# Carslbad Green hunting



## Texas Blonde (Jul 5, 2007)

well, I decided to go out to the ranch today, to collect some Aphonopelma sp Carlsbad Greens to donate as door prizes at AC.  I found a few burrows, but only managed to get one spider to come out.  It was about to rain, and I think the Ts must have known it, because the most the would do was come to the entrance.  Tomorrow when I go back Ill bring a trowel, so I can dig out the bigguns I find.

This was the first burrow I found.  It belonged to a rather small juvi, maybe 2" long.


















The second burrow I found didnt produce a spider, though Im positive something was living in it.  It was webbed over, but some grass was worked into the webbing, so it was probably a wolf spider.  






The third burrow had a tarantula, and I really wish I had gotten it out, as it wasnt the biggest one I saw all day.  The second picture in this series shows a classic example of burrow location.  I mostly find burrows on the East side of a lump of grass or bush, I believe so that the evening sun is shaded.


















This was the fourth burrow I found, and I wish I had paid more attention to it.  There are a few pieces of grass woven geometrically into the edges of the webbing, a sign that the burrow houses a wolf spider, not a tarantula.  The wolf spiders around here often build turrets of grass at the entrance to their burrows.  I dont like flushing out wolf spiders, as they are big, fast, and aggressive.  Its definatly a David vs Goliath story when one comes out at me.  I run like a little girl, lol.  In the last picture you can see the egg sac thats attatched to the big girls rump.  I thought about collecting her for a bit, because its so fun to see them with babies.  The last picture is from last year, its what I usually find wolf spiders living in.
























The last burrow of the day had the prettiest spider by far.  As soon as I started pouring water down, this big olive T came rushing out, slapped at the water a bit, then ran back down.  Sadly, I couldnt get her to come back up again.  






On my way back to my truck I stopped by the burrow of the first T I saw today.  It was about 30 mins after I flushed it, and it had already started to reweb the entrance.  Its pretty cool to see how fast they get it covered back up.







Today was a beautiful day, not too hot, with some awesome cloud formations.  We get kick ass clouds in W Tx, because the sky is just so huge.  It really makes me wish I had a better lense for my camera.







































Edit:  Wow, I cant spell.  The title should say Carlsbad Green hunting.  Can a mod please fix it?


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## syndicate (Jul 5, 2007)

nice pictures!your so lucky to have native tarantulas there


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 6, 2007)

I got some habitat pictures that I forgot to post earlier.  The first pictures are of a really rocky mound covering a buried pipeline.  I find alot of scorpions there, and not just Centruroides.  That is the only place I can ever find the local Vaejovis sp.  (I was standing on the mound when I took the pics.)













This is what most of the land looks like.  Flat, sandy, and brown.  Well, except this year.  We have had so much rain that everything is incredibly green.  The first pic is from today, and the second pic is from around this time last year in the same place.  (The second picture shows rain in the distance, that was the second rain our ranch got that year, and it was in August.)












Here are just some pictures of W Tx that I like, to give yall an idea of the area.  The animals here face alot of human pollution.  

1) Classic West Texas, mesquite and pump jacks.  






2) The windmill at one of our cattle waterings.  






3) The kaliche road that runs on the southern side of our ranch.   











4) The old kaliche quarry on our ranch.  We now use it as a shooting range, and its one of my favorite places to hunt scorpions.






5) A pulling unit.  This is the machine than reworks old oil and gas wells.  






6) Abandoned oil storage tanks, called tank batteries.






7)  My least favorite creature.  Though, they arent as bad as fire ants.






8)  An old pump jack, the official bird of W Tx.
















9)  A newer pump jack.  The pad site they clear when they are digging a well is supposed to be 200x200', but most often they use 400x400'.  The pad sites are covered over with kaliche, and it can take over 20 years for them to grow over.  






10)  The most common _Beeropelma_ ssp I find.  Im still working out the taxonomy, but for now the name stands as _Beeropelma budlighticus_.  This one appears to be eating a male.


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## myrmecophile (Jul 6, 2007)

The ants are an Aphaenogaster species.


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## beetleman (Jul 6, 2007)

wow,beautiful pics from a beautiful place:clap: thanks for sharing.


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## GQ. (Jul 6, 2007)

Nice photos Sky.  It really makes me miss living out in the boonies as a kid.  Thank you for sharing.


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## AphonopelmaTX (Jul 6, 2007)

Texas Blonde said:


> The animals here face alot of human pollution.


And collection by the looks of your posts.   

- Lonnie


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 6, 2007)

AphonopelmaTX said:


> And collection by the looks of your posts.
> 
> - Lonnie


No, I rarely collect.  I have no need to.  Im only collecting some now because I want to donate a couple breeding pairs to Arachnocon for door prizes.  I collected 3 today, and Im after 2 more, but that will be it until next year.


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## Gsc (Jul 8, 2007)

Looks like alot of fun...wish I was there...we could have 'tore it up' and found a bunch.  

I keep laughing at yoru quote at the bottom of your posts "just pee in his shoes"... I don't know the whole story but it reminds me of the time I was in the firld and had ran out of water to pour down burrow.  There was a tarantula I really wanted (didn't have a trowel with me)...*so I had to pee down the whole... low and behold...it worked and I was able to get the unhappy spider!  *LOL... I guess this would be much easier for us guys... a nice trick to keep in mind...lol.. have fun.


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## Drachenjager (Jul 8, 2007)

Gsc said:


> Looks like alot of fun...wish I was there...we could have 'tore it up' and found a bunch.
> 
> I keep laughing at yoru quote at the bottom of your posts "just pee in his shoes"... I don't know the whole story but it reminds me of the time I was in the firld and had ran out of water to pour down burrow.  There was a tarantula I really wanted (didn't have a trowel with me)...*so I had to pee down the whole... low and behold...it worked and I was able to get the unhappy spider!  *LOL... I guess this would be much easier for us guys... a nice trick to keep in mind...lol.. have fun.


hmm remind me to bring plenty of water when we go buggin together ROTFLOL


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## DrGigglez666 (Jul 8, 2007)

Those clouds pictures make me wanna move to Texas so bad!! Virginia gots some pretty things but its just so boring here!! At least you can go and get tarantulas whenever you want!!


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## Bastian Drolshagen (Jul 11, 2007)

Drachenjager said:


> hmm remind me to bring plenty of water when we go buggin together ROTFLOL


the more water the more pee the more tarantulas ^^

Try not to get bitten while peeing into a burrow


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## harrypei (Jul 11, 2007)

Improver said:


> the more water the more pee the more tarantulas ^^
> 
> Try not to get bitten while peeing into a burrow


ya, you would have a hard time explaining wat happened...


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## beetleman (Jul 11, 2007)

Gsc said:


> Looks like alot of fun...wish I was there...we could have 'tore it up' and found a bunch.
> 
> I keep laughing at yoru quote at the bottom of your posts "just pee in his shoes"... I don't know the whole story but it reminds me of the time I was in the firld and had ran out of water to pour down burrow.  There was a tarantula I really wanted (didn't have a trowel with me)...*so I had to pee down the whole... low and behold...it worked and I was able to get the unhappy spider!  *LOL... I guess this would be much easier for us guys... a nice trick to keep in mind...lol.. have fun.


 hey, ya gotta do what ya gotta do(we are lucky in that department) to get that special spider!


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## harrypei (Jul 11, 2007)

so Carlsbad greens are also found in your area? Because I have no idea how "west" are you in west TX...so I guess you are close to NM


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## Texas Blonde (Jul 11, 2007)

harrypei said:


> so Carlsbad greens are also found in your area? Because I have no idea how "west" are you in west TX...so I guess you are close to NM


Yep.  Very close to NM.  Though, just because they were given the common name Carlsbad Green, doesnt mean they are limited to the Carlsbad area.

The grey circle is roughly where my ranch is located.  I have also found them in Reagan county, which is outlined in black.


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## geopet (Aug 4, 2007)

Pump jacks and tarantulas. . sounds like heaven to me. I am a petroleum geologist.


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## Drachenjager (Aug 4, 2007)

harrypei said:


> so Carlsbad greens are also found in your area? Because I have no idea how "west" are you in west TX...so I guess you are close to NM


lol she can throw a rock across the border lol


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## stubby8th (Aug 5, 2007)

It truly is amazing how different west Texas is from east Texas. Here we hunt A. hentzi . . . in the shade. I mean, not many trees out your way, just scrub. It looks pretty hot and barren.


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## Canth (Aug 6, 2007)

Where do you find C. hentzi?


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## Texas Blonde (Aug 6, 2007)

stubby8th said:


> It truly is amazing how different west Texas is from east Texas. Here we hunt A. hentzi . . . in the shade. I mean, not many trees out your way, just scrub. It looks pretty hot and barren.





Canth said:


> Where do you find C. hentzi?



Read again, more carefully this time Jared.


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## Canth (Aug 6, 2007)

Ooops! Scorps on the brain lol. I meant A. hentzi. Hehe


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## Vys (Aug 8, 2007)

What are those? Muncipials? 

Edit. Ehahaha, nm, 'County Reagan' ought to have given me a clue..
Looks very ..unnaturally divided anyway


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