My turn for some bad news

[Lopez]

Just finished reading Tarantula Lovers thread and I can safely say I know exactly how you feel.
I've barely had my tiny Avicularia versicolor a week, and it has just become my first ever mortality in over 10 years of having T's as pets.

I noticed it was looking typically premoult yesterday, having been reasonably spritely all last week. At lunch time I decided to check the tank for crickets as I thought a moult was imminent, and then went to watch some telly.

Came back 3 hours later to find the spiderling upside down in classic moult pose...with a small cricket chewing on it's mouthparts. The versi had managed to get it's carapace off but got no further before being eaten alive The most aggravating thing is I had checked for crickets just a couple of hours earlier. The cricket must have been hiding inside the cork bark - the poor spider never stood a chance.

Safe to say I hate crickets now more than ever.

 

[Tarantula Lover]

man crickets, i hope you punished that crik. I am very sorry for your poor versi lopez i know exactly how you feel, a question-do crickets have a thing for pinktoes? Sorry to hear about it, and hope you feel better.



James

 

[Lopez]

Still can't quite come to grasps with just how gutted I am over a bug I've had for a week.

I picked the cricket up on a piece of cork bark and microwaved it's ass into oblivion. I hope it felt the pain of every single cell in it's hellspawn body explode and boil.

Ahem...

Anyway, I looked over the tiny corpse, you can see the abdomen skin peeling off to show lovely fresh colours underneath. Poor mite never stood a chance.
Versicolor don't come up for sale often in the UK so hopefully I'll be able to replace him soon

 

[Tarantula Lover]

Originally posted by Lopez
\

I picked the cricket up on a piece of cork bark and microwaved it's ass into oblivion. I hope it felt the pain of every single cell in it's hellspawn body explode and boil.

Ahem...

It serves it right! good job!


James

 

[Nixy]

Aaaaaw. Im sorry to hear that.
Damn crickets....
Glad you nuked its butt.

 

[Tranz]

That's why I like to feed one cricket every other day. If it doesn't eat it within a few hours, I take the cricket out or kill it if it won't cooperate. Then I don't feed the spider any more until it molts. Though I have limited experience (1 T) and 3 molts, I've never seen it stop eating without being in pre-molt, and 1 cricket at a time is plenty. This way I keep track of the crickets.

 

[TheSpiderHouse]

Damnit Lopez, I'm sorry to hear that mate Hope you find another versi soon.

 

[The_Phantom]

Sorry for your loss, thats a bummer. Glad to hear that the cricket paid for it.

 

[vulpina]

Sorry to hear about your loss and yours too Tarantula Lovers too!! It really sucks to lose a T. I lost my Ephebopus cyanognathus during a molt last week . It was a pretty expensive spider, beautiful too. I will have to replace it sooner or later, which also sucks. Once again, sorry to hear of your losses.

Andy

 

[jwb121377]

This is why I pre-kill for my small slings, so I don't have to worry about my pet becoming lunch. Dang cricket. Sorry for your loss lopez, hope you find a new Versi soon.

 

[Godzilla2000]

Domestic crickets are vile little suckers. I've devised a way to feed larger (Meaning bigger than pinheads.) crickets to my slings by taking a needle, heating up at the point and poking at the crickets' mandibles so that they can't bite back when the sling goes to get it. It might sound cruel yes. But it's even crueler to have a sling eaten alive by an overzealous cricket.

 

[D-Man]

Yup, mame the bastards!!!

Originally posted by jwb121377
This is why I pre-kill for my small slings, so I don't have to worry about my pet becoming lunch. Dang cricket. Sorry for your loss lopez, hope you find a new Versi soon.

I pull of the jumping legs AND smash the heads of crickets that I feed my slings - $60 worth of Brachy's aren't worth a 9 cent bastard-cricket-son-of-a-bitch!

Plus, I really do feel attached to the little guys even if I would have bought them for a buck (or a pound). Glad you tortured that little fu**er! Sorry for your loss.

Peace and microwaved cricket grease....;P

 

[Arachnopuppy]

I always make sure that the prey item is eaten before moving on to another tarantula. If the prey item is not eaten right away, I remove it and give it to another tarantula. Every once in a while a mealworm manages to burrow before I could get to it. I just take my chop sticks and dig it out. I play it completely safe.

 

[Manimal]

Sorry to hear about that. I just got me a versi sling. I squash the cricket heads and leave the dead cricket at the entrance to her funnel type web

 

[Godzilla2000]

The problem with the majority of my Tarantulas is that they like live prey, especially the arboreals. Now my Chilean Rosehair, she's not picky at all. She will take them dead, alive, however way I throw them at her.