Abbreviations and info for new Tarantula keepers

[Incubuss]

Originally Posted by mikie

Sorry, what is mm, cb, etc....

MM - mature male
AF - adult female
CB - captive bread
WC - wild caught
(MF) - mated female

[Brianmul]

Perfect great addvice ,thanks mate

[ph0bia]

Good stuff! Got a few additions you may wish to add to the original post (up to you, they were ones that confused me and some others on previous forums) and some problems I spotted.

Possible additions to consider:

Hoppers - slang term for immature desert locusts.
Crix - Crickets
Instar - The 'period of age' for a tarantula. Essentially, the molt number (ie, if it's molted three times, it's called a third instar)
Obligate Burrowers - Species that will not use a makeshift hide like cork bark or half plant pot. They dig near vertical burrows downwards and excavate a cave in the bottom. Example: Haplopelma species.
Gravid - The state of being impregnated and awaiting to lay eggs. Almost synonymous with pregnant.
Kick - Kicking urticating bristles.
MM - Mature male
AF - Adult female
CB - Captive bread
WC - Wild caught


Corrections:

OBT - Originally stood for Orange Baboon Tarantula, later became Orange Bitey Thing. (Not really a necessary correction but meh =P)
Ground Dwelling - Essentially, Obligate Burrowers are ground dwellers and lots of "Ground Dwelling" species (by your definition) excavate extensive burrows (B.smithi for example has been seen to burrow quite extensively if given the chance). Perhaps it would be better changing it to Opportunistic Burrowers?
Uricating hairs - [Sp] Urticating. Also, the correct terminology would be bristles, but I'm probably being anal here.

I'd also agree with changing "Latin Names" to "Scientific Names". Simply because a lot of the words used are not latin, some are greek, some are pseudo-greek, latinated greek and pseudo-latin (ie Sjoedesti, Smithi, Blondi etc are not latin words).

Other than that, an incredible post! I tried to create one of these on another board I'm on, but the admins deemed it "unneccessary and pedantic to the community".

Since then we've had numerous topics and threads titled: "What is OBT???" "wot duz sling meen?!?!?!one1!?" etc... *sigh* Good work to you for writing it, and good job to the admins for stickying.

[Oldcorn]

what does "Instar" mean?

[Oldcorn]

DAH just re-read and its here, sorry

[PSYCHOSIS]

This is a very very good thread well done .

[Rory1994]

what does sp. mean?

[Mutley.100]

sp. = species

[MissyBats]

really helpful! thanks!
I need to write a list of mine! lol
x

[_Birdeater_WM_]

exellent information and you know when people refer to there tarantulas as L1 L2 etc does this mean the amount of times they have alted , cheers