Welcome to another spider diaries, and what an exciting installment it is. Lots has gone on, and there are some 'firsts' for spider diaries - not least of which is streaming video ! Read on...

 

Also for the first time, WE ARE NOW ONLINE !! Yes - a full website has now been put together, making it very much easier for anyone to access the current diary, or any they have missed... Well - I say a 'full' website - at the moment its a 'half' web site until I get round to writing the other content, but stay tuned, it will get there...

 

If you haven't been here before, you'll probably want to make your way to the gallery after reading this months diary, where pretty much every decent spider photo I have ever taken is now available for viewing, all nicely categorized, and easy to navigate...

 

And on we go to this months main diary entry...

 

First of all, the 'biggies' are all doing fine. Zebs has just eaten a massive cockroach and is looking suitably huge for it, young Binky also had his first ever roach the other day, which he seemed to massively enjoy, and Ginny sits in her improvised 'burrow 2' doing absolutely nothing. This is because she is in full pre-moult, and has stopped eating altogether. This week, the bald spots on her opisthosoma have gone black, indicating that her yearly moult is only days away. I predict she will have started by the weekend.

 

No photos of those this month, I'm afraid - today, we're back with the small ones. And today, I mean one particular small one that you haven't met yet...

 

I am delighted to introduce you to 'FLASH',  spider no 6 in the JW menagerie, who is a Martinique Pink Toe (Avicularia versicolor). Here she is having just been unwrapped from her journey, looking content, alert, and inquisitive. And hey, was she that...

 

Photos with borders round them, like this one, can be clicked to view the full size image....

 

 

Look - she's blue ! Ok - well I appreciate that you can't see that at all here, but I could ! Versicolors start off a bright zingy turquoise (in the right light), and change colours as they grow. She will end up with purple legs, a red backside, and an irridescent green carapace !

 

Here's an adult one - not mine...

 

 

  

These most wonderful of animals have been on my wish-list for quite a while, so when I saw some babies for sale recently, I couldn't resist. So little Flash arrived 3 weeks ago, ran all over the place, but eventually set up home in her tank, and then...

did nothing. Wouldn't eat, or drink, or move particularly. I was worried. 

 

And 3 weeks later I found out why - yesterday, she moulted into a 3rd instar spiderling ! Almost no size increase, but the colours are really coming through...

 

Notice also the elaborate tube webbing going on - avics are arboreal, like Legz, the poecilotheria, and spin complex, dense funnels to live in. Here's a pic of the webbing she built within hours of moving in... you can hardly see it - looks like she's sitting on thin air...

 

 

But as you can see from the next one, that web came on a bit, and got seriously thickened up when it was time for a moult...

The lighting is right, this time, so we can now clearly see her blue wonderfulness, looking at its most vibrant here because of her recent moult. 

 

 

In this photo we can see her former self hanging to the left of the web. Later she would eject the exuvium onto the tank floor. Clever girl ! The brown, horrible bits of 'stuff' are dried out maggots with which I had tried to tempt her earlier in the week before I knew she was moulting.

 

In other news, there is no sign whatsoever of Fluffy, and there hasn't been for nearly 3 weeks. However, remembering what happened last time  she moulted (exactly the same), I can resist the impulse to check she's alright and dig her out of her burrow, and will wait until she emrges of her own accord, assumedly looking very smart and leaving me another exuvium to retrieve. If, that is, she hasn't eaten it, as they sometimes do (see Ginny last year).

 

Little Pokie has moulted too, and is now approaching the 1 1/2" stage. Time to move home for her soon, I think. She likes maggots, and seems to hang out by the heatmat alot these days, but sadly no photos, as she is just too shy and hides most of the time - maybe this will change when she gets bigger... it is a shame its only me that gets to see her - she really is a truly beautiful spider.

 

Lastly, here's a little treat that doesn't come a long very often - moreso because its relevant to what we've been talking about - here is SOME VIDEO of Flash actually doing the webbing - enjoy...

 

 

Notice the amazing amount of control and manouverability that an animal so small can have in such a strange new environment. She is barely 1 cm big in the video, yet moves around as though she's been at it for years - she certainly doesn't look like she's only been alive 4 weeks... once again, I am in awe... 

 

And that's it from me and them for another month... stay tuned, and thanx for reading

 

B, F, F, Z, G, L and J