J'aime La Tarantula

[wts] FEMALE A. seemani Juvs

2009-03-16T06:17:00.000-07:00

seemani 1

4" F with ventral proof

seemani 2

3" F with ventral proof

P. platyomma

2009-01-05T12:42:00.000-08:00

Freshly molted 3.5" female

a few hours later

Nhandu chromatus 6" female

Tarantula Ticks & Toes

2007-05-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

This is a severe mite infestation. They gather at vulnerable parts of the Ts such as the beginning joints of the legs and around and between the fangs, even on the openings of the abdomen. Disgusting and annoying. This beautiful female Cyriopagopus sp "blue" died from the infestation. Not a first case for me, I've lost several good Ts to mites and it costed me more than 1k worth of Ts. Thankfully they were from trades and I did not actually buy them.

I managed to save one T from mited by cleaning her out with a cotton bud and namecard, but this one died as I cleaned her.

Sry Schizzie, cudn't save the T u ordered =P
The following are pics of a freshly molted 5" female Honduran Curlyhair Brachypelma albopilosum

These are actually the tips of her legs. The hooks and white thingie looks like a goat's head to me
This one looks like a freaky flower
This one's just wrong..
This is the T pussy
Fangs are white right after a molt

Nhandu chromatus

2007-05-10T00:32:00.000-07:00

Brazillian Red & White Nhandu chromatus 4" female

freshly molted
yes it is safe to pull the skin away right after it molts

A Few Favorites

2007-05-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Goliath Pinkfoot Theraphosa apophysis 2" slingBrazillian White knee Acanthoscurria geniculata 2" sling
Mexican red knee Brachypelma smithi (4" female)
Brazilian Salmon Pink Lasiodora parahybana 5" female

P pulcher

2007-05-09T23:50:00.000-07:00

3.5" female right after her molt

Abraham's sling, mites, and a shrew

2007-01-23T00:54:00.000-08:00

Abraham's late spiderling. Only stumbled upon this pic just now.

A shrew that we caught in our house and released just outside
A macro of a mite infested tarantula. She is a Brazillian salmon pink tarantula, was 2.5 inches at that time. I managed to remove the mites by grabbing her and rubbing the mites off with a cotton bud and "Flossing" her with a name card. She is now a happy 3.5" minimonster!
the creature that lives in my car. It's only here cz i feel that its a great pic.

Malaysian Blue

2006-10-25T05:47:00.000-07:00

Cyriopagopus sp "blue" 6.5" female
couldn't retain their original sizes cz blogspot resized them, so the pics aint that large and clear even if you click on them

Some so-so macros, click to climax!

2006-09-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

Indian Ornamental Poecilotheria regalis
Bahia Dark-grey Lasiodora striatipes (matured male - notice the 2 bulbs circled in red, those are loaded with sperm and used to deliver the sperm to the female)

to give you an idea of it's size.. Mexican Red-knee Brachypelma smithi molting

out of its moult
time to pull the skin!

2006-08-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

Honduran Curlyhair Brachypelma albopilosum

Freshly Moulted Costa Rican Zebra Aphonopelma seemani
Goliath Birdeater Theraphosa ????(suspected blondi)Mexican Redknee Brachypelma smithi

2006-07-24T01:34:00.000-07:00

Curly and Kwokiman's hamster

The full set of pics from clicktoclimax

notice that Curly's lower jaw is still dislocated from swallowing the fat hamster. Voila! Curly finally gets it down and is a very happy snake! after pushing the mouse further down into its body, it will readjust its jaws into their correct positions.

*special thanx to kwokiman for sponsoring the hamster* u da man!

2006-07-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Brachypelma boehmei (Adult female 5")
sucking on a juicy cricket
Grammostola rosea (Adult female 5.5")
above: Aphonopelma seemani (adult female 5.5")

2006-06-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

A pissed T. The first pic shows how a pissed T looks.
Cyriopagopus sp "blue", this is the one that turned blue after moulting in the pics in my previous post.

2006-06-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

Tarantulas shed their skin once in awhile to grow and this process is called moulting.
Before they moult, they will lay a bed of silk web and lie on their backs to prepare to moult. Below: a grammostola rosea preparing for its final moult They generally take abit less than a month to moult when they are 1-4cm slings and the duration between moults increase as the grow bigger. Below is a 3cm spiderling during and after it moulted. It is white even at its fangs because it has not expanded and hardened yet. After a day or two, its exoskeleton hardens and turns dark. Large Ts may take a year or 2 to moult. The more they eat the more frequent they moult and the faster they grow. Tarantulas can be most accurately sexed by their but i won't go into those details here. Large Ts only appear white on the fangs when moulting. Their colors usually become more prominent by then. Below: a Malaysian Blue Cyriopagopus sp "blue" during and after moulting. Notice the difference in color between the old skin and the new.

After moulting, their bodies are very soft and they will be very weak for several days until their exoskeletons re-harden.

Ts for Ds (tarantulas for dummies)

2006-06-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

First of all here are some T nerd jargons,
Ts = Tarantulas
Slings = Spiderlings
WC = wild caught, think hostages
CB = captive bred, like most of us
LS = legspan, commonly used to measuer size of T
Humidity = an over-rated factor, will b*tch about it later on
SH = sor hai, commonly used to describe or lable wanabes and ignorant beings.
NooB = something like SH but less severe

All you need to know about Ts

Tarantulas..
1) are not deadly and attack only if provoked, you don't need to squash them
2) are probably worth more $$ than your @ss and mine
3) only need to be fed crickets and given a small bowl of water to survive, RM1 worth of crickets could probably last 2 months for a 5" T.
4) can survive on dry tissue for their entire lives.
5) need VERY LITTLE ventilation, I used to keep one in a plastic container for several months with no ventilation, the only time it got air was when i opened the container to feed it.
6) can be fed as much as they would eat and will grow faster if powerfed.
7) females can live for over 10-20 years depending on species, males mostly live for only a quarter of that period cz all they live for is to fhuck and die.
8) come in many colors, they are not all black (some ppl think so, must be cz of MTV lah..)

This is all you need about Ts, you don't have to read on if you're not into Ts

My list of Busted T Myths:
1) Ts need good ventilation, they don't.
2) Ts need constant misting and good humidity, NOT. I've even Ts that are said to need high humidity in dry@ss conditions and they thrive. Some say that they need damp conditions to lower the risk of moulting problems, but my Ts have had far less moulting problems under dry conditions than Ts that were kept in "good" humidity levels by other ppl. Heck, most of my Ts never had waterdishes, I RARELY provide them with waterbowls. I still dampen their substrate once in a blue moon tho, just in case lah, substrate looks ugly when bone dry.
3) Ts should not be disturbed b4,during, or after moulting. I take alot of T pics and sometimes i even adjust a Ts position while it is moulting, I disturb them quite alot when they moult but so far i have had 0 moulting problems with this.
4) Ts are easily stressed and can die off easily due to stress. WC 1s maybe, but CB 1s can take loads of stress, no matter how much i kacau them they are still alive. Yet many ppl blame it on stress even though they treat their Ts so gently. how now?
5) It's bad to powerfeed Ts cz they might have moulting problems. Ppl actually worry that Ts will get stuck in their moults if they get too fat. What a load of crap, Ts only get fat in the abdomen which tears off easily, unlike us they dont get fat in the legs and it is at the legs that Ts get stuck in their moults when moulting. Some also feel that Ts risk not being able to flip on their backs while moulting due to oversized abdomens. I've powerfed all my small Ts and none of the extremely fat ones ever got stuck, the few that got stuck were tiny slings.

SO BASICALLY, Ts IMO are the easiest pets to keep and many of them are absolutely beautiful. J'aime la tarantula!