User Wolfram's Tarantula Pictures

Wolfram1

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So today i finally got my long awaited Pamphobeteus sp. machala spiderlings, yey.

They both are some of the first of the sack/clutch to feed, but the one seems a little more robust and slightly bigger.
size 1 month.jpg smaller sibling.jpg
These are the parents: (i got permission from the breeder to use those pictures)
daddy.jpg momma.jpg
The temporary enclosure i got them in will get a change of substrate from eco-earth to a rose-earth/topsoil mixture, due to concerns of mold and fungus gnats. As well as a little piece of cork-bark right away. More substrate to dig in too.
temporary enclosure.jpg
I will probably update this thread every few months with new and hopefully better pictures.
 
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Wolfram1

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Sooo, its been quite some time and here are a few more pics.

this one is quite fat already i cant remember if it fed that day or if i pulled the cricket out, but both spiderlings ether feed instantly or make it known that they are not interested by hiding their prosoma under a forest of legs XD.


IMG_20181029_132224.jpg The other one after its molt. I haven't measured them but they seem to double in size after each molt.
Strnage so many ppl chose to use Span-width anyway, body leangth seems much more reliable to me and is the common measurement in austria. I would guess its now a solid 2,5 cms or 1" in BL.
IMG_20181205_002255.jpg And here are my newest pets. 12 Euphrynichus bacillifer in a communal setup. A friend has been breeding them successfully for a few years now and they are awesome.
1543113006421.jpg
 

Wolfram1

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IMG_20190619_080356.jpg IMG_20190619_082221.jpg
L. parahybana.
What a beautiful molt. Everything is intact, visible is also the small injury on its prosoma that it luckyly molted out of. :)
IMG_20190619_082311.jpg

i wanted to include a photo of my two P. sp. machala, who are now beautifully black with the orange star on the prosoma and a readisch/purplisch metallic scheen on the femurs, sadly the have become quite shy, bolting the moment i try to lift their boxes out of the cubboard.
 

Wolfram1

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Finally i got one of them to keep still, sadly its taken with my phone and a flash so the metallic sheen isn't visible. :( IMG_20190619_222620.jpg
0.0.1 Pamphobeteus sp. machala 5th or 6th instar, it was its 4th molt under my care. It It molted out out of its "eggs with legs" phase with the breeder though. not sure when you start counting
 

Wolfram1

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Those are wonderful pics of P.sp machala. Excellent :happy: !
Thank you very much, i try to show all stages of their developement i just wish i had a proper camera to dokument this with

IMG_20190627_222706.jpg
the bolder sister of my 0.2.0 L. parahybana molted just a week after the other. they are black but freshly molted the sheen on the legs and cheliceres seem blue in the right lighting.
 

Wolfram1

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So this was due some Update.
A long time has passed and while i could have posted a lot of pictures from my 0.2 Lasiodora parahybana adult females i felt like it wasn't really worth it due to them being so common and pictures are in abundance anyway. Don't get me wrong they are incredible and pushing almost 8" in diagonal leg span.

After close to 3 years with my 0.2 Pamphobeteus sp. machala slings/juveniles i have to say they have been quite secretive spiders for a long while now. I would catch them out in the open sometimes but as soon as i even touched the lid they were just gone. I imagine that's comparable to many old world fossorial species. They do however not seem to be particular to burrowing as much. When i rehoused them around 1 and a half years ago they instantly adopted the hides provided and did a little redecoration but no tunneling. This might be due to the substrate being heavier and less malleable as damp coco fibre. As i have stated many times before i personally prefer a mix of fibrous potting soil like rose earth and loamy forest/topsoil.

One tank that i had repurposed after the L. parahybana had thoroughly outgrown it sported a very deep hide and the Theraphosidae spider would, again like many fossorials just wait at the lip of the entrance with it's 4 front limbs extended for a prey item to drop in which it would then instantly gobble up without showing itself. The video is of specimen 2.
View attachment 0.1. P. sp. machala feeding response.mp4


















After their most recent molt, the 8th molt in my care and both around the second week of June, they have however become much less prone to bolt and spend more time outside their hide and i can now get some decent pictures with my phone. Sadly i lack a digital camera for more detailed pictures and so far i haven't gotten around to use my 35mm film-camera with my macro lens to get some proper photos of the defining features.

The two spiders also do not look exactly the same even though they came from the same sack. Over all the colours have dulled considerably and while some of the older posts showed a beautifully blackish spider with orange fringes/star-pattern they have turned much more brownish now with the fringes/star-pattern seeming golden or ocker coloured. What isn't visible in the pictures is that the typical black cristmas-tree pattern on the opisthosoma /abdomen is still distinguishable with the eye by a slightly different sheen depending on the angle the light hits the spider.

P. sp. machala, specimen 1:

0.1. P. sp. machala.jpg

0.1. P. sp. machala (2).jpg
0.1. P. sp. machala (3).jpg
0.1. P. sp. machala (5).jpg
0.1. P. sp. machala (6).jpg
0.1. P. sp. machala (7).jpg
0.1. P. sp. machala (10).jpg
in this one the colours come out the nicest, but the opisthosoma still reflects too much of the light to see the hidden pattern.

Now for comparison,P. sp. machala specimen 2:

0.1. P. sp. machala (4).jpg
0.1. P. sp. machala (8).jpg
0.1. P. sp. machala (9).jpg
And its molt, for size comparison and spermathecae sexing.
0.1. P. sp. machala 7i size.jpg
0.1. P. sp. machala spermathecae female.jpg

And now some adorable slings that are the newest additions. Bad pictures but with these guys i didnt want to risk an escape.

0.0.2. Poecilotheria regalis
0.0.2. Poecilotheria metallica
0.0.2. Poecilotheria subfusca lowland

I got them all around 1" dls and was wondering if these are 2i or 1Fh slings based on their size. Since then all but one have molted in my care with the last one, a P. regalis in heavy premolt. 4 of them molted almost simultaniously 2 nights ago and they were quick as lightning about it too.

This one escaped while i was unpacking them. A little P. regalis.
0.0.1 P. regalis.jpg
and again in premolt
IMG_20210708_084314.jpg

And now to the ones that have molted and moved into their true sling enclosure, a 10x10x10 box with steel ventilation mesh in the classical terrarium stile, once at the side close to the bottom and once in the lid. There are no melted or drilled holes, just in case someone is concerned. The mesh is 0,2 mm thick and fells like smooth silk in the hand. it is usually used to build a mite-barrier in beehives and the like and poses no threat to the fangs as far as i have seen.

Here is a P. metallica, the one that molted ahead of all the others by around 3 days. Sticking out its adorable toes as it waits for prey.
IMG_20210708_084324.jpg
and a freshly molted P. subfusca lowland, with a finger as size reference.
IMG_20210708_084359.jpg
IMG_20210708_084416.jpg
 
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Wolfram1

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IMG_20210827_215939.jpg IMG_20210827_215943.jpg IMG_20210827_220006.jpg
Sling enclosure Ephebopus cyanognatus. Sadly the magnifying glass doesn't work too well for my phones camera but it allows incredible few on my new pretty sling :^)

Notice the drilled ventilation hole in the side and the three predrilled holes in this bug-viewer i used to own as a kid and that held many an insect or spider in the past for exceptional viewing

the only issue with this kind of "limited ventilation is that while the bottom ventilation is much better than the usual small drilled or melted holes the top doesn't allow for a lot of evaporation, meaning it is in my opinion/experience very important to not moisten the substrate too much as the humidity will be fairly high anyway. I only do this because there is airflow coupled with my experiences of how much moisture/water i can add.
 
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