User Hobo's photos

[Hobo]

Hey Hobo,...jus wondering if you checked the pet boutique on the north shore yet...curious to see if they have anything new these days....havnt been there in a few months.......what about Aquariums west,do you know what they have these days......thinkin bout comin down to do some spider shoppin

oh,and congrats on the new lady wit the orange knees....lol

Thanks!
No, I haven't checked it out yet, what with the holidays and all that. I will have to soon. I was at aquariums west last weekend and they don't have much in the way of spiders. IIRC, there was a MM rosea, an A. seemani, maybe an LP, and a 2" C. fasciatum. I've been eyeing that C. fasciatum for a while, but I'm hopefully aquiring a female from someone else sometime soon!

Anyway, my other B. smithi stood her ground for the first time when I picked up her enclosure, so I carefully got a good shot of her with the lid off.

Since she was feeling bold, I decided to vial her and get a good shot of her underside. She then haired me for the first time ever too! And yeah, I'm using "she" for now, because her underside is looking mighty female to me

She's still about 1.5-1.75", so there's still hope Mrs. Pennywort will end up with a lover a few years down the road and not a bratty little sister!

 

[Teal]

I'mma go with female too.. and congrats on gettin haired LOL

 

[Hobo]

Welp, not the addition I had been looking forward to, but additions just the same! C. elegans and E. murinus! I can't do an unpacking video, so I'll do a photo-montage thing instead!

Yay, package!

After I finished my double double, I got straight to work. As you can see the packaging was stellar. No DOAs here!

let's see what's in vial #1....

Oh, oh, oh...! Do I see a leg...? Careful now....

Gah! He bolted on me! Luckily I was able to vial him back up. He does seem a bit stiff, but I'm hoping it's just a bit of shipping stress *knock on wood*

Well I guess that leaves the E. murinus in vial #2... hopefully he doesn't carve up my hand...

Wow! Either he's really suffering from shipping stress or this is one damn docile E. murinus! I don't think I'll have to even worry about a bite from this guy (I heard getting bit by one of these is the pits).

Here are a couple of shots of the new additions in their permanent residence.

For those who haven't guessed yet, these are avocado pits carved and painted, and made into a pendant. Now I can carry tarantulas around my neck without worrying about a red, burning itchy chest, or painful, unsightly fang marks and having to stop by the emergency ward on my way home!

 

[The Spider Faery]

Wow, smooth transfer! Err I mean, lol, hilarious photo sequence.

 

[Fasciatum]

A short vid of my N. chromatus taking a cricket.
People who play videogames may enjoy it a little bit more

[YOUTUBE]<object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IKdNlByyyvM&hl=en&fs=1&hd=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IKdNlByyyvM&hl=en&fs=1&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

haha best vid ever!

 

[Teal]

Those necklaces are friggin amazing!

 

[Hobo]

My first, feeble attempt at a 2.5 gallon enclosure à la Talonawd. I'm glad to say I didn't get hot glued to anything, though my caulking gun has definitely looked better!

The only difference in methods was that I didn't use foam, and I used just regular caulk. Figured that I'd get a feel for it first just in case I calk myself (I did) and I figured it would be a lot easier cleaning off regular caulk than something silicone based (it was)!

No pics of the process, unfortunately, I didn't want my camera to accidentally be a permanent fixture in my new enclosure!

Anyway, here she is! It was originally for a C. fasciatum, but now it's for a B. boehmi, so I was going for a scrubland roots-of-a-dead-bush-exposed type look.

Here's the side view (These are hard to take pictures of! The contours and stuff don't appear if it's too bright or if you have flash on!)

From the top

I used styrofoam on both sides and carved them together to make a kind of vertical burrow shaft in conjunction with the wood that will lead down to the first floor. I'm going to put lots of substrate around here, especially to fill in that gap towards the bottom of the photo, as well as the bottom part of the enclosure so she can move some dirt to her liking.

The "terraces" provide the second floor as well as a place to rest if she choses to use the top entrance of the burrow, as well as a roof for an enclosed area, or the cover for her alternate burrow entrance if she decides to stay on the floor.

I'm still doing small touch-ups, but it's essentially done. I might add some dead looking grass in the front right corner, though I'm currently looking for plants that fit in with my scrubland type theme. With the added floorspace for a second floor, it seems like even an adult T of medium-large size can live in here comfortably!

Anyway, making these "Talonawd-esque" type enclosures is GREAT fun. It still smells pretty funky so the worst part is waiting for it to cure. I am dying to see what it would look like with actual substrate! Oh, and a tarantula too, almost forgot that part!!

 

[Hobo]

Now for some pics of actual spiders!

Some of the T. domestica's sac has started to hatch! There's a lot of them, so now I just decided to put the whole enclosure in one of my larger plant pots, so the babies can climb out on their own accord and eat the gnats, baby isopods, and other tiny critters that frequent my plant area. In the second pic, that's a bottlecap. They're tiny!

As for my Ts, all the P. irminia have molted a couple of weeks ago, and I tried to capture the sequence. As always, she did it underground so the pics aren't the best.. but even though, you can tell they have finally molted into full adult colors! all are about 3" now, if they stand sprawled out.

Check out the orange in her legs there... and if you look closely, you'll notice she is a few millimeters off the ground. Yup, she made a molting hammock inside her already web lined tube web!

And done!

And now, through the magic of the internet, we can fast forward to a week later, when it was their feeding time! Since they looked big enough to take 'em, I decided congratulatory adult crickets were in order.

This one busted through his web to claim his (annoyingly) chirping prize.

I had to tong feed the second and third (since I were using adult female crickets) and the second guy bolted down his web as soon as he got his fangs in

The third though, decided she wanted to show off her legs a bit! If you'll notice on the ground there, she's decided to let me check out her molt... one leg at a time!!

A couple of close-ups. It looked painful! You could hear the crunch.... crunch... crunch... as she tried to position the struggling cricket better in her mouth.

After a couple of fangs in the thorax, the cricket stopped moving. She promply brought the cricket down her web to eat it after this pic ws taken.

....Oh what the heck, congratulatory adult crickets all around!!
Only he smithi decided to show it off... and keep it off the dirty floor as well!

 

[Teal]

Awesome feeding and molting shots!

 

[Hobo]

So, new video. Just a feeding vid of my N. chromatus, B. smithi, and G. rosea.
As usual, I've included awesome metal as background music, so feel free to turn up your speakers in anticipation before watching!

[YOUTUBE]wSF-knu-N34[/YOUTUBE]

 

[crawltech]

Killer shots hobo

 

[jbm150]

LOVE the MGS feeding vid. I could almost picture the cricket hiding under a cardboard box. Good stuff man :clap:

 

[Hobo]

Killer shots hobo

LOVE the MGS feeding vid. I could almost picture the cricket hiding under a cardboard box. Good stuff man :clap:

Thanks guys!

Here's some pics I snapped after rehousing one of my P. irminia (The one I suspect to be female). She's quick, but very well behaved for the transfer.

In the catch cup

Her new enclosure

Her in her new enclosure!

And only after a few hours in there, she made herself quite at home!

I also transferred my P. metallica, but she was so damn skittish and photosensitive, that I just took the one pic and figured she'd had enough.

 

[sharpfang]

That's It! It's Official!

You are Now my 4th Favorite T - Hobbyist on the Continent......

......2nd in Canada Enjoy the Olympics - LOL

You Rock Hobo ;P You F'N Rock :clap: - Jason

 

[Hobo]

My shipment of 4 spiders arrived a couple of days ago, but unfortunately one didn't make it
The female H. lividum unfortunately passed on sometime in transit. Really sucks. The death is somewhat of a mystery, as the packing was stellar, there were no signs of trauma on both the spider and the box, and all other spiders were more than perfect condition when unpacked. Have been in constant contact with the seller, he suggested that the most likey cause was possibly it getting too hot from the one heatpack in the cooler (This cooler is about 14" x 18" x 12" by the way, so it's pretty big). Anyway, enough of the negative, and on with new pictures of my new spiders!

First, I posted an enclosure I had made earlier in this thread. Here it is complete with sub, a dish, and fake plant!

Only one thing missing.. the spider! A beautiful, 3" (probably more) FAT female B. boehmei, now dubbed "Fat Mum"!
Here's her immediately after unpacking. The paper towel almost literally burst open from her girth as I pulled her out of the vial (woudl you believe she fit into that tiny vial there?)

And in her new enclosure

She has immediately taken to the burrow I had made for her, and usually sits at the entrance.
Just today, I've already caught her clearing out the shaft of dirt, as I had packed it in just in case she didn't want to use it. I'm glad she actually makes use of it. I was expecting her to completely ignore it and just stay vertical behind the plant or something, in the typical doing-what-you-did't-expect tarantula fashion.

Ok, second spider!
A small, juvie, 3" female P. cancerides!

She was completely motionless after removal from the vial, and I thought it was just your typical shipping lethargy. After she took off like a shot, I realized that was just what she wanted me to think.

Love the little coif on her abomen.

She's settling in quite nicely as well. Today, she took a long drink before some fine dining.

And last, but not least, the true spider!
A small female B. insignis, a true spider native in Australia. She's tiny. But, as you can see, she's quite the beast! (don't worry, that cricket was "maimed").

 

[Hobo]

You are Now my 4th Favorite T - Hobbyist on the Continent......

......2nd in Canada Enjoy the Olympics - LOL

You Rock Hobo ;P You F'N Rock :clap: - Jason

I don't deserve that!
I still have a meager collection!
Save that for when I become the "crazy old spider guy" with old newspapers and empty booze bottles all over his porch, that people are afraid to knock for on halloween!

But thanks for the compliments, glad you enjoy them!

 

[sharpfang]

It's Not what ya Don't Got....

.......It's What you DO, w/ what you Have

Like you DON'T have Empty Bottles Lying around that Dumpster - LOL

Sure, O.K. I would bet you a Bottle of "Ripple", that there are Enough recyclables @ your domecile to collect, to Upgrade T - Collection!

Funny guy :clap: Modest about your Drinking as Well - Jason

 

[Dinho]

Oh, oh, oh...! Do I see a leg...? Careful now....

Gah! He bolted on me! Luckily I was able to vial him back up. He does seem a bit stiff, but I'm hoping it's just a bit of shipping stress *knock on wood*

It's realy cool
Where can I buy this??

 

[Hobo]

It's realy cool
Where can I buy this??

A dealer here in Canada made them. They're one of a kind, at least for now!

Anyway, forgot to put up a vid for my P. irminia rehousing post.
The day after, during the usual house renovations that have been going on at my place, I caught her doing some home renovations of her own.
[YOUTUBE]U_G_cjB4eJg[/YOUTUBE]
You can really hear the hammering towards the end!

 

[Hobo]

Two new acquisitions, and they've all arrived safely!

MF Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens (that might end up being gravid!)
and a female Haplopelma lividum!

First the GBB, since it was very cooperative.
Here she is coming out of her packing, all on her own!

She started to climb out, so I had her crawl into a deli cup. She looks delicious! My guess would be something like blueberry cheesecake wth a graham crust. Mmmmmm.....

Getting aqunted with her enclosure...

Simple, but I think it'll look better with her webs...

Close up!

She isn't without her charm, but she has already webbed up almost all of the bark already, and it's only been one day!

...And here's the lividum. Only a couple of pics of her, unfortunately.

She's currently living in this "rice container" shaped somewhat like a toilet. I thought it was a hoot, so I made it into a tarantula enclosure so I could get a spider for it! Unfortunately it doesn't make for good pictures, but I'm planning to make a really nice burrowing cage for her this summer when I have access to my backyard again.

In the meantime, I can reenact my favorite scene from Arachnophobia! Now, who wants to play the daughter...?