Today in the Spider Room?

[Dave Jay]

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.

 

[Dovey]

Get yoself a Lampropelma violaceopes

good thought. I've got a couple of lividum coming as part of a swap for a bunch of males. They are breaking the ice, as I have zero Asian terrestrials in the collection at present. If history and experience hold true, the melting of this particular glacier is likely to become a torrent in short order. Don't know what my bias has been against them....

What'd you get, what'd you get!?

BEST ORDER EVER, AMEN: 4 Phormies, 2 bucket list arboreals, two adorable dwarfs, and an iron in the fire for my avatar: P. Sp. "Full Green", P. Sp. "Gold Carapace," P. Atrichromatus, P. Cancerides, P. Metallica, E. cyanognathus, a free C. Perezmilesi, and the wee-est wee little A. cf purpurea you have ever seen...what a cutie-patootie! Along with six actual old fashioned raffle tickets for the T. seledonia giveaway later this month. How fun!

I love Palp Friction. They are so esoteric in some respects and so Mom and Pop in others. I lectured Garred about packing his spiders in brown paper towels instead of white, which keeps me from being able to backlight them and make sure they're safe and well without opening the vial when I pick them up in the car. He responded immediately saying he would, and I could tell he was trying really hard not to use the term "yes ma'am!"

I feel like that memeable

Would Hagrid be John the Baptist?

Please explain to me the Theraphosidae related to the 'Cold' Smilies

Blue Fang, of course, you silly boy!

 

[Dovey]

The official name for the spider room is The Chamber of Understanding, the noteworthy thing that happened was putting book cases in there. I'm crazy excited

So how is the Chamber of Understanding coming? I'm crazy excited to hear if you've gotten your cages in the shelves and your spiders in the cages.

I could use some upbeat news. I just came back in the house after going out to dispatch my first injured desert blond of the year. Had to pull her out of the dog's mouth. Rescuing is really an up-and-down thing. Often they're perfectly fine. Sometimes they're not. This was a euthanasia situation.

My mother actually named my spider room. She calls it "your hide." Some of us are just introverted, okay?!

 

[Greasylake]

My dad is currently trying to convince my mom to let us place an order of slings for my birthday. Progress is slow, but we still have a few weeks.

 

[Dovey]

Go Dad! Rah Rah Rah!

Hey, where are you in Texas BTW?

 

[Greasylake]

Go Dad! Rah Rah Rah!

Hey, where are you in Texas BTW?

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

 

[Dovey]

There's some great spiders in East Texas!

You might make that argument with Mom or let your dad do it. If left to your own devices to develop a collection, it's going to be way more toxic!

 

[Greasylake]

There's some great spiders in East Texas!

I've got family on the U.S. side of the border and I've caught a few Ts down there. I think they're aphonopelma hentzi. I was either 5 or 6 when I caught them and I ended up drying them and framing them. My mom wouldn't let me keep them alive even though I really wanted to. I'm also planning an excursion to the Davis Mountains this summer to go looking for S. Heros, my mom does not approve of that either.

 

[Dovey]

Oh, Davis Mountains Are marvelous, whether you are buggy or not. Be sure and stop at Balmorhea State Park on your way to the mountains. It's this amazing hand-dug spring-fed 12 to 20 ft deep pool that people can swim in and that wild fish live in and that people get certified to scuba dive in. It's just refreshing and wonderful! 78 degrees year-round in the water.

 

[Vanessa]

This is what happened in the spider/living room yesterday!

Avicularia avicularia Egg Sac #2

• Vanessa
• Apr 12, 2018
• 1
• adult avicularia avicularia avicularia egg egg sac eggsac female

Currently on day 1.

 

[Dovey]

This is what happened in the spider/living room yesterday!

Avicularia avicularia Egg Sac #2

• Vanessa
• Apr 12, 2018
• 1
• adult avicularia avicularia avicularia egg egg sac eggsac female

Currently on day 1.

Beauty!

 

[Mirandarachnid]

So how is the Chamber of Understanding coming? I'm crazy excited to hear if you've gotten your cages in the shelves and your spiders in the cages.

I could use some upbeat news. I just came back in the house after going out to dispatch my first injured desert blond of the year. Had to pull her out of the dog's mouth. Rescuing is really an up-and-down thing. Often they're perfectly fine. Sometimes they're not. This was a euthanasia situation.

My mother actually named my spider room. She calls it "your hide." Some of us are just introverted, okay?!

I'm so sorry to hear about that

The Chamber is coming along! We've got all the furniture in there, and we're getting the books (non-fiction) loaded up and organized. I'll probably bring the spiders in after everything else has found it's place, if only to minimize the risk of one being knocked over in the shuffle.

The spiders are all still in their enclosures (in my bedroom, it might be an adjustment for me to get used to not seeing them as soon as I wake up ) ,the new place was only about a ten minute drive from the old house, and nobody had any crazy tunnels going on at the moment so I was able to bring them in their enclosures. Most of them are actually due for rehouses, I imagine that'll probably happen next weekend (which for me is Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). And by that point I bet we'll have them in the Chamber. I'll definitely post some pictures once it's set up!

I love your moms name for your spider room, btw. That's adorable

EDIT: Balmorhea for the win.

EDITEDIT: I felt the big ol' turtles swimming around there deserved a mention. And little schools of fish that swarm around you. I caught a coach-whip (snake, a little hillbilly boy told me the name of it when I was taking it back to show my parents. "You got yerself a coach-whip! That's a good'n!"). It's a magical place.

 

[Dovey]

It's the least likely State Park in the world, and my absolute favorite in the United States.

Was your Coachwhip a pink 'un, a red-n-black 'un, or a brown 'un?

 

[Mirandarachnid]

It's the least likely State Park in the world, and my absolute favorite in the United States.

Was your Coachwhip a pink 'un, a red-n-black 'un, or a brown 'un?

Took me some digging, but this is the snake in question. (My mom said she couldn't see the snake against the camo so I threw on a black T)

EDIT to add: I was with my friend when we caught the snake, and I didn't want to just walk into the room with a snake and no warning, so I told my friend to give my family a heads up before I walked in. Her words were, "Hey, Miranda has something to show you but she doesn't want you to freak out." I think my parents were relieved when it was just a snake.

 

[Dovey]

Our little hillbilly was incorrect. I believe what you got there is your basic fabulous bull snake--or gopher snake, hard to tell in the photo. Was it a little hissy and spitty at first or was it a sweetie pie from the get-go? Did it stand its ground or Bolt? And how fast was it?

Regardless, what a gorgeous creature! And don't you have the best smile on the planet!

Coachwhips (Masticophis flagellum) get their name because they look like, well, a Coachwhip. They look like braided leather and are usually red, pink, or sort of leather brown. Here's a Wikipedia photo free for common use:


We get the pink 'uns out here in Arizona. They're just gorgeous. And they are truly pink snakes. I'd love to have a lipstick the color of these guys.

 

[Mirandarachnid]

Our little hillbilly was incorrect. I believe what you got there is your basic fabulous bull snake--or gopher snake, hard to tell in the photo. Was it a little hissy and spitty at first or was it a sweetie pie from the get-go? Did it stand its ground or Bolt? And how fast was it?

Regardless, what a gorgeous creature! And don't you have the best smile on the planet!

Aww, thank you!

That doesn't surprise me somehow

It was a sweetie from the get-go, it bolted. It was pretty quick, but I'm not very familiar with snakes, so I don't have much reference for what is considered "fast" in the snake world.

That snake is gorgeous!

 

[Dovey]

Well I was suspicious right off. If it had been a Coachwhip, you wouldn't have caught it. They don't call them Red Racers for nothing. Also, if they think you're about to catch them, they'll turn around and fly at your face with their mouths open. They don't actually bite, but they'll scare the pee right into your boots when they do that.

I'm betting you've got a gopher snake there. Bull snakes are stockier and can be pretty hissy and puffy at you, but gopher snakes are more likely to flee and less likely to bite. Whichever, it's a beautiful thing. And what a wonderful place for it to live. I bet there are gophers and ratties galore around all that water. I think cienegas are some of the most rarefied environments on the planet. Beautiful and amazing arachnids in that area, too!

 

[Tia B]

Well I was suspicious right off. If it had been a Coachwhip, you wouldn't have caught it. They don't call them Red Racers for nothing. Also, if they think you're about to catch them, they'll turn around and fly at your face with their mouths open. They don't actually bite, but they'll scare the pee right into your boots when they do that.

I'm betting you've got a gopher snake there. Bull snakes are stockier and can be pretty hissy and puffy at you, but gopher snakes are more likely to flee and less likely to bite. Whichever, it's a beautiful thing. And what a wonderful place for it to live. I bet there are gophers and ratties galore around all that water. I think cienegas are some of the most rarefied environments on the planet. Beautiful and amazing arachnids in that area, too!

Looks like my lovely rescue gopher. They're sweet snakes. Mine let me cut it out of wire without so much as a fuss. Unfortunately, he'd managed to slice his stomach up struggling before I found him and made himself unreleasable. He's still kicking, though. The most he ever does is hiss at me.

 

[CWilson1351]

My A. geroldi molted which is a big deal for me. I lost the other one I had to a bad molt so every successful molt with the species is great for me. Plus I get to rehouse "her" and examine the exuvia this weekend, obviously I'm hoping for a female.

 

[Greasylake]

When I went hiking over spring break at the double lakes campsite we saw a black and blue garter snake sitting on the trail. It was a pretty long one too, at least two, maybe three feet. The little guy was sitting with his body stretched out over the path and his head under a tiny little leaf, like he was wearing a hat. We stepped a little too close and it stuck the first 3 inches of its body in the air, stuck its tongue straight out and slithered away exactly like that. I thought it was hilarious, I've never seen a snake stick its tongue out at me like that.