To those considering Ephebopus murinus...

Striking contrasts, generally leaning more towards the skittish / defensive side, no urticating bristles on the abdomen, but instead on the pedipalps (!) which they can kick in front of them. Mine never used them thus far, though perhaps because she's quite mellow and more stubborn if anything. Personally I'd place these not as 1st T's, not because of behavior (although they are really fast if they want to be!) but because keeping them is a bit more demanding. That said, these are true "swamp dwellers" that should be kept accordingly in a damp climate so restricting airflow to some degree and adding a bigger than necessary waterdish helps. I usually moisten half of her substrate and keep it that way.

Word of advice: Be careful not to get fungus or mold as these will usually abandon their burrow in that case and sit somewhat stressed out looking in a corner then. I've seen this twice with a friends T which behaved normally again after cleaning the enclosure out. Other than that - don't expect to see them daily, but you can usually get at least a glimpse of them if feeding in the afternoon, or evening. Great T's to keep for sure!


Pics (since not everyone checks picture threads...)


"Asteria", Ephebopus murinus, ~5" female - *nomnomnom*


"Asteria", Ephebopus murinus, ~5" female - different angle


"Asteria", Ephebopus murinus, ~5" female - her enclosure: Her burrow is actually to the left at the deepest end of the corkbark


"Asteria", Ephebopus murinus, ~5" female - "More mealworms? GIMME!"


"Asteria", Ephebopus murinus, ~5" female - *nomnomnom* the 2nd...


"Asteria", Ephebopus murinus, ~5" female - ...and again different angle

Springtails are my best friends in my E.murinus cage, usually I'm pretty good at getting the poo and bolus out but they back me up if I happen to miss something. I keep some moss in there as well to help keep things humid without having to worry as much about fungus in the burrow. I see mine pretty often but it's kept in a room that is generally dim, I still mainly see it in the morning and at night. These are a very nice middle of the road spider as their temperament isn't terrible and they grow at a decent rate, mine still has sling colors so I don't really have any impressive pictures of it. Overall this is probably the most stunning of the genus and are fun to watch tunnel.

Thats some plastic bag looking web haha

jigalojey said:

Thats some plastic bag looking web haha

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It's because of the moisture. She has webbed it over some, but it's not visible on the pictures

Storm76 said:

It's because of the moisture. She has webbed it over some, but it's not visible on the pictures

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Yeah I bet it looks pretty moist, looks like she has been in the enclosure for 2 years+ as well.

jigalojey said:

Yeah I bet it looks pretty moist, looks like she has been in the enclosure for 2 years+ as well.

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Actually, nope This has been her enclosure for close to a year now, though. She's often moving dirt around, webbing up new corners and the like. She also has the odd habit of putting strains of web against the lid here and there and whenever I open it, she peeks out.

Storm76 said:

Actually, nope This has been her enclosure for close to a year now, though. She's often moving dirt around, webbing up new corners and the like. She also has the odd habit of putting strains of web against the lid here and there and whenever I open it, she peeks out.

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Sounds a lot like the Australian species, burrowers/ surface active/ heavy webbers.

jigalojey said:

Sounds a lot like the Australian species, burrowers/ surface active/ heavy webbers.

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She's an oddball alright. From the moment I unpacked her I figured she doesn't fall into the general description of the species. Hardly wanted to move, played rock, then a short sprint and again playing rock. She's pretty mellow and the only time I saw her fired up was when she was in premolt and I offered food at the mound of her burrow - boy, she didn't like that!

Storm76 said:

She's an oddball alright. From the moment I unpacked her I figured she doesn't fall into the general description of the species. Hardly wanted to move, played rock, then a short sprint and again playing rock. She's pretty mellow and the only time I saw her fired up was when she was in premolt and I offered food at the mound of her burrow - boy, she didn't like that!

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Ha! How dare you offer her food, evil man.

jigalojey said:

Ha! How dare you offer her food, evil man.

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I know, right?! Suffice to say I removed the meal immediately...after I got my tongs back from her!

Storm76 said:

I know, right?! Suffice to say I removed the meal immediately...after I got my tongs back from her!

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Yeah I have a pretentious T like that, always pissy when I try and do something good for her, so I just shrug and say don't complain when her enclosure is caked in dust sitting behind everything else :wink:

jigalojey said:

Yeah I have a pretentious T like that, always pissy when I try and do something good for her, so I just shrug and say complain when her enclosure is caked in dust sitting behind everything else :wink:

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Ha! That's pretty much how I treat hers now, too. Except for feeding and watering, I don't bother her ever. She's just not one too fond of interruptions and as long as she shows up at night, I know she's fine. Plus, it's interesting watching her web a little here, a little there and oh - over there, too!

Storm76 said:

Ha! That's pretty much how I treat hers now, too. Except for feeding and watering, I don't bother her ever. She's just not one too fond of interruptions and as long as she shows up at night, I know she's fine. Plus, it's interesting watching her web a little here, a little there and oh - over there, too!

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Yes I'm also fond of big webbers.

jigalojey said:

Yes I'm also fond of big webbers.

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Btw, I'm using tropical isopods in her enclosure with great success.

Storm76 said:

Btw, I'm using tropical isopods in her enclosure with great success.

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I use silverfish for my moister species, I keep a species here that lives in mud in Rainforests in a plastic container with no air holes WITH a piece of wood in the enclosure, zero mold/fungus and I check the tank thoroughly once a week, never found any.

jigalojey said:

I use silverfish for my moister species, I keep a species here that lives in mud in Rainforests in a plastic container with no air holes WITH a piece of wood in the enclosure, zero mold/fungus and I check the tank thoroughly once a week, never found any.

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Nice. Guess those little buggers eat away all the mold / fungus that could grow. It's pretty much like that with the isopods in the enclosure of my girl, I usually don't even find any leftovers (bolus) from her the next day...works out well.

Gorgeous T! I was leaning toward making an Ephebopus species one of my next acquisitions; this thread has me leaning even farther in that direction. LOL!

LythSalicaria said:

Gorgeous T! I was leaning toward making an Ephebopus species one of my next acquisitions; this thread has me leaning even farther in that direction. LOL!

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Their genus is pretty underrated IMO. It's true, as burrowers and needing lots of moisture they're a bit more demanding, but with that in mind and knowing about their needs it's a great genus to keep. I kinda want to get an Ephebopus cyanognathus (bluefang) at some point just because I like how striking those blue fangs look. Granted, the T itself dulls out quite some as an adult, but those fangs...awesome.

If I'm not mistaken, the urticating bristles for all of these are on the pedipalps, not the abdomen. Though I'd have to look that up again if it's only true for the murinus, or the others aswell.

Storm76 said:

Their genus is pretty underrated IMO. It's true, as burrowers and needing lots of moisture they're a bit more demanding, but with that in mind and knowing about their needs it's a great genus to keep. I kinda want to get an Ephebopus cyanognathus (bluefang) at some point just because I like how striking those blue fangs look. Granted, the T itself dulls out quite some as an adult, but those fangs...awesome.

If I'm not mistaken, the urticating bristles for all of these are on the pedipalps, not the abdomen. Though I'd have to look that up again if it's only true for the murinus, or the others aswell.

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It applies to the entire genus.

BobGrill said:

It applies to the entire genus.

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I thought so, yeah. It's one detail making them very unique