# St. Thomas & St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands November 2009



## Philth (Dec 1, 2009)

Nice vacation, returned with some pics too share.  My first stop was St. Thomas, about 50 miles east of Puerto Rico.  Some views after arriving.

The port, cruise ships dock at






driving around...












Later, Tom


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## un33dit (Dec 1, 2009)

Hey...I see they were expecting you! They put out the rainbow instead of the red carpet;P 


...Where are the spider pictures?!?!?!?

-Gary


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## Philth (Dec 1, 2009)

Haha Gary!....Lots of pics to go through, spider pics on there way. 

My first night I arrived late so I took a short walk down to the beach just to check things out on the rocks...


















My first spider encounter, just a few feet from the ocean water.












Later, Tom


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## Philth (Dec 1, 2009)

Most millipedes I saw where on trees or climbing something






but not all of them...






Later, Tom


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## Philth (Dec 1, 2009)

_Cyrtopholis_ burrows are everywhere on ST. Thomas. I mean *everywhere*.  Its not un common to find one burrow and then find another 30 or 40 close buy.  Sometimes as close as 6 inches apart from one another.  I came home with more picturs of holes in the ground than any other trip I've ben on haha.


















_Cyrtopholis_ habitat.






Later, Tom


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## Philth (Dec 1, 2009)

_Cyrtopholis_ are deep down there burrows during the day but come a few inches from the top at night.  They are easily tickled to the surface but are reluctant to leave the saftey of there holes.












Later, Tom


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## Philth (Dec 1, 2009)

On a rare occasion you can get one that is hungry enough to come all the way out.
_Cyrtopholis_ sp. St. Thomas

















Later, Tom


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## UrbanJungles (Dec 1, 2009)

That's a good looking spider Tom!


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## syndicate (Dec 1, 2009)

Great photos Tom!Thanks for sharing!
Def a very nice looking species to!You see any other tarantulas out there?
I was curious if any dwarf species may range into those islands.
-Chris


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## tarcan (Dec 1, 2009)

sweet pictures Tom, thanks for sharing. This Cyrtopholis sp. is quite gorgeous!


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## Philth (Dec 1, 2009)

Thanks fellas,

Chris on St. John I found a couple of other sp. ( that i will get to later in this thread)  including a small _Holothele_, but if by dwarf you mean _Cyriocosmus_, there not found on these islands.

Later, Tom


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## Philth (Dec 1, 2009)

Ultimate male _Cyrtopholis_ sp.  A very dead one. Only mature male I found on this trip  





Later, Tom


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## Philth (Dec 2, 2009)

Random St. Thomas pics...





Anoles 


















_sphaerodactylus_ ?


















Later, Tom


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## pato_chacoana (Dec 2, 2009)

Great pics! :clap:  Congrats on the trip, really beautiful palces!!! The _Cyrtopholis_ are good looking indeed. Good to hear they are found in large populations.
Keep posting  

Cheers,
Pato


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## Philth (Dec 2, 2009)

Thanks Pato, 
These Iguana's were fighting a few feet away from me.  Its human instinct to break them up, but of course I let nature takes its course.  Eventually the larger one took off, here's to the underdog!












Later, Tom


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## Philth (Dec 2, 2009)

The port pictured above at night...






My last night on St. Thomas in the morning I will get up early and take the fery over to St. John where I will spend my last few nights.






Later, Tom


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## Philth (Dec 3, 2009)

*St. John*

St. john is a beautiful Island.  Much more wild life can be found on this Island. Unfortunatly for us, St. John experienced heavy rains the week before I arrived, resulting in a massive mosquito population during our stay. We made the best of it but sure put a damper on our trip....

taking the fery over...






View on St. John






Later, Tom


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## Philth (Dec 3, 2009)

My little tent cottage that I stayed in, this was an incredible place to sleep, and the whole area was filled with wildlife, with a quick walk to the beach.






with the help of a black light scorpions could be found in , on, and around the tent.


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## Philth (Dec 3, 2009)

Amblypigids found on the rocks












Later, Tom


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## Philth (Dec 3, 2009)

A snake on St. John :?  Anybody have a ID for this one. It was living under a board that was under my tent. It was about 12 - 15 inches long.


















Later, Tom


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## GoTerps (Dec 3, 2009)

Dude, you ended up in the same exact tent I stayed in!  Compare to the first picture in my thread:
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=85271

I think that's the nicest loop at Maho, even though you have the longest walk to the beach.  Now please tell me you have some A. laeta pics to share!

Glad you had a good trip besides the mosquitoes!

Eric


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## UrbanJungles (Dec 6, 2009)

Hey Tom,
Anymore pics of that snake?  I think you might have stumbled upon something very cool there but I'll have to check into it...


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## kbekker (Dec 6, 2009)

Philth said:


> A snake on St. John :?  Anybody have a ID for this one. It was living under a board that was under my tent. It was about 12 - 15 inches long.


Garden Snake Arrhyton exiguum, would be my guess


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## Chilobrachys (Dec 6, 2009)

Out of curiosity, how much does a trip like this cost?  I would like to take a vacation once I'm out of school.


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## Philth (Dec 6, 2009)

Hey Danny after looking around on the net Im thinking _Magliophis exiguus_ ? But you would know better than me. Those are really the only pics I got of it, not knowing what it was, I really didn't mess with it much. It was about 12-15 inches long , living under a board. Thanks for your input !








> Dude, you ended up in the same exact tent I stayed in! Compare to the first picture in my thread


Hey Eric, by know you've prob seen the PM I sent just before AB went down, how freakin wierd. Its interesting to see how the wood tarnished over the years. More A. laeta pics on the way....

Later, Tom


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## un33dit (Dec 13, 2009)

Get back to it now and post more pics!

-Gary


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## Philth (Dec 14, 2009)

_Avicularia laeta_, I pretty much sacrificed my body to the mosquitoes to see/get pics of this sp. Along with the mosquitoes I got two nice wasp stings on my leg that burned for about 5 days. Good times in the field !:} enough of my whining though....

I found several dead trees with webbing on them , some had old sheds in them, but never found a live spider on these trees.






most were living on old man made structures...




































A. laeta habitat






Some deer were walking around in the distance in this area as well.






Later, Tom


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## LovePets (Dec 15, 2009)

Very beautiful laeta.Thanks for sharing! :worship:


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## Wadew (Dec 15, 2009)

Looks like you had a great trip Tom! Thanks for sharing the photos

                                      Wade


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## Philth (Dec 15, 2009)

Millipedes




































Later, Tom


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## Philth (Dec 18, 2009)

_Holothele shoemakeri_


















Later, Tom


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## moose35 (Dec 18, 2009)

awesome photos.
looks like you had a nice trip.

did they have enough of a beer supply for you?



            moose


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## The Spider Faery (Dec 27, 2009)

> Avicularia laeta, I pretty much sacrificed my body to the mosquitoes to see/get pics of this sp. Along with the mosquitoes I got two nice wasp stings on my leg that burned for about 5 days. Good times in the field ! :}


I'm so glad you endured the torture.  Talk about no pain no gain.   I love the A. laeta pics.


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