User If I Only Had A Brane (lostbrane's Photo Thread)

[lostbrane]

P. vittata (it's so colorful :wideyed



C.versicolor



C. cyaneopubescens



P. cambridgei (this obviously isn't a great shot, but it's using the lean-to piece of cork bark here so I was all 'nice')

 

[Arthroverts]

In the end, they're not that bad. Had I decided to wait for a rehouse on a day where I was much less exhausted and had I kept my wits about me, the H. maculata rehouse would have gone rather smooth. That being said, it's an added pain, only because the H. maculata tends to do the things I least want it to. As to the P. smithi, it was just hungry and I just wanted to avoid it striking the tongs, although given it's size would have been fairly difficult.

When my GBB kicks hairs at me when I try to clean it's water dish, when my G. pulchripes has given me a threat posture and attacked the tongs so hard it has knocked them out of my hands, when my P. pulcher decided it wanted to waltz around my P. imperator enclosure instead of go into it's new home during a rehouse, and then when I hear about Old Worlds being even feistier, I take a step back.

Anyway, is there a species you would recommend to a Old World beginner? Seeing these Old Worlds in all their glory is really making me want one.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[Ungoliant]

Anyway, is there a species you would recommend to a Old World beginner? Seeing these Old Worlds in all their glory is really making me want one.

The most commonly recommended starter OWs (not for beginners but for more experienced keepers looking to start keeping OWs) are African baboons such as:

• Augacephalus ezendami
• Ceratogyrus darlingi
• Ceratogyrus marshalli (this was mine)
• Ceratogyrus meridionalis
• Monocentropus balfouri

The above species are hardy and tend to be relatively laid back (compared to other OWs).

Less commonly recommended (but not unheard of):

• Encyocratella olivacea
• Eucratoscelus pachypus
• Harpactira cafreriana
• Harpactira pulchripes
• Idiothele mira (trapdoor)
• Pelinobius muticus (pet hole)

Recommended as a bridge to OWs:

• Ephebopus murinus (burrower)
• Phormictopus cancerides (terrestrial)
• Psalmopoeus (arboreal)

 

[lostbrane]

Ultra fuzzy photo of the recently molted P. tigrinawesseli eating a mealworm.



Got to get a good look at my recently molted C. cyaneopubescens.



And finally another photo of my latest acquisition, a probable C. vonwirthi.

 

[lostbrane]

P. cambridgei

 

[lostbrane]

Best photo of the rufilata I’ve gotten thus far:



And one more of Cuddles just cuz:

 

[lostbrane]

She finally graced me with her presence. I was a tad worried since I hadn’t seen her since I had spied the exuvia (and well this was the first time one of my larger spiders have ever molted in my care so...yeah fun firsts and such).

 

[Arthroverts]

Any updates @lostbrane?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[lostbrane]

@Arthroverts Not really. This thread is mostly for stuff that doesn’t apply to new additions or who molted. So, seeing as I have only had one or two molts...

However I do have a story for you. P. subfusca LL almost kicked the bucket a week or two ago. Found him curled at the bottom of his cork tube. Don’t know what possessed me to check it but I’m glad I did. Got him into a temp enclosure (see pic) and he latched onto the moistened paper towel and has since made a full recovery. I did have the paper towel mostly under his mouth but he decided to climb all the way on which made me really happy at the time.

He’s one of my most skittish spiders so him acting all lethargic was rather worrisome but yeah.

He has a water dish. I drip water down the tube occasionally. I don’t get why he wasn’t drinking. Either way, it allowed me to improve upon his enclosure so that is a plus.

At the time, I decided to snap a few photos because I never got a full one with his adult coloration and I thought that that might be the last time I see him alive. So, while it wasn’t the greatest time, it might have been the only time.

However, that wasn’t the case so woo.

 

[lostbrane]

 

[lostbrane]

P. subfusca LL has made a full recovery.
However due to it’s enclosure not even terrible photos come out so no dice there. It’s ok. Just glad to see him out and about.

In other news:


Thar be a P. chordatus.



Got to see the P. ornata all stretched out.


My, my. It’s a MM P. regalis.


A. avicularia M1

 

[lostbrane]

So, just yesterday (I think it was yesterday, time is all a blur to me lately), I decided to follow my own advice of when questioning a rehouse, just go ahead and do it. Despite the accidental and foolish smoosh of my beloved OBT, she is doing fine! Wahoo!

She was in, what I think was a medium KK, which definitely worked, but she's getting up there in size, and still has room to grow so, time for the XL.

 

[lostbrane]

Decided it was well beyond time to rehouse my Cyriopagopus sp. bach ma. I typically do three total enclosures for my fossorials, so once this lil one is a larger juvie, it'll go into it's final enclosure.



It's a clear plastic cereal or grain container. A bit pricey for the volume, but it's clear so that's a plus. Wanted to be able to see it regularly...

 

[lostbrane]

Rehoused the A. geniculata in what is probably going to be her final enclosure. Also, she is a she. Was able to grab the old molt she had in there and the spermathecae stuck out like a sore thumb.

 

[lostbrane]

Went to the Reptile Nation Expo today. Wasn't all that great in my opinion, overall anyways. Got the chance to talk to Joe Rossi, which is always a pleasure and got a C. fimbriatus sling from him. Which, was what I thought was going to be my only purchase of the day. (Not pictured here).

Whilst I was walking out and doing a last sweep, I found this lil one:



It's a Liphistius cf. ornatus, and it is super small. I hope to do right by it.

Then...I went on the hunt for some cork tile I didn't have to modify at local pet stores around the county (since I didn't feel like staying at home). There, I found a P. striata in a not so great enclosure:



Worst part was I left, then came back. I know, I shouldn't support these places but my impulsive nature won the day. I didn't even find tile. I still had the Exo Terra that my MM P. regalis was living in. I had picked up a cool piece of cork bark earlier, which I had intended for one of my P. cambridgei but I figured I can hold off on a rehouse for some time.



I thought it turned out ok. Might seem a little barren but she has some places to hang out in/crawl around should she choose to. The whole Y tube is all connected, so the bottom right piece allows access throughout the whole thing. I doubt she will be able to fit once she hits max size, but there we are.



And there she is. I got a good ventral look before buying her. The lack of dot, uniform furrow, and the faded abdominal stripe, make me fairly certain she is indeed a she. If she isn't, I will be absolutely flabbergasted.

The rehouse went fairly well, once I got over my nerves. Truth be told I don't have a great deal of experience when it comes to rehousing larger specimens and she is ~5" I would reckon. In any event, I am just a naturally anxious person so...yeah doesn't exactly help but I always make sure things get done and done right.

 

[lostbrane]

Well, a bigish update I suppose. Spider fever has gripped me once again. I had not a great day but enough of a "I ain't havin it" day to tempt myself and well I definitely gave into temptation.

Here's a Phormictopus sp. green. I almost got this on Sunday, but I didn't at the time because I felt something holding me back.



Here be the tub that I put it in.




Biggest thing to take away from that is look at how neat those holes are! I picked up a body reamer and this thing is awesome for soft plastics. I'm not sure about smaller holes though, but for larger specimens, this thing is incredible. Especially since I live in an apartment and a drill going off in the evening is sure to attract some attention.

So, they had the Phormictopus in the back, and the one I was going to originally and only purchase was this Cyriopagopus sp. hati hati.



It's a beauty. It's also awesome.

This one went into a cereal container. Sadly the reamer doesn't work well here since it is a hard plastic. Overall, I find these things inconvenient but I wanted to try another one out, and see how the spiders do, so that's the only reason I got it. Otherwise, I'm over them. Oh, I suppose this one is interesting since it has a built in feeder flap, but the seal is so tight it might cause more problems than bring about a convenience. (Side note: I didn’t realize that these are kept like Omothymus, etc. because I am an idiot and assumed “oh it’s a Cyriopagopus must be fossorial.” I thankfully left enough room up top to put in a small slab of cork bark so it’s all good now, although I probably would have done the enclosure differently had I known that before putting the spider in but alas...)



And here's my freshly molted P. metallica, just cuz



Oh, and one last note. For whatever reason, I wasn't nervous one bit about these rehouses. I was relishing every moment. A far cry from how I usually get. Things just flowed and were simple. An odd occurrence.

I say last, but I also remembered something else. A. geniculata is actually using it's hide. It's been a long time since that has happened. I wonder if they just like bigger hides in general?

Lastly, for reals this time, the P. striata female has decided that cork tubes are not for her and has thrown up some dirt curtains around the cork bark lean to I put in the back. Slightly disappointed but also very amused by this turn of events.

 

[lostbrane]

The fever is real. Although I have a decent justification since my S. viridis died:



A scurrying S. polymorpha.

 

[lostbrane]

Rehoused the P. subfusca HL




So, whilst I don’t like the kk setups that much, I figured to go for it because that was all I had. Taped in a piece of duct taped cardboard to hold the sub in/prevent leaks when adding water to the sub. Did not realize how big he was so it’s good I did rehouse him.

P. striata molted. Now she’s using the cork y-tube. Huzzah.



She is skinny, but still need to wait for the fangs to harden up some more before feeding.

Other than that, P. tigrinawesseli molted. Looking male. C. fimbriatus also molted and is still alive so woo.