Hello,
I recently got a sub-adult Grammostola Aureostriata, a Chaco Golden Knee. One of the prime reasons behind my getting one, was their reputed calmness, as my geniculata swiftly crushed any dreams I might have had about one day holding her.
Anyway, I keep her in a quite big petpal, with a substrate consisting of ~70% peat, and 30% vermiculite. Perhaps I need to raise the substrate level, though, as she seems determined to live her life as an arboreal. I've had her for two weeks now, and when she's not eating, she sits as high up on the walls as she can possibly get.
From the start, she seemed a little.. not so calm. Zoophobas, as big as they get, she wolfed down as many as I tossed in, every day. Even my 6" genic does not react as violently to food as this spider does. Lightning fast she strikes, whitout hesitating even once... which made me jokingly call her "Haplo", for a while.
Today, I noticed her sitting on the ground for a change, and decided to try handling her. I put on a winter jacket, and the thickest pair of gloves I could find, and put the petpal on a pile of pillows, on the floor. Having heard the best way to go about this was gently stroking them with a paint brush, to get them to walk up on you hand, I got the longest pencil I could find.
I started with knocking a little on the walls, on her cork bark hide, which she's NEVER been inside, and then on the ground, to let her know I was there. Taking care not to breath on her, I then quietly and carefully stroked the hairs on her hind legs... and WHAM! - she turned around, lightning fast, with fangs up and ready, front legs up above her head. Half a second later, before I had time to react, I hear the distinct clicking of her fangs hitting the pencil. She got so agitaded, I thought she'd fall backwards from her threat posture.
Afterwards, she kept that posture for 10 minutes, before climbing the wall, to take her place on the wall again.
Heh, at least my ½ inch versicolor hasn't shown any aggression. But I'll bet she'll be the first hissing avic the world has ever seen.
Anyways, I have a tendancy to write long posts, but I'll make up for that with five pictures. Meet Angry, my Chaco:
I recently got a sub-adult Grammostola Aureostriata, a Chaco Golden Knee. One of the prime reasons behind my getting one, was their reputed calmness, as my geniculata swiftly crushed any dreams I might have had about one day holding her.
Anyway, I keep her in a quite big petpal, with a substrate consisting of ~70% peat, and 30% vermiculite. Perhaps I need to raise the substrate level, though, as she seems determined to live her life as an arboreal. I've had her for two weeks now, and when she's not eating, she sits as high up on the walls as she can possibly get.
From the start, she seemed a little.. not so calm. Zoophobas, as big as they get, she wolfed down as many as I tossed in, every day. Even my 6" genic does not react as violently to food as this spider does. Lightning fast she strikes, whitout hesitating even once... which made me jokingly call her "Haplo", for a while.
Today, I noticed her sitting on the ground for a change, and decided to try handling her. I put on a winter jacket, and the thickest pair of gloves I could find, and put the petpal on a pile of pillows, on the floor. Having heard the best way to go about this was gently stroking them with a paint brush, to get them to walk up on you hand, I got the longest pencil I could find.
I started with knocking a little on the walls, on her cork bark hide, which she's NEVER been inside, and then on the ground, to let her know I was there. Taking care not to breath on her, I then quietly and carefully stroked the hairs on her hind legs... and WHAM! - she turned around, lightning fast, with fangs up and ready, front legs up above her head. Half a second later, before I had time to react, I hear the distinct clicking of her fangs hitting the pencil. She got so agitaded, I thought she'd fall backwards from her threat posture.
Afterwards, she kept that posture for 10 minutes, before climbing the wall, to take her place on the wall again.
Heh, at least my ½ inch versicolor hasn't shown any aggression. But I'll bet she'll be the first hissing avic the world has ever seen.
Anyways, I have a tendancy to write long posts, but I'll make up for that with five pictures. Meet Angry, my Chaco: