This guy is insane (A. diversipes).

I bought this guy at about 2.5" or so from Twin Cities Reptiles in Minneapolis. He was in a 2"x2"x6" tall clear acrylic box (the usual type). It was too small for him, so, when I got home, I started building and acrylic cage for him, similar in design to the Jamie's Tarantulas cages.

A couple of days later, while the glue odor was still airing out, I opened the box to get a closer look at the spider and sprinkle a little water in there. There was a dense web at the top with a hole in it for the spider, and he was facing down and near the bottom. I gave the webbing a little tug to see how strong it was (plenty tough). A few seconds after that he came rocketing out of the little hole in the web like a flaming ball from a roman candle, raced up my arm, around my back, down the other arm, and plopped onto the carpet. He stopped.

After I changed my underwear, I went to check on him-- he hadn't moved. I looked at the box, looked at the spider... there wasn't a snowball's chance in h311 that I was getting him back in there. I didn't want a repeat of Ring Around the Ophidia, so I put a glass over him. I guess it was time to hurriedly finish his cage.

I set it out in the sun to let the heat finish baking the stink out, then got coco substrate in there, used fish-safe underwater epoxy to attach some silk plants to the top, put some more silk plant in, etc. I closed it up and set it back in the sun so I could smell in it to make sure all the glue odor was gone, and it was fine. I slid a card under the glass, got it in the cage, pulled out the card, and slowly turned it right side up. He ROCKETED out of the glass and shot up the side of the cage. I got the door shut before he blew out of there. The next day he had heavily webbed himself in above one of the leaves, and stayed in there until he molted about 3 weeks later.

Anyway, post molt, he's about 3.5" and I suspect a male from the exuvium. He is still completely insane and overreacts intensely to any sort of medium vibration, or god forbid you should TOUCH him. He goes insane! Which brings me to the final leg of my tale.

Last night I opened the cage to retrieve the little condiment cup I'd superglued up by his molting web, as he was no longer using the web and there was evidence of him being near the water bowl (webbing, messed up substrate). I plucked it off the side, and the glue made a light ripping sound.

HE TOTALLY LOST HIS MIND! I swear he hit every square inch of the interior of the cage, legs thumping and flopping around like a rubber spider on a stick! He then zipped out of the cage and came to a stop on the side. I checked my undies again (fine) and looked at him. This was my first close look since he molted-- what a pretty spider-- both in appearance, and, well, pretty high strung. I waited about 10 minutes to let him chill then put a deli cup over him. He went bonkers again and ricocheted around in the deli cup like he was made of flubber for about 30 seconds. He then stopped. I slid the lid between the cup and the cage, and just barely snapped it on. I gently set it in the cage (freaked out again in the cup) then walked away to let him settle.

About 10 minutes later I went to remove the lid. I had barely snapped it on so was hoping I could get it off soundlessly, which I did do, but he STILL streaked out of it, around the inside of the cage, out the door, and parked himself right on the front of the shelf, displaying his full glory. Perfect photo op, and I'll attach it to this post. I let him chill for about a half hour-forty five minutes, then put a clear plastic mug over him and slid an envelope between. He freaked again (of course). I set it in the cage, waited for him to stop, then gently, slowly, removed the envelope. He didn't move, so I shut the damn door. He has subsequently made the mug his base of operations, so, for now, his natural looking decor includes a Magic Bullet blender mug.

So that's my story about Spaz the A. diversipes. He's my first arboreal, and his personality is completely different from the A. avicularias I've looked at and handled. He. Is. CRAZY!

Please take a look at the pic and let me know if you think he is indeed a diversipes-- doesn't look like a lot of the pics I've looked at. He's captive bred, for what it's worth. Even if he's not, he's still a very pretty, albeit high strung, animal.

Thanks for reading!

-Chris

Hahaha you haven't even seen how fast OW arboreals can be. Gorgeous T! Be careful.

Glad your undies were fine lol!

Definitely A. Diversipes..

I love all the speedy ones! LOL
Thankfully it wasn't an H. mac or OBT...You'd still be looking for it.
PS...If it were an OW, your shorts probably wouldn't have survived!

I can't believe you let it chill out of its cage for that long....I couldn't imagine waiting 30-45 minutes before corralling the t.

Beautiful diversipes, cant wait till my little 3/4 inch sling gets those colors messy shorts or not

great a crazy psycho avic. my wife will probably want one of these now to go with her pokies and baboons.

It didn't ACTUALLY freak me out this time, though I was pretty startled when he rocketed out of his little plastic box that first time. He was happy to chill on the front of the shelf while I took lots of pictures of him and worked around in my critter room/office. I kept an eye on him-- if he'd decided to start moving around I'd have caught him right away. I never get very good looks at him so I was enjoying him being visible. I think his behavior is hilarious-- what a spaz! No threat displays or anything, just zooms around.

As far as OW T's, I just got a P. rufilata sling and a Augacephalus ezendami sling (showed up on Wednesday, along with an A. versicolor sling and a blue fang sling). I'm cutting my OW teeth on those two species. I've read that the A. ezendami is as good a starter OW as any, and I really like the looks (and size) of adult P. rufilata, and there was one available, so I took the plunge. You can bet I will be far, far more careful with that one and the cage I build for it as an adult will be designed with minimal-contact maintenance in mind. So far the pokie is making a nest and actively weaving substrate in. It's fun to watch because it always seems to be doing something. The others just sit there.

The A. versicolor sling came out of it's little paper towel plug in it's vial and crawled on my hand like it owned the place. It's a delightful little thing, not spastic at all, and super cute. When I released the blue fang and the A. ezendami, I did it carefully, in the bathtub, with all the precautions. I didn't want them to take off and hurt themselves (or get eaten by a cat). I put the pokie's vial in the fridge for a couple of minutes to slow it down so I wouldn't have to worry about it doing anything. It worked, and it's fine now. All have eaten a pinhead rusty red and a small cricket. I'm really looking forward to watching these guys grow.

The blue fang is just a beast at meal time-- BAM! The others attack a bit more reservedly.

I'm glad I got back into this hobby. I'm enjoying the heck out of these things.

'He' seems to be your pronoun of choice here...is that a fact? Do you have a ventral shot? You wouldn't have to open the cage to get that....just wait......:biggrin:
That's a really good looking picture. They are easily spooked! Take care not to stress 'him' out; tarantula teleportation shortens their life span, I hear....

And I hate to be mom right now but since you're handling.....
DON'T FORGET TO WASH YOUR HANDS

I tried to get a ventral when he was in the deli cup, but it was too opaque so there wasn't much detail. I do have the exuvium from the last molt I could try to rehydrate. I'll watch for another photo op. I'm not planning on actually handling him, because he's so fast and nervous I'm worried he'd hurt himself. I'm more look but don't touch for the most part anyway-- they don't enjoy being handled and it's risky.

I didn't actually touch him but I always wash my hands. Last thing I need is to rub urticating hairs in my eyes! When I first got contacts, I chopped up some hot peppers and then took out my contacts... even though I washed my hands well before, I still ended up throwing that first pair away... . My first T that I got when I started keeping them again was (and still is) a female LP. Haven't gotten urticated yet. I'm sure it'll happen eventually.

EDIT: Got a much better pic. At the bottom.

He's actually cooperating. Unfortunately, he's too dark and there's too much coco dust on the acrylic to see all that well. I've attached the better of the pics I took. I could try messing with the aperture and stuff... still new to the DSLR thing.

Thanks for the story and for the pictures. That is a beautiful little spider. Love the bits of red on his feet, that's too cute.

Funny that such a live wire would be okay with sitting on top of the cage for 30 minutes at a stretch. You'd think he'd try and bolt off into sweet freedom with his speed.

This was a fun story to read . I love that he kept your magic bullet cup . I have a few ts that have kept a few odd things as well , it's always funny . Diversipes are lovely ts their color changes are so awesome . I guess I got lucky mine were quite mellow most of the time . Thanks for the post .

Not insane at all. That T is lovely.

I have an A diversipes sling (the one who never eats although I *think* she took a pinhead roach today -- I put one in this AM and saw her bodyhugging 'something' while on tippy-toes, so she must have taken food finally). But mine walks slowly, is never in a rush -- I take my time cleaning enclosure with lid off. Guess I better newbie-up and not let my guard down with him/her. My adult/sub-adult female A avic has never demonstrated any speed either, just sort of watches me clean and stuff -- never even attempted a bolt. Obviously I do keep a catch cup 'at the ready' when doing any feeding/maintenance for any of my Ts.

Anyway -- funny story, good thread, interesting information. Guess I've been treating my avics like a slow species -- I will be much more on guard now.

Diversipes, latea, and versicolor are all very fast-moving for Avics. Diversipes and latea can be very defensive as well. Versicolor can occasionally be defensive as well in my experience but not as bad as those other two.

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Insanity is a general arboreal trait, no matter the kingdom. At least your diversipes subscribes to spastic, rather than bitey and evil (I'm looking at you, Mangrove Pit Viper).

My MM was pretty much the same way - A. diversipes are more high-strung in the genus. Same goes for A. laeta although those tend to stand their ground while diversipes freak out quite often. The MM I raised was the only spider ever (thus far!) that managed to nearly escape on me - ending up on the wall behind the bed. Catchcup resolved that problem in a couple minutes though. Arboreals keep you on your toes - never underestimate a spider able to climb 3 dimensions at high speed.

PS: Besides the OWs...you may want to wait before trying your luck with Tapinauchineus or Psalmopoeus spp. then - it may be funny to read, but pretty heart-pumping for you I guess

He seems to have settled into his routine now. The roaches and crickets I put in there eventually disappear, and he occasionally is in the other web he created from day to day. He's not very easy to observe because he's never out.

I got a versicolor sling a couple of weeks ago that's a delightful little thing. It tends to wander out onto my hand when I go to feed it. It's such a cute, delightful little blue thing that I can't help but let it wander around on my hands for a few minutes before I put it back to eat. It's definitely much more calm than the A. diversipes (though it's only about 3/4 of an inch in legspan at the moment... much will undoubtedly change as it grows).