Cent. Vitattus Lings! and a rescue!

JPMiers

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
13
I'm often trying to coerce my friends into capturing their unexpected house guests instead of stomping on them. I've been trying to collect C. Vitattus to start a colony.

I went out to a friends place, south texas, because he had caught one. Since I was there I had a look around.

The first one I found was an adult female that had died during molt.... Or so I thought. Upon further inspection she was barely alive and the Telson was lodged in the skin. It was currently late afternoon and I figured she had been trying to get out all morning. I hardly twitched when touched. I realized that there might just be a chance that she could pull through so I took her inside and began to very carefully extract the skin with an exacto knife and tweezers. It was one of the most difficultly delicate things I've ever done. I finally cut it down to an old metasomal segment that was caught and seemed to be the source of the problem. The only way I could get it off was by using my fingers and as gently as I could grab the base of the tail and pull the last piece off. It worked! I then made sure that all of her legs and chela were straight and ready to harden. After I transferred her into a container I went back out to see what else I could find.

At the same pile of trash I found the female I spotted 3 2nd instar Vitattuses. I managed to collect them and realized they were swarming a rusted up coffee can. I took the can back to the house and began cutting away - collecting them all as they left the can and fell off the table. (I will edit later when I get the video up.)

All in all it was an excellent trip, I have enough to start my colony and I saved a life!

-Joel
 
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