P. Murinus

[Robert Farmer]

Hi all, as some of you may know I'm new to the hobby and currently have 2 1cm slings, B. Boehmei and Acanthoscurria Chacoana, who are doing really well. Waiting for the Brachy to moult, it's been 4 wks now, 1 w/o food and she looks HUGE lol.

I order a B Albipolosum on Monday which was injured on arrival and when I requested another be sent out I received today a 3cm P Murinus I assume in error! Surprised I was indeed not taking into account the relative size compared to my other slings!

Either way I'm stuck with her now so she's happily at this minute in time webbing up (LOTS) her new abode, by now I'm well aware of their speed!

I know myself I'm not experienced enough for a T as aggressive and fast as this one so I'm asking for some advice on good keeping practices for this as one site referred to as "Flaming Ball of Death"...

I've done my research (I was intrigued by Pterinochilus some time ago, although never dreamed of owning one this quickly) but I figure some first hand advice from experienced keepers is always welcome.

Thanks in advance, I couldn't get over the fact that I had ordered originally a nice wee docile Curly and have been dumped with a menace to society haha!

PS. She's currently in a 4" sq Glass jar with about 2" of moist vermic.

EDIT: She's RCF if anyone wants to know!

[Colin D Wilson]

I think what you have there is an "all terrain anti personel attack spider"

I'll tell you what i know from experience (not all mine)

They are usually very aggressive, they eat like a horse and grow quite quickly into a medium sized spider with a huge attitude problem. (this is quoted from a friend)

my experience is that they are not a hands on or hands near species, beautiful looking and very bold. I passed mine on to my friend who, i think, was quite often too slow to move by the ammount of peroxide and plasters he went through.

Mine was mainly terrestial whilst my friends was always climbing and webbing in the top section of the tank, he said he read somewhere that they are more aggressive when living arboreally.

Thats what i know, i've had one......won't have another.

[Robert Farmer]

I should call him "Damien" lol, he'd get along well with George and Raul...

I'm looking forward to the challenge I guess, I'll probably treat this'un with more respect than my girlfriend (who by the way doesn't yet know I have this destroyer of souls in my possession, wait till she gets home from work lol)

I've heard it's good to keep the P Murinis in a semi arboreal setup, can anyone elaborate on this?

[Glen Feasey]

Isn't this spider's common name something like the Umbasa Golden Baboon or something like that?

I have never owned one myself but have heard they are bonkers! I have recently been offered a king Baboon juvenile but had to turn it down due to my experience level! Good luck with it, although beautiful, mind your fingers! lol

[Robert Farmer]

Isn't this spider's common name something like the Umbasa Golden Baboon or something like that?

I have never owned one myself but have heard they are bonkers! I have recently been offered a king Baboon juvenile but had to turn it down due to my experience level! Good luck with it, although beautiful, mind your fingers! lol

Usamburu Orange Baboon or Golden Starbust Spider are some of the common names I can remember, and yes it is indeed proving to be a bit of a character, it's only been in it's home for about 4 hours and already there's web absolutely everywhere...

[Glen Feasey]

Would love to see a pic, if you can get close enough that is!

[Robert Farmer]

I've only got a wee 3.2MP cam on my phone, I'll try tomorrow in the sunlight!

If you wanna see a pic of another sling from the shop I got it from go here:

http://www.thespidershop.co.uk/insect/product_info.php?products_id=43

or for full grown:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/the.tarantula.store/care-P.murins-RCF.htm

[Colin D Wilson]

I've heard it's good to keep the P Murinis in a semi arboreal setup, can anyone elaborate on this?

If it's any help i kept mine (for the limited time i had it) in a 12" x 15" x 24" glass aquarium, tipped on its side so the length was height. I got a piece of 1" thick hardwood (just under 15" wide and 8" deep and fitted it with a tight fit on the lower part of the aquarium. filled up with 6" of substrate and then added 18" cork bark on the back side with a branch diagonaly from floor to top corner. I used contact adhesive to stick two 16" runners each side and slid a "cut to size" piece of glass down to the top of the wood.

The only problem was, i was under the impression they were semi arboreal (ignorance on my part from not researching more fully) and would be able to feed etc when it was climbing around or resting on the cork....this one stayed on the substrate the whole time i had it....no burrow no climbing (that i knew of) some close calls were had.
of course as i said above my friend had closer!!

[Glen Feasey]

Wow a very beautiful T all the same! I hope you and your new buddy make friends soon! lol

Good luck mate!

[Erik Heidrich]

From what I understand from people who keep them, (I don't own one yet), they are extremely hardy, and likely to survive husbandry errors that would kill many other species. They are prolific webbers, and can be set up as arboreals or burrowers. I am told they tend to burrow more as slings and climb more as they get older. When I get one, I was planning on giving it a couple of inches of substrate and making a "cave" by crossing a few pieces of cork bark.

[BarryL]

pet holes, lol i have 2 small juv's aside form thier moults(which they evict ) i never see them, very fast even so small last time i saw them, think someone posted an escape one here a short while ago with a great pic.

[lee smith]

i have one of these and it is quite docile, its currently living in a 10ltr fish tank from wilko's and has about 1"-1.5" of coir/pearlite mix and resides in a toilet roll tube which i buryd for him. he is about 1"-1.5" leg span, and spends most of his time sitting inside the entrance of his tube, ive only had him make a threat pose once which was when i was transfering him from his old tub into his tank.

out of all the T's i have he is my favorite as he has such a spirited personality.

[sarah Smith]

You might have ended up in at the deep end but its nothing you cant deal with with a bit of care. first off they are defenatly a no handle species forceps or tweezers for any and all tank maintiance and a water squirter as well might be a good idea. Secondly they are hardy as nails and unless you dont feed it for months and months on end your be hard pushed to kill it. Tank set up these guys, specially the RCF tend to be opertunistic and will live in which ever way takes its fancy at the time so your going to need to offer it burrowing land and arborial options. I would sugest 3 to 4 inchs of substrate a cork bark or other hide placed in a corner so if it feels like climbing to build its got something to build from. Our adult female has done all three in the past though right now she seems to be content to sit in her hide and just come out for a stomp at night. Oh and your going to want to stock up and increase your food sluppy these have an enormous appitie in comparision to other species and seem to thrive well on what for some species would be to much food without getting over plump. I still have not managed to work out where they put it all, maybe they have a higher metabolic rate or something. Oh and by arborial I mean something along the lines of what you would offer to a GGB or other semi arborial rather than an avic or pokie type arborial as though they can and will climb they can strugle as they get older and bigger.

[Phil Rea]

Hesr's a picture I took of my juvenile P. murinus RCF yesterday

Just treat them with respect, and you'll be fine

[Robert Farmer]

Hesr's a picture I took of my juvenile P. murinus RCF yesterday

Just treat them with respect, and you'll be fine

Thanks for all the advice guys, I'm gonna rehome him on Mon when I get some coir to mix with my vermic.

How old is your murinus Phil? Very healthy looking specimen there!

Any tips on moving him when he's as small for re-housing?