Today in the Spider Room?

[IntermittentSygnal]

Earthquake today. Can home to check on my T’s and found P sp Dominican purple, Guabensex, still prepared for aftershocks.

 

[NMTs]

The littles are turning black and will molt to 2i any day now:


Preparations are underway!

 

[corydalis]

Molted a month ago, she had 3 lateralis since, but still appeared a bit on the skinny side, so last night as she finally decided to linger outside rewarded her with something more substantial. Honestly, I was a bit worried, that those times, when she showed herself more frequently were over, so I took a hellova lot picture of her. Just a few of them:

 

[l4nsky]

New piece of kit for the facility. I've always viewed this as a luxury purchase, but with some of the fossorial projects in the works this year, such an item has become a necessary investment lol.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

I lost A sp Columbia, Cuchavira. I’d noticed a few days ago what appeared to be a molt in a well webbed section of her enclosure. That or her scrunched, it was hard to see. I didn’t see it move in the next couple of days and assumed that was the molt and she must be in the back of the cork stretching, but I didn’t check until today. Four of her feet were deformed and two others were still stuck in the molt. She had obviously been struggling while hardening to still get out. When I removed her, those last two feet came out fairly easily. Her suffering and death were completely preventable if I had looked closer sooner and realized she needed help. Knowing I looked in on her (and all the others) a couple times a day every day, but didn’t take that extra couple seconds to turn the enclosure around to check crushes my heart.

 

[Motherofspiders112707]

We went to an expo today, and I have a wolfie in my collection again! Her name is Rhadium

 

[TheraMygale]

I lost A sp Columbia, Cuchavira. I’d noticed a few days ago what appeared to be a molt in a well webbed section of her enclosure. That or her scrunched, it was hard to see. I didn’t see it move in the next couple of days and assumed that was the molt and she must be in the back of the cork stretching, but I didn’t check until today. Four of her feet were deformed and two others were still stuck in the molt. She had obviously been struggling while hardening to still get out. When I removed her, those last two feet came out fairly easily. Her suffering and death were completely preventable if I had looked closer sooner and realized she needed help. Knowing I looked in on her (and all the others) a couple times a day every day, but didn’t take that extra couple seconds to turn the enclosure around to check crushes my heart.

really sorry for your loss.
i know you take really good care of your tarantulas. Even if you checked, it might not have worked out. I will keep checking and intervening when i can, because it can happen to all of us.

 

[ladyratri]

Her suffering and death were completely preventable if I had looked closer sooner and realized she needed help. Knowing I looked in on her (and all the others) a couple times a day every day, but didn’t take that extra couple seconds to turn the enclosure around to check crushes my heart.

Even if you checked, it might not have worked out.

I'm always concerned that if I move or open the enclosure, I'll startle the molting T and cause more problems than I could solve... You can never be certain it was preventable, nor that your adjusting enclosures might cause trouble in a different case -- zero sum.

So sorry this happened to you. As said above, it's clear you take really good care of your T's, and that you'll continue to do your best for them. Nature can be harsh, even in captivity. Not every loss is a keeper's fault.

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

really sorry for your loss.
i know you take really good care of your tarantulas. Even if you checked, it might not have worked out. I will keep checking and intervening when i can, because it can happen to all of us.

@ladyratri
Thank you both for your kind words. You are both correct, of course, I can’t “know” I could have helped her. I only feel I failed her as a keeper by not even noticing she was in trouble. I still may have failed if I helped and be feeling guilty for a different reason.

 

[Tinyspiderzz]

My brand new juvie Cupiennius salei 'Jungle' ate a locust today after settling into their new enclosure

My incei 'Limbo' is on a diet till Wednesday xD they're a bit too fat.

 

[l4nsky]

I imagine anyone with a larger collection or a lot of experience with multiple species will always have THAT one species which will always demand a bit more respect than the rest.

Well, I just had to rehouse that one today and it pretty much went as expected, with her bolting to the top of the enclosure immediately when exposed and, thankfully, me managing to get the lid closed enough that she couldn't get out and was forced to do her laps in the enclosure and not around the room (again) lol.


0.1 Chilobrachys sp South Thailand Blue, paired and likely gravid.


Heard them called the poor man's Birupes when they first hit the market, but these have proven to be in an entirely different league IMHO.

They're one of two cliff dwelling Chilo's from Thailand and their behaviour is like no other species I've kept so far, most of which seems to align with their habitat. They will readily bolt and jump off of tote edges into the wild blue yonder during rehouses (likely an escape mechanism from avian predators if caught out on the cliff face as their long legs likely reduce terminal velocity considerably from a fall), they will kill and cache prey in their hide by loosely webbing it to the floor in order to continue hunting if they sense more prey nearby (likely an adaptation to not drop their captured prey item down the cliff in the struggle for the second), and the most unsettling observation is their venom potency appears unrivaled to any other in my collection currently, but on par with a brown recluse I kept for some time (again, this is likely due to needing to quickly subdue larger prey to keep them from wrestling on the cliff face and causing a fall). Take the last point with a grain of salt though, as it might be possible they're just more ready and willing to use their venom, whereas a lot of my larger Ornithoctoninae seem to just use brute force and their large hardware in most cases.

I legitimately had second thoughts about trying to breed these as trying to pull the eggsack, or separating out the 2i slings in the incubator just sounds like a nightmare. Oh well, paired them anyway lol.


Here she is waving bye for now... Notice how the picture was taken through a tiny crack with the lid off?

Yeah, learned that lesson...

 

[l4nsky]

FINALLY got Aphonopelma sp Dragoons paired. Been what seems a losing battle to get the male a chance these past few weeks, either due to my schedule or the overeager female rushing him when finally allowed to cohab, which sends him into panic mode lol. Been really looking forward to this project as these beautiful, feisty little things should be in everyone's collection lol.

Anyways, I'll be getting this female rehoused over the weekend into something more comfortable for the future eggsack, then I'll try to get my O. sp Vietnam Silver female paired as well.

 

[spideyspinneret78]

Today Señor Verdugo (L.klugi) surprised me today when he eagerly took down a hornworm. Next month he'll be 3 years mature. Although he looks scraggly, he's been eating every other week or so and despite slowing down due to his advanced age, he's still feisty. He won't hesitate to give me a threat pose when he's annoyed!

 

[NMTs]

I had the easiest pairing ever today - Ceratogyrus darlingi. The male was sitting still, hadn't even started drumming yet, when the female calmly walked out of her burrow and stopped right in front of him. She drummed a couple of times, including once right on his head, then she lifted her front legs and waited. He wasted no time, making an insertion in less than 15 seconds, then they both turned and walked away in opposite directions. It was mind boggling. My fem is clearly gravid, so I guess she was ready to get down to business!

 

[TheraMygale]

Everybody at the bar getting tipsy…

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

C versi, Anansi, was looking extra, extra large when I caught a glimpse of her in her box of web. I told her, “No more food for you, little lady, until you molt.” Today I saw her looking quite svelte (to steal from @ladyratri) and thought, Ah, you molted….. where’s the exuvia???
At 3.75”, she has matured and her sac is about as big as she is. Best pics I could get through the webbing.

 

[Chris73G]

I´ve noticed my geniculata began to kill its prey,stuff it somewhere in the enclosure and eat it later.
First time i noticed she stuffed the dead locust in her hide, i took a note to remove it later only to found her eating it then.
Today she started her happy dance with the locust she killed yesterday.

Never seen that before or with my other t´s. Either they kill and eat or kill and let it rot or simply ignore unwanted prey.