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?

Chaos & Anansi

Since my last post, I have moved into my own apartment. I am in the process of a divorce.

I changed out the substrate (dirt) for Chaos the other day. I had never held her. She was VERY calm... after she stopped attacking the paintbrush I use to nudge the spiders.

Meanwhile, Anansi has a bald butt. I suspect it was fumes in the linen closet where they were staying or perhaps just because I had the two habitats right next to each other. Either way, I want to give her some time to de-stress before I mess with her habitat. I even had a scare where I thought she was dead. They aren't going back into the linen closet, just in case. And they aren't being set right next to each other any more, either. They are both eating well, though, so that's a good sign.

Chaos seemed so small once she was in my hand... they're both very big girls, though. I hope Anansi gets back to normal and/or molts soon so I can feel okay holding her again.

Exciting Evening!

It was time to feed & water Anansi and water Bunny, too. I finally bit the bullet and decided to hold Anansi. I've been a little nervous ever since she molted because I can see that she is quicker now.

She sat still on my hand for a while... I'd forgotten that she always does that first. I guess once our temperatures match, she walks around just a little. The more I move, the more she walks. Britt came and sat down next to me and Anansi started walking more.... and then went right up my sleeve! So there I am... a ticklish person... with a 1½" tarantula in my armpit! It was pretty funny! We all came though unscathed. I wound up pulling my sleeve back and then got her to come out onto my shirt. I did eventually get her to go back into her bowl. It certainly made for an exciting evening (or 5 minutes, anyway).

Hands On

After tackling a big, difficult project I wanted to do something fun for myself. So... I got Anansi out again. She ran just a little bit when she first came out, but stopped on the side of my wrist. She just sat there. This time I know she was already warm. Her position made it difficult to coax her back into the container. In fact, as I brushed her rear end, she edged backwards. She finally made her way into a position that made it easier to transfer her back into the container. When she goes back in, she runs down the wall. Then she ran across the ground, I thought she was going to snag the cricket, but as I put the lid on, I saw that she really seemed to just want back out with me. :) Gosh.

Turned out to be a good way to reward myself & cheer me up from the frustration of the project.

I took lots of photos of the spiders this morning, but I haven't offloaded them yet. I'll get to it. I have a meeting in a little bit, though.

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Later in the evening I checked and could not find any cricket remains (yet again). I guess she must have gotten around to eating that one, too. What the heck is she doing with the exoskeletons??

New Baby!!

Here is a photo of my new baby that I went to OKC for today...

Brachypelma smithi spiderling

That's a quarter this time. I even got to hold her before leaving there! I also held a full grown B. smithi. I had Eric show me as much of his collection as he wanted to show off and I took photos! I'll be getting those edited, sent, and posted... but for now, this was the most important shot.

Now I'm debating a name for her. Here is the poll (updated with results):

Tara (as in TARAntula)
3 (27.3%)

Taren Tula (I don't think so)
0 (0.0%)

LeeLou (5th Element)
2 (18.2%)

Anansi
3 (27.3%)

Agent Smith (she's a B. smithi)
0 (0.0%)

Mallory (again)
0 (0.0%)

Millicent
1 (9.1%)

Morticia
2 (18.2%)