# classic paloma style



## josh_r (Mar 20, 2008)

you guys are probly gonna get sick of the paloma pics. i went out on another excursion in the sonoran and ended up with some GREAT shots! john, these are for you buddy!

this is a classic paloma burrow. just about every one looks just like this. they are about the size of a dime






and the spider














































now paloma are typically found in sonoran desert habitat, but there are always exceptions. i was in juniper/pine forest looking for aphonopelma behlei. the temp was 34 degrees and it was snowing. i was wandering around flipping rocks when i found a tiny hole in the ground with a perfect matt of silk. i thought it was a wolf spider but wasnt totally convinced. i dug it up and to my surprise, this feisty gal was hunkered at the bottom





















these next pictures are classic paloma intimidation.....and lemme tell ya..theyre convincing!
















-josh


----------



## digiwalker (Mar 20, 2008)

Wow! They sure put on a show to make up for their size! I am extremely interested in this species, I have some sort of weird thing for extremes of size - If its alot bigger, or alot smaller than average I find it even more interesting...for example: Key Deer.


----------



## John Apple (Mar 20, 2008)

Awsome pics Josh, the paloma's look to be bigger than they are when putting up a threat display


----------



## pinkzebra (Mar 20, 2008)

Execellent pics! I love habitat photos. Keep them coming!

Jen


----------



## syndicate (Mar 20, 2008)

awesome shots thanks for sharing!now is that second spider pictured a dif color morph?that may be the nicest looking Aphonopelma ive ever seen!
id love to keep this species


----------



## John Apple (Mar 21, 2008)

they are too cool, my largest female is probably 1.75" leg tip to tip.
I also noticed something when feeding them. The crix they sort of wanted or not ya know, but when I tossed in mealie beetles they literally jumped on them. I will try roaches next feeding.
Makes me think that beetles are a mainstay of the diet.


----------



## hamfoto (Mar 21, 2008)

Cool!  Yeah, it makes sense...I find a lot of beetle remains in the Aphonopelma burrows here in Texas.
And in the A. paloma habitat it seems reasonable that there would be more beetles that would deal with the temps and season than grasshoppers and crickets.

Chris


----------



## Veneficus (Mar 22, 2008)

Those pics are great!  Reminds me of small dogs and how they try to be more aggressive to intimidate larger foes.

I used to live in Tucson and I never knew the dwarf tarantulas lived there--grr.  I really like the dwarf ones--they're cute.


----------

