personal Notes:
- The longer I have had mine, the less time she tends to hang out inside her burrow. She seems to have it figured out that I mean her no harm but she is still quite skittish when I am working inside her cage. Most of my spiders run for their burrows when spooked but she always tries to run out of the enclosure. Keep your wits about you when dealing with these spiders because they are very very unpredictable.

[marisa]

Hey I think you are doing a really good service for everyone who owns or is interested in tarantulas! Thanks for doing it for sure!!!!!

Marisa

[drewlowe]

Yes i enjoy reading your profiles of the week very much. But i find my self wanting more tarantulas. LOL thanks and keep it up.

[OttawaChris]

Thats half the point of it... I love tarantulas and want to see the hobby grow!

even being familar with many of the ones so far (and only a tiny bit disappointed my request bombed) I read every one. Your doing it right giving info on species most folks might keep. Only us strange ones want some of them. Chilobrachys, Chilocosmia, Ornithoctonus, Poecilotheria, and Pterinochilus(though you did give us the usambara) and if you do more scorpions the Androctonus, Buthacus, Centruroides, Hottentotta, Leiurus, Mesobuthus, Parabuthus, and a few others have limited appeal to many folks. I just like em fast and nasty, who'd of thought that lol. Keep up the good work Chris (and the species listed here are not a hint, you believe that right lol).

[OttawaChris]

I have been trying to keep these profiles limited to spiders I have actually worked with so I can give personal experiences. I too often see people blindly repeating babble and rumours on species that they have no idea about... what I am trying to do is give hard facts and experiences so that people can see what its REALLY like "in the trenches" if you will. I also invite people to share their war stories on any of the species being profiled so that we can have a really good personal database for people to look through. I want to go beyond conventional care-sheets and have a really detailed spot for them all to look through and honestly be able to tell A) is this a spider I can deal with and B) am I going to be properly caring for this species. This is another reason I have been keeping to species that people have access to or might have in their collection.

The unfortunate part, is that I have not worked with a lot of scorpion species. Androctonus and Parabuthus are the only 2 out of your list that I have had any dealings with (an Androctonus Australis came within a centimeter of stinging me so I have lots to say about them LOL) I do have a good buddy who is a huge scorpion enthusiast with lots of experience with them, so I will be trying to get him to profile some scorpion species for us here. I am sure he would be happy to do so, but I do not want to speak on his behalf.

Being in Canada, peopele have trouble getting access to some of the more rare species of tarantula/scorpion. If you find anything different than a rose hair or a pink toe then you are very lucky as a normal collector. I was a dealer for some time so I did get to play with a lot of different species (most that you would never ever find in a pet shop up here) I have shrunk down my collection for many reasons, but at one time I had about 75 different species in my apartment... got a little cramped at times

Eventually I will run out of "common" species to profile and I will get into some of the more exotic ones for all to look at and say wow. I am already set to write 75 weeks worth of species, and by the time I hit week 75 I am sure I will have more to write about Lets just hope I live that long lol

Glade Herps exports lol, Chris if you haven't seen their selection it is worth the look. Ya just need some buddies to split costs with. Bad Rev, bad, bad Rev

[OttawaChris]

LOL no offence to Glades but they are probably the most expensive place to buy from next to John Hoke...

Europe is the cheapest place to buy from and they have a lot of cool stuff (I have big plans for the near future) The american spider market has gotten way out of hand for prices over the past few years. I can literally get stuff for 1/4 the price in Europe... the only catch is that I have to order in large quantities but I have others that can order with me so its no big deal.

The US is great in many ways with availability and selection, but importing into it is a major pain between the feds and state governments. Lots of places are cheaper but McInnis goes to the Texas hot shows so I seldom notice price, shipping is what seems to eat up most orders. For example, I'm getting my feeder order next week, $240USD for 5 months of feeders with a nice $60 shipping fee, 25%! Can't drive to pick things up, New Mexico is miles from everywhere it seems lol.

[Darlene]

I do not believe we here will tire of your profiles. I've never kept an invert but am interested in the emperor scorp, flat rock scorp & Chilean rose hair T to start with ( I say start as I know how addictive any pet can be ! ). I love every profile & anxiously await the next. Whether it is a common species that I may someday keep or an exotic one that I read about & then find a pic & say 'wow, cool'. I; for one; sure hope you do live more then your '75 profiles' long !!! lol; keep 'em comin' !!!

[drewlowe]

I have an idea chris every profile you do you can send me that species of T. LOL J/K. But you do have me wanting tons more. If only i had more space.

When i move out all the neighbors are going to hate me. LOL

[OttawaChris]

Yes I am afraid of the day I move too LOL they will see dozens of cages with critters in them and go "my gawd!!! What have we been living beside all these years??!!"

[arachnomania]

Just wanted to add that this species may be kept in groups as long as they have been introduced as s'lings. I have 14 in my tanks and they are all apx 1 1/2". You can see at least 3 in this picture.

[CornSnakeMan]

Can u please do CINNAMON next time.

[OttawaChris]

You mean Belize Cinnamon? (Crassicrus Lamanai)