Id This Pokie

I went to Strickly Reptiles to fetch the usual Batch of crickets. while awaiting him to fill my critter keeper for me I looked at the Tarantulas he had avialable [a good 15 and not all of them very commen] In the proccess a "Orimental Baboon" Cought my eye. After a quick look over I had assured myself it was what I thought. A pokie. I had been talking to my wife about the Owners husbrandy skills and over price's I guess the owner didn't like this much and gave us half the crickets as usual but still charged full price. So we returned home where I procceeded to feed all my pets and jump online to check prices of pokies and look at pictures to determine the Exact species of this 'baboon' He was priced at 21$ at strickly and prices online seemed alot higher so me and my wife took the bus back. I printed off a poec identification markings chart that phalagorn had posted [thanks man!] grabbed some forceps and a tap measure. Arriving at the store I requested an inspection of his 'baboon' He brang its small round container to me [A round plastic container filled with about 1cm of bark bits and a small lil bit of that jelly water stuff for moisture. this container was only about 3 inches high and the pokie had no room to climb or anything]I started to open it as I asked him is it male or female He simply shook his head and told me "I dunno" Well I didn't want to lay out more money for a male tarantula so I opened it up slightly and removed my forceps and measuring tape to get a good leg span measurement and try to get the pokie to move to the side so I could attempt to sex it. He looked from my tools to me then to my wife as if saying "is he nuts?" took a step back and stammered"I-I-uh-uh-u woulda -a-Appreciate you not opening that in here" great an arachnophobe dealer arg. whats he do get someone else to feed it? well 21 bucks, oh well good price anyway and can send it on breeding loan if it turns out to be male. So I throw down the 23 bucks and walk outside, The sun is blaring and I had to take the bus home with my wife, My wife alerted to something before me She asks "shouldn't we try and get a bag so the sun doesnt bother him?" I nodded and we went back in. Now understand this man had been packing an iguana for a kid He put the tank in their back seat grabbed a baby iguana and litteraly threw it in a large paper bag that he tapped shut and gave to the kid. So my wife goes back in and asks "do you have a bag please?" he looks at her and simplys states "no thats fine for him" He could have at least looked!!!. Well We got him home and decided to attempt feeding him[The only good thing about SR is their 7day gaurentee. if he/seh wasnt in premult and didn't want to eat I woulda taken him back] Hes now eating his 6th cricket and allready both me and my wife are enjoying this adorable lil spider. She still remains in the encloser we bought him in [oh yeah at one point in the line of selling the spider to me he told me he woul even give me the container the wood inside and the few jelly things for free ] and is devouring its 6sith cricket.. he was a little [very] skinny but has gained some wieght from jsut the few crickets I gave him [they musta never fed him seriously] oh she also woke me up at 1am in the morning to tell me that he is active and moving around when we threw in his 5th and second cricket then I took these pictures and posted them on here.

So what can I expect In temperment Size and appatite in these guys?

H. Maculata. I believe they have a tendency to be even more secretive than Pokies..but theyare arguably more beautiful too. The price seems pretty good.

Look at the skull on its abdomen! It's out to jinx you good for calling it a Pokie.

Like Vys said, that ain't no pokie, and it sure ain't P. subfusca. It's a Heteroscodra maculata. Had that actually been a female P. subfusca you would have just won the lottery as it would have been worth several hundred dollars (maybe more, little 5/8" slings are retailing in the $200 vicinity). However, stupid as your petstore owner may be, he does know what he paid for it.

H. maculata is a very secretive arboreal. I kept mine dry with a water dish, only saw it in any detail a couple of times until it mysteriously started hanging out in the open last winter -> that was right before it moulted out as a mature male. Do a search if you want more info as it's actually a very common species, surprised you made the mistake of thinking it was a pokie.

BTW, $23.50 for a fat female, though, is a damn good deal in my book.

edited for spelling

Sorry I don't know much about pokies and it looked like one from the patern. But I was right in it being aboreal, thank you for the corrections.

Oh, And my wife says shes stealing my valintines spider lol! in contemsation for me making her avic male.. Because its not what I thought it was [dang my inexperience in classing] oh well guess that means I get another valantines spider

Mother of god, you're from Riverside too?!

Strictly Reptiles is useless, man.

You think that cricket water gel was for moisture? Nah, that was its water it was suppose to somehow melt down and drink. I bought a .5 inch A.avic from them for $10. It came in a condament container, let me describe what was in it - 3 inches of cloth that was torn and soaked in water and was buried by some dirt. This amounted to about a quarter inch of mold/fungus over the top layer. Inside were about 5 little cricket balls and 3 cricket corpses, all just sitting there, they tossed in a spounge for "water", and a dying A.avic. The A.avic never died, but was very, very dull for a whole month. I still have him today, but takes forever to molt. Oh yeah, the container just said "Pink Toe" - they couldn't give me any kind of ID at all. They have some decent reptiles, but they just suck at arachnids, the kids there just don't know what they are doing.

not a bad deal man there a nice species very fast/pretty aggerssive will go outta the way to try and bite you. gets around 5-6" keep the temp and humidity up,needs a decent size container with some ground and climbing room. from what i seen with my 4" togo it would burrow every now and then and climb so i keep it in a large k-keeper with 2 huts and some logs and fake plants. other than that great buy!

Originally posted by Jguy001
not a bad deal man there a nice species very fast/pretty aggerssive will go outta the way to try and bite you.

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Bollocks!
I've never even seen so much as a threat posture from one or a strike. The only bite report I've ever seen from a hobbyist was the most likely made up one from Steve/Poecilotheria last year.

Their venom is very likely a pretty nasty one, but aggressive?, puhlease.

Alright now I'm confuesed. Is it aboreal or terretrial? and does it need high temp or low There seem to be conflicting posts here..

I've seen 2 threat poses from the 4 I have. The first was from a mature male that did not like to be moved away from a female. Understandable since mature males are funny that way. The only other time was when I was taking an egg sack away from said female.

Basicly same temperment as a pokie from what I've seen.

Originally posted by Reigningblood
Strictly Reptiles is useless, man.

You think that cricket water gel was for moisture? Nah, that was its water it was suppose to somehow melt down and drink. I bought a .5 inch A.avic from them for $10. It came in a condament container, let me describe what was in it - 3 inches of cloth that was torn and soaked in water and was buried by some dirt. This amounted to about a quarter inch of mold/fungus over the top layer. Inside were about 5 little cricket balls and 3 cricket corpses, all just sitting there, they tossed in a spounge for "water", and a dying A.avic. The A.avic never died, but was very, very dull for a whole month. I still have him today, but takes forever to molt. Oh yeah, the container just said "Pink Toe" - they couldn't give me any kind of ID at all. They have some decent reptiles, but they just suck at arachnids, the kids there just don't know what they are doing.

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I know very well What the conditions are there I bought my first tarantula there a g rosea. [scarlett] and as for the reptiles yeah they got good selections but Treat them as badly as they do their Inverts. I've been eyeing their black millipedes [ticia has been wnating one] but Still haven't decided to get one. I'm a little upset with myself not beign able to tell the difference between a poke and a mac but I'm still learning. where you at in Riverside btw?

Aboreal

Originally posted by Malhavoc's
Alright now I'm confuesed. Is it aboreal or terretrial?

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I think they act as something between arb. and Ter. I guess they live in the roots of trees and either dig or spin webs. Probably giving her and option would be ideal.

Originally posted by Malhavoc's
Alright now I'm confuesed. Is it aboreal or terretrial? and does it need high temp or low There seem to be conflicting posts here..

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There's always conflicting posts because some people go by caresheets, others stick to what works.

They aren't "I'm not touching the ground unless I absolutely have to" arboreal like an Avicularia, but arboreal like a Poecilotheria. Mine had a tube web under a piece of cork bark that ran from underground to near the top of the on-its-end kritter keeper. It used all of it depending on mood. Give it an arboreal setup with a couple of inches of substrate and you'll be fine.

No tarantula needs high temps, they will all do fine at anything above 70F. I've never kept a single tarantula at anything other than room temp; that went for the dearly departed H. maculata I raised from a WC juvenile to a mature male to a sad looking corpse. Some people recommend some moisture and humidity for these guys, mine did fine in a bone dry enclosure with water dish and the rare misting for rain simulation.

Key concept regarding people who give you care information: a given husbandry variable may be a purely neutral addition - it makes no difference one way or another, the only two things that tell you anything is care w/out the addition of that variable or premature deaths when that variable is added.

Example 1: C. cyaneopubescens, try keeping these guys moist, you'll have a dead tarantula in short order; conclusion: moisture bad.

Example 2: H. maculata, try keeping these guys moist, they do fine; conclusion: nothing - you have no control for whether the moisture did anything or not.

Example 3: H. maculata, try keeping these guys dry, they do fine; conclusion: moisture is not necessary.

thank you code, informitive as usual will set up a aboreal terrestrial set up

Right by Sierra Middle school off of Central.

And yeah, my first G.rosea came from them too, sadly.

Perhaps we could get together sometime I'm always up for meeting new enthuisasts Perhaps you'll even get a first hand view of malhavoc madness

I'm glad you were able to buy the H. maculata. I can see how you can confuse them with the "Pokies" but I think you will
like this one just as much. I hate it when the people at the store act like this guy did. Bet he is hungry and is eating and eating.
Congradulations on a good find. It doesn't sound to me like you paid too much for this tarantula. Here you got one and didn't have to pay for shipping too. I haven't had one of these, but I hear that those on the board here love theirs. Good luck and have fun! Your wife sounds cool since she was also all for getting this spider. Yeah!
Sharon