White Lady Tarantula

[mike halewood]

I went into an aquarium shop I've vistied loads of times for fish and plants, only today to find that they do all sorts of reptiles, scorpians Tarantulas and snakes. They had a gorgeous B. Smithi in and long side that they what was labelled as a White Lady Tarantula. Now this was obvioulsy only a sling at about 1 - 1.5" leg span, was white in colour or clear, Im not sure. To me it (a beginner inthe hobby) it kind of looked like a normal spider rather than a T. The lady didnt know the latin name either, I've done a bit of googling and came up empty.

I know its difficult without pics but has anyone heard of a White Lady Tarantula?

[CJ_GRISDALE]

No i cant find anything either but the name on google was linked with:- redback and black widow so id certainly use caution if this is the case

[mike halewood]

Cheers CJ. thinking about the shape, redback and black widow seem to fit. i think i'll go back and see if I can get some pics.

[Warren Beattie]

I've heard of a white lady spider - not a tarantula, but a 'true' spider. A few things show up on google for that. More entries show up for Leucorchestris arenicola, although a lot of them don't have too much info either.
It's a sparassid/heteropodid (so a huntsman relative) from the Namib desert. Best kept very dry, I suppose. Nocturnal and burrowing; but that shouldn't put off too many tarantula keepers.

[Mark Pennell]

I've heard of a white lady spider - not a tarantula, but a 'true' spider. A few things show up on google for that. More entries show up for Leucorchestris arenicola, although a lot of them don't have too much info either.
It's a sparassid (huntsman relative) from the Namib desert, so best kept very dry, I suppose. Nocturnal, burrowing, and I see a couple of mentions of trapdoor activity; but that shouldn't put off too many tarantula keepers.

Warren
Is correct! if you search this forum you will find a post on this subject.

Cheers
Mark

[Warren Beattie]

Interesting to know it's available. I might keep an eye out.

CJ, was this the link to redbacks and black widows?

[mike halewood]

Thanks for all the replies. It is a White Lady SPIDER.
This is the little fella

http://www.gateway-africa.com/fuanaflora/Insects/spiderCarparachne.html

Mike

[Adam Smith]

Thats a very nice huntsman spider, I had a couple of sydney huntsman spiders but died for some odd reason.
Dont go by common names though many people in the hobby will become confused and there is so much muck out there with pet shops selling spider with nice names but no scientific names. Future newbie tarantula or even the intermediate hobbyist should be very wary of buying ts from pet shops that dont have scientific names or even know what they are selling. Okay, fair enough it is fairly easy to id a B smithi but there are number of brachys now that look so much like a b smith but in fact not the smithi. Everyone should get used to using the full names and not common even if they seem hard to say. It doesnt matter how you pronnounce it just as long as people get the jist of what you are talking about.

[Ray Hale]

Hi , Im not sure what they were selling it for but be aware that they dont live that long. My guess is that it is probably wild caught and adult already.
As Ive said before its a nice short term addition to your collection.

Angela ( working at a Zoo) gets loads of this type of spider handed in. They have usually found their way into luggage and given someone a hell of a shock. Most are gravid and produce eggsacs quickly. Trouble is the babies are like pinheads and almost impossible to bring on. The plus side is that when the adult dies they can be mounted for posterity as they dont really decompose.


Ray

[Ray Gabriel]

Interesting,

As that post says it lives "Sandy Desert (Namib Desert), live under the desert sand in a hole with a trap door. "

The white lady spiders from the Namib desert i know of are the long legged ones which cartwheel down the sand dunes to escape predators etc.

I still do not know but i think Namibia is also closed to export for its wild life.

If the spider did come from the desert the captive care would probably be something similar to very hot during the day, no heating at night and a spray once a week - fortnight, and very well ventilated (to prevent humidity build up).

Remember just because someone says it is this on thier price list (so people think they should know what they are talking about) does not really mean it is that, many species are sold in the tradde as what they were imported as and have never been near a taxonomist, a classic example of this is the Pterinochilus mammilatus which can be bought in Africa, P. mammilatus no longer exists, it is the orange form of P. murinus, many European dealers still sell P. mammillatus, why??

Still a nice spider

Ray

[Nicola Dolby]

dealers

I think the reason they still call them P. mammillatus is because it sounds 'exotic' and might get more sold. Myself I don't know why they bother because people will see the spiders and if they like what they see they'll buy, if not they won't.

[Rebecca Burrett]

i was offered one through a friend but was named violet wandering spider.
Unfortunatly i couldnt get it at the time, and ive now lost contact with them.