My first Aphonopelma burrow find.

[Kichimark]

Hello everyone,

Wanted to post this a week ago but got carried away with work and what not. During this time of the year I tend to do more night hiking since I live down the street from a big open space with a few canyons. One of them is being developed for a housing track and being on here has spiked my interest further in tarantulas. I have seen a few males wondering around in July which appear to be Aphonopelma steindachneri. So with that in mind, when I went out, I tried my best to find some native tarantulas with the focus being in the land that is going to be developed and came across this:

The picture is a little horrible so here is a closer picture of what appears to be a A. steindachneri with the legs at the entrance. Did not move whatsoever even with the light shining.

I did find in the morning a mummified corpse of a tarantula. At first I thought it was just the shed but when I picked it up, it looked like something killed it and ate it from the side. I am not sure if this was from a tarantula hawk since they were around in huge numbers during the summer. This picture was taken where it was found. I took the remains and can upload a better picture of the side in a bit.

Some random herping pictures from my hikes this past week.

Young Ca Kingsnake

Young Southern Pacific Rattlesnake

My main

 

[Matt Man]

great finds, eaten from the inside sounds like T Hawk larvae. Son awesome you found a burrow. Thanks for the pix

 

[Kichimark]

Lot's of baby snakes around the last couple weeks. I would post a picture but it might give away the location of the housing track so want to prevent that. So far I have relocated 2 red racers, half a dozen gophers snakes and a few horned lizards which went over to the other side of the housing track. Just hope no one kills them since I have already seen a few neonate baby rattlesnakes/gophersnakes killed. Really gets to me when people go out and kill things on trails.

I found an opening to a trap door spider den but not the spider. This was also only about 6 inches of the entrance and den so unsure what happened to the spider since it was on the side of some bulldozed dirt. I will post a picture of that later along with a A. steindachneri that is under QT at the moment.

Dead southern pacific rattler along the trail.

BUT....still lots of babies. Hope they don't get close to the new houses and live a long life.

 

[justanotherTkeeper]

Awesome corn snake find! I love the color pattern. This must be Anerythristic, right? Common, yet so beautiful.

 

[Matt Man]

heck I had another A Steindachneri show up in my office. About a 2" male.

 

[Matt Man]

people want to live next to nature, ...and then want to kill nature cause they're skeered

don't live next to nature then

 

[Kichimark]

Awesome corn snake find! I love the color pattern. This must be Anerythristic, right? Common, yet so beautiful.

I can see how they can be confused with that type of corn but that is a baby souithern pacific rattlesnake. When they are small they got that type of coloration but when they get large, they get much darker like this fella. Ofcourse there is variation but this one is from the area.

 

[Kichimark]

Here are some more shots of the mummified T. Most likely it is a A. steindachneri as well since the scopulae on the metatarsus matches from what is punlished.

Totally eaten from the inside. Only hole is this on the side. Really hard to get a good shot.

And some of the trap door spider den/hole that I found along the side of the road that was recently made. Must have been destroyed a day or two before I found it and at first I thought it was some chunk of dirt that had a pipe. Hope the spider made it but probably not since a lot of habitat was destroyed in the surrounding area.

Front view.

Open hatch....so cool how they design these.

And lastly a possible female A. steindachneri. She apparently is regrowing her leg as you can see in the second to last leg on the right side. It is more obvious in person. Have her in a kritter keeper for now (acrylic cage on the way) and she is such an aggressive eater. I will post much better pictures later.

 

[Kichimark]

heck I had another A Steindachneri show up in my office. About a 2" male.

Right on. Post a pic of the guy when you get a chance. Have not seen any more males moving around these parts for over a month and with the temp getting really cold again, I am not sure if I will this season? They are already leveling the ground on the property for the houses and not enough time to check all the holes with my work/family schedule. But, lets see if I get any calls. So far the only calls are for reptiles.

people want to live next to nature, ...and then want to kill nature cause they're skeered

don't live next to nature then

Yeah that is what gets me. Lots of folks don't even live around here but visit for "nature" and the exercise. Enjoy nature and when out and about you are in their domain. I have been around hundreds of rattlesnakes/snakes in my life with no issues whatsoever. I can only imagine how many tarantulas are killed because of peoples fears. I told the wife when the houses are built, to make some cards letting the owners know who I am with profession (biology instructor) and how I am willing to relocate whatever reptile/invert wonders on their property. She thinks I am nuts but I think it would be a cool idea. It would be a win-win for everyone.

 

[Matt Man]

you

Right on. Post a pic of the guy when you get a chance. Have not seen any more males moving around these parts for over a month and with the temp getting really cold again, I am not sure if I will this season? They are already leveling the ground on the property for the houses and not enough time to check all the holes with my work/family schedule. But, lets see if I get any calls. So far the only calls are for reptiles.



Yeah that is what gets me. Lots of folks don't even live around here but visit for "nature" and the exercise. Enjoy nature and when out and about you are in their domain. I have been around hundreds of rattlesnakes/snakes in my life with no issues whatsoever. I can only imagine how many tarantulas are killed because of peoples fears. I told the wife when the houses are built, to make some cards letting the owners know who I am with profession (biology instructor) and how I am willing to relocate whatever reptile/invert wonders on their property. She thinks I am nuts but I think it would be a cool idea. It would be a win-win for everyone.

You should make the cards, rescue beats death any day. And then people may just call, and feel less freaked, I haven't seen any males either and the season is tailing off. Congrats on your Female, I really love this species, wait til you see them in the right light or after a molt. I hope you can save more critters from the demo / demo.

 

[Matt Man]

Right on. Post a pic of the guy when you get a chance. Have not seen any more males moving around these parts for over a month and with the temp getting really cold again, I am not sure if I will this season? They are already leveling the ground on the property for the houses and not enough time to check all the holes with my work/family schedule. But, lets see if I get any calls. So far the only calls are for reptiles.

here's the 2 latest. One on the far right is the newest.

 

[KeGathings17]

Lot's of baby snakes around the last couple weeks. I would post a picture but it might give away the location of the housing track so want to prevent that. So far I have relocated 2 red racers, half a dozen gophers snakes and a few horned lizards which went over to the other side of the housing track. Just hope no one kills them since I have already seen a few neonate baby rattlesnakes/gophersnakes killed. Really gets to me when people go out and kill things on trails.

I found an opening to a trap door spider den but not the spider. This was also only about 6 inches of the entrance and den so unsure what happened to the spider since it was on the side of some bulldozed dirt. I will post a picture of that later along with a A. steindachneri that is under QT at the moment.

Dead southern pacific rattler along the trail.

BUT....still lots of babies. Hope they don't get close to the new houses and live a long life.

Hate seeing dead crotalus, or any snake for that matter. Especially a beautiful species like the South Pacifics.... awesome photos though, thanks for sharing!

 

[Matt Man]

okay so I spoke to Dr. Hamilton about the Genus / Species and he says the best way to tell A steindachneri from A eutylenum is the “extent of scopulation” on leg 4. So look at the patch of dense dense setae on the underside of leg 4. It’s a small patch in steindachneri and much, much larger on eutylenum.

 

[RTTB]

Great find.