This months new arrivals.

[Rich.Harrington]

Well finally hit double figure, although a jump from 9 to 18 might have been overstepping things. Just collected my order from virginia, 12 P.murinus TCF although I gave three to the shop for taking delivery for me.

However I now have a problem, the age old housing issue. As I only intend to keep three of these for myself once they can be sexed, I'm not wanting to put them into semi pemanent enclosures just yet. But when I saw the price I made the mistake of presuming they would be 1-2cm slings. After opening one tub I now see that they are all in the region of 4-5cm.

This rules out my usual method of just nudgin sling with a finger. I work outdoors all day and have fairly thick skin so never worry too much about getting bitten by anything 1-2cm, these though will certainly be able to break the skin. The tempory small tubs I have now also rule out just putting on in another and leaving the llid off as they have been sent in styrofoam coffee cups.

I have considered just leaving them in the cup with the cotton wool and then only shifting things once they are larger, so just wondering if they will be suitable or not? and if anyone has any top tips for shifting this species with minimal stress?

[Kate Arbon]

I used to have a big OBT and found rehoming very straightforward as long as stress was kept to an absolute minimum. If you prepare everything well so that you can just do it quickly they are not too bad and I find they can just be herded like any other spider, just don't get them worked up, lol. Also make sure you do it in a safe area where if they do a runner they can't get away, as these things are the fastest terrestrial I've ever seen.

I love this species, they have such attitude even as slings. I have a 2cm TCF sling at the moment who lives in a tube web he's built in the soil. Whenever I pick his vial up or make any vibration he runs back and forth between both entrances to his tube, looking for food. He eats like it's going out of fashion