Theraphosidae "darien" birdeater. Advice needed please

[Paul Arnold]

Hi
I have one of these arriving on wednesday however I cant find any information on them whatsoever. Not even the place i bought it from knows! Can anyone advise on adult size,temperament,adult colouration and even humidity/temp requirements? Is it a true birdeater in the goliath sense or just a T that might reach a large enough size to eat a bird but probably wouldnt eat one anyway lol. The closest ive got is Sericopelma "darien". Is this the same T reclassified? There was a link to you tube but it turns out the guy was asking the same questions as me and had no reply. Im guessing that its terrestrial and comes from panama

[the ming cu]

it's recommended to display a picture of your T... otherwise it will be hard to identify. Even with picture, tarantulas are hard to identify... no picture, it will be less clue.

[Peter Roach]

Without knowing what it is, I would just keep it like any other NW tarantula . . . slightly damp.
Have you asked the person who you are getting it from about its care ?

[Ray Hale]

Hi Paul

unfortunatly names like this merely serve to muddy an already murky pool.

Theraphosidae is the Family name to which all the large tarantula spiders belong and Darien is an area of land in Panama. The best guy to ask would be Ray Gabriel as he spends a lot of time out there.

Hope this helps

Ray Hale

.

[Paul Arnold]

Hi Peter, Ray and Ming (lol I still havent got the hang of this quote thing,talking to several people at once!)
Yeah I asked about care,the response as follows to the questions I asked the supplier (I asked the same ones as I asked on the forum)
"Judging by how long ive had them id say they are slow growing so probably wont achieve a great size,having said that C.Crawshayi grows very slow but attains a huge size so its hard to say. As far as Im aware of they dont require any special care requirements and seem to be quite docile". Lol hand me a gun and ill put it to my head I got a tad confused as there is a Darien in the United States and I say this chuckling as my Juvie "Darien" has arrived today (nice) and looks like a non-descript brown Tarantula from the states. Ill post a picture regardless when its grown more just so people can look.
Is it wise allowing spiders like these to enter the trade unidentified or does it just cause a headache for hobbyists etc
Clearly this is how we get to keep new spiders,just a name would be nice.More funding for study/research is definately needed and i have to say im surprised it isnt given that Tarantulas and spiders in general are a very important link in the ecological chain
Thanks all

[Ray Gabriel]

It is probably a Sericopelma sp, I know some were collected by some Germans a few years back and with others have now entered the pet trade. Does it have pink Metatarsus? if so them probably Sericopelma, as to what sp then thats anyones guess the taxonomy of these is a nightmare.

The Darien also encompasses a part of Colombia.

Paul only 1% of species entering the pet trade are properly identified.....................thats why tank labels and name changes are made so often

Ray G

[stuart longhorn]

If you post a pic now, we'll be able to give a more informed reply.

Agreeing with others, recently some species entered the hobby through germany from the region of SE panama/border with Columbia, forget USA - unless some idiot switched the labels on the container. The main one is the Sericopelma sp Darien which should be get large, but also some small brown-grey spiders like Aphonopelma seemanni also were introduced at the same point.

Hobby reclassification often happens is through people not directly copying whatever label-name the spider was originally sold as !!, or not even writing down the label-name at all... Im just waiting for all those people with 'pumpkin patch' things to start asking which version they have to try and breed them..

Nice helpful map Mr Hale! If you hear of grants for tarantula research Paul, that would be nice to hear!

[stuart longhorn]

Ok, just gave myself a refresher for some more actual details for you all.

This species below (2pics) came into germany and some spiderlings were sold under "Theraphosinae Arreti, Darien". This adult female i saw and photographed there was a midsized species, still yet unknown what genus (maybe Pseudhapalopus), cetainly not Sericopelma, and certainly not the Sericopelma sp 'Darien' which came from the same traders. Its very different to those. Paul, i now saw you put a picture on this forum, and it doesnt look like you have a Sericopelma (the legs of those should be longer and
they often have white on the metatarsus as Ray said). Just to note, another "Aphonopelma species" was sold at the same time,
and sometimes as 'Aphonopelma sp Panama Tan'. I have no photos of that third one, and dont know if it was Darien or not, but never saw it associate with the location name 'Darien'. This one below however is.

So, wait five years, and if its like this, its probably the same 'Theraphosinae Arreti, Darien'.
And if you look on a map, you'll see Arreti is in SW panama near the Columbian border.
To know how to keep it, look up temperature/rainfall data for nearby. I've no idea if its highland cool or
lowland hot though.

[Paul Arnold]

Thanks to all for the info and help provided in the posts. I must admit I feel slightly humbled yet impressed by the experience and wealth of knowledge that people using this forum possess. Keep up the good work,I for one appreciate it,and certainly need it