Thursday 29 May 2008
Monday 26 May 2008
The Tarantula Mapping Project
This has come about after I had an idea earlier in the week to utilise Google Maps to show the geographical distribution of our favourite beasties.. the tarantulas.
To find out all about it I have set up its own blog which is viewable at http://tarantulamaps.blogspot.com
Please feel free to head over to have a look :)
To find out all about it I have set up its own blog which is viewable at http://tarantulamaps.blogspot.com
Please feel free to head over to have a look :)
Saturday 24 May 2008
P.imperator catches a locust
First time I've managed to catch her eating, she has grabbed prey while I've watched but never eaten
Wednesday 21 May 2008
Fangs is Female?
After I caught that photo of Fangs the P.murinus on the side of the glass last night I put a close up on Arachnoboards to see if I can get a guess at its sex, so far the opinions show that people are thinking that shes female :)
Will wait until I get a molt from her to hopefully confirm it 100% though
Will wait until I get a molt from her to hopefully confirm it 100% though
Tuesday 20 May 2008
P.murinus (RCF) hiding on cork bark
Pterinochilus Murinus (RCF) - Usumbara Red Baboon (aka Orange Bitey Thing ;)
Pterinochilus Murinus (RCF) (Usumbara Red Baboon) "Fangs"
Well, the post arrived nice and early today so had a chance to take my time and get him properly settled into his new home before work.
Decided within a minute that Fangs would indeed be an appropriate name for him.. I put his shipping container inside the new enclosure, opened the lid and with the long tweezers carefully opened up the packing with him inside After he took few seconds to think about things he bounded out with fangs on display and proceeded to attack the packing. Tried him on a cricket which he pounced straight away. On checking him later the cricket was gone and hes off exploring.
Being semi arborial he has been set up in Skittles's old exo terra (after a good clean out and new substrate) so he should have plenty of ground room as well as height, which he at first impression seems keen to use as he headed off up the plant at the side to hide in. i've also offered him cork to climb around, as well as a flowerpot hide so he can decide himself if he wants to go up or down :)
Decided within a minute that Fangs would indeed be an appropriate name for him.. I put his shipping container inside the new enclosure, opened the lid and with the long tweezers carefully opened up the packing with him inside After he took few seconds to think about things he bounded out with fangs on display and proceeded to attack the packing. Tried him on a cricket which he pounced straight away. On checking him later the cricket was gone and hes off exploring.
Being semi arborial he has been set up in Skittles's old exo terra (after a good clean out and new substrate) so he should have plenty of ground room as well as height, which he at first impression seems keen to use as he headed off up the plant at the side to hide in. i've also offered him cork to climb around, as well as a flowerpot hide so he can decide himself if he wants to go up or down :)
Sunday 18 May 2008
Large brown cricket molts
This cricket which I put in with the scorpion hasnt been eaten yet, however when I checked it just now I was lucky? enough to find it mid molt, heres a photo of it nearly finished, you can clearly see that it now has full wings on it.
Saturday 17 May 2008
Skittles passes away
Sadly I found my Avic "Skittles" curled up dead last saturday (10th May). Although he had been off his food for a bit he had seemed to be quite happy the last few days so came as a bit of a surprise to find him like that, tried ICU just in case but no luck. :(
Going to clean out his exo terra this weekend with new substrate for its new occupant who is arriving next week (An OBT)
Going to clean out his exo terra this weekend with new substrate for its new occupant who is arriving next week (An OBT)
Spiderman grabs a locust
Thats his third feeding this week, decided to give him a juicy locust for a change, this will do him for a few days now
Thursday 15 May 2008
Spiderman catches a cricket
Here we have my Grammostola Rosea (Chile Rose) tarantula called Spiderman catching a nice big juicy brown cricket :)
Thursday 8 May 2008
Augacephalus sp. "Mozambique" (sling)
Just arrived today (cheers Phil!)
This is about the best photo I could get before he went into his new home as he seems to be quite quick at running, and good at going up as well as along ;)
This is about the best photo I could get before he went into his new home as he seems to be quite quick at running, and good at going up as well as along ;)
3rd Smithi Molted
Thats the 3rd one in 3 days ;)
This one is certainly larger than the other two, I'll get some photos on tonight, just waiting for the post to arrive before I go to work..
.. posts been .. spiders here and well :)
This one is certainly larger than the other two, I'll get some photos on tonight, just waiting for the post to arrive before I go to work..
.. posts been .. spiders here and well :)
Wednesday 7 May 2008
Snip Snip
P. Imperator guards his home, hes actually dug right down to the bottom, I think I will get him a deeper tub tomorrow give him some more space to burrow
B. Smithi (sling 2) Exuvium 07/05/08
Awww another ickle wittle one molted today, must be something in the air, everyones Smithi's are molting over at the BTS forum this week :D
B. Smithi (sling 2) molted today 07/05/08
Second one in two days, will there be a third tomorrow? There is one that didnt eat yesterdays food so that has been removed, wait and see!
Tuesday 6 May 2008
H. Maculata
Not so good photo but took the chance while he was out, bit blurred but wasnt going to keep the lid off longer than needed
Updates..
Well, over the weekend the little Smithi did pass away, he had been showing little signs of life in his ICU and ended being curled up :( The others are all getting on well though, Spiderman (G. Rosea) has been very active and hungry, happy to be munching his was through crickets all weekend, Spongebob (G. Aureostriata) has been out and about a lot more again, still not eating though so perhaps could still be going to molt, case of wait and see there.
I had some spare cork bark left so put a couple of bits into Skittles' enclosure (A. Avic) and he really likes them, either choosing to hide under the bottom or to sit up on top, certainly a lot more active since they have arrived.
Monster munch (H. Maculata) has been out and about at night, lots of new webbing shooting off from his cork tube to various places and he was even out for a walk on Sunday through the day. Tried to get some pictures but had difficulty in getting it focused on him, he was doing a fair bit of wandering so trying to take a photo and not let him escape was proving hard!
After some advice on the Arachnoboards forum, the P. Imerator has had a change of substrate and is now much happier, I've added in a spare exo-terra hide that I had so she's taken to that as her new home well, and has been doing a fair bit of digging in it, and adding a new entrance out the back. Her crickets have also been disappearing so she seems to be taking to her food too!
try and get some photos later on this afternoon
I had some spare cork bark left so put a couple of bits into Skittles' enclosure (A. Avic) and he really likes them, either choosing to hide under the bottom or to sit up on top, certainly a lot more active since they have arrived.
Monster munch (H. Maculata) has been out and about at night, lots of new webbing shooting off from his cork tube to various places and he was even out for a walk on Sunday through the day. Tried to get some pictures but had difficulty in getting it focused on him, he was doing a fair bit of wandering so trying to take a photo and not let him escape was proving hard!
After some advice on the Arachnoboards forum, the P. Imerator has had a change of substrate and is now much happier, I've added in a spare exo-terra hide that I had so she's taken to that as her new home well, and has been doing a fair bit of digging in it, and adding a new entrance out the back. Her crickets have also been disappearing so she seems to be taking to her food too!
try and get some photos later on this afternoon
Saturday 3 May 2008
Pandinas Imperator (Imperial Scorpion)
Well.. I wasnt thinking of getting one of these but there was one out with the keeper in the shop and um..
This is the P. Imperator scorpion and comes from Western Africa. Similar to the B. Smithi tarantulas these are also on the CITES appendix 2 list. Its a perfect beginners scorpion as they are quite calm.
They are one of the largest scorpions and can grow up to 20cm long, and weigh up to 30 grams.
This is the P. Imperator scorpion and comes from Western Africa. Similar to the B. Smithi tarantulas these are also on the CITES appendix 2 list. Its a perfect beginners scorpion as they are quite calm.
They are one of the largest scorpions and can grow up to 20cm long, and weigh up to 30 grams.
P. Regalis escaped again
I normally wouldnt agree with handling him, but its feeding time and hes out again, I'll need to rethink the best way to feed him he just runs out as soon as the lid is opened, the fastest thing on 8 legs, perhaps feed him within a larger container just in case?
dont worry he went safely back into his home :)
dont worry he went safely back into his home :)
Friday 2 May 2008
Poecilotheria Regalis (Indian Ornamental)
Heres my little P. Regalis who arrived this morning. Has settled in nicely :)
Poecilotheria Regalis is here...
... and I thought the H. Maculata was fast ...
As I mentioned the other day I had a little home ready for him, however when he arrived and I unpacked him into his new home I soon discovered that he was a bit bigger than I was expecting with a legspan of perhaps at least 5cm, not to worry though I did also get a slightly larger pot from ASDA as well (with change from 40 pence..) so set to making a larger house, substrate in, cork in, little bit misting and some holes in the lid and we're all set.
Time to move him
He had other ideas..
Obviously quite enjoying his freedom from his packaging when he was in the post, having a bit stretch of the legs and decided to take a morning run! had the old container right inside the new one with the only gap uncovered where I was using my long tweezers to tempt him gently out, which he did, out and up the side, through the gap before I could get the tweezers out, up the tweezers, up my arm, then turned round, back down and across the table and luckily came to a rest on a table mat. All in about the space of a second.
I thought for a moment of getting the camera to take a picture while he was out on the table but thought better of it and got him quickly into his pot, to which he took off for a couple of laps and settled behind the cork.
So for now his pot is in the Exo Terra warming up a bit, see what hes doing later on hopefully get a photo without stressing him too much then just leave him to it.
As I mentioned the other day I had a little home ready for him, however when he arrived and I unpacked him into his new home I soon discovered that he was a bit bigger than I was expecting with a legspan of perhaps at least 5cm, not to worry though I did also get a slightly larger pot from ASDA as well (with change from 40 pence..) so set to making a larger house, substrate in, cork in, little bit misting and some holes in the lid and we're all set.
Time to move him
He had other ideas..
Obviously quite enjoying his freedom from his packaging when he was in the post, having a bit stretch of the legs and decided to take a morning run! had the old container right inside the new one with the only gap uncovered where I was using my long tweezers to tempt him gently out, which he did, out and up the side, through the gap before I could get the tweezers out, up the tweezers, up my arm, then turned round, back down and across the table and luckily came to a rest on a table mat. All in about the space of a second.
I thought for a moment of getting the camera to take a picture while he was out on the table but thought better of it and got him quickly into his pot, to which he took off for a couple of laps and settled behind the cork.
So for now his pot is in the Exo Terra warming up a bit, see what hes doing later on hopefully get a photo without stressing him too much then just leave him to it.
Still Alive
Checked on the little B. Smithi this morning and first thing I saw was no death curl so looking hopeful and there was a little movement from him. He's back in ICU for the day so fingers crossed hope he pulls through.
Thursday 1 May 2008
B. Smithi on its last legs?
During tonights round of feeding I noticed that the smallest of the B. Smithi slings was not reacting in any way and eventually gave a slight leg movement. He has been moistured and moved to a dark warm place to see if a little heat and water can help revive him, fingers crossed for the morning..
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