Tarantula Diary

...to share my experiences of the hobby, and receive helpful comments from other keepers...

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It's been a while since I posted anything in this page. So allow me to start a re-run of my days in the hobby by introducing my latest acquisition, a Pterinopelma Sazimai sling aka Brazilian blue, aka Sazima's tarantula.

I housed it in a flat container where I used to keep my late Greenbottle blue. So far hasn't eaten anything. I've tried offering some mealworm but it doesn't seem ready to eat, so I'll wait a bit to get acclimated and I'll keep this diary updated. Till then..

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Until I find some time to upload some more serious post, I share my new acquisition. Another avicularia versicolor, or a “Caribena versicolor”, as they, alternatively, call it.. It’s quite cute.. In terms of disposition, I’d say it’s more shy than others that I use to keep, and less aggressive, for sure, against it’s pray.. rather, it takes its time until it feasts on the next victim (bean weavils it is again).. Soon, I’ll try to share some photos of it’s enclosure and the one I already have made for the next molting size(s).. Cheers everybody

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Talking 'bout my ..new acquisition!! Yap, I got this little guy from my garden.. it fell out of some pine needles, as I was weeding and cleaning the patio.. Here's a photo of it, holding a "Plodia interpunctella", I believe (a common kitchen moth.. ). I've been feeding it one these every day and doesn't seem to have enough.. It's a bit 'shy' at first, but with the a little nugging it grabs it and goes to hiding, to eat in quiet..

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So on my way to go to sleep, I see something moving high on the edge of the ceiling.. At first, I thought "oh, it must be a (mediterranean) house gecko".. But then I saw stripes and long legs.. And this is it.. Probably a huge wolf spider.. Captured it, took a couple of photos and released.. Impressive specimen.

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Here's a colorful surprise as I was weeding my garden.. Can you spot the pointy/spiky legs?

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For the first time, i caught my guy drinking water.. All this time that i was just refilling the cap, i hadn’t any idea about how it was “gone” -probably the evaporation..

But here’s another reason..

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A dry earth spider (species?) messing around our stuff while camping outside under a beautiful pine forest. A fine rest of the Summer to anyone!!

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A new arboreal enclosure (part3)

Before, i let the photos talk, i need to say that i’m looking to add a water bowl, large and deep enough, and when i find it i’ll add it first time.

(Iridescent legs)

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A new arboreal enclosure (part2)

Having secured all the access points to the outer world, i continued with the decoration. I’ve watched so many videos and honestly it became a stressful prospect for me: what to choose to support the Ts climbing, what kind of wood, which plant, how many shouldering pieces and so on.

I found some orange brunches but didn’t quite like them. To make it short, i ended up with two Eucalyptus branches from large tree in my yard. And some dried pieces of bark from a Plum tree. I boiled them for a lot of time, oven them and left again under the Summer sun to dry.

After a lot of combinations, i selected and soldered them on the basis and side walls of the case. Also, i placed the bark on the upper part of the back to work as a gripping surface and part of natural background. A lot of DIY keepers use sculptured styrofoam which mask them with moss or dirt. Couldn’t do it. Just couldn’t. Not that experienced yet. Let’s hope the plum bark won’t rot in a month.

Additionally, i added a small inside space/room plant, that i first asked whether it can stand to higher humidity. Don’t know it’s name, but it’s a rather common ornament plant. I really liked this  suggestion, but didn’t seem as the best choice in the long run.

Substrate: a combination of coco soil (85%) and turf to make the basis of the enclosure.

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A new arboreal enclosure (part1)

Since my T moulted just a week ago, i decided to move it to a bigger enclosure. It’s been a while since i wanted to acquire a plexiglass large arboreal enclosure, such those i was seeing in videos by mane keepers.

So i embarked to make one by myself. I copied the dimensions Tarantulacages use and went to cut some sheets of plexiglass. Some short market search later, i found a plexiglass workshop that gave a REALLY good price just for measured pieces (€26). When in the shop i tried to discuss with the indifferent plexi-master about how to make venting holes, how to glue different kind of materials on the plastic (basically metal and wood with plastic). Couldn’t make much from him (he couldn’t say what kind of glue medium to use so not to harm the plastic, couldn’t understand what i wanted with the 5cm holes on the sides, how to make the door etc.). Anyway, we reached to a point that it’s obvious that by experimenting i would probably mess the sheets. And he gave me a €40 option to make it complete for me. WOW!! “Do it my kind craftsman”!!

So the plan was something like this:

20 x 20 x 40cm box

6 holes of 5cm diameter all around (2 on each side, one on the top, one on the back). A 10cm fixed piece on the front to hold the soil, and a 30cm door with plexiglass hinges, and the craftsman put a small handle with a magnet to secure the door shut.

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Furthermore, i tried to contact an aluminium craftsman to make some screen vents like those tarantulacages.com use. Hard thing to do, so i decided to make it simpler. Bought some window screen/plexus, took my glue gun and soldered it on the outer side (you can notice some experimenting with the gluing technique).

While window plexus on the sides of the enclosure, i used metal galvanised plexus on the back and the upper side of the case -just used more silicone.

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So my T just moulted and it’s time for a new enclosure..

Bigger, brighter, as an adult specimen deserves!

The previous one was annoyingly webbed (notice the moulting cocoon) and felt really small for the new body.

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Setting off for a new enclosure!

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Two new tarantula slings, 'asphyxiatedly' exploded and absolutely dead!

So i decided to add 2 new members in my 'collection', and i ordered again from TheSpiderShop in England, 2 Avicularia Guyana spiderlings. The delivery trip took 10 days. Through these 10 days, the small parcel must have traveled, drived and waited in who-knows-what-kind-of-environment-courier services-use facilities. Those days, we experienced the highest temperatures noted of the Summer here (around 38-41 'C), just to give a hint of what was coming.

So i received the box. And opened it. And then, almost immediately started smelling something literally fishy. To make it short this is what i saw, when i opened the small pill box, containing the 2 two small vials, with the Ts inside.

Great! Can you just believe my luck? The poor things came without abdomens. They had literally exploded from the heat; inside their vials (you can spot the red-pink stains in the second photograph, on the small cotton balls...). And not just that, they had time to rot also, giving that stenchy fishy smell to anything that came in contact with them.

Well, it was a mixed experience for me, emotionally, because in 2 hours i was leaving for vacation and the day had started bad. Anyway, i managed to call and send an email with photos and opening package video to the guys in TheSpiderShop so to inform them about the order. After a week, i received a completely typical email back, saying that EU orders are made on customer's risk... !@$!%&$@^@

I tried to explain that the vials were almost closed airtight, and while they ship hundreds of orders annually, this kind of wrapping and packaging under these climate conditions is extreme, wrong and risky. I even went further to demand a discount on the next order. No reaction.. Again, i risked it and lost. Like it was my fault. "You mistakenly order in the hottest period of the Summer. We sent it to you, without any caution notice. And now you caused them to die. Thank God, you prepaid".

[Indeed, i ordered in very hot days, without processing it further, but in my mind, just, in the Summer period, because they don't ship delicate specimens -such as spiderlings or small livefood- on Winter for obvious reasons.]

Not to mention, that once again, they didn't send me the appropriate and necessary livefood (that i had included with the order), for feeding them. Also without notice, they cancelled the livefood and sent the rest...

"What we have here is a lack of .. professionalism"!!

To readers of this diary, i refer to 2 previous posts, regarding a) again, the non-shipping -without notice- of livefood along with spiderlings, and b) the luck of 2 Avic. Versicolor slings that i received a year, or more, ago.

Until the next order or special event fellow keepers! Be careful of any of your moves, regarding delicate specimens. It's possible that you'll lose them, and, along with them, your money too. And it's going to all on you...

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A new enclosure!

So my boy has grown a bit more, at the point to look almost like a mature male. And bigger size, demands bigger space. So i decided to change its enclosure. Still i haven't made the leap to the typical glass, stunning, specifically-made-for arboreal species enclosures and i after some market research i picked a large and tall plastic jar that a lot of people use to store olives...

I made symmetrical holes all over, making sure not to harm the main clear surfaces that allow me to observe the specimen. I drilled 3 layers of holes (even some at the height of the substrate/soil to let it dry a bit) and of course the lid.

Then, I added a piece of a dated wood -that i previously cleaned- vertically to the bottom. And after that some 'green'. For that i added, once more, a small branch of ivy which is a very resistant and strong plant to use for that kind of situations. But that wasn't it all. I had the bold inspiration to add a small rootlet of a strawberry plant. Yeah, just for the fun, to watch it potentially spread inside the jar. I sprayed a lot of water on the substrate, on the walls of the jar and on the small water-bowl, and i was ready to rehouse my T.

After some careful handling and touching, my T was introduced to its new enclosure.

Yeah, that was all, to be honest, and the photos below illustrate how it looked on reality.

[small update]: the strawberry plant managed to grow some small bridge-branches but the T covered in with web before it managed to reach higher, so i guess the luck of light and quite possibly the high moisture inside the jar led it to rot... Maybe, after 3-4 weeks. The Ivy though, still stays strong.

[Extra material]: A photo of the above-mentioned moulted specimen, some time ago, inside its previous enclosure. You can spot the necessity for more space.

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An average-sized centipede in my garden arose as i uprooted a fail-grafted lime tree (now only left as a Neratzes tree).

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An individual from the "Rynchophorus ferrugineus" was wandering around my yard, when a cat spotted it and started playing with it.. [Notice the small hole, in the beetle's back, made from the cat's canine].

While not identifying it as what it was, i saved it -just for the good deed of the day. But then, i came to realize that i just had saved the orange beetle, that has become a terrible menace in our country for all the palm trees. These guys are quite tough, and manage to swarm palm trees' main bodies/stumps and completely drill and drain it from it's juices and it's flesh.

[check 3rd picture]

Since 2004, when our government imported huge amounts of palm trees from Africa, with these beetles on them, i'd say, roughly, 60-80% of all 'wild' or garden palm trees have been infested by these fellows and were or are destroyed. Chemical solutions aren't quite effective. People use whatever they can find to save their trees, but luck of information, complete ignorance and, maybe, total indifference to further consequences, have provoked massive effects to an other and different area of wild life, the bees.

The last 4 years -a period that i happen to know and can certainly speak about- 80% of the beehives around the extended urban areas, were collapsed and poisoned, from these anti-orange beetle chemical applications.. Shame!! Total shame, PLUS a major financial wound for LOTS of beekeepers in the country. If i knew, i'd step on the bastard, on the first place... !!

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My Avic. Aurantiaca sub-adult male, has gone into pre-moult phase and rejects food and, apparently, anything else that's bugging him..

I think it's the second time to see him taking the 'defending' pose.. Although it's not at all aggressive, as anyone would mostly expect from an Avicularia species.

And a little bit of "Summer Wind" from Sinatra, just for a good Summer's sake, to EVERYONE!!