Tiny - not so tiny

I can not believe I haven't updated about Tiny (Acanthoscurria geniculata) since May of last year! Complicated pregnancy will do that, though. When we got Tiny, we got several different slings and this one was the tiniest of the bunch, without a doubt. We received it in a vial. We still have the vial!

Just as you read on care sheets, Brazilian Whiteknees are voracious eaters and we've thoroughly enjoyed watching Tiny wrestle with food! We recently moved Tiny into a larger enclosure.

Sometimes I just set the deli or spice cup (or whatever they are in) into the new cage and leave the spiders to adjust in their own time. Tiny set to work immediately and made his old home a part of his new home!

His burrow is actually fairly intricate. You can peek in from either side, which is convenient. You can shine a light on one side and peek from the other. However, in the middle, the hold turns and goes into the middle of the cage. We had no idea for a while as to how far, since he didn't dig along the bottom of the cage like some of our pets have done. Now he has dug a small hole up to the surface, though. It is pretty far down from the main burrow entrances.

Tiny is no longer the smallest of our collection. The Curly Hairs are slower growing. Tiny has definitely become a favorite of the collection with his new burrow and his pretty stripes.

Burrows by Tears

Tears worked nonstop for several days to create a new, larger burrow.

Double Burrows by Tears
The one on the right is new.

King & Clyde

Elmo found King (Goliath Birdeater) stuck by one foot to the top of his aquarium again. We keep waffling about a different cage, but I think we're just going to have to get one, perhaps this weekend. We were trying to figure out how to help him, but I couldn't even tell which way he was holding on to the screen. And then I realized... I could hear him hiss! OMG, it was so cool! I had Elmo lean in to hear it, too. I thought his entire fangs would move for that, but I guess just his mouth was moving? It sounded like one of those old wind up walking toys. Anyway, King let go on his own. He has moved all the dirt out of that corner, too. He seems alright, though. He walks around on the mesh every night.

Clyde's molt and burrow

Then I started checking on all the babies and found that Clyde (Curly Hair) had molted! However, the molt was stuck to his rump. I think I would have freaked if this hadn't happened with King already. I took the dish, backdrop, camera, and a Q-tip in to the kitchen and loosened the lid to the dish. Clyde managed to run off the old skin and into the hole, though! While I didn't get any cool shots of the mess, it is better that the separation happened without assistance. Now I'm watching Bonnie because surely that one will molt very soon. I'm sure they're from the same egg sac.

Sling Feeding Day - Amounts

Gotta feed the Slings!

Both Chaco Golden Knees (Grammostola pulchripes)molted! So I didn't feed them. Pictures coming soon. I still have photo posts to do from the other night! I've taken well over 100 photos through the weekend!

I fed each of the Curly Hair Slings (Brachypelma albopilosum) 1 meal worm each. One of them is shy and has a tunnel with 2 entrance/exits. I got photos of these, too.

The Brazilian Whiteknee (Acanthoscurria geniculata) is SO fast! I had to refrigerate for 4 minutes before feeding. I gave Tiny 1 meal worm. I couldn't entice him to attack, even after waiting a bit. I did get pics, though!

My Costa Rican Tiger Rump (Cyclosternum fasciatum) is also very fast and has to be refrigerated for 4 minutes. I gave her 1 meal worm. I tried to entice here, too, but No Go and now the worm is hiding in the dirt somewhere. I'm sure it will peak up and get eaten, though.

Our Ornamental Baboon a.k.a. Togo Starburst (Heteroscodra maculata) didn't seem itself, really. I mean, still a sling so not much personality anyway, but wasn't on the lid and wasn't acting crazy fast. I dropped in 1 meal worm and tried to entice, to no avail. The spider did move, though, and is not in a death curl. So I think we're still good here.

Tears - Hide & Seek

Tears, our Haplopelma lividum (Cobalt Blue) is quite the hermit. We rarely see her at all.

Cobalt Blue Tarantula Habitat

You see that we provided a hide for her, but she chose to burrow her own. We love for our pets to create their own burrows! However, if we'd known she would do it we might have left the clay pot out of her cage. Since she has built her burrow against it, we can't remove it. Oh well.

This is about the only glimpse we might catch of her:

Cobalt Blue Tarantula Burrow
Do you see her down there?

Great Investment!

My recent investment into 1 Avicularia versicolor (Antilles Pinktoe) and 1 Brachypelma albopilosum (Curly Hair) has really paid off! My A. versicolor (S.B.) is my first arboreal species. She wasted no time in building a tunnel web up the corner and then a hammock type web over from the top. She has been interesting to watch, though not otherwise very active.

Then there is the B. albopilosum (Señor Fuzzy Britches)! He originally didn't seem to be changing his new habitat at all. Then he) was slowly moving dirt from one end of his Kritter Keeper to the other. Eventually he had a mound almost to the top of one end of the cage and one opposite corner was dug out all the way to the bottom. Now he has begun to dig a hole in the bottom of the mound and some of that dirt is being carried into the original empty corner. It is fascinating to watch! I love that while he is burrowing, he is doing it where we can still watch! Earlier he was making some sort of squeaking noise... I think it is the sound of his feet sliding against the plastic. It has been cool to watch dirt being carried in the chelicerae!

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Note: These babies are all juveniles, so the he/she is really just a guess at this point. We think of S.B. as a girl and SFBritches as a boy.

4th Instar & New Burrow!

Through email with the breeder, I've learned that Mallory hatched on May 11, 2005. She is a 4th Instar, which means she has molted 4 times.

I also found out that her cage is too humid, but I haven't added any water since I got her. I've asked for advice on drying the cage out some. I also asked for better ways to heat her jar.

Mallory really likes the new warmness I've provided! I'll leave her cool in the night again, but I'm formulating some ideas on how to warm her with something less disposable. Do they make hand warmers that can be reused?

Anyway, I saw her working on her first burrow today! I probably should have photographed that, but I'm not feeling well. I did get a photo of the completed (I think) project...

Mallory's New Burrow

Yes, that is the same dime.