Brazilian Fire Red ~ #2

We have 2 Brazilian Fire Red Tarantulas. I believe they are from the same egg sac. We got them at the same time. I had never even heard of the species. I felt they had outgrown their little deli cups, so they got larger habitats with plenty of dirt. Experience has taught us to provide plenty of substrate for burrowing, just in case. It can be difficult to add more once a tarantula has begun a burrow.

Lasiodora difficilis
Brazilian Fire Red
deep burrow goes almost all the way around the bottom of the bowl!

One of these two is super fast! It is so fast, in fact, that I always put it into the fridge for a couple of minutes before opening his cage to feed, water, or clean. The cold will slow the spider down. The super fast one has never dug more than a small crater, but did molt a couple of weeks. So I've been waiting for #2 to molt. This one has been looking super fat and shiny, just on the verge of molting!

Lasiodora difficilis
Brazilian Fire Red
molting at the end of the burrow

Just like with SFB, there was a cricket in the cage during molting. This tarantula, however, rarely emerges from his burrow. It was no problem to remove the small cricket.

Lasiodora difficilis
Brazilian Fire Red
molting close-up

I haven't seen this Brazilian Fire Red Tarantula out of his burrow since he molted. In fact, even when "he" does come out, moving or touching the cage at all has him racing back down into hiding! So I'm not likely to get a good photo of him for quite some time.

Lasiodora difficilis
Brazilian Fire Red
Freshly Molted
2 Days Recovery

I don't know what I'll do when he outgrows his cage because, I fear, he will never stay out of his burrow long enough to be transferred. This behavior could change as he grows, though. SFB built a burrow just for molting. It has since collapsed. Then he just built a web hammock for molting this last time. I had even added more substrate for more burrowing.

I need to decide on names for the Brazilian Fire Reds and some of the others (suggestions welcome). I'm not sure if I'm ready to name the really tiny ones, though Elmo did name his Brazilian White Knee... Tiny.