# My Little Patch of Desert



## Texas Blonde (Jul 19, 2006)

Thought this would be a good place to post pics of my ranch in Goldsmith, Tx.  For those who are interested, it sits right on the corners of Andrews, Ector, and Winkler counties in West Texas.  

HERE is a county map of Texas that shows roughly where the ranch is located.  

We have alot of tarantulas out there, I once found (with help of MrEd and Eric Weintraub) 22 tarantulas in a 50y area.  The species we have are the Carlsbad Greens and anther that is tentatively IDd as Aphonopelma steindachneri.  

Now for the good part.  PICS!

The burrow of a female Carlsbad Green:






After flooding her to the surface.  After I get them up like that, I slide my trowel into the dirt at an angle that shuts off their burrow so they cant retreat.  Then I just have to lift the trowel with all the dirt and the tarantula.  Its a very quick and easy way to catch them if the soil is right.






And here is the big girl after I had cupped her.


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

Around the beginning of summer every year the males mature and begin wandering around.  It becomes nearly impossible to drive anywhere out in the country without running many of them over.  Usually, after picking up and transporting the 20th male across the road I give up, and just dont look down.  

This guy was walking over a rat nest and when I rattled the stickes around him, he went into a thread pose.  It was very cute.  I believe that he is/was a mature Carlsbad Green.






Here are some other examples of males.  I took all these while driving around on the ranch roads.  The males dont alter their path for anything.


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

Here is a very freshly molted male I found in a burrow.  I was very disappointed when I realized it wasnt a female, as it was such a pretty spider.

The webbed over burrow






After flooding him out






I managed to tickle him out, then block the burrow with a stick.  You can see him trying to move the stick here.






And a blurry picture of him in the cup.  After I took the pic I returned him to his burrow.


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## sammyp (Jul 20, 2006)

Hey, nice thread. I quite like the picture of the male wandering along on the vast open ground, looks kinda like a house spider crawling up a wall  That does look like a fab place to live, hmmm.. can't remember who said it, but in the arachnophile thread: 'You know you're an aracnophile when you seriously consider moving to where T's roam wild.'   That's me right now, looking at these pictures


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

Here are some more pictures of males.  Some of them are pretty blurry but it gives you the idea of what the two different types of males look like.



























This one was hiding out in an abandoned rat hole, probably until it cooled off enough to wander around.


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## Canth (Jul 20, 2006)

Wow! I'm sure a lot of people would love to live there! Have you ever found any in your home? That's a pretty cool little patch of desert


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

Canth said:
			
		

> Wow! I'm sure a lot of people would love to live there! Have you ever found any in your home? That's a pretty cool little patch of desert


Ive never found any tarantulas in the house (besides mine), but I find Centroides vittatus all the time.  For awhile there we were finding one in the sink every morning.  My mom got all excited when I got a blacklight because she would be able to see them when she got up in the night, lol.

I also found a solifugid in the kitchen once.  It had a leaf stuck to its foot in such a way that it could only run in circles.  I caught it in a mason jar by timing its circles, lol.  Unfortunatly I didnt have a cam at the time, so I couldnt get any pics before I let it go.


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## Canth (Jul 20, 2006)

It'd be pretty unnerving to sleep with the C. vittatus. But it'd also be kinda cool to wake up in the middle of the night with the black light. Also, how big was the Solfugid? I want to move back to central Texas or West Texas would be even better...


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## Gesticulator (Jul 20, 2006)

Awesome pictures Sky. I am (carlsbad) green with envy.


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

Here are some pics of one of the most amazing animals I have had the good fortune to get close too.  I was driving out to my ranch, and happened to see it sitting on the side of the road.  I braked immediatly and hoofed it back to where it was so I wouldnt scare it.  Sorry if some of the pics are blurry or off center, I was shaking so bad.  I kept having to remind myself to breath.  













At this point a truck pulled up next to me and honked its horn, so the bird flew a short way off into a field.


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

I took these pics from on the other side of the fence as the bird.


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

These were all taken while I was in the field with the bird.  At one point I was sitting on the ground just over arms reach of it.  I had to zoom out to get its whole body.  It was just not scared of me, probably because it knew it could kick my butt, lol.


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

More:


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

More:


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

More:


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

At this point the bird was pretty sick of me and decided to leave.  He moved around to the other side of the mesquite bush.  



















I met him on the other side so I could get some more pics.  These let you really see how impressive he was.


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 20, 2006)

These are all from the other side of the fence again.  I had decided to leave, but couldnt resist taking just a few more.































Once I got back in my truck, I started crying from the adrenaline rush.  It was so amazing being that close to such a beautiful animal.  It took a cold beer to calm me down, lol.


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## Canth (Jul 20, 2006)

WOW! Those are amazing pictures!!!! You are one lucky person to have been that close to such and awesome animal. Maybe you could get it IDed and submit them to a magazine or something.


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## Sheri (Jul 20, 2006)

Sky! Awesome!!! I can barely manage to photograph a crow. And when I do, they ALL suck hardcore.

Very, very nice!


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 22, 2006)

This is Mr Turtleman.  He is my moms pet wild turtle, lol.  At least once a week he comes to our back door and begs for food.  Hes been doing it for about 5 years now.  These last couple weeks we see him almost everyday, probably because we are in a droubt and food is scarce.  She gives him dry dog food soaked in hot water, and as soon as he is done, he wanders off behind our house into the scrub.  

Waiting by the backdoor for his food.  
























Eating his dog food.












My moms dog Tica waiting patiently for him to finish so she could have the leftovers, as if she needs it, lol.












On his way back to where ever it is that he goes.


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## GQ. (Jul 22, 2006)

Wow Sky!  Great shots.  Thanks for sharing.  Now I have a great urge to go out and find some critters.  I think I'll head out this evening.


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## Billy Norton (Jul 22, 2006)

*Super Hawk Pictures.*

Great pictures, They brought back very pleasent memories of my youth in New Mexico. I raised several redtail hawks in my early teens. I have always had a fasination for the mighty birds of prey!!!


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## Tony (Jul 23, 2006)

The turtle thing is the best (Hi Sky!)
Sorry I missed the shin-dig 
And Billy was there too?
Drat
T


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 23, 2006)

tony said:
			
		

> The turtle thing is the best (Hi Sky!)
> Sorry I missed the shin-dig
> And Billy was there too?
> Drat
> T


We missed you!!!  Bill was there, someone got a pic of the two of us, but I dont remember who.    Next year you will have to go.  I even *recieved* an immanis from B & B.

/Sky


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 24, 2006)

I went out again today and got some great pics.  There were alot of beautiful flowers growing right next to the road, so I stopped to get some pics of the bees that were crawling all over them.  There were also some pretty red ant looking bugs, but they flew around so fast, and never stayed in one place very long, so I wasnt able to get any good shots of them.

























There was one of those red bugs in this pic, until just before I pushed the shutter button, lol.  The flower came out good though.   






The best picture I could get of the red bugs.


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 24, 2006)

Just after I left the flower patch I came across this birds nest.  I dont know whether or not it was abandoned, but there were no birds near it when I stopped.


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## Gigas (Jul 24, 2006)

That bee has some hefty long attenae


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 25, 2006)

More pictures from today.  I found this hole completely on accident.  I had actually dropped my lense cap, and when I reached down to get it, it was sitting ON TOP of the tarantulas burrow.


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 25, 2006)

The second tarantula I found.  This little <edit>er was a pain in the <edit>.  I got it out of the burrow, then spent 30 mins trying to get it back in.  I hadnt gone out with intention of collecting, just photographing, but I ended up taking it with me.  Everytime I would place it back on top of the burrow, it would walk back to my leg where I was sitting and crawl underneath it.  I ended up getting fairly forceful, and at one point had most of it in the burrow, but then it just backed out and walked over to my leg.  After deciding to just take it with me, I still had to walk half a mile with the thing cupped in my hand.  It was good though, never tried to even hair me.  Right now its sitting in its deli cup beside my computer, "happy" as a pig in mud.   



















Walking to my leg:


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 25, 2006)

The last tarantula I found while out there.  This one I found while about to jump in one of the cement water tanks.  The thing had burrowed in some very loose sand right next to the edge of the tank.  Unfortunatly its not a good location, because the cattle will be in that pasture again soon, and will surely trample the burrow.


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 25, 2006)

We have no natural standing water in my area of West Texas, so when its hot, we go swimming in the cement water tanks normally used for watering the cattle.  I was smart today and wore my swimsuit under my clothes, Ive had the extreme embarassment of being caught skinny dipping by a roughneck who was sent out to check an oilwell right next to where the tank was located.   

One of the cool things about the tanks is that they attract alot of different animals.  If you hang out in one long enough you are bound to see something wonderful.

This is the first tank I stopped by today, and where I found that last tarantula.  We call it the Hunters Moon Mill.  



















Next to the cement tank is the actual pond.  Its not natural, my great grandfather had it dug out and lined with clay.  It barely holds water anymore, but we are going to have it redone again next year.  It will be much larger, and we will put in a picknick area with a big stone picknick table.  (We have to use stone, the plastic tables always get stolen. )


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 25, 2006)

After I left Hunters Moon I came to this mill.  We call this one Center Mill, though I dont know why, its not really in the center of anything.  This is where the cattle pens are located, so this is where all the cattle come for branding, dehorning, deworming, and castrating.  What a fun sounding process huh?   













I found some really cool bugs here.  These beautiful yellow and orange wasps.  They would land lightly on the water to drink, then fly off.  It was amazing to see them do it, just about everything else drowns.



















There were also a massive amount of bees gathered around the water spout.  They cant land in the water like the wasps do.



















I also had the amazing luck of getting to photograph this dragon fly.  He held still just long enough for me to take two pictures, then took off.


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## Canth (Jul 25, 2006)

I'm sorry if I sound redundant but...Amazing pics, Sky! Lol, I laughed when you talked about that tarantula in chat..Funny.


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## Mr Ed (Jul 26, 2006)

Great pics Sky, that was a ton of fun.  I posted a pic of that first big female I caught dropping a sac, I believe she was the possible Carlsbad green.  I'll keep you posted on it's status.


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## bananaman (Aug 2, 2006)

This is excellent! Wonderful place you got there... and great pictures...
Cheers!


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## xgrafcorex (Aug 2, 2006)

great pics sky!  looks like you are enjoying the new camera.   which lens or lenses do you have?


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## Arietans (Aug 4, 2006)

Awesome awesome awesome pictures 

Thank you for sharing


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## jwasted (Aug 4, 2006)

Very nice pics. Tons of t's in your area   whould be fun to see them around like that .


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## dtknow (Aug 4, 2006)

Great photos! You oughtta do more removal of the T's before the cows come into to certain parts. Might be a way to produce a sustainable source of T's for those breeding these ones?


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## cricket54 (Aug 5, 2006)

Skye, I've been loving this thread! Thanks so much for posting all the pictures. I recently came back from Morongo Valley, CA, not far from Yucca Valley, CA. It was the place where there were all the fires in the news in CA recently (Sawtooth fire). I was visiting my daughter and her property is covered in what looks like tarantula burrows. They look just like the ones in your pictures. My daughter has seen tarantulas there. I didn't see any and I didn't try pouring any water down the burrows. Couldn't tease anything out of the burrows with sticks either. It was extremely hot while I was there and the ants went back in their homes by 10:30AM. My daughter's neighbor found a scorpion in his garage the day I left, and she is mailing him to me. In the spring, they had vinegaroons all over the place, but I'm sure they were in hiding because of the heat. The place is there is called "the high desert" so there was no grass, just yucca, cati, white sage, and brush there. 

Sharon


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