Tia B's Tarantula Diary

[BoyFromLA]

Yesterday was my birthday.

Happy birthday to you!

 

[roy a habergham]

Yesterday was my birthday. Happy Birthday to me! Didn't do much with the spiders.
Discovered that my T. violaceous sling had molted this morning and my P. cambrigei sling chucked its old exo out of its burrow. My T. gigas molted a few days ago, so apparently it's the week of arboreal molts.

Happy Birthday

 

[Tia B]

Yesterday was my birthday. Happy Birthday to me! Didn't do much with the spiders.
Discovered that my T. violaceous sling had molted this morning and my P. cambrigei sling chucked its old exo out of its burrow. My T. gigas molted a few days ago, so apparently it's the week of arboreal molts.

Rehoused my B. vagans "Melon", the one that I recently posted pictures of molting, from a Jamie's Tarantulas terrestrial sling enclosure to a modified Tupperware container. I hope the little one will appreciate the space.

Fed T. gigas sling as it was looking hardened up and hungry after its recent molt. Wasted no time pouncing on that cricket.
Also fed my D. pentaloris a small cricket snack.

 

[Mjb30]

Happy belated birthday; I hope you had a lovely day

 

[Tia B]

Rehoused my GBB juvie "Bugaboo". He went from a cylindrical (spice?) container to a small critter keeper. He has less vertical space, but I think he has more space overall.

Old enclosure: (without lid)


New:


Also rehoused my H. mac sling. Little guy was a perfect gentleman, no bolting at all. Just picked the wad of dirt that was his burrow with him in it and plopped it in the new enclosure. He went from a tiny vial to a bigger vial.

 

[Tia B]

Aaaah I haven't updated in forever! I've had a bit of a long week.

Molts:
0.0.1 N. incei juvie
0.0.1 P. irminia juvie

Got 7 new tarantulas today off Craigslist
3 B. hamorii slings
2 S. calceatum slings
1 P. cambrigei juvie.
1 MM P. metallica

I do not like the P. cam's setup. Two wedges of cork bark and dirt. I'm going to add some fake plants to give him more anchor points. He bolted out when I opened the lid but was caught promptly, so no issues. Rest of the enclosures are decent.

Also got a dubia colony for free, 10 G. oblongata of mixed sizes, buffalo beetles, and a male and female tiger hisser with nymphs.

Rehoused the P. irminia that molted. Rehoused Melon the B. vagans and fed him a cricket.

 

[Tia B]

Had a busy couple days.

Molts:
N. coloratovillosus sling
C. marshalli sling

Soon to Molt:
N. tripepii sling
B. albopilosum (hobby) sling
P. scrofa unsexed juvenile
C. darlingi
G. pulchra juvie female
...Probably a couple more too

Received the two tarantulas I traded a MM for: T. gigas 2" juvie and T. plumipes 1" sling.

Also recieved IM P. scrofa, a P. cancerides sling, and a halloween hissing cockroach pair. The male of the pair unfortunately didn't go through shipping well and passed. Fingers crossed the female is gravid.

Now, the exciting event of the week: the tiger hissers I got on Sunday unfortunately escaped yesterday, because their enclosure was knocked off by my roommate's cat when I wasn't home. I found the female because my dog was happily bounding around her in circles and she was hissing up a storm. She was unhurt. The male was missing for a full day but was safely recovered after he was found lounging behind the garbage can in my roommate's room. Whew!

Their nymphs were smart and just stayed hidden in the open enclosure. I did a headcount and they were all there.

 

[Tia B]

Had a busy couple days.

Molts:
N. coloratovillosus sling
C. marshalli sling

Soon to Molt:
N. tripepii sling
B. albopilosum (hobby) sling
P. scrofa unsexed juvenile
C. darlingi
G. pulchra juvie female
...Probably a couple more too

Received the two tarantulas I traded a MM for: T. gigas 2" juvie and T. plumipes 1" sling.

Also recieved IM P. scrofa, a P. cancerides sling, and a halloween hissing cockroach pair. The male of the pair unfortunately didn't go through shipping well and passed. Fingers crossed the female is gravid.

Now, the exciting event of the week: the tiger hissers I got on Sunday unfortunately escaped yesterday, because their enclosure was knocked off by my roommate's cat when I wasn't home. I found the female because my dog was happily bounding around her in circles and she was hissing up a storm. She was unhurt. The male was missing for a full day but was safely recovered after he was found lounging behind the garbage can in my roommate's room. Whew!

Their nymphs were smart and just stayed hidden in the open enclosure. I did a headcount and they were all there.

Today I fed....
N. chromatus #2 (sling)
T. gigas sling
Hapalopus sp. "Pumpkin Patch"
P. scrofa IM
B. vagans #2 juvie ("Melon")
P. irminia #1
GBB

Yesterday I fed the 3 new B. hamorii slings and the S. calceatum slings. S. calceatum slings quickly ate but the B. hamorii slings all needed prekilled food.

Update: The day has finally come! My little tiny .5" A. chalcodes sling finally molted! Six. Long. Months.

 

[Tia B]

Found some great juvie enclosures today at one of the local dollar stores! Only spent 14 bucks and got all this:


Can't wait to set them all up and move in some Ts in need of an upgrade!

Also planning to make sure everybody has water tonight in anticipation of my trip. I'm only going to be gone a week regardless, but better safe than sorry.

This is probably going to be my last update for the next week, being as I will not be doing too many tarantula-related activities without my tarantulas .

Note: Dollar store is a category of store, not the name of the store.

 

[Tia B]

I actually do have an update! Still not home, but I stopped by a local exotic pet shop up here and found a few gems.

The place was mostly reptiles, but they had an invert display case. There was some highly tempting centipedes, but most everything else was ridiculously overpriced. $75 for a "Curlyhair" (B. albopilosum). But there were some flat rock scorplings for $10, I ended up getting one, and there were also two mystery spiders costing $30, who were the only tarantulas under $70.
One was labeled a "Brown Acid" and the other a "Black Satan". The former was just a . 75" sling, the latter was in a large 32 oz deli cup, nowhere to be seen. After inspecting both containers, I found that the Brown Acid had a secondary label, scrawled in Sharpie (likely by the breeder being that these people knew nothing about tarantulas) that gave the scientific name, Thrigmopoeus insignis. An interesting species, but the Black Satan was likely a Chilobrachys, and as most of you know I love Chilobrachys spp. I didn't have the money for both, so I got the Black Satan.

I think I definitely made the right choice. Got a look at the little guy a couple minutes ago, and it's not so little. It's a 2" juvenile. Definitely worth the price in my book.

 

[Tia B]

I actually do have an update! Still not home, but I stopped by a local exotic pet shop up here and found a few gems.

The place was mostly reptiles, but they had an invert display case. There was some highly tempting centipedes, but most everything else was ridiculously overpriced. $75 for a "Curlyhair" (B. albopilosum). But there were some flat rock scorplings for $10, I ended up getting one, and there were also two mystery spiders costing $30, who were the only tarantulas under $70.
One was labeled a "Brown Acid" and the other a "Black Satan". The former was just a . 75" sling, the latter was in a large 32 oz deli cup, nowhere to be seen. After inspecting both containers, I found that the Brown Acid had a secondary label, scrawled in Sharpie (likely by the breeder being that these people knew nothing about tarantulas) that gave the scientific name, Thrigmopoeus insignis. An interesting species, but the Black Satan was likely a Chilobrachys, and as most of you know I love Chilobrachys spp. I didn't have the money for both, so I got the Black Satan.

I think I definitely made the right choice. Got a look at the little guy a couple minutes ago, and it's not so little. It's a 2" juvenile. Definitely worth the price in my book.

I'm kinda pissed, the flat rock scorpling I got yesterday looks to have already died. I didn't even have it a full 24 hours. The tarantula is fine.

 

[Luke Alexander]

I'm kinda pissed, the flat rock scorpling I got yesterday looks to have already died. I didn't even have it a full 24 hours. The tarantula is fine.

I would take it back if you can

 

[Tia B]

I would take it back if you can

I don't think I can.

 

[Luke Alexander]

I don't think I can.

Why not? You just got it, I would say the cause of death isn’t your fault. I would at least try to go back and exchange or refund it.

 

[Tia B]

Why not? You just got it, I would say the cause of death isn’t your fault. I would at least try to go back and exchange or refund it.

I feel like I remember a "No refunds or exchanges" sign, but I may still try.

 

[Luke Alexander]

I feel like I remember a "No refunds or exchanges" sign, but I may still try.

It wouldn’t hurt any.

 

[Dovey]

Are you in AZ, or are you traveling? I'm fairly certain that a lot of states require retailers to give refunds on live animals that do not survive 24 hours. Considering your additional purchase, wasn't the scorpion fairly inexpensive? Seems like it would just be good business practice to cover the loss.

 

[Dovey]

Remember all those signs you see in grocery store parking lots that say the store is not responsible for any damage carts do to your car? Bulls***! The store has huge insurance to cover exactly that cost. Signs are not laws. To paraphrase Terry Pratchett, "they aren't rules...actually they're more like guidelines...well, ok, suggestions."

 

[Tia B]

Are you in AZ, or are you traveling? I'm fairly certain that a lot of states require retailers to give refunds on live animals that do not survive 24 hours. Considering your additional purchase, wasn't the scorpion fairly inexpensive? Seems like it would just be good business practice to cover the loss.

I'm still in AZ, but I really don't think I'm going back to that store. I thought it over, the scorpion was very cheap and the area the store is in is kind of risky. Big accidents happen there almost daily. It's a good distance away from where I'm staying as well. I wish the scorpion had lived longer, but it's honestly too much trouble to go back.

 

[Tia B]

Had a busy couple days.

Molts:
N. coloratovillosus sling
C. marshalli sling

Soon to Molt:
N. tripepii sling
B. albopilosum (hobby) sling
P. scrofa unsexed juvenile
C. darlingi
G. pulchra juvie female
...Probably a couple more too

Received the two tarantulas I traded a MM for: T. gigas 2" juvie and T. plumipes 1" sling.

Also recieved IM P. scrofa, a P. cancerides sling, and a halloween hissing cockroach pair. The male of the pair unfortunately didn't go through shipping well and passed. Fingers crossed the female is gravid.

Now, the exciting event of the week: the tiger hissers I got on Sunday unfortunately escaped yesterday, because their enclosure was knocked off by my roommate's cat when I wasn't home. I found the female because my dog was happily bounding around her in circles and she was hissing up a storm. She was unhurt. The male was missing for a full day but was safely recovered after he was found lounging behind the garbage can in my roommate's room. Whew!

Their nymphs were smart and just stayed hidden in the open enclosure. I did a headcount and they were all there.

I thought the male tiger hisser was fine, but apparently he was not. While I was away, he died. I guess he didn't survive his adventure as well as I thought he did.