Field Collecting Texas Hill Country

[Lost Patient]

So I have been a fairly serious Tarantula enthusiast for at least 10 years. I have always field collected in Texas but moved to the Hill Country a few years ago. I have really been impressed with the sheer number of T's and Giant Centipedes that I have been finding lately. Actually the other day while working a side job and clearing brush I found Tarantultopia. I found literally hundreds of A. hentzi slings under the brush that I ended up clearing VERY slowly, as I had to one by one rescue each baby. I only kept a few of the about 1/2" slings, as I already have a large collection with multiple A. hentzi. I was astounded, and after the 20th or so sling in the first brush pile I realized I was surrounded by burrows everywhere. I ended up pouring all my drinking water down them and saw that indeed I was in a huge colony of acres and acres of Llano river side T colonies. It was amazing and I have never seen anything like it. On top of that the herping and other inverts around here are really healthy and in great numbers. The earless sand lizards,(my kid calls them the psycho sand people), alone must number in the millions. Anyone else ever been out here and seen these huge colonies of T's, wow I am truly in heaven.

 

[Teal]

That sounds amazing! I have herped mature males, adult females, and sub adults... but I have never seen a sling in the wild! It is on my wish list, for sure.

 

[Lost Patient]

That sounds amazing! I have herped mature males, adult females, and sub adults... but I have never seen a sling in the wild! It is on my wish list, for sure.

Me either first and only sling find, and to come across so many. Like they were literally all over the rotten logs hiding in the nooks and cranies. What was weird was there were just as many funnel web spiders living right alongside the T slings. Also a good amount of smaller adult funnel web burrows mixed in with T burrows. While watering holes I even had a little frog come out of one burrow and a T from the same hole. Best day ever. Not far from there we caught a baby turtle, five newborn garters, five lined skink and even saw a rattler. This area really is a goldmine.. of course being the cleanest water in texas the llano river is an ecological wonder.