I think I lucked out and got a Mexican Golden Redrump!

[TexasT]

My luck finally seems to be changing for the better lol.

So this story starts a few days ago when my brother tells me one of his friends is moving and doesn't want to take their snake with them. Supposedly its full grown and not that big (I don't do constrictors) so I agreed to take it. I went to pick it up and it was a cali kingsnake--a very pretty male. I carry the tank out to my truck and put it in the passenger's side of the cab. By the time I get to the driver's side, the snake has escaped it's tank. I can still see it, so without thinking, I grab it around the middle. It latches onto the middle finger of my right hand. It didn't let go for over 15 minutes. I had to pry its jaws open--I was afraid I was going to injure it but what could I do? I really didn't want to drive 45 minutes home with a snake attached to my hand. It kept trying to constrict my wrist and eat my finger too. Next morning, even though I'd put books and a big box weighing at least 50 lbs on the lid of the tank, it escaped into my room. Managed to catch it but the little jerk did his best to bite me again while I was trying to grab him behind the head, and even after I had him he kept twisting his head around trying to get me. I knew that kingsnakes had a rep for not being the sweetest snakes, but I really wasn't expecting that level of aggression. He had just been fed too so although it seemed to maybe be a feeding response the first time he bit me at least, he wasn't truly *hungry*.

The next day I meet a guy who lives about an hour away and owns a business that sells reptiles wholesale to petstores. He tells me that he has all these redrump T's that he can't unload. I ask if there is any way he'd be interested in trading the kingsnake for a couple of T's and to my joy, he said yes.

Went over to his place yesterday afternoon and I was in heaven (love animals). Turns out he had more than just redrumps too. He had whiteknees, rosies (of course), new rivers, a curlyhair, and a fort hall baboon (which seems really odd for people to order to sell to a petstore....). He told me that he bought the business fairly recently and the couple that owned it before had ordered all these T's and he didn't really know what to do with him. They seemed to be in ok shape. Decent sized containers, good substrate, but sponges of course--I told him to replace them with water bowls, hopefully he will. I'm still fairly new to the tarantula hobby, so sexing is not my strong point. But what I really, really wanted was a male and female of whatever species to try my hand at breeding. I'm apparently really good at raising slings and I work from home and have lots of extra time and the money needed so why not? I searched the whiteknees first, since I don't have one and have been wanting one, but couldn't find any obvious males. He had so many I'm sure there were some there, perhaps they were just immature. I ended up finding a male in the group of redrumps--very obvious boxing gloves along with body type so I picked the biggest, healthiest looking female and decided to get those two. Right before I left he pulled an enclosure off the back of the shelf and was like "oh hey, I think its another redrump", so I took a look. First thing I noticed was that although it had the red rump there was something "different" about it. It was "prettier" is the best way I can think to put it. It had huge boxing gloves and was obviously male so I decided to get that boy instead of the original one.

Well, today I was just playing around on different sites and saw a picture of a "golden redrump". Apparently their carapace is golden vs black like on the "normal" ones right? The male's is definitely golden. His legs are a bit lighter than the female's also and his rump is the same red as her's. I lost the card to my camera but my mother is bringing her's over later and I'll definitely post pictures. I just thought this was pretty cool--I totally thought I was getting two regular B. vagans. If I were actually succesful at breeding them wouldn't that be pretty amazing? Unlike, but amazing lol. Now I have to decide when to actually do the deed haha.

[BrettG]

We need pics!

[synyster]

Whats a "golden redrump"??? B.albiceps?

[TexasT]

Whats a "golden redrump"??? B.albiceps?

If you go to Swift's Inverts website and scroll down to their Brachys, theres a pic of one.

[Shell]

I am not familiar with all the common names, but when I searched, it said the "Mexican golden redrump" is Brachypelma albiceps. In that case, you should NOT be breeding it to a Brachypelma vagans. Hybrids are very frowned upon in the hobby. I am not going to get into that here (use the search function, you will find many heated debates about that,) but unless both the male and female are the same species, they should not be paired together. If you are not 100% sure that they are both B. vagans, then best to just enjoy them as they are, or find a confirmed MM B. vagans to pair with your female.

[TexasT]

Edited for stupidity of author.

Omg, why was I thinking it was just a different color form of B. vagans? I reallly need more coffee. I agree, I don't want to be breeding hybrids either.

If you go to Swift's Inverts website and scroll down to their Brachys, theres a pic of one.

[JayMadison]

Nice find

[Shell]

What makes you think it's not a "regular" albiceps. You're confusing me here. We would have to see pictures of it, but everywhere I could find the common name "Mexican golden redrump" said it was a B. albiceps, and as far as I know there are not different color forms of the B. albiceps. So if you do indeed have a male albiceps, and find a female of the same, then no, the slings would not be considered hybrids. If you paired it with a different species (such as the vagans) then THAT would make hybrids.

Nice find by the way

[synyster]

If you go to Swift's Inverts website and scroll down to their Brachys, theres a pic of one.

They call it B.ruhnaui but that is an old species name that is now called Brachypelma albiceps.

Yes they are pretty easy to distinguish from B.vagans. Good score if you got it for the same price as a vagans

[TexasT]

Well ok, now the problem is that B. albiceps M females are not cheap and I'm on a bit of a limited budget. Hrmm. What to do?

[Shell]

You could post an ad, and loan the male out on a 50/50. You would get half of any slings produced, and better than letting him go to waste,

[TexasT]

Thats a great idea, I was already thinking along those lines.

You could post an ad, and loan the male out on a 50/50. You would get half of any slings produced, and better than letting him go to waste,

ETA: Awesome! I already found someone who posted just the other day on the Inverstonals looking for a MM!

[BrettG]

I still think you should post a pic of it so we can CONFIRM that it is indeed B.albiceps before ANY attempts are made to locate a female.

[Shell]

I still think you should post a pic of it so we can CONFIRM that it is indeed B.albiceps before ANY attempts are made to locate a female.

I agree with this 100%. Until you know what it is for sure, it shouldn't be paired with anything.

[TexasT]

Okay, here are some pics I took really quick--he was a bit camera shy. I apologize for the bad quality and lighting. You can't really see the red on his rump that well but you can definitely see the gold color to his carapace. Let me know what y'all think please.