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Thank you:-) I'm glad someone enjoyed them.

These are my Aphonopelma sp. New River and P. Cambridgei.

Annabelle the A. Versicolor and Hedwig the Haplopelma Lividum (dark form). These two came from JRs Invertebrates.

More Junodi Close up of the A. Junodi.

Thought I would show off my collection. This first girl is my female A. Junodi. I did not know it the day I took this photo--I had only had her a few days at that time--but she was in premolt and molted a day or two later. Even more gorgeous now.

In Kansas turns out the City of Wichita prohibits all species. I learned this only because I noticed that PetsMarts and Petcos in some parts of Wichita sell tarantulas, but other stores have none at all. When I asked about it I was told that the stores within the limits of Wichita proper...

Congratulations! You've inspired me, I may have to purchase at least a couple of my own holy grail.

Really? Scientists? If we are upgrading to humans why not, like, attorneys, or serial killers or something.

Ld50 I'm not sure of the relevance of the LD50 here. A mathematically determined value, half the mice killed by a dose of whatever--that is easily determined mathematically and not a clinical puzzle. Nor is it always even useful since mice and humans are physiologically distinct. TI has...

Anomalous? But, Snark, I do find it. See Baerg, J. W. 1923. "The effect of the bite of Laetrodectus mactans Fabr." Journal of Parasitology 9; 161-69. Dr. Baerg had assistants present to observe him and to write down what he experienced as verbally expressed by him. Just because...

I disagree that such experimentation only produces anomalies. For example, the 2005 Nobel Prize in Medicine went to Barry Marshall after he proved definitely that peptic ulcers are caused by the bacterium H. Pylori. His attempts to inoculate non human animals with the bacterium had failed, and...

What effective way is that? We have liquid and gas chromatography to elucidate amino acid components and structure. We have in vitro venom-human cell interaction to study which cell receptors interact with which components of tarantula venom. But I don't know of any way to gain subjective...

Dr. Baerg, Professor Emeritus of Entomology at the University of Arkansas, spent many decades studying arachnids. Of his 75 published papers, many dealt with tarantulas. He thought every student of entomology should at least make the acquaintance of the tarantula and a docile species was...

Last summer I noticed a black widow had made her web in a crevasse on my front porch. In the afternoons and toward the evenings I would sit on the steps of the porch and watch her bustling about her egg sacs. The first sac hatched without drawing attention; I held the silk satchel in my hand...

A. Versicolor female 'Annabelle'

H. Lividum (dark form) 'Hedwig'

Sure, if you think the information would be useful to members. The literature does have quite a bit to say about tarantula venom, but mostly in the context of its potential usefulness. For example, the venom of several different species of tarantulas is being studied by medical researchers due...

I'd have to suggest erring on the side of caution, especially with anyone who has known allergies or sensitivities to other types of toxins. Getting bitten on the head, neck, face, or chest is associated with more complications/dr.s visits than getting bitten on an extremity. Regardless of...

I'm a doctor, from my experience working in ERs--if a patient comes in complaining of a tarantula bite, the doc would do a quick bit of research on the specific species of tarantula, if known. Tarantula bite is not a common complaint, thus there there are no tarantula bite protocols (like there...

Ordered one of these for our homeschooling science class, which naturally often focuses on arachnids--in this case, arachnid anatomy. My kids enjoyed putting it together, then demonstrated their knowledge of arachnid anatomy for a visitor by taking it apart and identifying each organ. Neat...