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.