Today in the Spider Room?

[curtisgiganteus]

I'm not certain this was what killed her, but she'd been in premolt during the last week of her life and her chelicerae were starting to detach from her carapace (which is how the molting process starts).



Sadly bimacs and mealworms are the only real options in Korea as feeders go (there's only one supplier for locusts and he's been out of business for months; roaches are completely banned; nobody here breeds house crickets; other available feeder options have various issues).

I just lost a Sabah Red the other night to a failed molt. Between that and some of the other losses I’ve experienced, I have come very close to giving up the hobby as well. I just know that I’ll be more depressed giving up my animals entirely than I am after losing several of my animals.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

Well... we have our first loss. My GBB's gone. I don't know what happened. She was always a bit weird and never acted like anyone else's GBB that I'd heard of. She never seemed to be thriving no matter what I did or whose advice I took. So I don't know. It really sucks. But the other ten are just fine, which leads me to believe she was just a weird case. If I was having problems with everyone else I'd be taking a serious look at my husbandry, but they're all fine. I'm just gonna finally take the time to do some rehouses tomorrow and do right by everyone else as I have done. It's all I can do now. RIP Bitsa Talent, you were a weird arachnid but damned if I'm not going to miss you.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

I just lost a Sabah Red the other night to a failed molt. Between that and some of the other losses I’ve experienced, I have come very close to giving up the hobby as well. I just know that I’ll be more depressed giving up my animals entirely than I am after losing several of my animals.

Yeah it happened to me a lot in the past and even just last year , I understand how depressing it can be losing them . .. although non arachnophiles can’t often really understand it . They just see-them as pests ..or worse . Any avid animal keepers probably also understand. Most people would had called it quits , but i Can’t . I nearly did though I just improved stuff be closer to originally when I started out.

 

[l4nsky]

Well, things keep getting worse, doesn't it? One of my formerly 0.0.3 Chilobrachys huahini slings flipped this afternoon....except I'd just fed this sling the day before (there was little visual indication to indicate an imminent molt, and it had eaten right away during its last feeding session) and was at work when the sling began molting. Cue the first time I've had a T get eaten by a feeder while molting because I made the basic mistake of not realizing a T was in premolt...

Even worse, Anihan is confirmed deceased as of tonight (absolutely no movement and the scavengers have begun moving in).

At this point I'm starting to consider leaving the hobby altogether before I cause any further T deaths.

My condolences. Losses suck, especially unexpected ones, but take a minute, take a step back, remove emotion from the equation, and reassess the situation to see the whole picture before you throw in the towel.

I counted over 80 specimens in your collection as of earlier this month (https://arachnoboards.com/threads/what-species-are-you-keeping-currently.344647/post-3346057), mostly moisture dependent OW slings and juveniles, and all acquired within the past ~8 months. IMHO, that's the definition of jumping straight into the deep end, and you've only had two losses? That sounds more like you're doing something right than you're doing something wrong.

My advice, investigate and take what knowledge you can from the losses, apply what you've learned moving forward, and keep going. IMHO, you've only failed if you've given up completely

 

[l4nsky]

Separated the Hysterocrates sp Niger Delta eggsack today.


Ended up with 182 slings, 42 kept singly to ensure they eat before shipping out and 7 communals of 20 for now.

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

I counted over 80 specimens in your collection as of earlier this month (https://arachnoboards.com/threads/what-species-are-you-keeping-currently.344647/post-3346057), mostly moisture dependent OW slings and juveniles, and all acquired within the past ~8 months. IMHO, that's the definition of jumping straight into the deep end, and you've only had two losses? That sounds more like you're doing something right than you're doing something wrong.

I've not had a lot of losses in the grand scheme of things, but Anihan's loss especially hit hard because of the prior successes I've had with her and because of her age-she was at that point where she could genuinely be called a big spider by T standards but still far from her full size.

The really troubling thing is that of my Ts, she happened to be one of the two largest alongside my C. schmidti; the rest are smaller (though my Phan Cays will likely break her record with another molt or two given that they're close to 4" already) and the big concern I have is that something might happen to them, especially the other Asian arboreals, once they hit her size.

 

[Pedipalpable]

(Apologies for the terrible photo. Those blue tinted tupperware container lids make for poor photography)

So this morning I found my newly molted ~1.5” Pamphobeteus antinous sling eating a mealworm pupa… despite my not having fed it one since it molted on the 26th.
For context, this sling arrived in heavy premolt, but I failed to recognize this due to the sling having a small abdomen. So I attempted to feed it on the 24th. My initial thought was that I had attempted to feed it a mealworm pupa and that it had taken the pupa and hidden it away in its hide and was now eating it. But it seemed strange to me as I have no reason to believe tarantulas do that kind of thing.

Then I realized what actually happened; I recall trying to feed it a pupa but the sling would not take it so I took the pupa out and gave it a large mealworm instead. The sling was in its hide, so I put the worm in from of the entrance. I left for a few minutes and then came back to see that the worm was gone, so I assumed the sling had nabbed it. I believe what actually happened was the worm burrowed away, and then re-emerged and pupated last night, after the sling had molted.

Suffice to say, I must have forgotten to cut the worm’s head off before feeding it to the sling, a mistake that could have ended in catastrophe. I feel foolish for making such a grave error and will definitely not do so again.
I hope that in posting about it here, someone will learn from my mistake and avoid making it themself.

 

[yelnei]

did some well needed rehouses today! my b boehmei and g pulchripes molted out recently and really needed an upgrade, and i picked up 3 rescues the other day who needed some more appropriate spaces. got the gbb and chilobrachys sp electric blue moved, not without protest from the chilobrachys... that thing made me more nervous than my adult tapi and i refuse to try to get a good pic of it LOL i also found a hat from my b boehmei's last molt while cleaning the old enclosure out!

next up for rehousing, my adult gbb and OBT sling..... very strongly considering leaving the obt inside its current enclosure XD

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

I’m not sure what my genic was doing right before I walked in the room, but everybody was interested..

 

[Chris73G]

Finally my juvenile boehmei shows signs of an incoming molt .
Picked her up 10 months ago, she ate half a cricket back then, scratched her butt bald and since then refused to eat and didn´t show any sign of "development" so to speak and even though i managed to avoid beginners anxiety with my other 3 t´s, this one made me a bit nervous and thinking there might be something wrong since even my adult t´s grew quicker and didn´t put up such long fasting periods as my litte boehmei.
Finally yesterday i noticed her bald butt turning dark and today even more so it seems a molt is only a matter of days to weeks .

 

[Pedipalpable]

Today I finally attempted to feed my 0.1.0 Brachypelma hamorii juvenile Ruby for what would be the first time in around 5 months and the first time ever in my care. Ironic, since she was the first T I ever got back at the beginning of February.
Over the last three or so weeks since molting, she has peeked out of the entrance to her hide a few times, like so.


She had gone back into her hide again, so I decided to take the most active feeder I have available and throw one in with the hope it would entice her out.
I’ve discovered that my largest T, a 3.25” juvenile Pamphobeteus sp. Cascada, will readily take mealworm beetles. I actually named it “Crusher” for how it audibly crunches them with its chelicerae, and it is the T in my profile image.

I figured Ruby was probably big enough to take a beetle despite being smaller than Crusher, so I threw one in the enclosures and watched it closely to make sure it didn’t burrow. After running around the enclosure for five minutes with no response from Ruby, it fell into her hide and I heard a crunch. Looking in with a flashlight, I saw Ruby standing on her tip toes with the beetle in her chelicerae. I unfortunately didn’t take any photos, but I hope to be able to feed her out in the open, which was what I had planned for. I just need to wait for her to emerge.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

I never see my P irminia catch crickets, but I often hear it. The process has become:
1. See spider sitting over knot hole in bark (her 'you may feed me now human' pose)
2. Very gently slide open the lid.
3. Barely glimpse the flash of irminia down the hole
4. Drop cricket
5. Wait for it.......
6. Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap!!! (The sound of her violent attack of legs slapping the walls)
She got it.

 

[coldprest]

Last night was pretty eventful. My GBB sling molted! It’s starting to look pretty big. On top of that, I have finally seen my P. Irminia sling come out from its den for the first time in 3 weeks

 

[ladyratri]

My A. purpurea is finally getting some significant purple shine! First good view of its shiny new clothes since it molted on June 17:

 

[Konstantin Konstantinov]

Hi
today received a MM Cyriocosmus leetzi and Im exited about the opportunity to breed my girl.Also did a second pairing of one of my D diamantinensis girls that is super receptive to try and make the old male I have here a little excited and stimulate him to do a sperm web.Its been well over a month with me and haven't laid any web in his enclosure whatsoever wich is really surprising me but such is life.Fingers crossed on both species.
Regards Konstantin

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Huge lesson for me tonight. My irminia is bold. She started out with me timid and reclusive, but I've noticed over the past weeks that she sits fully out in the open almost daily now and only bolts to hide when I touch her lid. That changed tonight. I started to open her lid and she ducked down the knothole in her cork bark, as usual. I tap-tapped a cricket out of a condiment cup into her enclosure, again as usual. I didn't see the cricket fall into her enclosure and wondered if it had hopped out before sliding into her den. I looked back to the cup for a second and then back to her enclosure to see her at the upper corner a split second from escaping. Thank the spider gods for lips on the slider enclosures, because I slid that lid in its slot right above her toes. She's now sulking at the bottom of the cork near her dirt curtains...with 2 crickets. Lesson received loud and clear. Don't ever assume you can relax with an even partially open enclosure..even for a second.

 

[CrazyOrnithoctonineGuy]

Rehoused one of my P. victori juveniles today.

 

[TribbleWhisperer]

My fireleg Azula self amputated a leg today. She molted in literally the dumbest spot possible so I was prepared for something to go wrong. She held onto the janky leg for awhile but finally gave up on it.

Janky one is gone now, corn starch applied

 

[MariaLewisia]

Woke up to this today! Hulda, one of my Cyriocosmus elegans girls, was absolutely ready to pop, she was so full of eggs. You can't really tell by the picture - I didn't want to disturb her so I only took a quick one - but the sac is MASSIVE. More than half her leg span. She's not carrying it around but rolling it along on the ground lol. Now all I have to do is wait and see if its fertile.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Huge lesson for me tonight. My irminia is bold. She started out with me timid and reclusive, but I've noticed over the past weeks that she sits fully out in the open almost daily now and only bolts to hide when I touch her lid. That changed tonight. I started to open her lid and she ducked down the knothole in her cork bark, as usual. I tap-tapped a cricket out of a condiment cup into her enclosure, again as usual. I didn't see the cricket fall into her enclosure and wondered if it had hopped out before sliding into her den. I looked back to the cup for a second and then back to her enclosure to see her at the upper corner a split second from escaping. Thank the spider gods for lips on the slider enclosures, because I slid that lid in its slot right above her toes. She's now sulking at the bottom of the cork near her dirt curtains...with 2 crickets. Lesson received loud and clear. Don't ever assume you can relax with an even partially open enclosure..even for a second.

Yeah don’t blink those teleporters will be gone in a second …