My T Ship Came In!!

[bness2]

Remember how I said I got bit by the T collecting bug? Well, I now have proof, in the form of 20 Ts that arrived in the mail on Tuesday. In addition to the Ts I got a couple of Scolopendras (Vietnamese), a bunch of emperor scorps, six anolis lizards, two red-eyed frogs, etc. I have spent many hours preparing habitats. Fortunately I have a few students willing to give me a hand.

Anyway, here's the list:

12 G. rosea (Most of these are to pass on to students, the best will be kept for a breeding attempt.
3 Adult/sub-adult A. Avicularia
1 2" Brachypelma smithi
2 near adult Aphonopelma seemani
1 Grammastola pulchra sling
1 Acanthoscurria geniculata sling

When the package arrived one of my students, who ordered a few items through me, was getting ready to open the box. I warned him he better have a few containers handy, in case any critters had escaped, and I warned him about how vicious Scolopendras can be. Well, neither of the Scolopendras got loose, but three rosies did and miraculously all three were still in perfect condition.

I have handled pretty much all the rosies that came in the shipment, and although a few are a bit skittish, all are the sweet Ts I am used to. The Avics were another story. I transferred all three of them to larger containers today, and my are they fast and jumpy. All three of them went up and down both my arms and one of them took me five minutes to get him into the correct container.

I had also ordered a red trapdoor spider, but he also escaped and was DOA.

All the Ts are looking fine. Now all I have to do is figure out how to keep them all fed. Fortunately, our department has promised me I can hire student help to take care of them and the many other critters I have asembled. I now have quite a zoo for my teaching, although it is a little lopsided toward Ts. =D

Bryan

 

[Joy]

Yes, that's quite a collection, Bryan! It made me laugh when you wrote about warning your student before opening the package. I remember someone (maybe Darrin?) describing to me how he used to receive shipments from a friend who thought it was funny to throw an extra loose Scolopendra into the box before sealing it up!

Joy

 

[looseyfur]

order

who did you order from who was so sloppy with packing


looSeyfur

 

[Mojo Jojo]

Got two words for ya:

TAX RIDEOFF

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you are a science teacher? You should have so many different types of data gathering activities for the students. Have fun.

Sorry about the trapdoor.

I'd be interested too, to find out who you ordered from.

Big Dragonfly

 

[bness2]

Originally posted by Joy
Yes, that's quite a collection, Bryan! It made me laugh when you wrote about warning your student before opening the package. I remember someone (maybe Darrin?) describing to me how he used to receive shipments from a friend who thought it was funny to throw an extra loose Scolopendra into the box before sealing it up!

Joy

Ouch! He did warn him ahead of time, right? With friends like that, ahem . . . who needs enemies.

Bryan

 

[bness2]

Who shipped them?

A couple of you have asked me who shipped them, and I'm sure others would like to know as well. I bought the lot from Pat at Regal. I really had no complaint with the packaging. I wanted it all shipped in one box to save on shipping, which could have been my mistake. I didn't mention that there were also 4 turtles in the box. I believe they were probably the cause of the trapdoor's death and the escape of the three rosies. Hey, I mean one death among all those spiders is actually good. It was because of the packing that the loose rosies survived. In the future I think I will avoid getting large reptiles shipped with spiders.

I did have one more death this morning. One of the rosies died due to unknown causes. The shipping was probably just too much for that one.

Bryan

 

[bness2]

Originally posted by Big Dragonfly
Got two words for ya:

TAX RIDEOFF

I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you are a science teacher? You should have so many different types of data gathering activities for the students. Have fun.

Yeah, a tax deduction would be one way of doing it. fortunately I have a better way. My department is willing to cover the cost. The collection is for teaching. I use so many dead specimens for teaching that I finally decided to establish a little teaching zoo.

Bryan

 

[Lycanthrope]

good to see a teacher on the board, educating large amounts of students on these creatures. sure to make for a next generation of responsible and educated hobbyists and hopefully breeders.

 

[Joy]

Originally posted by Lycanthrope
good to see a teacher on the board, educating large amounts of students on these creatures. sure to make for a next generation of responsible and educated hobbyists and hopefully breeders.

Amen!

Joy

 

[bness2]

Treating Arachniphobia

It's actually rather fun to interest students in living things and Ts are so misunderstood by most people. You ought to see all the students that now stop by just to see my critters. I have also given many students their first experience holding a spider.

One of my students has been especially neat. She was exremely afraid of spiders, as I discovered last spring. I suggested to her that we could work on her fear and she could get over it. She finally agreed to go for it and now she is to the point where she can look closely at a T in its cage. She used to just start itching all over just seeing one from across the room. She is almost ready to hold a small cage with a T in it. I hope by the end of the year that she will be able to at least touch a T. She even told me the other day that she might like to get a sling to raise. It is neat to see her get over her fear.

Bryan