Pterinochilus murinus group
Identity confidence: provisional. This is a genus, group, or trade name rather than a confirmed species. Treat it as the closest match we can stand behind, and use the more conservative end of any range.
OBT / Baboon Tarantulas: Advanced Care Guide
Keeper Snapshot: A fast, defensive, heavy-webbing Old World group for experienced keepers: the 'Orange Bitey Thing'. Adults reach about 5-6 inches across and grow fast.
Group: Industry StaplesDifficulty: Spice 4: AdvancedSetup: Dry webbing terrestrial/semi-arborealHandling: NEVER
Use This Guide Safely
- Confirm the exact animal. Match this guide to the species, locality, size, and life stage on your label. If the ID is uncertain, use the more conservative part of the range and ask before changing the setup.
- Change one thing at a time. Treat temperature and humidity as target zones, then watch posture, burrowing, drinking, feeding, and molt behavior before making another adjustment.
- Respect the handling boundary. If the guide says no handling, fast, defensive, or medically significant, plan transfers with catch cups, locked lids, and no bare hands. For serious bites, stings, or symptoms, seek emergency medical care.
Quick Snapshot
| Temperature | 75-85°F |
|---|---|
| Humidity | Low-Moderate ambient (45-60%) with strong cross ventilation; dry substrate, full dish |
| Setup Type | Dry webbing terrestrial/semi-arboreal |
| Substrate | Dry substrate + web anchors |
| Feeding | Weekly |
| Care Difficulty | Spice 4: Advanced |
| Handling | NEVER |
Humidity zones: Very Low under 30% - Low 30-60% - Low-Moderate 40-70% - Moderate 60-80% - Moderate-High 70-85% - High 80%+ - Very High 90%+
Enclosure Format / Size Class
- Compact secure enclosure while it's a tiny sling
- Dry deep substrate with vertical web anchor points for juveniles
- Larger webbed terrestrial/semi-arboreal build for the adult
Warnings First
- Defensive, and temperament varies wildly between individuals
- Very fast
- Bite is painful: well short of Poecilotheria/Stromatopelma, but still an Old World bite
- A dense web fortress blocks airflow through itself. Vent low on two opposite walls so air moves beneath the structure rather than stopping on top of it.
Simple Care
- Dry, webby, secure.
- Vents low on two opposite walls so air crosses under and through the web fortress.
- Provide anchor points.
- Water dish with pebbles in it so slings cannot drown.
- No handling.
Advanced Keeper Notes
Enclosure & Microclimate
- Give cork, sticks, and anchor points so the spider can build a web fortress.
- Keep mostly dry with water available. Avoid swampy conditions.
- The web fortress that makes this species a great display is also a ventilation baffle. Air entering through a lid vent stops at the top of the silk and never reaches the spider inside. Put vents low on two opposite walls, at or just above the substrate, so air moves horizontally beneath and through the structure. On a heavy webber this is the difference between a dry enclosure and a dry-looking enclosure with a damp interior.
- On a dry species the ventilation and humidity trade works in your favor. More airflow costs you nothing here. Airflow holds ambient at 45 to 60% by itself, so the dish is the only input and there is no reason to restrict vents at all.
- Judge by touch rather than by gauge. Substrate reads dry away from the dish, the webbing feels dry, and there is no condensation on the glass behind the silk. Damp webbing is the specific early warning on a species that builds this heavily.
- Keep the dish full and put pebbles or coarse grit in it so the waterline sits below the rim. Slings drown in adult-scaled dishes, and on this genus the dish frequently ends up webbed over and half-hidden, which makes an unsafe one easy to overlook.
- If you offer a damp spot, put it at the dish or under a cork piece rather than misting the web. Soaking the silk leaves a damp mat with dead air behind it, which is the one reliable way to make an otherwise bulletproof OBT setup go wrong.
Feeding, Growth & Maintenance
- This is not a beginner species even though care is physically simple.
- Sold under many color forms (RCF/DCF/TCF/BCF, 'Usambara', 'Mombasa', 'Kigoma' and more): all the same animal, all the same care.
- Molting: a premolt tarantula turns sluggish, seals up its burrow or web fortress, and refuses food for days or even weeks. Pull any uneaten feeders, leave it strictly alone, and wait 5-10 days after the molt (until the new fangs and exoskeleton harden) before feeding again.
Possible Origin / Range
- Likely native range: East and southern Africa dry savanna and scrub habitats.
- Habitat translation: Dry-to-moderate fossorial or heavy-webbing setup with a starter burrow and anchor points.
Advanced Keeper Details
- Let it web heavily; webbing is security and helps reduce defensive encounters.
- Rehousing is an advanced operation: use catch cups, tubs, and deliberate movement.
- Adult size ~5-6 in DLS; a fast grower; females ~12-15 years. Temperament is genuinely individual: some are reclusive web-dwellers, others are pure 'OBT'; mature males are reliably the worst. Husbandry is dead simple (dry, deep substrate, plenty of web anchors): the difficulty rating is entirely about speed and defensiveness, not care.