Moving Day - Hyde

We had several slings / juveniles that were outgrowing their space, so we had a moving day. Here are the photos from Hyde's (Lasiodora difficilis) move.

General Update

Sorry for the gap in updates, folks. We've had a few health issues and even deaths in our [human] family in the past few months. It really put our hobby on the back burner.

You missed our Indian Ornamental (Punjab) molting again already. We may have to move it into a bigger jar again soon! None of the photos came out very clear, too much glare off the glass jar.

Tears (Cobalt Blue) spent about 4 days straight (day and night!) working on a new hole. It is larger than her original burrow. Then she retreated back to her original hole and we haven't seen her since! We're used to her hiding, but we're getting a little worried. Hopefully she'll peek out soon.

We got Hyde (Brazilian Fire Red) moved into a larger container that holds moisture much better than the previous dish. We won't be using that one for pets anymore, though we may use it as a temporary spot for small crickets. Hyde has just started moving dirt around in the last couple of days.

My Curly Hair (S.F.B.) has finally been moving dirt and digging in his new cage. I noticed today that his abdomen coloring looks different. I think he(?) may molt again soon!

Pretty much all the "kids" are looking fat and sassy, especially the babies! We're currently trying the larger spiders on Super Worms. They are an option we can keep on hand for longer than crickets. Everyone seems to like them alright. We just have to be careful not to let them burrow into the dirt. This is slightly limiting, but they're pretty fat so we can give one at a time. Even Jekyll and Hyde have managed them!

Jekyll after winning the fight against a Super Worm

Punjab in New Home

Saturday night, I got our friend Brandon to wiggle a mini meal worm through the holes at the top! It was pretty funny. Shortly thereafter, we were trying to figure out where the worm went. Then Punjab came down from the top as if to show us that he had things well in hand. lol

Punjab
Indian Ornamental
Poecilotheria regalis

Sunday afternoon, I found this...

Punjab
Indian Ornamental
Poecilotheria regalis

This had us cracking up!

Rehousing Punjab

I recently readied 2 spice bottles as houses for tree-dwelling (arboreal) tarantulas. My plan was to move Punjab (Indian Ornamental / Poecilotheria regalis) as well as Tanzania (Ornamental Baboon / Heteroscodra maculata). I got a little substrate (dirt) in the bottom and then curled up some fake vine into the bottle. They look beautiful! We decided, though, that Tanzania isn't quite big enough yet. We don't want anyone escaping through the holes!

So I've been waiting (and waiting and waiting) for Punjab to be on the lid of his cage. My plan was to remove the lid and place it over the spice bottle. In the middle of cooking breakfast this morning, Elmo brought Punjab into the kitchen. I opened the spice bottle and carefully removed the lid from the current dish. I was having trouble getting the spider off the lid, though. I tried edging him with my spider paint brush. NOTE: I did not refrigerate the spider before this attempt. He is really fast. This species is known for its lightning speed. And too small to grab without fear of harming him.

Can you guess what happened next?

Moving / Feeding Day - Indian Ornamental

This is was our Indian Ornamental's habitat:

Poecilotheria regalis
Icky Habitat

It looks gross. You can see a couple of mold spots, plus it looks like there might be some mold in the lid, an old meal worm carcass, and there is an old skin. It definitely needed cleaning or something! I am loving the new dishes I got, so I prepped one for this lil guy, even though they aren't much larger.

Moving Day - Chaco Golden Knee Tarantulas

I hate the tiny little cups that hold the Chaco Golden Knees. I'm thankful to have gotten the tarantulas, but don't like the cups or the substrate. That dirt doesn't hold moisture well at all! So today I rounded up a couple of these new containers I like and got them packed down with plenty of new dirt.

New & Old Habitats
Grammostola pulchripes
Chaco Golden Knee

Once I got them moved,

Moving / Feeding Day - Curly Hair Tarantula

After that last molt, I noticed that Señor Fuzzy Britches really outgrew his cage. I mean he FIT of course, but he needed more "leg room" (hahaha, I crack myself up!). This weekend I finally picked up the next size cage. I specifically went for All Living Things® Critter Totes. The lids are much easier to remove and replace. The other brand we got are very stiff. The new one is a Medium.

I packed in plenty of dirt. Then I carefully spooned out some of his old dirt, moving the top layer off first. I topped the new habitat with it. All the while, I was keeping him from coming completely out of his cage. SFB is a very calm specimen. I was easily able to pick it up and move it to the new cage. I left him in it for about an hour before feeding him. He has much more room now! And he had no trouble with the crickets I gave him.

This photo doesn't show how much space he has, but at least it is a new photo, right?!

Señor Fuzzy Britches
in New Home
Brachypelma albopilosum
Curly Hair

Tiny

Our Acanthoscurria geniculata (Brazilian Whiteknee) is one of the Ts we got from our friendly breeder that works with Elmo (and previously me as well). Elmo has named it Tiny. We've enjoyed watching the tiny lil sling wrestle with small meal worms for dinner. After a recent molt, I had decided the vial in which it arrived was a bit cramped. So I finally got it re-housed in a larger container last night.

Acanthoscurria geniculata
Brazilian Whiteknee
"Tiny" in a new home

This is a 2 ounce plastic dish in which seasonings are sold at a local Farmer's Market. It has all kinds of room now! I'm giving it a couple of days to get comfortable before feeding it.

Elmo thought I might have a hard time getting Tiny transferred, but thanks to my handy-dandy paint brush, it was no problem!