Saturday, 17 May 2008

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 ;)

Augacephalus sp. "Mozambique" size comparison


B. Smithi (sling 3) molted today 08/05/08


B. Smithi (sling 3) Exuvium 08/05/08

Yet another one :)

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 :)

Wednesday, 7 May 2008

Snip Snip


Snip Snip
Originally uploaded by hairyspiders
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


H. Maculata
Originally uploaded by hairyspiders
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

B. Smithi (sling 1) Exuvium 06/05/08

Ickle wittle baby one :))

B. Smithi (sling 1) molted today 06/05/08

here he is in his nice fresh body :)

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

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.

P. Regalis escaped again


P. Regalis escaped again
Originally uploaded by hairyspiders
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 :)

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.

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..