Got a B. albopilosum!

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

I bought an adult female Curly Hair from the Spider Shop. After being dissapointed that my 'female' B. smithi turned out to be a male, I decided go on a quest to find him a mate. I couldn't find a guaranteed female B. smithi anywhere, but I did stumble across adult B. albopilosum. Belonging to the same genus, I thought this would be an interesting alternative to buying another B. smithi. Boy, was I right. This captive bred Curly Hair is probably my favourite, and it didn't cost the Earth like B. smithi did. She is settling into her new home, digging and wandering around. Any ideas on a name? Anyone like to see any pics?

[Adam Smith]

ive never heard of someone making the mistake of sending a mature male instead of a mature female. Must be one off, most odd scenario. I used to have a Curly hair and was a great t to my collection but since he was passed on to others to breed as i didnt have a female at the time

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

ive never heard of someone making the mistake of sending a mature male instead of a mature female. Must be one off, most odd scenario. I used to have a Curly hair and was a great t to my collection but since he was passed on to others to breed as i didnt have a female at the time

The B. smithi was a juvenile when I bought him. He's not yet mature, but it's been pretty much well established, as evidence from the exuvium and epigastric furrow hint, that the individual is almost certainly a male. I raised the suspicion that the spider was a male and not a female when looking at the exuvium of his molt last month, and taking various detailed pictures on a digital camera, and we all pretty much agreed (including the people on Arachnoboards) that it is a boy.

And yep, Curly Hairs are awesome. Shame you had to pass yours off, though, but I suppose it was for the best. If you go to The Spider Shop website, they still should have some adults for sale, if you're interested in getting one again. They are apparently female.

[Adam Smith]

I was happy to send it off for breeding, was n sense in letting it die and not have contributed to the population of captive bred. Coincidentally it was the spidershop that i sent the male to. It was a few monthes back so hopefully will get some slings out of it

[Andrew climance]

Ok...

albopilosa or albopilosum... which is it?

Please?

(mutters) I don't know, you're out of the hobby for a decade or so and they change all the bleedin' names; what happended to the 'le' in blondi... (sassafrassa...)

[Adam Smith]

Well i still say albopilosum myself even though when i bought it it was named albopilosa. It gets confusing with the name changes, one of my books has the bird eater named as leblondi but then found another book that said that was no longer the name. It is the same with the chile rose haired. How many times has that changed. Few years they were known as Phrixotrichus Cala but was consistently mixed up with P spatualta then both names changed to Grammostola cala or spatulata then simpy to cala but over the space of a couple of years it has been changed to G rosea.

[Chris R. Jones (Sirunus)]

Heh, the spider's taxomic name was labeled "B. albopilosa" on the Spider Shop's site, but on the tub the spider was shipped in, it was labeled "B. albopilosum". I just call them "B. albopilosum" because that's what the "Tarantula Keeper's Guide" and "Tarantulas and Other Arachnids" call them. Both books say they are both great pets, especially for the novice, and they're not too expensive either. I hope mine lives a long time, this one is a little character. By the way, I gave her a name: Evelina.

[Andrew climance]

Heh, the spider's taxomic name was labeled "B. albopilosa" on the Spider Shop's site, but on the tub the spider was shipped in, it was labeled "B. albopilosum". I just call them "B. albopilosum" because that's what the "Tarantula Keeper's Guide" and "Tarantulas and Other Arachnids" call them. Both books say they are both great pets, especially for the novice, and they're not too expensive either. I hope mine lives a long time, this one is a little character. By the way, I gave her a name: Evelina.

I think I'll stick with albopilosa for curley hairs and and G. cala for the Chile rose (even if I'm wrong!!), they're what I remember... Adam, I seem to remember that G spatulata was the name of a regional variant ('the Chile beauty' or some such) and that they were always recognised as two separate species; now you say they are bothed named G rosea, is that right? Also, why did they drop the 'le' in leblondi, anyone?

I've missed a lot!

[Adam Smith]

Taxonomy is very confusing but I stick with the most resent myself. although with advances to the internet compared to 10 years ago there is easy access to right info in no time at all and within 10 years there will have been a huge increase in people who keeps Ts than when ou kept them back then.Stick with what you know with regards to ts and only really needs to be pedantic and thorough when it comes to breeding and passing on sp to others so not to cross breed or get mixed up

[Adam Smith]

The G cala as mentioned is now as im aware (could be wrong) that there is G rosea for the chile rose and is now a G rosea chile rose (RCF) red colour form which may have been the g spatualt which are in fact from same genus but colour varient.