Today in the Spider Room?

[LucN]

B. boehmei still hasn't flipped, she just advanced slightly towards the water dish. She'll probably molt in the corner besides it, as she usually does. Would be awesome to be able to sit through the ENTIRE process, but odds are she'll do it while I'll either be sleeping or at work. We shall see...

 

[8 legged]

I had to freshen up my old T. vagans female's enclosure after a giant mushroom laughed at me this morning... Nothing for three years, now this.
She was anything but pleased, but does not help. Here is her new facility:


A small G. pulchra boy was buried forever and - despite the molting - still runs through the terrarium with its abdomen raised. I have no idea why, he's been doing it for two years; Does somebody has any idea?


And apart from that, I stared at my new darling for ages in the home office today. She inspires me to no end!

 

[tamra]

I'm astonished by the complexity of my T's excavation activities since she was moved to her larger enclosure.

She's spent hours each day hauling bundles of substrate from her hide, after removing all of the bark and leaves and arranging them out on the open areas to web them together into mats. But what's most interesting is she seems to have decided that she wants the silk fern above her hide to bend down to form a kind of patio cover. She's been very carefully carrying armloads (pedipalp loads?) of substrate up into the center of the plant and carefully depositing them on the ends of the leaves, one leaf at a time. It seems to be a very deliberate maneuver because it's very awkward for her to bring dirt up to that location and she has to slowly work her way in sideways to the core of the plant. Once she has a leaf dipped down to a horizontal position, she's webbing them into place and webbing the substrate to the leaf (hoping the whole plant doesn't fall over soon, because I didn't think she'd be building soil platforms on it!).

I don't think I'm anthropomorphizing her, though using soil to weigh down leaves is akin to tool usage which is only seen in higher animals, but she seems to have a plan and she's forming a very functional roof and upper platform that would block anyone seeing her from the top if she was sitting outside her hide -- important in the wild, considering many birds eat spiders. It's possible this behavior is coincidental or instinctual binary thinking, but if so, the binary code is quite complex as though multiple "dip switches" are in play to account for multiple, possibly conflicting conditions. My background is in computer programming with some training in swarm intelligence and behavioral psychology so that does color my views (and possibly makes these posts boring for others!). But from a pure logic point of view, let's just say I'd find this very challenging to reproduce in computer code compared to, say, the behavior of bees or ants, which is very well studied in artificial intelligence research.

Whoever says a tarantula is a boring pet has never spent a day watching one.

* When I told my spouse I wanted a tarantula he said "sure, if you want one, but it's not at all interesting to me." The last two nights I've been making dinner alone because he's in the living room entranced by our "boring" spider and bringing back reports of the progress she's making.

I had to freshen up my old T. vagans female's enclosure after a giant mushroom laughed at me this morning... Nothing for three years, now this.
She was anything but pleased, but does not help. Here is her new facility:
View attachment 392744

A small G. pulchra boy was buried forever and - despite the molting - still runs through the terrarium with its abdomen raised. I have no idea why, he's been doing it for two years; Does somebody has any idea?
View attachment 392745

And apart from that, I stared at my new darling for ages in the home office today. She inspires me to no end!
View attachment 392746

You got some amazing pictures for this post!

 

[WolleWolf]

My Pamphobeteus sp. antinous (4") is normally living reclusive and when she is out she is hungry. Gave her a superworm after that pic.

 

[KenNet]

My Pamphobeteus sp. antinous (4") is normally living reclusive and when she is out she is hungry. Gave her a superworm after that pic.
View attachment 392856

Nice spider!
Why is s/he flickering so much hair?

 

[Rigor Mortis]

A few weeks ago I was volunteered by a coworker to participate in a programme where kids get to read a book to an animal in order to gain confidence in reading aloud. It's usually in person and with a trained therapy dog but for now it's on Zoom with any calm animal on camera. Wednesday my T. albo made his debut when a little girl who said she was terrified of spiders wanted to read to him. I'm glad my first MM gets to do something cool before he kicks it, not that he knows what's going on. That's the most excitement we've had in the spider room these days.

 

[tamra]

A few weeks ago I was volunteered by a coworker to participate in a programme where kids get to read a book to an animal in order to gain confidence in reading aloud. It's usually in person and with a trained therapy dog but for now it's on Zoom with any calm animal on camera. Wednesday my T. albo made his debut when a little girl who said she was terrified of spiders wanted to read to him. I'm glad my first MM gets to do something cool before he kicks it, not that he knows what's going on. That's the most excitement we've had in the spider room these days.

That is so amazing. I was scared of spiders as a kid. Adults are often afraid to confront their phobias because it means they have to be exposed to the thing that frightens them but in reality you’re often exposed to those things anyway so you keep getting triggered. Getting over the fear is ne less thing to worry about but it’s rare that people work on these sort of things with children. Your T is providing a great service!

 

[8 legged]

The morning started with a not so easy rehouse of my Tapinauchenius polybotes (0.1). She wasn't happy, but has meanwhile explored her new terrain and is eating a cricket!


On Monday a friend sent an adult Pterinochilus murinus female, so I have prepared an enclosure accordingly. Worked with excess clay for the first time. Now just have to dry it! Turtle substrate is under the clay layer. Should offer optimal conditions!


The current generation of Hogna Schmitzi is also constantly growing, so I made a couple of enclosures for them at the same time. Of course these also have to dry first!


And now I'm starting my Sunday run! Hurray and manic greetings!

There is more to be done later, part two may follow.

 

[8 legged]

So, the Hognas are in the new home (I had dried them in the oven).


Two Pterinopelma sazimai slings have moved into the old enclosure of the Hognas (as you can see in the pictures, this move was overdue!).


Last but not least, my Phidippus regius "Everglades" couple got their final enclosure! Two more moults then the male changes to the female...


I still repaired the cover of the Th. Stirmi enclosure (replaced the silicone with proper glue, as this acrylic holds better!).


It was a great sunday!

 

[spideyspinneret78]

So, the Hognas are in the new home (I had dried them in the oven).
View attachment 393044

Two Pterinopelma sazimai slings have moved into the old enclosure of the Hognas (as you can see in the pictures, this move was overdue!).
View attachment 393045 View attachment 393046

Last but not least, my Phidippus regius "Everglades" couple got their final enclosure! Two more moults then the male changes to the female...
View attachment 393047

I still repaired the cover of the Th. Stirmi enclosure (replaced the silicone with proper glue, as this acrylic holds better!).
View attachment 393049

It was a great sunday!

I love your enclosures! The clay idea is really cool, maybe I'll give it a shot eventually.

 

[USNGunner]

My new P. Victorii sling and P. Irminia sling "Darth Malak" and "Tigger" were out and about today. Totally cool.

My P. Cambredgei is in heavy pre-molt and going to be "yuge!" very soon. Pictures as soon as it happens.

 

[joossa]

Caught her digging by the water bowl. After she got tired of digging, she went to go wrestle with the fake succulents in her enclosure.

 

[tamra]

Woke up to a pristine water bowl. Yesssss.

She finished weighting down the silk fern over her hide entrance and built a nice dirt ramp over the top so her hide can only be accessed from a narrow strip down the side and around behind the ramp (hidden basement entrance, clever).

She's spending most of her time underground now but she opened a large window in her main cavern so I can watch her nap (and worry the whole thing is going to collapse on her).

I think my curly hair is fossorial.

 

[USNGunner]

She's spending most of her time underground now but she opened a large window in her main cavern so I can watch her nap (and worry the whole thing is going to collapse on her).

My grandson's B. Hamorii did that and stayed for a month. LOL. We were panicked the entire time that it was going to cave in with as much as he dug out. Go figure.

 

[KenNet]

My female Chilobrachys fimbriatus died for no obvious reason.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

Feeding day today. My N. chromatus looking downright dignified after the takedown.

 

[RevS]

So... Bad news this time.
First I got informed that my H.pulchripes male I've loaned to a breeder didn't survive. Well. That was something I was prepared for.
Unfortunately - yesterday, only a few days later - I've found one of the two slings I've got in exchange in a death curl.
I flipped it over and put a droplet of water on it's mouth but this morning I've confirmed that it died...

Two losses from the same species in one week... Damn.

On the subject of the sling: I used one of the vials I've used to grow slings in before - each saw 2-3 slings live in them for a few months and worked just fine. In fact the other sling still seems to be in good health (I was stressing over it yesterday). Both are kept the same, with the same substrate (neither tried digging, the one that died did very little webbing while the other built a web castle), feeding and watering schedules and even stay right next to each other on the shelf. The slings were last fed a week ago and got nice and plump already so I expected to see molts in a week or two - I doubt it is a case of dehydration.

 

[Ungoliant]

Unfortunately - yesterday, only a few days later - I've found one of the two slings I've got in exchange in a death curl.
I flipped it over and put a droplet of water on it's mouth but this morning I've confirmed that it died...

Two losses from the same species in one week... Damn.

On the subject of the sling: I used one of the vials I've used to grow slings in before - each saw 2-3 slings live in them for a few months and worked just fine. In fact the other sling still seems to be in good health (I was stressing over it yesterday). Both are kept the same, with the same substrate (neither tried digging, the one that died did very little webbing while the other built a web castle), feeding and watering schedules and even stay right next to each other on the shelf. The slings were last fed a week ago and got nice and plump already so I expected to see molts in a week or two - I doubt it is a case of dehydration.

Occasionally, through no fault of the keeper, a sling just doesn't make it.

 

[RevS]

Occasionally, through no fault of the keeper, a sling just doesn't make it.

Thanks for those words - after 2 years I'm back to stressing over my care and if I did everything right.
Truth be told I've noticed neither of the slings are as feisty as my first specimen of this species was - I was looking forward to them molting and seeing if that'll change.
Still - I'll be extra careful now with all of my slings - especially now in a heatwave. Hopefully they all molt soon and get a bit stronger.

Update:
As I've said - I've checked the sling this morning - flipped it back to the upright position but it was in a death curl and 100% unresponsive - I then lightly pulled one of it's legs away from the body with my poking stick and still got no reaction hence why I assumed the sling is gone.

I've returned from work and wanted to dispose of it now but the sling jumped at the touch! I'm not very hopeful for it but now I have some sort of a clue. The sling now shows heavy symptoms of DKS so it seems the room got contaminated with something... I'll keep an eye on my other slings and try to identify the cause.

 

[Rigor Mortis]

Last night my B. emilia proved himself a resourceful little dude. Dropped a mealworm into his enclosure and he didn’t go for it, which is pretty normal for him. Except I dropped it before I fully crushed the head and the stupid thing burrowed. I figured eh, I‘ll give him some time and cup him later. Came back a few hours later and he was covered in dirt with the worm in his mouth. He’s not super great at hunting so I’m happy with him.