# Thrixopelma ockerti



## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

Fear not, I'm not buying one of the slings, 3 star rating on TSS is enough to say no.

But, they do look interesting, though the information out there on the internet is sparse to say the least. 

So... anyone kept them? Anyone know anything interesting about them?


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

I plan on obtaining one or two slings next week. 

They are apparently rather simple to care for - dryish substrate, mixed arboreal and terrestrial set up and warmish temps (as listed by Lee).


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

Aye, saw that... makes me wonder why the *** rating?


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Hedgewitch said:


> Aye, saw that... makes me wonder why the *** rating?


It's just an opinion I guess. 3 stars just suggests it needs a little more consideration than your average G._rosea_. Perhaps its the need for higher temps that govern the 3 stars, or it's speed of movement.


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

the *** are usually about the spider itself rather then how to keep it.

For example it's not hard to keep an OBT but he gives them 4-5 stars because OBT's are aggressive. The stars seem to represent the temprement of the tarantula more then how complex a set-up is since honestly if you can read a short paragraph it's hardly difficult to get a set-up suitable for any tarantula.

I imagine with three stars their rather fast moving so shouldn't be handled.

I mean he's even written "They are not hard to keep, they prefer an arboreal set up and will spend most of the time at the top of the enclosure." on the info page about them, so I imagine it's that they move a bit faster then say a chile rose.


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

^Thanks.

Still wondering if anyone here's kept them, I'd be surprised if no one has.


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## Peacemaker1987 (May 21, 2009)

I would look forward to having one if they are bred in captivity by anyone...i am however reluctant to buy them at the moment as they are WC. But i would also be interested to see what they are like.


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## garlicpickle (Jan 16, 2009)

I like the look of them, but the price is a bit high (I'm a cheapskate). But I can't see how they would be "worse" than an irminia to keep.


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## Splyzer (Jul 9, 2009)

Hey guys sorry for the sort of off topic question but what is TSS because i want to check the ratings of some spiders for example the salmon pink. 

Thanks much love :flrt:

Also is it just me or does this :lol2: look a little bit like Goku for Dbz :lol2:


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## Peacemaker1987 (May 21, 2009)

TSS - The spider shop - TheSpiderShop:- - Suppliers of Arachnids and other quality Invertebrates


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## Splyzer (Jul 9, 2009)

Peacemaker1987 said:


> TSS - The spider shop - TheSpiderShop:- - Suppliers of Arachnids and other quality Invertebrates


thanks


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## Peacemaker1987 (May 21, 2009)

No worries dude


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## Splyzer (Jul 9, 2009)

damn Im guessing the rating also relates to how much of a good begginer's T it is (lower amount of stars meaning easier for the less experienced) Ive heard from member's such as Spit that the salmon pink is a good begginer T, I trust his judgement and will still get one :2thumb: but just wanted to know what some of you guys think, as im very interested and really excited about it but does anyone think im biting of more than i can chew and if so what should i watch out for? its a *** btw!

My plan is for a long tank maybe 3ft and maybe a deepish one too maybe 1-2 foot in height as I dont want any jumps while dong maintence and spring cleaning lol


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

Splyzer said:


> damn Im guessing the rating also relates to how much of a good begginer's T it is (lower amount of stars meaning easier for the less experienced) Ive heard from member's such as Spit that the salmon pink is a good begginer T, I trust his judgement and will still get one :2thumb: but just wanted to know what some of you guys think, as im very interested and really excited about it but does anyone think im biting of more than i can chew and if so what should i watch out for? its a *** btw!
> 
> My plan is for a long tank maybe 3ft and maybe a deepish one too maybe 1-2 foot in height as I dont want any jumps while dong maintence and spring cleaning lol


don't make it tall, tarantulas can't jump anyway and if you make it tall if it climbs up the side and falls it will likely hurt itself, possibly rupturing it's abdomen(this applies to terrestrial ones, obviously arboreal ones are a bit better at coping with falls but I imagine there's still a high chance of injury)


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## Splyzer (Jul 9, 2009)

joeyboy said:


> don't make it tall, tarantulas can't jump anyway and if you make it tall if it climbs up the side and falls it will likely hurt itself, possibly rupturing it's abdomen(this applies to terrestrial ones, obviously arboreal ones are a bit better at coping with falls but I imagine there's still a high chance of injury)


ah yes i forgot about that for the mo...thanks for that, :lol2: tbh i am gettin over my phobia and my interest has gone through the roof and I think the bigger the better  but if it did jump prob freak me out a bit lol so if im safe from that no probs! :war: (pic not relevent just made me lol)


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## Peacemaker1987 (May 21, 2009)

Well don't worry, a lasio will not jump, they are fast growing apparently (never had one, but i have heard they are), they get massive also.
I hear most people regard them as intermediate spiders, but to be honest in my opinion unless you are interested in handling then i wouldn't worry too much about that.
Just make sure you know what conditions they are happy in and you should be fine to start from there!
If you have any serious concerns just post on here. Alternatively i am going to be setting up a exotic animals care channel on youtube next week (tuesday to be precise) and i am doing the tarantula care information. Ill post up on here the channel name, check it out and it should help if you are a bit worried.


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## Splyzer (Jul 9, 2009)

Peacemaker1987 said:


> Well don't worry, a lasio will not jump, they are fast growing apparently (never had one, but i have heard they are), they get massive also.
> I hear most people regard them as intermediate spiders, but to be honest in my opinion unless you are interested in handling then i wouldn't worry too much about that.
> Just make sure you know what conditions they are happy in and you should be fine to start from there!
> If you have any serious concerns just post on here. Alternatively i am going to be setting up a exotic animals care channel on youtube next week (tuesday to be precise) and i am doing the tarantula care information. Ill post up on here the channel name, check it out and it should help if you are a bit worried.


ah nice one mate! i no its not personally for me lol but its very mch appreciated!...im belive i no almost enough to order it but im not goin to till im confident i can care for it properly..just worried bout if its a burrower..heard as a sling its a bit of both but as an adult its on display alot but if it was it would burrow itself wouldnt it?


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## Peacemaker1987 (May 21, 2009)

From what i understand of them, and anyone correct me if i am wrong because i don't actually own one...if you provide them with a hide they probably won't burrow. 
Like you said, as slings they do, but i don't think they will if you provide them with a suitable hide as they grow.
If it was me i would treat it like my a.geniculata. But i may be wrong, ive not done a huge amount of research in to them.


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

as adults I haven't heard of one making a burrow. Obviously it might if you didn't give it something to hide under but my juvenile sits on top of it's hide or next to it out in the open for the majority of the time.


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## Peacemaker1987 (May 21, 2009)

Same as my geniculata


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

Gonna guess the salmon pink's *** rating is based upon it's eventual size? Just as it need a little more consideration in housing size than most Ts, also the mechanical damage from a bite would be just that much worse.

Also, a fair few arboreal spiders can jump, avics and psalmos can. Avics can actually glide a little too I think (well, slow their falls). They also have the reactions for landing a jump or fall which gives them an edge over a falling terrestrial T. We were handling an avic in a bar in Ecuador (not my idea mind, I put it back in the roof when I got it) and in jumped from someone's hand onto my friend Charlie... not so over her arachnophobia as she thought, the spider was fine though.

For Splyzer, 1: read the abbreviations sticky... we're all lazy and if you can get away with shortening a word, we will. When I joined this forum we didn't have that thread... took a while and a load of daft questions to get it . Dunno if TSS would be in there though.
2: avics- _Avicularia_ genus tarantulas. psalmos - _Psalmopoeus_ genus tarantulas.
3: the ruptured abdomen thing, just cos it's interesting. Ts haemolymph (it's like blood, but its more than just blood...) can't clot, a leg can be dropped, and the joint sealed off, but a ruptured abdomen will just leak till the spider dies.


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

Hedgewitch said:


> 3: the ruptured abdomen thing, just cos it's interesting. Ts haemolymph (it's like blood, but its more than just blood...) can't clot, a leg can be dropped, and the joint sealed off, but a ruptured abdomen will just leak till the spider dies.


Unless you glue it closed or use corn flour to seal it. It seems really weird glueing a living animal together.:lol2:

But I guess it's the same with humans, you just stitch it all back together and hope it works out, also use some surgical glue too sometimes.:lol2:


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

I was actually going to mention the superglue thing :lol2: but I thought my post was getting a wee bit to far off topic... half of it was basically footnotes.


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## Peacemaker1987 (May 21, 2009)

Yeah, i forgot to say that the arbs could jump, mean't that terrestrials don't. But yeah...keep us updated on what you do/get


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

just to say the T.ockerti looks so sexY! I saw it on TSS like a month ago and it's still there...so tempted...but so broke right now!:devil:


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## Hedgewitch (Feb 12, 2008)

I'm trying not to hurl myself into keeping thousands of tarantulas... It's all too common, I just thought these looked awesome and wondered what people knew.

Sure Becky or Paul or someone will know something about them... course by the time they get here, this thread will probably be about something totally different 

Also, you know they have slings now? Not just adults.


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## Splyzer (Jul 9, 2009)

yeah defo will! u aint gettin rid of me that easy! found this site by mistake n now im addicted n hopein to het a T soon! 3 days ago the idea of havin one was a scary and laughable idea to me now I REALLY WANT ONE! :lol2woo Goku)

yeah ill check the sticky too np.

you guys had any scar run ins with your Ts or heard any scary stories? lol id love to here em 

pssoz if im ruinin your thread D:


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## joeyboy (Jul 19, 2008)

Hedgewitch said:


> I'm trying not to hurl myself into keeping thousands of tarantulas... It's all too common, I just thought these looked awesome and wondered what people knew.
> 
> Sure Becky or Paul or someone will know something about them... course by the time they get here, this thread will probably be about something totally different
> 
> Also, you know they have slings now? Not just adults.


they don't seem all that common IMO, I have never seem anyone post them when posting pics of their T's or discussing their T's.


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## Peacemaker1987 (May 21, 2009)

No real scary run ins for me, sometimes if i am holding an avic they get a bit freaked and run up my arm, but if you stay calm then everything is fine!


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## Splyzer (Jul 9, 2009)

me either lol but the worse thing that happened to me once was i went to this pets corner place n saw their T n my mate kept sayin its abdomen looked like a kiwi, n it bloody did man....piut me off for ages only recently been able to enjoy em again lol


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## Young_Gun (Jan 6, 2007)

A mate bought an adult pair recently but not via Lee, they are exactly what they say on the tin, semi arboreal, easy to keep an fairly easy going spids, bit skittish maybe but nothing serious, should be with me next week so I'll let you know my personal thoughts on em then


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## Hisss (May 8, 2008)

I own a sub adult thrixopelma ockerti, I got it from the spider shop about 4 or so months ago, I provided it with a choice to live as an arboreal or terestrial. It has chosen to live terestrialy. Hides away under its bark all day and comes out at night, flicks hairs at anything entering the tank but isn't too skitty. I have been keeping it on dry substrate with a waterbowl kept topped up. He/She just shed last week so I will try and get a picture and upload.


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## splottlands (Jul 3, 2009)

hey guys'n'gals I know its probbly not the place to put adds but ive just spotted these at preloved

Preloved | thrixopelma ockerti slings for sale in Ipswich, Suffolk, UK


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## paynestaley (May 28, 2009)

GRB said:


> It's just an opinion I guess. 3 stars just suggests it needs a little more consideration than your average G._rosea_. Perhaps its the need for higher temps that govern the 3 stars, or it's speed of movement.


But the G. Rosea is 3 stars too! :s why would it be 3 stars...


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## ph0bia (Feb 21, 2009)

joeyboy said:


> don't make it tall, *tarantulas can't jump anyway* ... ... arboreal ones are a bit better at coping with falls but I imagine *there's still a high chance of injury*)


Firstly, tell that to any avic keeper! Tarantulas can, and do jump. As for the falling, species like _Psalmopoeus irminia/cambridgei_, _Stromatopelma calceatum_ and _Heteroscodra maculata_ have all been documented making HUGE falls. These guys live in the tops of the trees, and if they can't survive a fall it makes their greatest escape method useless, to jump.



Peacemaker1987 said:


> Yeah, i forgot to say that the arbs could jump, mean't that terrestrials don't. But yeah...keep us updated on what you do/get


Terrestrials can too 



joeyboy said:


> as adults I haven't heard of one making a burrow. Obviously it might if you didn't give it something to hide under but my juvenile sits on top of it's hide or next to it out in the open for the majority of the time.


Ours has. We gave it a hide with two entrances and vertical limits, and she's burrowed and excavated it too.



joeyboy said:


> they don't seem all that common IMO, I have never seem anyone post them when posting pics of their T's or discussing their T's.












That's ours. She belongs to my girlfriend technically though 

These were originally described back in 1994 by Günter Schmidt, found in Peru and were thought extinct until recently. Curiously, most members of the genus Thrixopelma are terrestrial, often fossorial (obligate burrowers) in their habits, but one look at the tarsus of these guys and it has that "arboreal" look.

Apparently, they live low in the trees compared with other species, and are forced up the trunks when their habitat floods. Compare this with Poecilotheria spp. which burrow as young down on the forest floor where food is plenty. As the dry season ends, the waters rise and the young Poecilotheria are forced up the trees. The difference seems to be that the pokies stay up there, whereas these guys are happy to come back down for the surplus food.

As for keeping, an arboreal set-up with lots of floor-space and substrate too. Offer terrestrial and arboreal hides. They can be quite defensive and certainly are jumpy. 

I did write caresheet for these which is stored in the Caresheet section of this forum


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## Mutley.100 (Nov 3, 2008)

ph0bia said:


> That's ours. She belongs to my girlfriend technically though


Cute little thing . Can't wait for mine to grow (well obviously I can or I wouldn't have bought them as slings :lol2 .


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## ph0bia (Feb 21, 2009)

Mutley.100 said:


> Cute little thing . Can't wait for mine to grow (well obviously I can or I wouldn't have bought them as slings :lol2 .


Striking colouration too. Swampy green with blue tinges and vibrant red abdomen from above, but the underside is a deep raven black.


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## guruphil (Oct 16, 2010)

*Tank?*

Hi guys and gals.

We picked up a 2.5-3" juvi Thrixopelma ockerti this past weekend. It's currently living in a generic RUB of a decent size. She's happy, and eating, but due to condensation (and the rub not being transparent anyway) all we ever get to look at is shadows

I'm keen to get him/her into a HoS enclosure at some point as she's so pretty that the semi-translucent and very steamed up RUB does no justice to her.

So, the question is, do they work better in an arboreal set up (vertical tank) or a terrestrial? Does anyone have a good suggestion for what sort of size/shape terrarium will do the lovely little beast some justice?

Many, many thanks.

Phil.


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