Well, I mentioned in an earlier post about something in the pipeline for more Old World tarantulas so today I ordered a couple more little slings, first of all an Augacephalus species 'Mozambique' who should be here next Wednesday. It is a burrowing terrestrial spider from Mozambique in Southern Africa and is a very new arrival in the hobby, with this being one from the first batch of spiderlings available in the UK. I have no idea at present how large he will grow to, but photos I have seen of adult specimens are a golden colour, with amazing darker patterns similar to those which can be found on many of the African tarantulas. The full taxonomy of this tarantula is still being explored and as yet there is no scientific species name for it.
Secondly having seen a Pokie on holiday last year (The photo of it is my Blogger profile picture) in a moment of madness ordered one of those as well. The Poecilotheria Regalis (Indian Ornamental) comes, as its common name suggests from Southern India. It is a very beautiful and very fast arboreal tarantula with ornate white, grey and brown patterns, and has a striking threat pose when it has its adult colouration: the undersides of its first two sets of legs have black and yellow stripes which are displayed when it throws its legs in the air. Similar to a wasp's colours, its telling a predator to beware! I'd rather take the wasp.. they dont grow up to 9 inches!
I already spent 10 minutes making a very small arboreal setup ready for its arrival with some cork bark and substrate in a taller vial. ASDA has some very cheap but useful housing for tarantulas, not bad for 25p. Monster Munch's arboreal setup was also purchased very cheaply from there as he is still smaller, so not yet ready for a large glass enclosure. I'll perhaps do a small tutorial on that tomorrow to show just how easy and cost effective they are to make.
(note to self.. talking of African spiders.. I quite fancy a Pterinochilus Murinus, affectionatly known as the OBT (Orange Bitey Thing) because erm.. they are orange... and bitey.. Lee has slings for £3 at the Spider Shop or 5 for £12, its a good job he is closed for a couple of weeks :)
Wednesday 30 April 2008
Heteroscodra Maculata (Togo Starburst) "Monster Munch"
First time I've seen him since he arrived. He does seem to come out during the dead of night judging by his webs, but tonight he was halfway up his cork bark just above his web and dirt wall, so took the opportunity.
Hope I can get a better one when he gets braver and comes out into the open. He is definitely a spider I will be leaving well alone, and will come out in his own time when he is ready.
Hope I can get a better one when he gets braver and comes out into the open. He is definitely a spider I will be leaving well alone, and will come out in his own time when he is ready.
Tuesday 29 April 2008
Yum yum!
second cricket of the night, first proper feed that hes taken in a few weeks due to him reciently molting
Spiderman enjoys a munch
Spiderman seems to be back eating again as he jumped on a medium/large black cricket which is the first time I have seen him eating straight away, usually he leaves them and eats through the night, he even done the happy dance and wiggled and turned around :D
Sunday 27 April 2008
The Euathlus slings get their names
Having watched them eating so enthusiastically, decided to name the E. vulpinus "Nipper" and the E. truculentus "Nibbler".
As well as food for Nipper I also popped in a little cork bark as he is semi arboreal and he seems to have made a little use of it already with strands of silk anchoring it to the ground.
As a side note, Junior seems to be waiting at the end of his hide, perhaps waiting for a passing cricket, so while its light I'm going to see if I can catch it on video. edit: no hes not hungry just now, try again another time..
As well as food for Nipper I also popped in a little cork bark as he is semi arboreal and he seems to have made a little use of it already with strands of silk anchoring it to the ground.
As a side note, Junior seems to be waiting at the end of his hide, perhaps waiting for a passing cricket, so while its light I'm going to see if I can catch it on video. edit: no hes not hungry just now, try again another time..
Saturday 26 April 2008
Friday 25 April 2008
"Junior" the B. smithi tucks into a black cricket
sorry for the slightly blurred photo but look inside and you can see Junior enjoying his supper
Seven hungry pairs of fangs
Another successful feeding, the small B. smithi's did their usual sit and wait, again Junior stole the show by having one half done before I was finished feeding the rest. The two new slings from yesterday also pounced their prey and are eating well
Dinners out, come and get it!
1st instar brown micro crickets on the left, small to medium black crickets on the right. The small slings will eat the micros whereas Junior loves the small black ones
About my T's
Part of this blog will be to go into more info on each of my Tarantulas, what they are up to, photos, sizes etc, so I thought I should first of all take the opportunity to say a little about each one. I refer to them all as He, even if they are unsexed ;)
I'll start off with Skittles, the A. avicularia.
Avics come from South America and are arboreal which means that they like to live off the ground and should grow to about 5 inches. Being arboreal they have slimmer bodies to carry less weight and longer legs fo climbing about. You can also notice the differences with their feet, being flatter and larger, again adapted for their climbing nature. Saying that, skittles usually thinks that he is terrestrial (lives on the ground) and enjoys hiding under some cork where he has made his home, but does sometimes come out to venture up the plant to sit in the leaves. He is the fuzziest of my fuzzy friends, on the whole black but with some dark red on his abdomen, and of course, he has pink toes! hence the common name of the Pinktoe Tarantula. Avics are generally docile, and dont really bite or flick hairs, but Skittles is quite skittish so not really one to be held as he will readily jump from your hand to something else nearby in his tank. He has never been brought out, I'd be too afraid of loosing him :)
On the whole tarantulas should be kept alone, otherwise they can fight and possibly eat each other, only a couple can be kept communally, of which Skittles is one, however unfortunatly he doesnt have any friends at the moment, but not ruling it out for the future.. there was another Avic which he lived with before I got him so.. perhaps that one is getting lonely? He lives in a 12" glass Exo Terra terranium which he also shares with my (currently 7) spiderlings, who are kept individually in vials and kept seperate from Skittles in a well ventilated cricket box.
Junior and the other B. smithi's
I currently have 5 spiderlings, all residing with Skittles, 4 are really small about 1 to 1.5 centimeters in legspan and live in vials, and dont really look anything like a Red Knee at the moment, and dont seem to do much except eat, and possibly sleep! A couple of them have laid down slight webbing on the ground but not alot yet. The largest is called Junior, he has a legspan of perhaps just over an inch and is starting to show his proper colouring with his knees being lighter than the rest of him, but still pretty much brown. In his past life he was a JCB digger as everyday there is new excavations in his box, he seems to enjoy digging about, and filling in the holes again, and if your lucky you might catch him stomping about with a cricket in his jaws doing the happy dance.. looks like he will be quite an active spider, should be interesting to see how he is when he grows a bit more. In the wild, this species is on the CITES II list of endangered animals, and it is illegal to catch a wild specimin, however they are regularly bred in captivity so are still very much available. They are a terrestrial tarantula and come (as their name suggests) from Mexico. They can grow up to perhaps 6 inches and are generally the thing most people think of when they imagine a tarantula, again they dont really bite but are known to flick their urticating hairs into the air. The purpose of this is to ward off an attacker, causing itching in the eyes or irritation to the skin.
Euathlus Truculentus and Euathlus Vulpinus
Having just recieved these two yesterday I dont really have a huge amount to write about them as individuals. Although both come from Chile and will grow to about 12cm, the end spiders couldnt be more different. E. truculentus is a terrestrial spider with a docile temperament and will eventually have a wonderful metallic green carapace and femurs, and fluffy pink and red hair on his abdomen. He should certainly live up to his common name of Chile Beautiful.
E. vulpinus on the other hand is a different kettle of fish, although all tarantulas from Chile are nice and calm, there has to be an exception and this is it! He is semi arboreal and can make the most of both ground cover as well as in the trees, and very much unlike any other tarantulas who are generally nocturnal, he should enjoy coming out in the daytime so in order to survive in the open he must be able to defend himself well, which equates to flashing his fangs and biting predators. Tarantulas like this will use a threat pose which is their way of saying back off or you will be hurt, by spreading their front legs into the air and raising their fangs to put them on display. Sometimes they will also thump the ground for added effect. In this case when I was unpacking him yesterday he threw his legs up in the air, but I'm not convinced if it was this, or just a reaction to get out of the way.
Spiderman the Grammostola Rosea
Rosies are one of the most popular beginner species of tarantula, and this was the same for me, again these come from Chile and are usually docile, but they can change their temperament just like that and can grow up to 14/15 cm. Although he has a burrow in his flowerpot, he prefers to be out on display most of the time, and enjoys sitting on his web molting mat which he made for his recient molt. He doesnt really eat alot, and will just .. well, hes a hairy pet rock, but what a lovely rock he is! After his recient molt the his colours are much brighter, with mainly brown colouring but with a brighter rose coloured hairs on his carapace. Ive also noticed since then that in the correct light he has a dark metallic blue colouring to the top of his legs. Its likely that he will mature first as he is the largest in my collection, however being male, he will not live for very long once he matures and so will hopefully be sent away to get a special friend to breed with.
Spongebob the Grammostola Aureostriata
Spongebob is one of my favourite T's, he looks great with his dark colouring and golden stripes on his legs, most prominantly on his legs. He comes from Argentina and is one of the larger species of tarantula, growing up to 9 inches, although Spongebob has some catching up to do to get there! Being quite docile, he and Spiderman are really the only two which, with care, I will occasionally handle.
Usually he is quite active, exploring his home, but for the last couple of weeks, Spongebob has been digging within his burrow, building a large mound covering most of the entrance, and in the mornings he will either have filled the rest of the gap with webbing, or taken it down to leave an opening. Hes not been seen out in the open for a little while, and has been off his food a bit so, expect to find him slightly larger and shinier one morning ;)
Monster Munch the Heteroscodra Maculata
Again Monster Munch just arrived yesterday so theres not too much I can say about him other than.. he's fast! He is currently the only Old World tarantula that I own (I say currently, something else is in the pipeline lol) and comes originally from Africa where tarantulas are often known as Baboon Spiders. Their difference is that they lack the urticating hairs of the New World species from America and so have to rely on speed and aggression, and are not afraid to bite if they feel threatened. He is dark brown in colour, with lighter brown ornamental markings on his abdomen and carapace and is about half grown, he should reach up to 13cm. He is the one spider that will never be brought out or handled in any way.
He is a fast arborial spider and has been set up in a higher tank to give him climbing space, and quickly set up home inside some hollow cork bark with the entrance at the top. He seems to have settled in nicely, as can be seen by the trails of web where he has been exploring through the night and also the amazing wall that he has constructed at the back of his home using web with dirt mixed in. Being quite a webbing tarantula it will be interesting to see what renovations he has planned for his house!
I'll start off with Skittles, the A. avicularia.
Avics come from South America and are arboreal which means that they like to live off the ground and should grow to about 5 inches. Being arboreal they have slimmer bodies to carry less weight and longer legs fo climbing about. You can also notice the differences with their feet, being flatter and larger, again adapted for their climbing nature. Saying that, skittles usually thinks that he is terrestrial (lives on the ground) and enjoys hiding under some cork where he has made his home, but does sometimes come out to venture up the plant to sit in the leaves. He is the fuzziest of my fuzzy friends, on the whole black but with some dark red on his abdomen, and of course, he has pink toes! hence the common name of the Pinktoe Tarantula. Avics are generally docile, and dont really bite or flick hairs, but Skittles is quite skittish so not really one to be held as he will readily jump from your hand to something else nearby in his tank. He has never been brought out, I'd be too afraid of loosing him :)
On the whole tarantulas should be kept alone, otherwise they can fight and possibly eat each other, only a couple can be kept communally, of which Skittles is one, however unfortunatly he doesnt have any friends at the moment, but not ruling it out for the future.. there was another Avic which he lived with before I got him so.. perhaps that one is getting lonely? He lives in a 12" glass Exo Terra terranium which he also shares with my (currently 7) spiderlings, who are kept individually in vials and kept seperate from Skittles in a well ventilated cricket box.
Junior and the other B. smithi's
I currently have 5 spiderlings, all residing with Skittles, 4 are really small about 1 to 1.5 centimeters in legspan and live in vials, and dont really look anything like a Red Knee at the moment, and dont seem to do much except eat, and possibly sleep! A couple of them have laid down slight webbing on the ground but not alot yet. The largest is called Junior, he has a legspan of perhaps just over an inch and is starting to show his proper colouring with his knees being lighter than the rest of him, but still pretty much brown. In his past life he was a JCB digger as everyday there is new excavations in his box, he seems to enjoy digging about, and filling in the holes again, and if your lucky you might catch him stomping about with a cricket in his jaws doing the happy dance.. looks like he will be quite an active spider, should be interesting to see how he is when he grows a bit more. In the wild, this species is on the CITES II list of endangered animals, and it is illegal to catch a wild specimin, however they are regularly bred in captivity so are still very much available. They are a terrestrial tarantula and come (as their name suggests) from Mexico. They can grow up to perhaps 6 inches and are generally the thing most people think of when they imagine a tarantula, again they dont really bite but are known to flick their urticating hairs into the air. The purpose of this is to ward off an attacker, causing itching in the eyes or irritation to the skin.
Euathlus Truculentus and Euathlus Vulpinus
Having just recieved these two yesterday I dont really have a huge amount to write about them as individuals. Although both come from Chile and will grow to about 12cm, the end spiders couldnt be more different. E. truculentus is a terrestrial spider with a docile temperament and will eventually have a wonderful metallic green carapace and femurs, and fluffy pink and red hair on his abdomen. He should certainly live up to his common name of Chile Beautiful.
E. vulpinus on the other hand is a different kettle of fish, although all tarantulas from Chile are nice and calm, there has to be an exception and this is it! He is semi arboreal and can make the most of both ground cover as well as in the trees, and very much unlike any other tarantulas who are generally nocturnal, he should enjoy coming out in the daytime so in order to survive in the open he must be able to defend himself well, which equates to flashing his fangs and biting predators. Tarantulas like this will use a threat pose which is their way of saying back off or you will be hurt, by spreading their front legs into the air and raising their fangs to put them on display. Sometimes they will also thump the ground for added effect. In this case when I was unpacking him yesterday he threw his legs up in the air, but I'm not convinced if it was this, or just a reaction to get out of the way.
Spiderman the Grammostola Rosea
Rosies are one of the most popular beginner species of tarantula, and this was the same for me, again these come from Chile and are usually docile, but they can change their temperament just like that and can grow up to 14/15 cm. Although he has a burrow in his flowerpot, he prefers to be out on display most of the time, and enjoys sitting on his web molting mat which he made for his recient molt. He doesnt really eat alot, and will just .. well, hes a hairy pet rock, but what a lovely rock he is! After his recient molt the his colours are much brighter, with mainly brown colouring but with a brighter rose coloured hairs on his carapace. Ive also noticed since then that in the correct light he has a dark metallic blue colouring to the top of his legs. Its likely that he will mature first as he is the largest in my collection, however being male, he will not live for very long once he matures and so will hopefully be sent away to get a special friend to breed with.
Spongebob the Grammostola Aureostriata
Spongebob is one of my favourite T's, he looks great with his dark colouring and golden stripes on his legs, most prominantly on his legs. He comes from Argentina and is one of the larger species of tarantula, growing up to 9 inches, although Spongebob has some catching up to do to get there! Being quite docile, he and Spiderman are really the only two which, with care, I will occasionally handle.
Usually he is quite active, exploring his home, but for the last couple of weeks, Spongebob has been digging within his burrow, building a large mound covering most of the entrance, and in the mornings he will either have filled the rest of the gap with webbing, or taken it down to leave an opening. Hes not been seen out in the open for a little while, and has been off his food a bit so, expect to find him slightly larger and shinier one morning ;)
Monster Munch the Heteroscodra Maculata
Again Monster Munch just arrived yesterday so theres not too much I can say about him other than.. he's fast! He is currently the only Old World tarantula that I own (I say currently, something else is in the pipeline lol) and comes originally from Africa where tarantulas are often known as Baboon Spiders. Their difference is that they lack the urticating hairs of the New World species from America and so have to rely on speed and aggression, and are not afraid to bite if they feel threatened. He is dark brown in colour, with lighter brown ornamental markings on his abdomen and carapace and is about half grown, he should reach up to 13cm. He is the one spider that will never be brought out or handled in any way.
He is a fast arborial spider and has been set up in a higher tank to give him climbing space, and quickly set up home inside some hollow cork bark with the entrance at the top. He seems to have settled in nicely, as can be seen by the trails of web where he has been exploring through the night and also the amazing wall that he has constructed at the back of his home using web with dirt mixed in. Being quite a webbing tarantula it will be interesting to see what renovations he has planned for his house!
Thursday 24 April 2008
Todays Photos
My Avic "Skittles" decided to come out and pose for some photos tonight so there's a couple of him been posted, also below are two of today's new arrivals, both spiderlings of the Euathlus genus, an E. Vulpinus and an E. Truculentus.
Unfortunately the Heteroscoda Maculata (Togo Starburst) didn't fancy getting his picture taken, but took to his new home quickly with an amazing display of speed as he shot up the cork bark and over the top into the hole where he has resided ever since... I'm sure he will come out sometime soon when he is hungry or wants a drink, hopefully I'll be there to get a pic! ;)
Unfortunately the Heteroscoda Maculata (Togo Starburst) didn't fancy getting his picture taken, but took to his new home quickly with an amazing display of speed as he shot up the cork bark and over the top into the hole where he has resided ever since... I'm sure he will come out sometime soon when he is hungry or wants a drink, hopefully I'll be there to get a pic! ;)
New Arrivals
well, the postie has just arrived and brought with him 3 little friends:
Heteroscodra Maculata (Togo Starburst) Juvenile
Euathlus Truculentus (Chile Beautiful) Sling
Euathlus Vulpinus (Chile Ocellated) Sling
Pictures to hopefully follow later in the day :)
Heteroscodra Maculata (Togo Starburst) Juvenile
Euathlus Truculentus (Chile Beautiful) Sling
Euathlus Vulpinus (Chile Ocellated) Sling
Pictures to hopefully follow later in the day :)
Wednesday 23 April 2008
Sleepless nights....
Its like Christmas Eve tonight no sleeping for me ;)
3 new friends arriving tomorrow, pictures and info when they get here! (thanks to Lee at The Spidershop for the extra spiderling!)
3 new friends arriving tomorrow, pictures and info when they get here! (thanks to Lee at The Spidershop for the extra spiderling!)
Brachypelma Smithi (Mexican Red Knee) small sling
this one is the smallest of my B. Smithi slings :D
Grammostola Aureostriata (Chaco Golden Knee) "Spongebob"
whooo lives in a flowerpot under the soil........
Brachypelma Smithi (Mexican Red Knee) "Junior"
This is a photo of the largest of my B. Smithi slings called Junior, he is currently the only one large enough to have a small box of his own, the others are still living in their vials.
Grammostola Rosea (Chile Rose) Exuvium, Molted 15/04/08
Spiderman molted last Tuesday, unfortunatly he lost a leg which got stuck during his molt
Tuesday 22 April 2008
Current Tarantulas
Currently my tarantula collection is as follows, this post will be updated as and when so should always reflect my collection accurately.
The numbers represent both the number of the species that I have as well as the sex in the order of Male.Female.Unknown followed by their scientific name and their common name in brackets
0.0.1 Augacephalus sp. "Mozambique"
0.0.4 Brachypelma smithi (Mexican Redknee)
0.1.0 Ceratogyrus bechuanicus (Rhino Horned Baboon)
0.0.1 Euathlus truculentus (Chile Beautiful)
0.0.1 Euathlus vulpinus (Chile Ocellated)
1.0.0 Grammostola rosea (Chile Rose)
0.0.1 Grammostola aureostriata (Chaco Golden Knee)
0.0.2 Haplopelma sp. "Vietnam Earth Tiger"
0.0.1 Heteroscodra maculata (Togo Starburst)
0.0.1 Pterinochilus murinus (RCF) - (Usumbara Red Baboon)
0.0.1 Poecilotheria regalis (Indian Ornamental)
0.0.1 Poecilotheria rufilata (Redslate Ornamental)
0.1.0 Pandinus Imperator (Imperial Scorpion)
More to follow......
The numbers represent both the number of the species that I have as well as the sex in the order of Male.Female.Unknown followed by their scientific name and their common name in brackets
0.0.1 Augacephalus sp. "Mozambique"
0.0.4 Brachypelma smithi (Mexican Redknee)
0.1.0 Ceratogyrus bechuanicus (Rhino Horned Baboon)
0.0.1 Euathlus truculentus (Chile Beautiful)
0.0.1 Euathlus vulpinus (Chile Ocellated)
1.0.0 Grammostola rosea (Chile Rose)
0.0.1 Grammostola aureostriata (Chaco Golden Knee)
0.0.2 Haplopelma sp. "Vietnam Earth Tiger"
0.0.1 Heteroscodra maculata (Togo Starburst)
0.0.1 Pterinochilus murinus (RCF) - (Usumbara Red Baboon)
0.0.1 Poecilotheria regalis (Indian Ornamental)
0.0.1 Poecilotheria rufilata (Redslate Ornamental)
0.1.0 Pandinus Imperator (Imperial Scorpion)
More to follow......
hello
Hi, I'm Stuart, quite new to the world of Tarantulas but with a growing collection :)
I hope to record the progress of my little friends on this blog as I watch them grow up!
I hope to record the progress of my little friends on this blog as I watch them grow up!
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