Calling irminia owners!

I just wanted to hear how some irminias act. My female is such an oddball. She has to retreats that she frequents. She has one for most of the week then for two days a week she'll chill in her other one. It's like her weekend getaway also she waits until shes eating to web. The second she has a cricket in her mouth she starts webbing up like crazy

Well actually all tarantulas will web while eating, but they're not actually "webbing" technically, they're spinning silk over their prey in order to preserve every little piece. This is especially important in the wild, where food is a lot more scarce and every little bit counts.

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Tarantulas spin when they've caught prey, which does a few things. It restrains the animal(s) in case it revives and tries to escape. Silk also holds the prey together so that pieces don't fall as the spider's eating. It also keeps the prey off the ground so that ants and other insects aren't attracted to it.

You need to get Stan Schultz's book, 3rd edition. Lots of info in there.

Irminias are very interesting Ts, they begin their lives as fossorial moving to arboreal as they grow larger. They are generally quite touchy and tend to run and hide at the slightest disturbance. I find them to be unlike most other species (except of their own genus of course) Moving from hide to hide is nothing to worry about =) She's just being a spider really lol

Watching these grow is a real treat, enjoy!

SuzukiSwift said:

Irminias are very interesting Ts, they begin their lives as fossorial moving to arboreal as they grow larger. They are generally quite touchy and tend to run and hide at the slightest disturbance. I find them to be unlike most other species (except of their own genus of course) Moving from hide to hide is nothing to worry about =) She's just being a spider really lol

Watching these grow is a real treat, enjoy!

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Oh I wasn't worried lol. I was just noting her behavior as she acts different then all of my. Other T's. An I didn't mean she webs her prey.. She'll just had more layers of silk to her funnel web while holding the cricket in her mouth.

P. Irminia might be my favorite species but then again so might a half dozen others :big grin:. I have heard some good stories about these but just from my own experience, they are top notch predators and fearless with the size of prey they will take on. Mine has some cool web tunnels that she hangs out in and she will perch at the mouth of the main tunnel and wait for crickets. She also has impressive throwing skills….boluses and her last exuvium have been tossed across her "yard" which makes her a pretty good housekeeper. She tosses it and waits for me to come pick up her garbage! There is a video on youtube of one Irminia throwing a cricket into a water bowl and retrieving it over and over. Pretty sweet. Mine disappeared for almost three weeks around it's last molt but since then has resumed regular patterns of activity so I get to see her pretty often!

I have a couple adult females sitting here. One being super-calm, "Phaedra" is simply an oddball of her genus. She moves slow, almost never runs, has high-threshold before getting annoyed and is overall very reclusive going on hiding for months on end. She only webbed her inside of the corkbark-tube she's taken refuge in and when out sits for hours on it waiting for prey to pass by. Sometimes she wanders all around the enclosure, up and down, taking a drink at her waterdish even, then back on her corkbark. She's a beauty and simply awesome to keep. Was my first T along with my B. smithi, too.

The other one, "Firali" is as mean as they come. Raised that one from a sling and she turned out female, too. Every interaction is dealt with in the most aggressive way. If she senses movement near her, or if I have to prod her out of the way (say for cleaning waterdish) she immediately turns around and slaps or bites. Usually she keeps that disposition for a while before eventually turning around and moving to her hide, much like "Whatever, get it over with quickly and get lost, keeper!".


Certainly one of my favorite species to keep and while not suitable for anyone not having done their research beforehand or completely new to the hobby, a very stunning tarantula of a decent size, striking coloration, attitude - but without the potent venom of the OWs. Never had any problems with either of mine and can't think of my collection without these.