# Abbreviations and info for new Tarantula keepers



## Lucifus

*Avic*. - Short for Avicularia which is a genus of tarantula also known as the "Pink Toe". Its a small good natured arboreal spider which has pink feet.

*Pokey *- Short for Poecilotheria which is a genus of tarantula commonly referred to as "Ornamentals" which are an extremely fast and have toxic venom.

*Brachy *- Short for Brachypelma which is a good starter species or show piece for tarantula keepers especially B.Smithii (Mexican red knee) and B.Albopilosum(Curly Hair). They are normally docile but do tend to flick hairs frequently and are sometimes known as Flickypelma because of this. Many of these species are protected by CITES.

*Grammy - *Short for Grammostola which is also another good starter species however they do tend to be more temperamental than the Brachypelma's.
*
GBB – *Green Bottle Blue (Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens) well sought after tarantula that displays ground dwelling, semi arboreal and arboreal tendencies depending on the individual spider. They are bright blue and have a red rump.
*
OBT - * Pterinochilus murinus (Mombassa golden starburst) also referred to as the OBT or Orange Bitey Thing as it loves to bite and is florescent orange. 

*Slings - *Short for spiderlings which are baby tarantulas or Scorplings which are baby scorpions.

*Arboreal – *Tree dwelling, height is more important than floor space.

*Burrowing - *Deep substrate needed in order it to create a burrow for hiding in.

*Ground Dwelling - *Mainly stays on the floor however can burrow too, will use a hide.
*
Sack – *Egg sack, a sack off web containing 50 to 1000 eggs.
*
Munched – *Often referring to a “munched egg sack” where the female spider eats it.
*
Dropped – *Often referring to a female spider “Dropping a sack” or laying an egg sack.


*Colour forms –* Sort of like the spiders version of “morphs” or colour differences. Unlike reptiles, spiders cannot be bred to show different colours but may have different colour forms depending on their locality. Haplopelma Lividum’s (Cobalt Blues) are known to have different intensities of blue depending where they originate from.
*
RCF – *Red Colour Form.
*DCF – *Dark Colour form.
*NCF – *Normal Colour form.
*LCF – *Light Colour form.
*TCF – *Typical Colour form.
*
Mat – *One of the different mat’s tarantula’s make. Moulting Mat’s which are used during moulting, Egg Mat’s which the tarantula deposits its eggs and rolls into a sack or eating matt’s made after prey is caught.


*Threat or Threat posture – *When a tarantula rears its front’s legs up and sticks out its fangs to look big and nasty. When in this position most tarantulas will bite and some larger species will hiss. It does not mean “give us a kiss”.
*
Old world vs New World.

*This stems from the Columbus method of discovering the world. Old world were country’s that were originally known such as Africa, Asia and Europe while new world tends to be America and so forth.

Furthermore Old world tarantulas do not posses uricating hairs so are unable to "flick" them at threats. However they do posses more a powerful venom than new world tarantulas.

New world tarantulas are able to flick uricating hairs but also posses venom and in the case of some species are able to shoot poo with surprising accuracy at threats, most notably are the ones from the Avicularia genus.

*Uricating Hairs.

*In short they are small hair like barbs that new world tarantulas "flick" off their rump. There are different types of uricating hair which vary in intensity. Some need direct contact to be affective; others are flicked from the rump of the tarantula. In humans they can produce itching and sometimes an allergic reaction. The Hairs of a Grammostola Rosea (Chile Rose) will be less severe than Theraphosa Blondi (Goliath Bird Eating Spider) or the Theraphosa Apophysis (Pink Foot Goliath) which possesses severe itching. In smaller organisms such as crickets or mice the hair can lead to death. 

*Latin/Scientific names.*

Latin names are separated into genus and species. The first name i.e. Brachypelma is the Genus and several tarantulas can belong to this genus. The last name is the Species and is used to identify that individual tarantula. Sometimes the person who discovered the species or spider is used in the name. I.e. Brachypelma Smithii.

*So why Latin names why don’t you use simple English?*

Simply put unlike snakes or lizards there is literally hundreds of species of Tarantula available on the market. To some people a pink toe is a pink toe, while others would see it as an Avicularia Sp. Guyana (Also known as Avicularia Avicularia) and an Avicularia Versicolor which are completely different tarantulas. Latin/Scientific names also cross language barriers and limits the amount of confusion in scientific journals and difference in common names. Lastly some shops do try to make the tarantula they are selling sound better than it is so here are a few stories.


Shops attempting to sell Avicularia Avicularia as "Giant pink toe". Giant pink toes come under the Latin name Avicularia braunshausen and are hard to find in the market. Shop sells a juvenile for £40 for what is essentially a £15 adult tarantula because it confuses some people or makes it sound "better" than what you’re actually getting.
Another shop attempts to sell a "Highly Rare Red Tarantula" for £200 which they don’t know the name of. However the tarantula is a Grammostola Rosea....which goes for the maximum of £20.
Also Some tarantulas have several common names, Grammostola Rosea is marketed under Rose hair tarantula, Rosey Tarantula, Chilean Rose, Chilean Tarantula, Chilean Rose haired tarantula.... list goes on with some becoming more inventive.
People and shops are able to make up common names, Haplopelma Lividum or the Cobalt Blue could be marketed as "Gunbolt Blue" or "Blue legged tarantula" and sold at a premium rate making them sell at a higher price for what’s normally a cheap and affordable tarantula.
When breeding you want to make sure that the two tarantulas that you have are the same species so it’s always important to find out the Latin name not the common name as some tarantulas share similar or same common names!

*Wild caught over Captive bred.*

Many tarantulas you will buy on the market will be wild caught or in the case of slings captured farmed. In essence spiders can take anywhere between four to nine years to mature and many people prefer adult tarantulas over spiderlings. Simply put not enough people breed tarantulas to sustain a completely captive bred system especially when considering the growth rate of tarantulas, let alone the innate problems of actually breeding tarantulas. As many people know female tarantulas can kill the male after mating, even if the male survives and lives to mate another tarantula the spider can take up to two years to create an egg sack. Even when the spider has an egg sack it can be infertile, go mouldy or die under wrong conditions or even by eaten by the female if she is stressed. Even when the eggs hatch there is a chance not all the spiderlings will make it so WC and CF is the way it is done and there is very few problems with WC tarantulas.

However if you want to have a captive bred spider you will most likely be buying spiderlings unless the chance to buy an adult comes around. Getting in contact with breeders is the best way to go about this but again you could be waiting months to years to find someone with spiderlings bred and born in their care and other keepers may be out for them too. It does have the advantages however of helping conserve the ecosystem and population of the tarantula in its natural habitat as well as a low risk of parasites. Countries such as Chile are begging the process to ban the exports of its tarantula species because of the amount exported so in future captured bred Grammostola Rosea’s (Chile Roses) will be all that’s available.

*Moulting.

*This is a stressful time during a tarantula’s life. Tarantulas moulting will create a moulting mat made of web and flip over onto their backs. They then spend the next few hours literally pulling themselves out of their old skin. Many new keepers think the tarantula is dead at this point but tarantulas *do not die on their backs. *If a tarantula is dead it will curl up with its legs under it. Do not disturb or move the enclosure during this time as it can kill the tarantula. Furthermore do not feed until a week since the moult has passed as it needs a week to harden its body and fangs. After a moult a tarantula can become bigger as well as repair lost limbs. During this time spiders may refuse food and Grammostola Rosea’s (Chile Roses) have been known to fast for a year or more.


*Differences between male and females.

*Without getting too complicated females tend to be larger and live a lot longer than males. If a spider takes 4 years to mature from birth a female will live to about 20 years while the male will only last about a year after it matures. Once males hit maturity they will not moult again and slow down and eventually die, females will moult throughout their lifespan. The only 100% method of sexing tarantulas is by getting someone who knows tarantulas well to check its moult and checking for hooks on the legs only works with mature spiders and some species do not show them.

*The Handling debate.

*Handling your tarantula is a big debate among tarantula keepers. Some say its fine under proper conditions. Other state it should not be done. However if you handle a tarantula you do so at your own risk. A fall of a foot can kill a spider, and 3 feet will rupture its abdomen leading to death. So if you handle it make sure it’s over a soft surface and it never goes too far above this. Also be aware if you are bitten you will likely be envenomated as well as flinch and as a result throw the spider leading to its untimely demise. Many keepers get pleasure from just watching their tarantulas just like fish especially the more colourful or active ones.

*Venom.

*Lets face it tarantulas are venomous. How each person reacts to venom is completely different. However people have owned their tarantulas for *thirty years and have not been bitten. *If you are bitten its best to seek medical advice, however most bites do not warrant it but its best to be safe not sorry. Nobody has died from a tarantula bite however it can bring about an anaphylactic shock if you are allergic to the bite. There is 1/1000 chance of being allergic, however the chance of owning a tarantula and being bitten is even less so theirs not much to worry about. But if this happens dial 999 immediately. Most beginner tarantulas create bites like bee stings however more advanced species can be extremely painful. Lastly Tarantulas cannot be "de-venomed". This is impossible. To do this you would have to cut out the venom sacks or remove the fangs. The spider would not survive the sacks being removed and would be unable to feed without the fangs. Every person with tarantulas should have at least 9 inch stainless steal tongs to do basic maintenance in the enclosure. Old world species venom tends to cause more pain and illness and frequently requires time to recover from while new world species in general (although there are exceptions) are less painful and often cause localised pain and swelling. The result of a bite will vary from person to person so if someone has had minimal effects from a tarantula bite you may not.

*Parasites.*

Tarantulas are at risk from a range of parasites including Nematodes, Phorids and other parasites some of which can be cured. Phorids love dead material and infest body’s of crickets left in the tank and can take weeks to stop an infection. They are small fly’s that lay eggs which turn into small worms. Releasing a burst of fly killer will *not *do as this *will* kill your tarantulas as it’s an insecticide, so cleaning the tanks of dead matter such as crickets and sometimes replacing substrate will do. Phorids in large doses can kill tarantulas. Other parasites such as white mites which scuttle over your tarantula can be a problem but can be removed by gently wiping a wet cotton bud over the infected area, most of the time the tarantula when the tarantula moults they mites will stay on the moult so remove it quickly, replace substrate with clean substrate such as eco earth or baked and cooled soil. Nematodes however are a severe problem with no cure and can wipe out entire collections of tarantulas and infest reptiles if left untreated. Nematodes will remove the ability of the tarantula to catch and eat food and start burrowing into the body near the fangs. If your tarantula has slow moving worms going in and out of holes near the fangs its most likely nematodes and will have to be isolated and euthanized as well as sterilising all equipment used such as tongs, the earth must be disposed of and the tank sterilised. 


*Getting over your fear.*

Frequently people who start out in keeping tarantulas do have arachnophobia and do this to get over their fears. Starting out with something docile is a great way to get over your fear of tarantulas and even every day house spiders. Psychological theory has suggested that desensitisation helps to remove fears. Start by looking at pictures of tarantulas and when you can do that you’re ready for the real deal. Look at one in your local store and do your research and you may find although you are still scared it’s not as bad as you think. Some people buy tarantulas after going through the motions and actually living with a tarantula in the house and being able to look at it even through a plastic tank will help you get over your fear. By seeing it daily, feeding and doing general maintenance soon your fear of tarantulas and spiders will disappear and all that will be left is a respect and interest in such amazing animals and the common house spider will never seem the same again.



To drive this thread to a close tarantulas are easy to care for long lived animals that will spark interest for all your life. They are also cheap to house and cheap to buy and i hope many of you take the time to at least see one or spend time watching them as they have given me many hours of enjoyment.


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## Lucifus

New thread as couldn't find a mod to change it.


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## SpiderGirl33

How do you report something for stickying?? :lol2:

Really good helpful post!  
Aren't scientific names a mix of latin, greek and hebrew though? Not just latin?


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## Lucifus

SpiderGirl33 said:


> How do you report something for stickying?? :lol2:
> 
> Really good helpful post!
> Aren't scientific names a mix of latin, greek and hebrew though? Not just latin?


Yeh but i wanted to keep it as simple as possible for new owners. Its the big ! button to report 

EDIT: Actually dont report it as it could cause problems for mods, will have to see if one stickys it.


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## jadeteacup

thnx Lucifus, thisis amazing.. even after all the books, post, u name it, that I have read, i like this for its easy simplicity and just read it so smoothly.. good job :no1:


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## Becky

Good stuff


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## renton

Free bump. Defiantly needs to be made a sticky otherwise will get lost.

Just wiped the tears away after watching your sig. :lol2::lol2::lol2:Where do you find all those?


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## Lucifus

Hey guys, pmed t-bo to see if he can make this a stick. Thanks to everyone who gave input and showed support. : victory:


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## cervantes

This still isn't a sticky. Yet you've got a B.Smithi picture sticky, full of people talking nonsense...:bash:


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## Paulie B

Lucifus said:


> Yeh but i wanted to keep it as simple as possible for new owners. Its the big ! button to report
> 
> EDIT: Actually dont report it as it could cause problems for mods, will have to see if one stickys it.


Just edit you post and change Latin to Scientific. Good post


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## sage999

Excellent work Lucifus.


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## SpiderGirl33

*bump!*

Why isn't this thread stickied yet?! :lol2:


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## blackbat67

Sticky it!!


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## wohic

ok ok already , you lot are such pushy buggers :lol2:

Stuck


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## Lucifus

wohic said:


> ok ok already , you lot are such pushy buggers :lol2:
> 
> Stuck


Wooo wooo woo. Thanks babes!

Also the scientific vs latin bit. Its supposed to be a basic guide that gives information and little confusion as possible. While it gives good information i wanted to make it as little confusing as possible. Again thanks to anyone who contributed to the guide.


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## jadeteacup

yippeee... its stickied... :no1:


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## Poxicator

Well done on getting it stickied.

You've still spelled Urticating hairs wrong is several places (search for uricating)
*
OBT - * Pterinochilus murinus (Mombassa golden starburst) - Mombassa Golden Starburst is not OBT, Usambara Orange Baboon Tarantula is OBT.

Its referred to as Egg sac, not sack.

Columbus, LOL, he didnt discover the world, or even the Americas, he's attributed with setting up trading links with the West Indies and colonising some of those islands.

Once males hit maturity they will not moult again and slow down - actually once the male reaches maturity he becomes far more active than usual. In nature he'd leave his burrow and persue females to breed so it would be the opposite of slowing down!

Great to see this stickied, I'm sure many will benefit and others will link to it.


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## Lucifus

Poxicator said:


> Well done on getting it stickied.
> 
> You've still spelled Urticating hairs wrong is several places (search for uricating)
> *
> OBT - * Pterinochilus murinus (Mombassa golden starburst) - Mombassa Golden Starburst is not OBT, Usambara Orange Baboon Tarantula is OBT.
> 
> Its referred to as Egg sac, not sack.
> 
> Columbus, LOL, he didnt discover the world, or even the Americas, he's attributed with setting up trading links with the West Indies and colonising some of those islands.
> 
> Once males hit maturity they will not moult again and slow down - actually once the male reaches maturity he becomes far more active than usual. In nature he'd leave his burrow and persue females to breed so it would be the opposite of slowing down!
> 
> Great to see this stickied, I'm sure many will benefit and others will link to it.


Damn on the OBT wish that was noticed earlier. :lol2: 

At least its a good starting point for keepers and hopefully get them to read into it more as reading from one source is not recommended. If you can find a mod get them to change the OBT.


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## Poxicator

LOL, well they're both P. murinus so its only a colour variation.


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## mikie

Sorry, what is mm, cb, etc....


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## Incubuss

mikie said:


> Sorry, what is mm, cb, etc....


 
MM - mature male
AF - adult female
CB - captive bread
WC - wild caught
(MF) - mated female


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## Brianmul

Perfect great addvice ,thanks mate :2thumb:


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## ph0bia

Good stuff! Got a few additions you _may_ wish to add to the original post (up to you, they were ones that confused me and some others on previous forums) and some problems I spotted.

Possible additions to consider:

*Hoppers* - slang term for immature desert locusts.
*Crix* - Crickets
*Instar* - The 'period of age' for a tarantula. Essentially, the molt number (ie, if it's molted three times, it's called a third instar)
*Obligate Burrowers* - Species that will not use a makeshift hide like cork bark or half plant pot. They dig near vertical burrows downwards and excavate a cave in the bottom. Example: _Haplopelma_ species.
*Gravid* - The state of being impregnated and awaiting to lay eggs. Almost synonymous with pregnant.
*Kick* - Kicking urticating bristles.
*MM* - Mature male
*AF* - Adult female
*CB* - Captive bread
*WC* - Wild caught


Corrections:

*OBT* - Originally stood for Orange Baboon Tarantula, later became Orange Bitey Thing. (Not really a necessary correction but meh =P)
*Ground Dwelling* - Essentially, Obligate Burrowers are ground dwellers and lots of "Ground Dwelling" species (by your definition) excavate extensive burrows (B.smithi for example has been seen to burrow quite extensively if given the chance). Perhaps it would be better changing it to Opportunistic Burrowers?
*Uricating hairs *- [Sp] Ur*t*icating. Also, the correct terminology would be bristles, but I'm probably being anal here. 

I'd also agree with changing "Latin Names" to "Scientific Names". Simply because a lot of the words used are not latin, some are greek, some are pseudo-greek, latinated greek and pseudo-latin (ie Sjoedesti, Smithi, Blondi etc are not latin words).

Other than that, an incredible post! I tried to create one of these on another board I'm on, but the admins deemed it "unneccessary and pedantic to the community".

Since then we've had numerous topics and threads titled: "What is OBT???" "wot duz sling meen?!?!?!one1!?" etc... *sigh* Good work to you for writing it, and good job to the admins for stickying.


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## Oldcorn

what does "Instar" mean?


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## Oldcorn

DAH just re-read and its here, sorry :blush:


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## PSYCHOSIS

This is a very very good thread well done .


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## Rory1994

what does sp. mean?


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## Mutley.100

sp. = species


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## MissyBats

really helpful! thanks!
I need to write a list of mine! lol
x


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## _Birdeater_WM_

exellent information and you know when people refer to there tarantulas as L1 L2 etc does this mean the amount of times they have alted , cheers :2thumb:


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## Poxicator

L1 and 1st instar are the same term used to identify the amount of moults the tarantula sling has had. Generally L1 - L4 is spiderling stage, upto L7 is juvenile and past that the tarantula is sub-Adult or Adult and the moulting is no longer counted.


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## _Birdeater_WM_

*hey , thankyou for that the reason why is on you tube they have L16's a genticulata's lol
My salmon pink is a L4 then , and my red rump is a L1 and my white knee is a L3 , so all good then lol:2thumb:
*


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## jacqui

This is easily the best piece of info on Ts that I've ever came across, very informative yet simple in nice easy to swallow chunks!!! :notworthy::no1::2thumb:


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## tomkinsm

what does dwa mean?


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## ducks

dangerous wild animals - a legal definition of species which require a license to keep.


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## SteveCourty

Very good post. It appears to have lost its stickyness though


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## mcluskyisms

SteveCourty said:


> Very good post. It appears to have lost its stickyness though


Actually, it hasnt. It can be located with the rest of the Spiders and Inverts stickies in the thread that reads stickies at the top of this sub forum.

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/spiders-inverts/500305-spider-invert-stickies-faqs-read.html

: victory:


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## 8and6

on the whole a good post, with the few corrections made it would be excellent with the addition of 



> Urticating Hairs.
> 
> In short they are small hair like barbs that new world tarantulas "flick" off their rump.


except for the genus Ephebopus that carries them on its pedipalps


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## mcluskyisms

[email protected] said:


> on the whole a good post, with the few corrections made it would be excellent with the addition of
> 
> 
> 
> except for the genus Ephebopus that carries them on its pedipalps


Here's some info I found on them 

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/spiders-inverts/537077-urticating-hair.html


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## **louise**

Really helpful


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## murinus

Just what I was looking for : victory: thank you :2thumb:


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