Scientific, Common, Personal Names, Labeling, & Schedule Keeping

[LuiziBee]

I want to know how many of you give your T's "personal" names?
If so, is it only a few or all of them? Why? Is there a theme in the names?
Do you actually call them by that name or is it just if you have too many of the same?
(Or perhaps, call them H. lividum A, H. lividum B, H. lividum C, for example.)

How many of you label your tanks? What reason?
To help remind you what's in each container? In case you pass away or something happens, so others will know what they're dealing with? Or maybe even to help you learn and remember their scientific names better (especially if you're newer to tarantulas)?

Is there any common names you're okay with saying? Such as GBB (C. cyaneopubescens) or Cobalt Blue (H. lividum)?
Which I hear those two very commonly out of the other bunch of random common names, even with people who usually use scientific names.
Or any you specifically dislike? Perhaps all of them?

Do you keep records of feeding schedules? Perhaps who has eaten or molted or mated recently?
How do you keep your records if you do?
If you do, is it because you have a lot or do you have another reason behind it?



Thank you to all who replies.

---------- Post added 01-15-2013 at 10:46 PM ----------

I have just labeled scientific names to all of my T's. I also just gave them all "personal" names to help my boyfriend out when I'm out of town. I tried to make their names sound somewhat similar to their scientific names. Fox example, my Avic is now "Avery". My B. emilia is "Amelia". My Phormictopus sp. Purple is "Prunella" (hahahahaha!)
I'll probably mostly call them by their scientific names. I already forgot most of their given names. lol

Back a few years ago, I used to name all my tarantulas "CL" names. Such as Clementine, Clyde, Claudia, Clarice, etc. But I eventually ran out of "CL" names and it started to get really confusing.

I used to keep a calendar of who ate, etc. I may start doing that again, but in a book with more room so I can put more detail and organize it better.

 

[Bast]

I want to know how many of you give your T's "personal" names?
If so, is it only a few or all of them? Why? Is there a theme in the names?
Do you actually call them by that name or is it just if you have too many of the same?
(Or perhaps, call them H. lividum A, H. lividum B, H. lividum C, for example.)

How many of you label your tanks? What reason?
To help remind you what's in each container? In case you pass away or something happens, so others will know what they're dealing with? Or maybe even to help you learn and remember their scientific names better (especially if you're newer to tarantulas)?

Is there any common names you're okay with saying? Such as GBB (C. cyaneopubescens) or Cobalt Blue (H. lividum)?
Which I hear those two very commonly out of the other bunch of random common names, even with people who usually use scientific names.
Or any you specifically dislike? Perhaps all of them?

Do you keep records of feeding schedules? Perhaps who has eaten or molted or mated recently?
How do you keep your records if you do?
If you do, is it because you have a lot or do you have another reason behind it?



Thank you to all who replies.

All of our T's have personal names, but there is no theme to the names. My son has named 2 of the 3.

I don't label the tanks at the moment, just because we don't have enough to need to keep track.

I have used OBT, Rosie (for rosea), gbb...most of the others I tend to use the latin name.

Again, since we only have 3, it's not hard to keep track; so I just feed them all on the same day. As far as moults/size/date acquired, I have a notepad file. I just keep that info because I just want to keep track

 

[z32upgrader]

Do you keep records of feeding schedules? Perhaps who has eaten or molted or mated recently?
How do you keep your records if you do?
If you do, is it because you have a lot or do you have another reason behind it?

If you have a large collection there's a great program out there called arachnorecorder. Its free and you can get it here<--clicky!
It's really great for keeping records of molts and other features listed on the webpage, which is what I use it primarily for with my T's.

 

[LuiziBee]

Oh wow! I didn't even think something like that existed. That's awesome!

 

[jecraque]

I label mine with the scientific name because most of them are slings and pretty indistinguishable. No names, mostly because I don't have more than one of each (Ts at least) have a sciencey background and am comfortable using the binomials. In araneomorphs I often have multiples of the same species and tend to refer to them by whatever kid brought them in ("Josie's spider") or where I found them (creek triton vs lake triton) or some distinguishing characteristic ("big girl"). In some cases students will give them names I remember, which is convenient in the case of the multiples, but usually I tell them their names are the binomials & that's that. The frequency of use of GBB, OBT, paired with the ease of IDing those and the inconvenience of saying them (GBB is lots easier to type or say than C. cyanopubescens) wins out a lot of the time.

I keep track of molts to keep from feeding those afterwards, and feed on Saturdays, which is pretty easy to remember. Any little slings I feed Weds. too.

 

[singaporesling]

I keep a calendar close and write whatever happened that day. I gave all 7 personal names. I gI've human names like Frank and Steve and lucille

 

[jen650s]

Labels

I have every enclosure labeled with the scientific name, the common name, and when I purchased or received the T.

I do not have names for each of my Ts. I only have 3 dogs, and I have a hard enough time coming up with names for them. with over 60 Ts I'd be lost trying to come up with names and remember them. I keep track of them by what they are (binomial) and when I got them. If I got more than one of the same species at the same time I number them.

I tend to think in binomial names, but I do go back and forth when talking about them (I am not always sure about the pronunciation of all the latin words )

I used to keep track of molts and feeding when I only had a few Ts, but now only keep track of those that don't eat. I have a shelf that I move any non-eaters to when they miss a scheduled feeding and are not obviously pre-molt and put a sticky note with the last time they ate on it. Not because I think it really matters, but because I am curious about such things. I think that arachnorecorder is a great idea, but I would never use it--just me, I am too lazy .

 

[Bugmom]

All my T's are named.
My avics are all named after cannons.
My P. irminias (Venezuelan Sun Tigers) are both named after tigers.
The others are named randomly.

All enclosures are labeled with the T's "personal" name and it's latin name (genus & species, no common names). I do this so that anyone that has to ever deal with them without my input will know what they are. I don't have problems with common names, I just don't use them often as I'm not usually talking to non-T people about T's.

I don't keep records of everything - yet.

 

[chris0220]

I only named my first five T's and the rest of them are just referred to by their scientific names. One thing that really helped me out a lot w/ all of my slings was labeling the lids of their enclosures w/ their scientific name, the date that they last ate, and the date that they last molted. I use a whiteboard marker so I can just take a paper towel and wipe off the old dates every time something changes. The most convenient part of the labeling was the fact that I could keep track of which slings were refusing food and which ones didn't prefer live prey.

 

[jecraque]

I only named my first five T's and the rest of them are just referred to by their scientific names. One thing that really helped me out a lot w/ all of my slings was labeling the lids of their enclosures w/ their scientific name, the date that they last ate, and the date that they last molted. I use a whiteboard marker so I can just take a paper towel and wipe off the old dates every time something changes. The most convenient part of the labeling was the fact that I could keep track of which slings were refusing food and which ones didn't prefer live prey.

I like the dry-erase idea for the dates--I should start.

 

[Arienette]

I want to know how many of you give your T's "personal" names?
If so, is it only a few or all of them? Why? Is there a theme in the names?
Do you actually call them by that name or is it just if you have too many of the same?
(Or perhaps, call them H. lividum A, H. lividum B, H. lividum C, for example.)

How many of you label your tanks? What reason?
To help remind you what's in each container? In case you pass away or something happens, so others will know what they're dealing with? Or maybe even to help you learn and remember their scientific names better (especially if you're newer to tarantulas)?

Is there any common names you're okay with saying? Such as GBB (C. cyaneopubescens) or Cobalt Blue (H. lividum)?
Which I hear those two very commonly out of the other bunch of random common names, even with people who usually use scientific names.
Or any you specifically dislike? Perhaps all of them?

Do you keep records of feeding schedules? Perhaps who has eaten or molted or mated recently?
How do you keep your records if you do?
If you do, is it because you have a lot or do you have another reason behind it?



Thank you to all who replies.

---------- Post added 01-15-2013 at 10:46 PM ----------

I have just labeled scientific names to all of my T's. I also just gave them all "personal" names to help my boyfriend out when I'm out of town. I tried to make their names sound somewhat similar to their scientific names. Fox example, my Avic is now "Avery". My B. emilia is "Amelia". My Phormictopus sp. Purple is "Prunella" (hahahahaha!)
I'll probably mostly call them by their scientific names. I already forgot most of their given names. lol

Back a few years ago, I used to name all my tarantulas "CL" names. Such as Clementine, Clyde, Claudia, Clarice, etc. But I eventually ran out of "CL" names and it started to get really confusing.

I used to keep a calendar of who ate, etc. I may start doing that again, but in a book with more room so I can put more detail and organize it better.

All of my T's have personal names, but theres no pattern to it...
some of them are named from names that sound similar to their scientific or common names:
Antilles pink toe: Antigone (ant sound)
Paraphysa scrofa: Persephone (p and s in the name)
Avic metallica: Orien (ore..metal..metallic)
Avic Purpurea: Violet
some of them have names that have to do with their region:
Peru Purple Pink Toes: Tambopata and Sandoval, a natl reserve and the lake within it, the location of the lodge i stayed when i was in the Peruvian Amazon this last spring, where i saw them in the wild
Indian Ornamental: Bagheera, the black panther from The Jungle Book
Avicularia diversipes: Gemini (sapphire... gem... gemini)
Some of them have descriptive names:
Speedy the P irmina, aka Hell on Wheels
and some of them just have random names:
The rosies: Cecelia, MaryAnne, Sadie, Lilian

I only label the tanks that students see with the spiders name, common name, scientific name, and a few facts about the spider.
for my own collection at home i just use scientific names. i use a Dymo LetraTag label maker, which prints on clear plastic thats easy to remove/move
you can see here what my labels look like

i am okay with saying common names like OBT, GBB, Peru Purple, Versi... so on and so on... as long as im talking to someone who knows T's. if not, i try to use the scientific name (like P scrofa)

i do not keep schedules. i photograph post-molt with time stamps, but i check on everyone daily and i generally know whos needing food and who isnt. its not that hard to keep track when its what you do for work and play.

 

[alpine]

I don't really label enclosures. I use arachnorecord to keep tabs on molts. All of my babies have names, there are no real themes behind them, I just think of a name that I think fits and go from there (ex. My P. Irminia is named Webster) The only enclosures I have labelled are those of my A. Versicolor slings as they look very much alike other than a difference in size, so they confuse me when I don't show a name on them. Everyone else I just trust myself to remember as none of the rest of them look even remotely similar. I actually intend to keep a record of feedings starting these year for all of my pets.

 

[sugarsandz]

I use personal names for my tarantulas and any other animals that live in my house.

Nimhe is my G. rosea, her name is that of a giant spider in the game Skyrim
Azula is my B. smithi and her demeanor reminded me of Azula from Avatar the Last Airbender show as did her vibrant colors
Akito is my B. boehmei sling and it's name is from the manga and anime Fruits Basket, Akito is head of the Sohma house and is female but lives as a male. . .I don't know the sex of my little sling so I went with that name

I choose whatever name fits the tarantula in my eyes, I also call them by that name because it seems less scientific and more personal if that makes sense. I know the ts don't care one bit but I feel better when I put names to things. I actually don't call most people I know by their names, I make up my own for them based on the impression I get from them lol.

When I talk to other people about my spiders I use the scientific name in full for two reasons, one is that they are easier to remember if I use them enough and two is that I sound smarter lol!

I haven't started an official log for my ts yet but I am going to. None of them have molted for me yet, when they do I will start keeping track of that. As far as feeding, I keep a closer eye on my sling then the adults I have but again I'm going to start a document for that as well.

As far as names that I don't like saying, Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens is high on my list as it contains the word pubes, as childish as that might seem I shy away from words that make me giggle in public.

I'm enjoying this thread very much btw, good topic!

 

[LuiziBee]

As far as names that I don't like saying, Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens is high on my list as it contains the word pubes, as childish as that might seem I shy away from words that make me giggle in public.

I'm enjoying this thread very much btw, good topic!

Haha! That's hilarious. I think that every time, too. Glad I'm not the only one.
Yeah. I'm enjoying this, too. It's giving me lots of ideas and I like learning about other peoples routines and likes and dislikes.
It's very interesting.

 

[Omegalotus]

I only have five T's, but I label my enclosure just because I like to organize things. I label them by common, scientific and personal name. I have a really huge wall calendar where I write how much I feed them, when I feed them. I keep a record which one doesn't eat and molts. I name my t's in random, but I have a hard time naming them, but I always have reasons why:

A. versicolor- Fifi. I actually didn't name this one but my niece did. She really likes it so I let her name it.
B. Boehmei- Brock- It's a pet rock and my bf thought of the name after the Brock, the rock trainer from pokemon.
C. Cyaneopubescens- Mr or Ms. Freeze- I thought of this when I was reading Batman and I related it to it's future color.
G. Rosea- Misty- I dont have a reason why but I just thought it looked like Misty
a. Avic- I haven't thought of a name yet, but I know it will come to me.

The names aren't very inventive but they stick. My mother also makes up her own names for them as well, haha.

 

[Tarac]

I use scientific names and numbers for mine, no personal names to speak of. My T. stirmi is dubbed "Gojira" by a group of my buddies so that one kind of has a name, albeit I'm sure an extremely common choice for the genus. I call my E. cyanognathus "twinkle toes" because that's all you really see of her regularly and I call my L. violaceopes "the face hugger" due to the striking resemblance. But not on purpose- more like a nickname that stuck. In general they are just P. regalis and then a number code I use to indicate which of the six it is and what gender. I do put labels on the enclosures as they can start to blend together if you aren't careful and then record keeping gets screwy.

On record keeping, I tried arachnorecord but I didn't like the strict format as I had other information I wanted to include (dealer, cost, etc.) so I still use excell. It allows me more freedom to include whatever information I think is pertinent or interesting by simply adding a row.

About using common names- I, and probably most of us, don't like using them because they are of course misleading at times. Example: "chilean copper," "chilean copper burst" are sometimes used for P. parvula and P. scrofa but they are also interchangeably applied. You can imagine the potential for confusion and accidental hybridization and so on. On the other hand, I think spiders that are really easy to recognize, are very common in the pet trade and have a scientific name that is an atrocity to type out or say are often abbreviated to something easy like GBB or LP because they come up so much. Even those can be a little goofy although it is generally clarified at the start of a conversation which you are talking about. Example: BF- is this Blue Fang or Blue Femur? And Blue Femur is another great one- Malaysian or Chilean (or neither?! ). So, still always best to use latin but once the spider in question is properly identified and that is mentioned it's not at all unusual to say "BF" instead of Ephebopus cyanognathus.

 

[jen650s]

As far as names that I don't like saying, Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens is high on my list as it contains the word pubes, as childish as that might seem I shy away from words that make me giggle in public.

I'm enjoying this thread very much btw, good topic!

I too am enjoying this topic. I thought it might help with your giggles to know what the word means

Cyan is one of any number of blue-green colors, and pubescens is covered in soft downy hairs (alternatively, it does mean having reaced puberty, but that isn't relevant here ). So, cyanopubescens is covered in downy blue-green hairs. Now, I would argue that no tarantula is downy, especially a NW-having been haired a time or three. However, if you just go by appearances it applies.

As long as I am on the topic Chromatapelma loosely means color changing foot, although leg would be more accurate in the case of this T.

 

[rob0t]

I don't give them names, but my children or girlfriend sometimes do. She named the latest little Avic Houdini because he took off while unpacking.

I used to label the containers with a label maker, but once I started having many come and go I kind of stopped spending much time on the enclosures unless its something I plan on keeping long term.

 

[Amoeba]

Naming Ts is like naming fish, but people (myself included occasionally) do it. For instance I've taken to calling my G. rosea pair Fatty and Studly, Fatty eats a lot and Studly has one purpose in life (which he is living up to his name).

Scientific names are always your best bet. To keep track of genders I give numbers out. GBB is pretty acceptable because it is the only spider in the genus however there is an Aphonopelma that has the same coloring (not yet in the hobby). I really detest the common name "bird eater" because it is so broad it's ridiculous.

I use arachnorecord to keep track of what I have where and when I got it from and molts. I really don't even bother worrying about feeding schedules, abdomens tell me when my Ts are hungry not some magical set number in my head. Mating I am keeping a sticky note with all the details.

 

[alpine]

Naming Ts is like naming fish, but people (myself included occasionally) do it. Scientific names are always your best bet. To keep track of genders I give numbers out. GBB is pretty acceptable because it is the only spider in the genus however there is an Aphonopelma that has the same coloring (not yet in the hobby).

I use arachnorecord to keep track of what I have where and when I got it from and molts. I really don't even bother worrying about feeding schedules, abdomens tell me when my Ts are hungry not some magical set number in my head. Mating I am keeping a sticky note with all the details.

These days that is how I tell when to feed, if their abdomen looks small offer them something, if they look humongous then they could probably go another week. Really makes things simple.