Stealing Swifty's spiders!!

[johns]

Hey, I just alliterated or something to that effect...
About several hours ago, I got off the phone with Kelly Swift- what a great person- answered all my questions perfectly with great enthusiasm and confirmed that he had received the cashier's check for $30, so I could literally swipe 12(yes, you heard right! )Heteropeda Malaysian Orange huntsmen spiders for the insane price of $2.50!


I feel like a thief, ya know?


;P


john

 

[Henry Kane]

Cool John! I've been meaning to jump on that deal Kelly has (or had) going. I hope it's not too late. You're right, Kelly is pretty cool, huh? Good luck with your new huntsmans!

Atrax

 

[johns]

Hi, Atrax-


I think Kelly's moving them up to $5 a piece.


Hurry, though- you just might be able to catch him before he doubles the price!


I've been saving up for almost 6 months, and he finally had some on sale!

WOOHOO ,


john

 

[zoobugs]

Good Luck with the huntsman spiders! We bought about 10 from Kelly about 8 months ago. They were very tiny, and quick! All ate voraciously on pinhead crickets and grew very gradually over the last few months. We've just recently had them turning orange after about their 8-9 instar molt. Husbandry doesn't seem to be difficult, except the speed at which these guys move. Even cracking open the lid to their vials to get a few pinheads or squirt water causes them to haul ass. Some have escaped, but were captured immediately as they tried to rapel down their silk and we just placed their vials underneath them as they descended. You can't go wrong with Kelly. You've gotten a great deal and some cool spiders.
Best...
Jim

 

[johns]

Hi, Jim-

These little guysngals are due tomorrow(9-11) or Thursday.
Talking to Kelly on the phone was a very eye-opening experience for me, as he's very knowledgeable, courteous, funny, and above personable.

I'll be sure to tell you guys when I get them.

I'm practically slobbering with desire now.

Would you mind sharing a pic of the huntsman/men, if you are able?

Thanks!

john

 

[zoobugs]

I don't know how to attach multiple pix on this, so I'll do them one at a time: Here's a pic of the ventral side of one of our malaysian huntsmen. Leg span is about 2 1/2 " across. Got them from Kelly back in April of this year. They were about 3 mm. long back then!
Enjoy,
Jim

 

[zoobugs]

Let me try once more. If it's a no-go, I'll send it your way.
Jim

 

[johns]

Wow.

 

[zoobugs]

OK, it seemed to work this time. This next pic is a little fuzzy, but it's the dorsal side of the same spider. Age is approx. 5 months at 2 1/2 " long.
Best...
Jim

 

[johns]

Jim,

Is breeding difficult, or have you tried breeding?

Would you mind telling me and the rest of the forum voyeurs how you go about maintaing these beautiful arachnids?


Thanks!
john

 

[zoobugs]

Hi John,
Yeah, we'll give breeding a try, but I think they aren't quite old or big enough yet. The biggest one I ever saw was a bright orange/red male that Pat Kane had at Regal. He had about a 4 1/2 " legspan. Ever since we got these from Kelly, we've kept them separately in little dram vials. They tackled pinheads with ease, and we fed them about 3 times a week. For water, now this was tricky, we popped the lid and sprayed, or rather spritzed them once. We did this about 3 times a week also. Feed one day, spritz another day, feed one day, etc. If there was any condensation on the vials, we skipped spraying. Air circulation was important so we had small fork tine holes in the vial lids. Usually, when the spiders went off their feed, they were getting ready to molt. As I said before, the spider pictured is right at the 9th instar, feeding on medium sized crickets, or at least the 9th molt since we got them from Kelly. I'm sure they were at 2nd instar while at Kelly's place. The vials and now, the deli cups, just have a thin layer of small vermiculite and a piece of cork bark. That's all there is to the cage furniture. Again, as I've said before, these critters are lightening fast and make any of the arboreal theraphosids seem slow by comparision. I think one reason we haven't lost one yet is that when we service them, we are usually standing up, so when we remove the lid, and they make a run for it, they immediately jump off of our hands, and rapel down to the floor. As they are rapelling, we just move their container underneath them and they end up back where they started! It kinda reminds me of a fictitious game show,"How fast can you catch your spider before it hits the floor!" Also, being very flat, they can squeeze thru some tiny cracks, so batten down the hatches when you are keeping these. On a side note, my daughter is usually on the 'puter at night, but tonight I'll get on with the Chat so maybe I can answer any further Q's you may have.
Best...
Jim

 

[johns]

Thanks, Jim!

I'll think up some ?'s between now and 9... Wade's getting half of them, but his machine's at the office, so I'll just try and absorb like a sponge what you say and report it back to him...


Very kind of you,

john