THE SPINNERETTE
ISSUE 9
HILARIOUS TARANTULA STORIES
AMAZING TS IN QUARANTINE
ADVICE, CARE TIPS, TAXONOMY
PSALMOPOEUS IRMINIA VENEZUELAN SUNTIGER
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hello T lovers! It's hard to believe we are still in the midst of COVID-19, but I have been thankful to all of you (and my spiders of course) for your messages and comments
throughout this time. It's definitely been an inspiration to keep going and stay
connected during these difficult times. I hope you and your loved ones are safe. For this issue, it's all about the Psalmopoeus irminia (Venezuelan suntiger tarantula), which is an absolute stunner for any tarantula collection. While
this T is geared toward more experienced keepers, it's a spider that I think all
beginners should know about and I hope you find this information helpful. I've
also gotten some amazing silly tarantula stories in here that I think you will love! Big thank you to the Tarantula Heaven community for contributing stories/photos and The Tarantula Collective for sponsoring this issue! If you are interested in submitting feedback, being a part of future issues, or contacting me for advertising, you can do so at theavenmag@gmail.com! Spider hugs,
Patricia, Spidey + Blinky (my tarantula babies)
Tarantulaheaven.com / Tarantula Tuesday Newsletter FOLLOW MY TARANTULA STUFF!
Questions / Comments? Feel free to email me at theavenmag@gmail.com
The cover image is credited to B a y L e e ' s 8 Legged Art / Flickr Copyright Š 2020 Patricia Colli
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TABLE OF CONTENTS 08 12 16 20 28 32 60
Psalmopoeus Irminia, The Venezuelan Suntiger By Michael Fantus
Psalmopoeus Irminia Care Tips By Patricia Colli
Giving Suntigers A Good Life
An interview with Robbie Mc Strummer of Robbiestalkingts
P. Irminia: My Pet Hole
An interview with Monika Reniero
Silly Spiders
A collection of hilarious tarantula stories, submitted by T owners
Tarantulas: The Masters Of Self Quarantine
Photo submissions of everyone's tarantulas during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sources + References
A list of sources and references from articles in this issue
PSALMOPOEUS IRMINIA, THE VENEZUELAN SUN TIGER By Michael Fantus The Suntiger is visually and behaviorally one of the more popular species in the hobby. I had a female that I raised from a sling the size of a flea to an adult that had a leg-span of around 3-4”. They are concise as far as tarantulas go, but are feisty and like to remain out in the open, a big plus. She lived to be age 11. Taxonomy and Nomenclature Psalmopoeus means “creator of song” and irminia means “total, complete”. So Psalmopoeus irminia means “perfectly composed”. Name and Description History: Psalmopoeus irminia are unique in their striking black coloration paired with vibrant orange chevron and leg markings. This species can be very defensive when disturbed, yet also has the ability to accelerate from danger very quickly. Like other Psalmopoeus, this species can often be found in tree cavities at a medium height. Females reach six inches in diagonal leg span on average. Males are sexually dimorphic, appearing to have much thinner legs as well losing most of their coloration, it can be hard to distinguish them from Psalmopoeus cambridgei mature males. Like all members of Psalmopoeus , P. irminia lack urticating hairs. Eggsacs of this species typically carry 50-200 spiderlings, however, they have the 8
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons9
Psalmopoeus Irminia, The Venezuelan Suntiger, cont’d
ability to lay two eggsacs from a single mating. Classification of the Suntiger takes place as follows. The species was originally described by Saeger in 1994. Revisions to the description have followed since then:
As for the Suntiger, this includes the following data: Size: About 6” Growth Rate: Medium – fast
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Psalmopoeus irminia Saager, 1994 Psalmopoeus irminia Peters, 2000 Psalmopoeus irminia Peters, 2003 Psalmopoeus irminia Schmidt, 2003 Psalmopoeus irminia Schmidt, Bullmer & Thierer-Lutz, 2006.
*Why can’t we just look at a tarantula and name it, give it some cool nickname and have that be the end of it? Because, believe it or not, some tarantulas that appear to be exactly alike are genetically not the least bit related! We need to resort to good science and comprehensive and compulsive research at all times in order to know and understand the dynamics and creatures that reside within the living world.
10 credit: William Turner Photo
Natural Habitat: Venezuelan rainforest. They seek hollowed out areas of trees. Housing Needs: Arboreal setup. This species likes higher temps around 80 to 85 as well as high humidity. They will also do well at room temperature. Temperament: They are very fast sprinters and jumpers, are very defensive and have one of the strongest bites and potent venom of the New World species. Taxonomy:
Distribution and Status: Grey area: Habitat known to Psalmopoeus irminia. Black dot: Psalmopoeus irminia recently found in Brazil (2016). Vegetation and climate in the Paracaíma region is similar to the Northern region.
There is no information on how endangered the Suntiger is in the wild though under no circumstances should tarantulas be collected from the wild without explicit written permission of the government in the country in which it lives.
ABOUT MICHAEL Michael Fantus’ day job is marketing in a Washington DC Association. His hobbies include fiction writing, music composition, French horn playing, redwood bonsai, and tarantulizing. He is the author of a novel, the Rage of Ganymede and the Lightning Manifesto. (Never ask a girl her age, and I have a partner named Stefen Styrsky who works in legal services, is a published fiction and technical writer, as well as a film critic. He avoids the tarantulas).
Flip to the back to see references for this article!
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons 11
Psalmopoeus irminia
CARE TIPS BASIC INFO Common name: Venezuelan suntiger
Scientific name: Psalmopoeus irminia
Experience level: Intermediate Advanced
Type: New World, arboreal
Origin: Venezuela, North Guyana, North Brazil, ParacaĂma
Life span: Males can live up to 4 years. Females could live up to 12 years.
Growth rate: Fast
Size: 5.5-6" diagonal leg span APPEARANCE
Psalmopoeus irminia has unique, beautiful coloring: vibrant black with bright orange chevron marks on its legs and orange tiger-stripes on their abdomen. On the underside of their feet, P. irminia has an iridescent green and blue coloring. This species experiences sexual dimorphism in which females are larger and more vibrant in coloring than males. BEHAVIOR
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Attitude: Psalmopoeus irminia are fast moving and can be quite defensive, which is why they are not necessarily recommended for new tarantula owners.
Defensive behavior: P. irminia are very fast sprinters as well as jumpers, and are quite defensive. They are known to bite when feeling threatened. P. irminia, despite being a New World species, does not have urticating hairs.
Bite danger: A bite from the Venezuelan suntiger can be quite dangerous - they have one of the strongest bites and venom of new world tarantulas.
Handling: Handling tarantulas is not recommended, and handling a P. irminia is particularly dangerous due to its potent venom and defensive/skittish nature.
DIET + NUTRITION Venezuelan suntigers can eat crickets, roaches, locusts, moths and worms.
THE TARANTULA COLLECTIVE: VENEZUELAN SUNTIGER TARANTULA (PSALMOPOEUS IRMINIA) CARE & HUSBANDRY
HOUSING Substrate: 3″ of coconut fiber substrate is suitable due to its resistance to mold. Substrate can be misted weekly.
Enclosure: This tarantula should have an arboreal terrarium. The enclosure should be taller with not too much floor space.
Temperature: Venezuelan suntigers thrive in room temperature up to ranges of 8085°F.
Decor: A piece of bark placed vertically as well as other plants/ decorations for webbing anchor points.
Humidity: P. irminia come from a rainforest habitat so they need some humidity. You can provide this by keeping the substrate damp.
Collection notes: This species can be quite reclusive and may live in their web tunnels. They may also spend quite a bit of time on the ground despite being an arboreal species.
Ventilation: This tarantula needs several ventilation holes to prevent mold in the enclosure.
Water: A small water dish should always be present along with weekly misting. FUN FACTS
Despite being an arboreal species of tarantula, P. irminia slings and some adults will actually hang out on the ground until they reach a larger size. Some will even burrow.
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Unlike most New World tarantulas, Psalmopoeus irminia do not have urticating hairs. However, this spider has a much stronger venom than other New World species, and is very fast to make up for its lack of urticating hairs.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
GIVING SUNTIGERS A GOOD LIFE
An interview with Robbie Mc Strummer
Robbie is a tarantula keeper from England who shares his journey in tarantula keeping on his YouTube channel Robbiestalkingts. Here, he shares his journey with Psalmopoeus irminia tarantula. Tell us about yourself! My names is Robbie, I'm 35 from London, England and I'm a musician and Youtuber. My hobbies are music, movies and video games. What inspired you to get a P. irminia? I was inspired to get a Psalmopoeus irminia right after seeing posts on Instagram featuring what in my opinion is one of the most
stunningly beautiful arboreal species out there. What’s been your experience with this spider? My experience so far has been great, these guys are great eaters, grow fast so it won't take long before you have a gorgeous adult spider on your hands. The only downside is they are very reclusive and you won't see them out and about all too often. Do you have experience with male/female/ breeding in this species? I haven't experienced breeding this species myself but my mature male has just been sent to The Spider Shop (UK) to do his duty and make little spiderlings :). In raising this species from a sling, what did you learn about this spider? What was the most enjoyable life stage to care for? The most amazing part of raising this species from a sling is seeing it go through all its life cycles from sling to juvenile, sub adult, adult and ultimately maturing and also seeing those stunning black and orange colours.
16 credit: Robbie Mc Strummer Photo
Photo credit: Robbie Mc Strummer
How does this tarantula’s temperament compare to others? Temperament wise I've found if you just let the T do its thing, you shouldn't have any issues but they are lightning quick and can be defensive if disturbed.
What care tips work well for this spider? They like moisture, and a dark place to hide. They can be very photo sensitive. I used to mist the enclosure every 3 to 4 days and let it dry out. As slings, feed every other day and less frequently as it got older.
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Take my mature male for example, the only time it got defensive was when I got it into the catch cup to package it and be shipped to The Spider Shop.
Have you ever had a scary/challenging experience with this species? No, to be honest mine have been good as gold and a joy to raise. In your experience, how does this tarantula compare to others?
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A Good Life For A Suntiger, cont'd
ROBBIESTALKINGTS: POECILOTHERIA SUBFUSCA LOWLAND REHOUSE!!!
What advice would you give to T owners looking to raise spiders for breeding purposes? How do you make good breeding deals and trades? Well I'm lucky enough to know very reputable breeders. And when it comes to breeding deals, settle for what's best for you and what you want from it.
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That's a great question. In my experience all tarantulas are fundamentally the same. They can be really defensive or really calm, it all depends on how you interact with the specimen. General rule is if you don't mess with them, then they won't mess with you.
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At the end of the day if you're not happy with what's being offered, don't accept the deal. What’s the #1 tip you’d give for caring for the P. irminia? My number one tip is just enjoy it and don't panic when it comes to dealing with any species.
ABOUT ROBBIE Robbie is a tarantula YouTuber and a musician living in London. If you'd like to see more from him, feel free to check out his YouTube channel or Instagram, Robbiestalkingts!
Photo credit: Robbie Mc Strummer
P. IRMINIA: MY PET HOLE
An interview with Monika Reniero
Monika has been keeping tarantulas for decades and has been passionate about spiders since childhood. Tell us about yourself! I'm a metal head comic nerd, exotics keeping (spider and snakes) gramma. When/how did you get into tarantulas? I've been into tarantulas/spiders since I was a kid. I collected ones from outside and kept them under my bed. I've always been amazed with these amazing creatures, from their colors to how they molt and spin webs.
Photo credit: Monika Reniero
What does your collection look like now? My collection right now is mainly Brachypelma. What’s your favorite tarantula or goal spider? My favorite is Brachypelma hamorii. What inspired you to get a P. irminia? I had to get a P. irminia cause of its beauty and the tiger butt lol!
Photo credit: Monika Reniero
What’s been your experience with this spider? My experience with P. irminia is it's a pet hole lol. But I loved dropping food at the top of its amazing web burrow and watching the lightning fast response, pouncing on its prey. My female would come out once in a blue moon to make an appearance as to say "look how beautiful I am." Do you have experience with breeding in this species? I have bred this species before. It was a dance, that's how I can best describe it. Took them hours and hours of dancing and tapping before lock up.
Unfortunately the male was taken down which is a risk you take when pairing spiders. Would you recommend this tarantula to a newer tarantula owner? Why/why not? I wouldn't recommend this as a first tarantula as they are fast and the bite is more medically significant. Once you have owned tarantulas for a while, I so recommend getting this beauty, it's a musthave for serious collectors. What care tips work well for this spider? Care tips - an arboreal set up and
mist once a week, it's what I found kept her happy. Have you ever had a scary/ challenging experience with this species? The only challenge I have had with this species was when they were slings. Like I said, fast little buggers and ran up on me more than a few times. It was fun trying to catch a P. irminia sling off your body lol! What’s the #1 tip you’d give for caring for the P. irminia? #1 care tip, just make sure to mist them once a week and be patient having a pet hole.
Photo credit: Monika Reniero
There is so much that is my favorite about tarantula keeping. The whole experience and the many species. I loved watching them grow from slings to adults. Watching the webbers make their homes, the borrowers digging a house. The whole molting process and how they regenerate pretty much everything. How they can regrow a body part (leg) if they have somehow lost one. How they have a mating dance that can last hours. Watching the mama spider make her egg bowl and lay her eggs, then seeing how caring and protective of a mother she is. Opening
an egg sac and seeing all the adorable babies.
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What’s your favorite thing about tarantula keeping?
There is so much I love about it, but all I can say is you need to experience it to fully understand the love a lot of people have for these amazing creatures.
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ABOUT MONIKA Monika is a long time tarantula keeper, having kept tarantulas for decades, since she was in childhood! She is passionate about tarantula care and many other animals.
Due to their defensive nature, many owners of P. irminia tarantulas will tap on the glass of the enclosure a few times to warn their spider before feedings, cleanings, or water refills.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
tarantula
COMMU 26
a
Photo credit: Piqsels
In this section we highlight tarantula owners from around the world and share their experiences. To make a submission, email me!
UNITY
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I asked my Tarantula Heaven community to share their silliest/weirdest tarantula tales, and let's just say they didn't disappoint. I hope you find this charming collection of stories relatable and enjoyable! "Rehousing my seladonia: So I open the enclosure and look around. It's in a corner. I take the top off, put it in a large tub in case it bolts. I took a piece of leaf, tapped it, it bolts, runs out the tub onto my shorts then up my shorts. I instantly strip to nothing, my wife comes in like what the hell are you doing? I am looking through my clothes, can't find anything. I pull my wallet out and BAM it comes out the wallet. I joke he took a 20 out the wallet." - Charles Kruger "So I just got my first versicolor about a week ago. This is my first ever crazy spider I should say. I rehoused him into the new enclosure and as I was going to grab the cup it jumped at my arm, barely missed but I about had a heart attack and
knocked over all the extra substrate I had. Also let me remind you this spider is 1 inch and all my other ones are 6 inch to 7 inch monsters and I'm scared of a little 1 inch guy." - Zachary Solimeno "Who knew that tarantulas could squirt poop onto your chest while on your hand. I was holding my pink toe for the first time. So here I am sitting on my couch under my Pocahontas blanket overcoming my fear of spiders, letting her walk from one of my hands to my next and so on. All off a sudden I have this stuff hit me on my left breast and it turned out to be spider poop. That shot about a foot from my hand onto my chest." - Eileen Orlando "1. I got pooped on by my P. irminia. 2. My arachnophobic friend, not
Photo Credit: Needpix.com
Silly Spiders, cont’d
knowing I keep tarantulas and she walked into my room.... 3. I have my tong ready in the air with a meal worm and is about to feed my Chilobrachys guangxiensis. I know Chilobrachys sp are known to be skittish and the dealer I got her from said she is psycho, though I wasn’t actually expecting anything too defensive from her since the rehouse has been very smooth. One day I saw some mold growing in the bottom of her burrow (her burrow isn’t deep) and decided to use my tong to get them out since there aren’t too many. I put my tongs in, accidentally poked her and she launched at the tongs and scared the heck out of me. Quickly
dropped the tong was like nope nope nope nope nope just a hundred nope, you can have this tong I can just go get a new one." - Gao Jeff "My Arizona blonde sling deliberately trolls me with its water dish (I think). EVERY time I clean it out, the next day I come home and see it filled with dirt. What a naughty little spider!" - Patricia Colli "First time tarantula owner. My second feeding of my 0.5 inch C. versicolor and it decides it wants to haul booty out of its little enclosure when I open it. Up on my tongs, then finger, then hand. I freaked out since I've never even held
a T. or spider before (without squashing it immediately or flinging it uncontrollably across the room) - pretty decent arachnophobe here! After the initial teleport, it chilled out and casually strolled my hand and fingers for a few minutes as I panicked trying to figure out how to get it back in without squishing or flinging. It took every ounce of control. After a minute - that felt like an eternity - it was done with its outing and just walked right back into its home! Little turd! But holy cow was I happy I got through it! Now I wish it would come out more! Lol!" - Shannon Hyde-Melcher
Photo Credit: Piqsels.com
Thank you all for sharing your stories!!!
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I asked my Tarantula Heaven community to share photos of what their spiders have been doing since COVID-19 - and I loved the responses! Here is a collection of their amazing pets. Thank you to all who submitted!
33 Photo credit: Caitlyn Faith
Photo credit: Blake Ross
Photo credit: Blake Ross
Photo credit: Lori Jacobi
Photo credit: Ash Von Schaumburg
"Settling into a new home is hard work so Benz is taking a well deserved roach break."
Photo credit: Ash Von Schaumburg
"T. vagans doing post-molt spooder yoga."
Photo credit: Ash Von Schaumburg
"Grammostola rosea (she's called Namira) having her post-moult meal."
Photo credit: Gemma Casa Wilks
Photo credit: Alixander Edwin
Photo credit: Linda Orambo
Photo credit: Linda Orambo
Photo credit: Shauna Ann Dudgeon
Photo credit: Shauna Ann Dudgeon
Photo credit: Shauna Ann Dudgeon
"Balancing."
Photo credit: Sara Louise Hopkins
"Hiding...ish!"
Photo credit: Sara Louise Hopkins
"Perching..."
Photo credit: Sara Louise Hopkins
"Just happened to catch him laying over on his water dish."
"Then he molted shortly after."
Photo credit: Julie Arnold
Photo credit: Julie Arnold
Photo credit: Shantel Marie Banks
Photo credit: Shantel Marie Banks
Photo credit: Shanti Perez
"Post-ultimate male T. albopilosum named L'Elephant."
"Haplocosmia himalayana."
Photo credit: Shanti Perez
" Ceratogyrus darlingi."
Photo credit: Shanti Perez
Photo credit: Shanti Perez
" Pelinobius muticus Maneater."
Photo credit: Shanti Perez
"G. rosea hiding in her log because I changed her substrate and enclosure. She does this every time for at least a week and a half before she gets over herself and comes out."
Photo credit: Kimi Mansfield
"One of my littles won't put her back leg down."
Photo credit: Kimi Mansfield
Photo credit: Patricia Colli
Photo credit: Patricia Colli
"Spidey does her Sunday yoga routine."
"Little Blinky cuddles their cockroach :(."
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REFERENCES Psalmopoeus Irminia, the Venezuelan Sun Tiger Author: Michael Fantus Beechhold, H. (n.d.). A Key to the Pronunciation and Meaning of Scientific Names of Popular Species Part II: Meaning. Retrieved April 18, 2020, from http://atshq.org/articles/beechwp2.html Meaning of Irminia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2020, from https://nameberry.com/babyname/Irminia Venezuelan Suntiger Tarantula. (n.d.). Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/210891Psalmopoeus-irminia Meaning of Irminia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2020, from https://nameberry.com/babyname/Irminia Psalmopoeus irminia Saager, 1994. (2016, September 23). Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://wsc.nmbe.ch/ species/37843/Psalmopoeus_irminia Psalmopoeus irminia. (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psalmopoeus_irminia D. (2019b, May 1). Psalmopoeus irminia. Retrieved April 20, 2020, from https://www.theraphosidae.be/en/ psalmopoeus-irminia/
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons 60
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons 61
bye for now!
Thank you for supporting The Spinnerette and its 9th issue! A big thank you to The Tarantula Collective for sponsoring this magazine and for doing amazing work to make the tarantula keeping community an informed and positive space. If you have any feedback about how this magazine could be improved or things you’d like to see this magazine cover, please feel free to email me at theavenmag@gmail.com. You can also email me if you’d like to submit something to the magazine or pitch an idea for a future issue! As always, you can find me on Facebook in my tarantula group, or subscribe to my Patreon to see more behind the scenes content about this magazine and my life with my tarantulas. I hope you and your loved ones are safe as we all adjust to a new normal (from home) during the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope this magazine has provided you at least some momentary distraction, inside the world of tarantulas!
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