Tarantula Madness
#16
I've got a new monster to add to the list, and a second one will be likely next week.

I managed to snatch up a very nice "blue form" Costa Rican Zebra Tarantula (Aphonopelma seemanni). She is HUGE. She easily dwarfs my next largest tarantula, and I think she is bigger than my scorpion. I wasn't able to get any good shots of her, so this is the best I can do.

My next tarantula will be a "Cobalt Blue" tarantula (Haplopelma lividum), which will be my first old-worlder. That one might actually be a little dangerous, but they make fascinating pets from a scientific standpoint. And they look good. Unfortunately, it might be getting ready to molt, so the pet shop is holding it for a week.

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I lso picked up some Tobacco Horn Worms for my nephew to watch. These are pests in the wild, but were sold as lizard food. I figure I'll let my nephew watch them grow, then feed the moths to the spiders when they start getting old. Its rough, but thats life.

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#17
Speaking of 8 legged critters, one of the bridges in downtown Columbus Ohio has been taken over by millions of spiders that eat flying bugs that come from the Scioto river.
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#18
I got one more to add, a particularly "aggressive" Cobalt Blue Tarantula (Haplopelma lividum). These are old world species from southeast Asia, and generally live in burrows, only coming out at night. It is a shiny iridescent blue on the legs, with a blue/gray body and subtle tiger stripes on the rear. There venom is on the more potent and painful side, though most symptoms would be gone by the end of the day if bit, with no need for medical attention.

Unlike my other "new world" (north/south american) tarantulas, this one is NOT laid back. provoking it in anyway results in a lightning fast response. It will strike multiple times in quick succession. This spider literally bent over backwards trying to threaten everyone as soon as I disturbed it when i first brought her home. The only reason I am trying this species out, is because it IS a more advanced animal, and I'm testing the waters a bit. Since it stays in its burrow during the day, its relatively "safe" if I have to reach in for any reason, just as long as i use long tongs and keep my hands clear.

However, so far this animal has been rewarding. Even though it is a "pet hole" during the day, at night, it is an aggressive hunter, and it is exciting to watch an enormous blue exotic spider eruptiong out of a small hole in the ground to nail a cricket at night.


Pictures-

More or less minutes after arriving at home... on Halloween no less! Nothing better than an actual monster for Halloween!

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Apparently, Tarantulas can play limbo too...

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Its the only good shot I got of her threat pose. This is classic tarantula body language for "I am going to bite you". Those fangs are particularly impressive. Though it is common for the bristles near a tarantula's fangs to be brightly colored, what is not visible a subtle deep red iridescence just above the fangs, so that when the tarantula faces you, it looks "bloody". The Cobalt Blue has definitely earned reputation for meaness.

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Building her burrow the next day-

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You can barely see her down her hole, but she waits.

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She was stuck to the side the other night, no doubt exploring for escape routes. Though I doubt she could escape, I have some glass railroad insulators that will probably be heavier than she can lift.

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With my hand for size comparison

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Eating a cricket that got too close to her burrow. Tarantulas typically stand on their tip-toes while they eat. The blue color shows up well in this photo.

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That is the problem with iridescent creatures, their color changes depending on light and the angle.

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My new Costa Rican Zebra (or Strip leg) Tarantula munches on a cricket in her hide. I wish she would come out!

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This was the one "good" picture I got of her out of her hide, but that was the day after I got her, and she hasn't really come out since, at least not while I was up to see (she is nocturnal).

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My Asian Forest Scoripion was out and about this morning.

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Ironically, for being an "old world" species, this thing is a lot of bark and no bite (or sting). He just looks tough. Not that I trust it on my bare hands, but I am pleased that it is docile, if not a little skittish.

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My Pink Toe was giving me a health scare, but it was apparently only dehydrated. These tarantulas are skinny to begin with (they live in the trees rather than the ground), but she was exceptionally shrunk before. placing her next to the water dish helped a lot! Gotta mount the water bowl higher up "in the trees".

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My Chilean Rose has definitely gotten fatter compared to the first few pics of her earlier in this thread. You can see her abdomen has become black and shiny, a strong indicator she about to molt and grow even larger. I haven't yet had the opportunity to watch one molt, but it will be interesting. She is still eating though, so she might not molt until early spring. That might be nice, given that here "rose pink" sheen seems to have dulled to brown.

Keep in mind that she only eats one cricket a week, and even that might be more than she needs!

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#19
That's pretty neat Chris Thumbsup I can tell by the way you write you are really enthusiastic over your spiders, that's pretty cool, I guess there has to be spider lovers out there because quite honestly I hate to say it but I'm one of those guys that thinks the only good spider is a dead one Eek . NOT to be mean, but working under semi's all day long I have a fair share of them crawling around me, drives me nuts Nope .

I very sincerely say "good for you though! " Applause
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#20
Well, I had an adventure in "Tarantula Madness" this weekend! I had to transfer my Cobalt Blue Tarantula to a new enclosure.

Essentially, this species is an "Obligate Burrower". It does poorly if it is not allowed to dig a home and live under the ground 99% of the time. Its old enclosure was a plastic critter keeper that did not allow for a stable burrow, and truthfully, was a little small for this spider. Not to mention, the lid always made me nervous. The new one is a 5 gallon glass tank with an interlocking lid and the substrate is 1 part shredded coconut to 2 parts topsoil, excellent for stable burrows.

That was problem #1. Problem #2 was actually moving the spider!

The thing about the Cobalt Blue Tarantula (as I may have mentioned previously), is that it is an Old World Species (specifically, from Southeast Asia). Those species are almost without exception, mean, aggressive, and willing to bite the first chance they get. The Cobalt is known in particular for being very high strung and for having a particularly painful bite, and mine fits that stereotype. Where all my other tarantulas "creep" about, this one power walks everywhere, and is easily frightened, always on guard.

For our first attempt to move it, my girlfriend and I sealed off the bathroom, the sinks, and the vents, so that if it escaped, it would be trapped. attempts to get it into a cup failed, and instead, the spider climbed up the side of the old cage and sat just about where the lid comes off, waiting for a chance to leap for it.

For the second attempt, I had planned to use a small net, but instead, I just literally dumped it into the cage. It resisted, but the avalanch of its old bedding finally knocked it down into the new cage (the old stuff was still clean, and besides, the spider would dig it all away anyway). The sheer determination to resist any attempt to influence the spider was staggering.

In any event, it took a few nights, but now the spider has dug its new (stable) burrow in its old home that i buried against the glass prior to putting the spider in. Hopefully, the spider won't silk it up to much and it will remain visible for some time. It definitely has more room to hunt, and there are no places for the crickets to hide.

Overview. The burrow entrance is at the very back end of the cage.

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Close up. Some of her "blueness" has turned brown as she has aged, but she will likely return to a vibrant color after the next shed. You can see some vague "tiger stripes".

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#21
Some news here.

My Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula molted, and turned out to be a male! Until tarantulas reach maturity, its hard to tell the sex. Mature male tarantulas though stand out. Their legs get MUCH longer (where a female would get much bulkier), and the front set of legs have "hooks" on them (these hold back the female's fangs while mating, and help lift her up). Their pedipalps (leg-like appendages near their mouths) have male specialized structures as well.

He grew quite a bit! He easily went from one of my smaller tarantulas to competing for largest! I still can't believe he grew so much! You can definitely compare this photo to prior pictures to see the difference. The colors are much more vibrant now than they were as well!

Unfortunately, its a bittersweet event. This is considered the male tarantula's "Ultimate Molt". Once they reach maturity, most male tarantulas die (female tarantulas of the same age can live at least a decade longer). A few male tarantulas will try to molt again, but they rarely survive, and almost always suffer deformity due to the changes to their body. Even then, those rare few that manage a post-ultimate molt usually die of old age.

If I'm lucky, he'll still be alive a year from now. After that, it would be rare for him to make it another year.

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Here is the shed skin next to him. They are about level with each other, not forced perspective there!

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I also got a new tarantula, a Chilean Dwarf Flame Tarantula. The exact species isn't clear, but what is clear is that this species has a VERY docile personality, and it is very active. While many of my other tarantulas either hide or are "pet rocks", this one is almost always walking around, and is hard to photograph! I actually let this one take a walk on me briefly (but I could tell it didn't want to step on my hands, so it ran back into its cage).

This makes it ideal for school talks and things (and I have been asked to do such presentations! I also do one on Fossils and Minerals).

Here, you can an HO RS3 i'm working on just below its cage, which gives you a sense for his size. It is a little bigger than a large wolf spider.

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This is a bad cell phone picture, but basically it is just a mini tarantula.

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In other news, that Cobalt Blue Tarantula buried itself in its enclosure and hasn't come out for almost a month. I checked on it a few days ago, though I didn't plan on pestering it because they have a poor attitude, and it may have been getting ready for a molt. It will come out when it decides to. I used to be able to see it in it's burrow, but it webbed the whole glass side up to the point where it is impossible to view it. This spider demands privacy!
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#22
I've ended up with a few extra animals since I last posted-

Giant Tanzanian Whipspider, Damon diadema

Sometimes called a tail-less whip scorpion, this creature is neither a scorpion nor a spider, but its own group, "amblypygi". This roughly translates to "blunt butt". They are more closely related to spiders. You may notice that this is the animal they demonstrated the "curses" on in the Harry Potter movies.

As fearsome as they appear, they totally lack any venom, and their claws are not particularly strong or sharp, posing no risk to humans. These fascinating animals are rarely seen as pets, so of course I had to have one.

They get their name from their first pair of legs, which are modified to be more like antennas and feelers that appear like whips. Since their eye-sight is poor, these whips are their primary way of finding their way around. Their "whipspan" can easily reach over a foot long, even though the animal itself may only be a few inches across. It prefers to hang around in hollow logs or small caves, snatching any small animal it can overpower. They are fairly "shy", and will scuttle sideways like a crab into a hide if disturbed.

They have a low appetite, eating only a cricket or so every two weeks.

Males and females can be easily identified by the length of their "Pedipalps" (the "arm-like" structures with the claws on the ends). Males such as this have longer pedipalps.

Unfortunately for my specimen, he came from the pet shop missing a whip, and he lost his other whip not long after. He can still hunt, but has some difficulty. Luckily, they grow back, but it may be another year before the next molt. In the photo below, he still has his right hand whip.

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A little bit fuzzy, but you can see his "arms" extended, apparently grooming himself.

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"Amazonian Pink Toe", Avicularia amazonica?

This little guy is probably my youngest spider. Its legspan barely exceeds an inch, though it reportedly grows up to be a fairly large arboreal tarantula. This guy is a little different from my previous pink-toed spiders, having neat "tiger stripes".

I hadn't had much luck with the more common "Avicularia avicularia" pink-toes, so I'm hoping this guy fairs much better. My prior ones were likely wild caught and came with diseases. Pink-toes tend to be docile and bites are unheard of. The only reason they make poor "hand" pets is that their tree-climbing nature means they will "leap" to the top of your head as fast as they can, out of instinct.

This one is so far successful, and has even begun "webbing" its enclosure up. its also much fatter now than in this photo, so I'm hoping it will grow a bit by next year.

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Olive-Keeled Flat Rock Scorpion, Hadogenes paudicens

This is my newest animal, an African species (from the same general area as the whipsider above) that is known for its unusual shape. The animal is adapted to fitting into very thin cracks in rocks, and so even though this scorpion is fairly large, it is also VERY flat. Instead of curled up over itself, its sting is usually held to the side. In this species, the length of the tail indicates the sex. The shorter tail of this individual indicates that its probably female.

This species has one of the WEAKEST sting of all scorpions. Reportedly, it is so minor that most people only notice the physical "jab" of the stinger, but no noticeable symptoms of a sting. When sensation is felt, it is said to be similar to a stinging nettle.

They prefer to live in and on solid rocks, and so this cage will be changed soon. They are fairly shy, and mine has already backed herself into a thin "hole" I made under her water dish provided by the pet shop.

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Potential New Friend- Desert Hairy Scorpion

I made the mistake of asking about the species, so the pet shop is bringing one in for me. Its my fault for asking, but then I've heard good things about this animal as a captive.

This would be my only "US" species, common in the southwest. I look forward to it, since this one is supposedly more active than my other two scorpions.



Some other cool photos

My Chilean Dwarf Flame tarantula is super docile and slow moving. I decided to take a risk and let it walk on my hand. It shows no fear or hesitation, and just "walks" incessantly. Its lack of fear or aggression make it a great "hand pet" tarantula. Its bite (apparently super rare) isn't anything to be worried about. It really isn't much larger than a full grown Wolf-Spider or Fishing spider. Its maximum leg-span will be 3" when it reaches maturity.

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My "Chilean Rose" tarantula is seen here stretching itself out not long after it molted. Though it is now "Hardened", it is still growing a tiny bit. This spider is 100% more docile than it was before the molt, and is ALWAYS sitting in strange poses. I feel bad for him, since he has been searching for a mate but I don't know anyone with a female of this species. He may only have a year or two of life unfortunately. Had this been a female of this species, it would easily live another 10 years.

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When this photo was taken of my Cobalt Blue Tarantula, it was the first time I'd seen this tarantula come out of its burrow in 2 1/2 months. It had molted and grew bigger down there at some point! Now she is once again prowling the cage every night. She is probably most aggressive and high strung tarantula, but as you can see, she is VERY colorful. To be fair, part of the color is the fault of the camera's light (under normal light and depending on the angle, she seems almost black or blue-grey with deep electric blue legs), but but she looks good when the camera flashes!

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My Costa Rican Zebra tarantula is taking a long drink from her water bowl. Apparently, she silked the area up so much that the water was draining from her water bowl via capillary action! I would fill the bowl, and it would drain in minutes! I cleaned her bowl off, and the water now stays in the bowl! The spider was so thirsty that as soon as I closed her tank, she would run out from her hide and sip the water.

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This spider also LOVES to dig. I buried its home to make a deep, un-collapsible burrow, but she not only undermined the back of it, but has almost completely dug her home out of the substrate. Its basically an 8-legged bulldozer. If only they could be trains to run cables and things!

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My Asian Forest Scorpion exploring its freshly cleaned enclosure. These animals are VERY clean, but this scorpion's requirement for a moist environment means that it does end up growing pests and fungus on occasion. After a year, it was time to clean the cage!

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