Today in the Spider Room?

[Dovey]

Rain. At last. Blessed, blessed rain.

No ants, no new molts. Just gorgeous rain.

 

[Mirandarachnid]

You know how they say a watched pot never boils?

Well, on January 25th, I started up a wax worm culture with about 30 worms. They pupated, became moths, flew around for a few days, died. You know the life-cycle. About a week after the moths died I would inspect it every few days, lookin' for worms. No dice. I was starting to get a bit frustrated, cause I really thought I did everything right. Maybe it's too dry? I lightly misted the culture once, about a month ago. After we moved to the new place the culture was put on the top shelf, and I had stopped checking it because I was pretty sure it had failed.

So, a couple days ago we were in the Chamber, just that last look in on the spiders before we go to bed. I happened to glance up at the top shelf, and what do I see? The substrate in the wax worm culture has become worms. I'm really kicking myself for not taking a picture of it. Probably had something to do with the fact that I'd been awake about 21 hours and stumbled on a tedious task I was obligated to attend to. They had spun so much silk through the medium that it was a solid disk. It was tough to pull apart, like stale, spongy bread filled with wiggly worms.

The yield was a little over 400 worms. I have 10 tarantulas. I gave 300 to a lady that does wildlife rescue.

Oh, and I learned that they can chew through those plastic soup cups

Remember this?

Well, after I counted out the worms, I tossed the rest of the medium back into the container I had them in, because I knew there was no way I had found all of them. There were also a few worms that made it away from us, they got tossed back in as well.

Fast forward to last week, I'm puttering around in the spider room, and I hear a distinct 'bug' noise. It sounds like either chewing, or the scraping of feet against plastic. I'm searching around my desk for the source of the noise, when my hand touches the bottom of the wax worm container. It was quite warm, and I knew exactly what that meant. Another truckload of waxies . I haven't counted them out yet, but I got a mini fridge with a programmable temperature setting so I can keep them longer than a week before they pupate on me again.

I also have a super cute non-predatory communal going on. There are three velvet ants of two different species, a gorgeous scarab beetle, a morio beetle that just wont die, and a few hisser nymphs. It's quickly becoming one of my favorite enclosures to watch.

 

[draconisj4]

So a while back I posted I found H. pulchripes slings for a reasonable price but I didn't have room for any more T's. I finally broke down and contacted the vendor but he was sold out. So, to make myself feel better I ordered a 3/4 inch E. uatuman sling which was also on my wish list ( I need an intervention, lol). It came today and I swear it has to be the boldest little thing ever. It bolted out of the shipping vial and led me a merry chase all over the plastic bin before I could cup it.

The enclosure I had ready was too large since I overestimated it's size but I didn't have anything else to put it in so I figured I'd see how it did in there before trying to find something smaller. It hid for all of 10 minutes, then proceeded to explore, have a drink and explore some more. After about three hours it parked itself on the side and stayed there. I usually offer new slings food after a few hours so I dropped a prekilled lat near the water dish. It took the sling 15 minutes to find it and it's happily chowing down as I type this. I think it will be fine in that enclosure, but good grief... if it's this bold at this size what on earth will it be like when it gets bigger?

 

[Dovey]

So a while back I posted I found H. pulchripes slings for a reasonable price but I didn't have room for any more T's. I finally broke down and contacted the vendor but he was sold out. So, to make myself feel better I ordered a 3/4 inch E. uatuman sling which was also on my wish list ( I need an intervention, lol). It came today and I swear it has to be the boldest little thing ever. It bolted out of the shipping vial and led me a merry chase all over the plastic bin before I could cup it.

The enclosure I had ready was too large since I overestimated it's size but I didn't have anything else to put it in so I figured I'd see how it did in there before trying to find something smaller. It hid for all of 10 minutes, then proceeded to explore, have a drink and explore some more. After about three hours it parked itself on the side and stayed there. I usually offer new slings food after a few hours so I dropped a prekilled lat near the water dish. It took the sling 15 minutes to find it and it's happily chowing down as I type this. I think it will be fine in that enclosure, but good grief... if it's this bold at this size what on earth will it be like when it gets bigger?

Ephebopus is such a fun genus to begin with. I'm not familiar with this species, but I thought I had lost my bluefang for sure not long ago when it came shooting out of its habitat like a bat out of hell. I had been certain that it was deceased and was looking for its body. It came running up my arm, down my blouse, all the way down the front of my jeans and took a flying leap off my cross-leg sandal toward the floor! Happily I had a catch cup ready and was able to fetch it out from under the bed, where it had decided it would be happier since no one was poking at its home under there! And it's larger skeletal cousin, E. murinus, is the only spider that has actually chased me out of a habitat before, Old Worlds included! They are definitely an extreme genus, be it extremely secretive or extremely bold.

 

[draconisj4]

They are definitely an extreme genus, be it extremely secretive or extremely bold.

Looks like I have both ends of the spectrum, my E. murinus is the secretive one and the way the E. uatuman is acting it will probably be the one ripping the tongs from my hand and beating me over the head with them. Fun times ahead, lol.

 

[Mirandarachnid]

I decided to get cute with my 'wild caught' shelf while I was doing some rearranging

WC shelf

• Mirandarachnid
• Jul 16, 2018

 

[Dovey]

I decided to get cute with my 'wild caught' shelf while I was doing some rearranging

WC shelf

• Mirandarachnid
• Jul 16, 2018

Are you the creative black sheep of the family, or do you just have the best parents ever? That's simply wonderful!

 

[Dovey]

Monsoon season here in Arizona means tarantula season. I've already sighted one or two juvies just a little bit smaller than adult mice scuttering around in the house on my nightly excursions to the "ladies' powder room," but I didn't have a flash light or catch cup with me.

Today in the spider room I am making sure I have catch cups and short-term tarantula removal equipment available for the inevitable moments when wild spiders come into contact with domestic people and animals. I spend a good chunk of July and all of August shifting Big Boy chalcodes specimins to safer areas of inquiry in their search for that magical girl to fulfill their dreams. The porch in our backyard full of dogs is not a safe area for that search!

 

[Mirandarachnid]

Are you the creative black sheep of the family, or do you just have the best parents ever? That's simply wonderful!

A little from column A, a little from column B

 

[Dovey]

Today well outside the spider room, I got the expected call, which is my own first name delivered in a particularly shrill and questioning tone which invariably means "come and get this horrible spider." Sure enough, there was a pretty significant beastie climbing around on the lace curtains in the living room. I was able to remove it to a safer spot in the garden. It was actually kind of funny, because I fully expected to confront a lost tarantula that had somehow wandered into the house. Instead, This is what I found:

Paraphrynus sp.
God, I love living in Arizona! How big, you ask? Well I'll tell you, when my dad called up the stairs for me to "come and get one of your bugs," he thought in the low light that he had found one of my adult female dubia escapees. When he saw all the legs and such, that's when things got a mite strained. BIG. That's how big. Body the size of a big-ass mature dubia nama. I love Arizona!

 

[Mirandarachnid]

Today well outside the spider room, I got the expected call, which is my own first name delivered in a particularly shrill and questioning tone which invariably means "come and get this horrible spider." Sure enough, there was a pretty significant beastie climbing around on the lace curtains in the living room. I was able to remove it to a safer spot in the garden. It was actually kind of funny, because I fully expected to confront a lost tarantula that had somehow wandered into the house. Instead, This is what I found:
View attachment 281135
Paraphrynus sp.
God, I love living in Arizona! How big, you ask? Well I'll tell you, when my dad called up the stairs for me to "come and get one of your bugs," he thought in the low light that he had found one of my adult female dubia escapees. When he saw all the legs and such, that's when things got a mite strained. BIG. That's how big. Body the size of a big-ass mature dubia nama. I love Arizona!

Man, I'm jealous. That's awesome!

 

[dangerforceidle]

Kochiana brunnipes was rehoused today. Finally outgrew the condiment cup.

 

[Greasylake]

Not animal related but the spider room is also my bedroom, so I think it qualifies. My friend and I just finished building my new computer from which I am currently typing this, and I am very excited for all the new games coming out this fall.

 

[CyberSkully]

I fed my small Phlogius crassipes slings, played the usual "I'm gonna jump out and go for a few laps before dinner" game. Young Geoffrey likes to work up an appetite.

That made me laugh...

Just outside of Houston. I go all over the city though for work, fun and family.

I'm just outside of Houston, as well. Have worked all over the city, though...

 

[Dovey]

Okay, this is crazy! Remember when I said I thought I saw a juvie around the house? Well today in the spider room one was hand delivered. I left the room for just a minute and when I came back there was a juvenile probably 3 and 1/2 inches climbing around on the wall!

After making sure of the species, I immediately ran around and counted noses of my own collection. No chalcodes teens missing. This was definitely a stranger! So I popped him or her into a temporary bin and offered up a roach, which was graciously accepted.

It is definitely a first-rate New River Rust Rump, but the last thing in the world I need is another chalcodes. I will be releasing this young lady / gentleman as soon as I can manage once she/ he has finished what appears to be a delicious and much-appreciated dubia meal.

Now, how that juvenile made its way into the house up to my own room on an upper floor is anyone's guess. I have French doors into my bedroom off of an exterior gallery, so I am guessing that this little creature climbed up the outside of the house and came in the gallery door during a recent monsoon storm to escape the flooding we experienced. Poor little castaway!

 

[WildSpider]

Went outside the spider room today to look for Dolomedes triton. Didn't find it but found some other cool stuff and brought home a very muddy foot as proof of our excursion. Word of advice: avoid wearing flip flops in wetlands during a spider hunt.

 

[Dovey]

I can hear you approaching the door now: THWORK THWORK THWORK....

 

[CyberSkully]

Okay, this is crazy! Remember when I said I thought I saw a juvie around the house? Well today in the spider room one was hand delivered. I left the room for just a minute and when I came back there was a juvenile probably 3 and 1/2 inches climbing around on the wall!

After making sure of the species, I immediately ran around and counted noses of my own collection. No chalcodes teens missing. This was definitely a stranger! So I popped him or her into a temporary bin and offered up a roach, which was graciously accepted.

It is definitely a first-rate New River Rust Rump, but the last thing in the world I need is another chalcodes. I will be releasing this young lady / gentleman as soon as I can manage once she/ he has finished what appears to be a delicious and much-appreciated dubia meal.

Now, how that juvenile made its way into the house up to my own room on an upper floor is anyone's guess. I have French doors into my bedroom off of an exterior gallery, so I am guessing that this little creature climbed up the outside of the house and came in the gallery door during a recent monsoon storm to escape the flooding we experienced. Poor little castaway!

Aww it found you. You must care for it. Lol

 

[Mirandarachnid]

Aww it found you. You must care for it. Lol

Right? I can just hear that spider now.

"You mean I clawed my way up the side of your house, found my way into the door, and patiently waited for you to get back and put me in one of those little deluxe apartments that my homies have up there.. Now you say you're putting me back outside?!"

 

[Dovey]

UH OH.

B. Vagans exit strategy.

Yeah, I found her, but neither one of us was happy.

Man, they go from derpy little cutie-pie to ingrate runaway teenager in a single shed. And how such a big spider got through such a tiny little hole will never cease to amaze me.

So what did I do? The tarantula teenager equivalent of bringing her home in a police car and feeding her, of course. Thank God I found her before another pet ate her. Guess we'll be pushing up that new housing for her and several other insolent, awkward teens.