theraphosids

[theraphosids]

Hi! I see this is an old post but I joined tumblr just to ask you a question... I love your pics of your young spiders in glass jars as an enclosure. It looks beautiful! I have 2 slings on the way and I went to Micheals today and purchased 2 pretty glass jars (one is a "candy dish" and one a "glass terrarium" meant for succulant type plants) both just have a fitted glass lid that easily lifts off with no rubber seal for airtightness. My question to you...will my babys get enough ventilation?

This is a good question but also hard to answer, it really depends on the jar.  If it's not airtight they will probably be fine in terms of air to breathe, but what you really need to watch out for is humidity, especially mold.  If you frequently see condensation on the side of the jar, it might not be ventilated enough.  

[theraphosids]

I can has cricket?

[theraphosids]

BRB. Going for a walk.

[theraphosids]

My beautiful P. subfusca Aquinas has been surprisingly visible lately. She doesn’t mind posing for pics or even eating while I’m watching as long as I don’t touch her. She whirls like lightning and assumes attack posture when touched, so I only ever try with a long-handled brush, and only when strictly necessary.

[theraphosids]

Amazing!

Thanks for following!

mexican fire leg, Brachypelma boehmei

(gif credit to colorsoffauna) 

[theraphosids]

Helllooo! Drusus says hi and apologizes for our extended absence. He’s been busy with life stuff like writing and pouncing on crickets.

[theraphosids]

Spiderlog 28/07/12

A bunch of molts recently, starting with Bacon a couple of weeks ago, then Lassie, then, to my surprise, Pitch and finally, tonight, Chrysippus molted for the first time since I got him a couple of months ago.  Finally, Aquinas is definitely in premolt and Drusus is almost certainly, as well. 

Unfortunately, when Pitch molted I noticed that his enclosure was full of really aggressive mold.  He's going to be really unhappy to be disturbed so soon after molting, but I really can't risk him being down there in all that mold too long, so he's due for an emergency rehouse tomorrow. 

Update 29/07:  Woke up this morning to see two *gigantic* legs stretching out of Aquinas's hide.  He must have molted last night or the day before.  I haven't seen all of him yet, but based just on the length and distance of the front legs, he's at least 4" and he's overtaken Drusus for the title of biggest T.  Exciting!  And a little scary.  The most exciting thing is that he has the first tiny streaks of yellow on his front legs; his adult color is starting to come in, but I'm still not sure if he's actually male or female.  I'm crossing my fingers for a female, of course...It'll probably be a while before I can get a decent picture of him.

Rehoused Pitch earlier today.  Pictures soon.

[theraphosids]

Bacon Rehouse

Bacon, my Cyclosternum fasciatum, molted recently and I decided to transfer him from his dry and webby sling enclosure to a nice big foresty environment he could grow into.  You can see the new enclosure, then the new next to the old with Bacon already inside, and finally a close-up of Bacon in his new home.  Most of his adult patterning (including the radial striping on the thorax) is already showing.  He's a bold little guy, this one, and he hopped right into his new enclosure and started exploring and webbing.  You can't clearly see it, but under near the bigger leaf, where my fingers are in the first picture, I dug a little starter burrow for him, partly covered by the piece of wood; he's been using it to hide in occasionally, but mostly he's happy to sit in plain sight, though he responds pretty aggressively if the lid of the container is lifted.

Unlike the B. smithi enclosure I made a few posts ago, this one is going to be considerably more humid and moist.  C. fasciatum is a forest spider from Costa Rica, and prefers things a little more wet than the scrub/arid B. smithi.  That's why I put moss in Drusus' new enclosure, but a living cutting of silver-spotted philodendron in Bacon's new home; the plant cutting likes relative darkness with good circulation and wet soil, so it's perfect for a T like this one.  I also used a cutting of the same plant of the new house I made for my P. subfusca about 6 weeks ago, and the plant is rooting nicely. 

[theraphosids]

Not to be contrary, but I think this is a Cycolsternum fasciatum.  Haplopus have hourglass shapes on their thorax; this guy has a radial thorax pattern like my little Bacon. 

Awesome picture, regardless!

H. sp. pumpkin patch

[theraphosids]

Rehousing Drusus

I put Drusus in his new home today.  It was remarkably easy.  I left the lid of his jar open for a few minutes to see if he wanted to explore.  Sure enough, his little claws came over the edge so I let him climb out onto my hand.  He went for a little walk then went happily into his new enclosure, where he promptly began to tear up the moss and scatter the pieces.  I guess he feels at home.

Drusus is amazingly calm, even for a b. smithi.  Rehousing a tarantula is usually less easy than this. 

[theraphosids]

Tarantula Yoga - One-Legged Spider Pose

I love it when my Ts do random shit like this.  This isn't Drusus, it's his twin sister Drucilla (she's a molt cycle and a half behind him). 

[theraphosids]

Tarantula Enclosure Construction: Brachypelma smithi

It goes without saying that every species needs an enclosure suitable to its needs and habits.  After Drusus trashed his enclosure last week, I decided to speed up his rehousing schedule and made this pictorial while I was working.  Each point corresponds to one picture.

1). I used a conveniently-sized plastic bin that had originally been the home of really delicious Danish cookies.  I cleaned and de-stickered it, then drilled holes along the top and the sides for cross-ventilation. 

2). The box has a flip lid, which is a nice bonus:  anything that helps you control or restrain a very fast, predatory animal is usually a plus. 

3). I filled in a thin layer of substrate first, and then used a spray bottle to get it really soaked through.  Then I add more substrate on top.  The advantage of doing this is that a layer of moisture is trapped beneath the substrate and evaporates up, keeping the enclosure humid without keeping the surface of the substrate wet, which scrub tarantulas like B. smithi don't particularly enjoy walking on.   To "refill" this layer, I just dig a small hole in a corner of the enclosure, pour water down it, and cover it back up.  The water will spread.

4). I used a small piece of wood to create a hide for the spider.  First I saw it to the desired size.  I found this piece of wood by the river on a walk a few weeks ago and thought it might be useful for a T enclosure.  I always bake pieces of wood that I find on a high temperature for a few minutes (protip: if the wood is smoking, it's been in there too long) in order to kill any mold, fungus, or parasite it might have on it.  Gotta keep the Ts healthy. 

5). The box from the side, with the wet lower level of sediment clearly visible.

6). I placed the piece of wood on a small mount of dirt along the side of the enclosure, lining up the flat sawed-off part with the side of the box (obviously) and then piling more dirt on top of it.  The advantage of the flip lid is that I can pile dirt all the way up to the top in the back, making the hide steadier, but still have access to the enclosure without disturbing the sediment and causing an avalanche, which my smithis really don't like.

7). I use a wide, shallow bottle cap as a water dish (that's where the spilled water came from; let that dry out before putting the spider in), and I put a nice triangle of moss in the corner.  First, it gives a little color and texture to the enclosure and gives the T a softer surface to lie flat on (useful before and after molts).  More importantly, both of my smithis tear up little pieces of the moss and use it to reinforce the webbing around the entrance of the hide. 

8). Ta-da! Finished enclosure with lid. 

Next up - getting the little monster in there. 

[theraphosids]

Spiderlog 14/07/12

Two molts in the last couple of days!  Lassie (l. parahybana) and Bacon (c. fasciatum) both molted.  Lassie didn't grow as much as I thought she would; hopefully a second molt won't be far off at this age.  Bacon still hasn't stretched out his legs fully, but I think he's at least an inch across at this point.  He will be rehoused this week.

Aquinas (p. subfusca) seems to be in premolt.  He webbed up all over the sticks he hides behind, and stuck dirt in all the gaps, including the top.  He also didn't eat a cricket I put in there yesterday morning; it was still hopping around today, and 'Quine is usually a fast and efficient hunter. 

Pitch (g. pulchra) is in his burrow; he hasn't filled up the entrance yet, but a cricket wandered into his burrow yesterday and he just sat there; this morning it had crawled back up and was hopping around the enclosure, so I took it out and gave it to Drucilla, who gobbled it up immediately.  I guess Pitch is done eating for this molt cycle, which isn't unusual, but since he's a Grammostola, a notoriously fickle genus, he could be in that burrow a long time before he actually hits premolt. 

Finally, I'm pretty sure that Lassie's actual name is going to be Hypatia. 

[theraphosids]

Drusus Caesar

I made a new enclosure for 'sus today, so this is probably the last picture I'll take of him in his old one.  Pictures of the enclosure-building process will be posted soon.

[theraphosids]

General Update (Spiderlog)

My Ts have been in hiding all week:  a dear friend stayed over who happens to have an illogical fear of spiders, so I put them away in my drawer.  When I pulled them out most of them were hungry, but Bacon (c. fasciatum) and Lassie (l. parahybana) seem to be in pre-molt (finally!). 

None of the three spiderlings have molted since I got them.  Meanwhile, Pitch has spent several days arranging and rearranging his enclosure (pushing a lot of sediment out of the airholes and onto the floor in the process), and ended this process by burrowing himself.  So perhaps he's pre-molty as well, even though he didn't really eat that much since his last molt.  I'm seriously starting to think that the spiders really do synch up and molt around the same time, which has me thinking I should separate out the little ones.  I'm power-feeding Pitch and Aquinas (p. subfusca), but I want my B. smithis to take their time so they're around for a while, and I definitely want the little ones to grow as fast as possible.  Is this a thing or am I just imagining it?

[theraphosids]

Demon Spider On A Rampage

[theraphosids]

Architectural Criticism, Tarantula Style

Remember how last week Drusus's enclosure looked like this? Well, now it looks as you see above.

I woke up this morning and the jar looked the way you see it; meanwhile, Drusus spent the morning on a crazy rampage, running around, digging things up, burying and unburying himself in the rubble, and generally being insane in a way he's never acted before.  This spectacular performance ended with him walking around his jar with three legs held up in the air for no reason.  I've told people before that my tarantulas have an aesthetic sense, and nobody believes me.  Well, here you go:  Drusus is clearly expressing his dissatisfaction with the design of his enclosure. 

He's been in that jar since he arrived as a tiny spiderling, and I was going to let him molt one more time before rehousing him.  But it looks like our schedule has changed.