| Spider Diary - August 2007 |
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| Saturday, 31 March 2007 | ||
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Welcome to August 2007's Spider Diary I know it's late, but thats because, surprise surprise, it's all been going on over here ! So we have another feature-packed edition of the diaries for you. Lets get straight in there with... This month's Top Stories...
Today we start off with a surprise. Well it was certainly that for me. Ginny had her yearly moult ! Signs that this would be an impending event were a bit short this year, so I had very little clue it was due. Look at the photo below, taken a mere day before she flipped over... (and well worth clicking for a full view too). As we can see, there is no bald patch, and she isn't looking too shabby either. This is a good thing, and means we are likely to be dealing with a non-stressed animal - she obviously hasn't felt the need to kick hair or climb excessively since her last moult, which is why these 'moult imminent' signs aren't there this time round... note she looks pretty zingy for an adult female who's just about to shed..  So that was before - below is 'after'  EVEN MORE stripey, and even more zingy, with subtle green iridescence ! As a bonus, I am in the middle of editing a video of the whole moulting process so we'll have that to show you soon. For now, its just the before and after pics... Who's up next, I wonder... let's go and see little 'Blue', the smallest of our spiderlings... Good news on that front - she has, at last, managed to learn how to deal with live food, ie that not pre-killed by me. About time too, but when she did, it was then unhelpfully too damn fast for me to video ! So we miss her first strike, but more than make up for it with a demonstration of a spider sucking stomach in action ! so click the play button below to see a cool little spider with blue fangs doing her thing... Not long after I shot that video, she decided that home was too small, and when I next looked, she had moved burrows into the one I had originally designed for her. Not that she was content with my interior decoration, and felt the need to web the whole lot extensively, making a little tube burrow not dissimilar to the type Flash makes, high up in her own tank.  ...talking of which, let's have a look at some of Flash's webbing now. As we can see, it has now been expanded further than last month, and attaches to the roof of the tank in many more places. it does look very nice with the application of a gentle misting, something that is a daily requirement for these spiders, especially given that it is so hot this month, with temps in the spider room reaching a staggering 94F on occasions ! This is close to the top limit of what spiders can comfortably deal with, so everyone got misted this last week, and ventilation was kept as high as possible with through draughts wherever I could create them.  ...and here's the girl responsible, hanging out by the smaller of the 2 water bowls...  She also does a very endearing thing where as soon as I mist, she immediately comes out to investigate, climbs the ceiling, and starts drinking directly from water droplets caught in the roof mesh. So here she is captured doing just that... flash photography brings out her superb colours, which are now very similar to adult colouring.  Right - let's go and have a look at Tenebrus, our ever-growing Venezuelan Sun Tiger, or 'Black Lightning' as I have come to lovingly refer to her ! Hell, she's fast :) But not aggressive - quite the opposite in fact... here's a photo I took during her recent tank transfer...  All very good, and possibly the best photo of her we have yet... There has been more news on her front since last month 2 - I found her in a very strange position indeed at the end of last month, and had to do a combined rescue / new tank mission, which you can read all about by clicking here ... This article doubles as a how to for new spider keepers with semi-arboreal spiders into the bargain. And that's not all, folks, here we have another rare video of Tenebrus kicking out the trash, an activity that according to my research may well be a world video first ! Certainly is for me, anyway... enjoy... Up next is a lovely shot of Binky, our second largest spider in the collection, doing what (s)he does best, and sitting there looking beautiful. Don't forget to click to see it full size in all the salmon pink hairy detail !  The photo below is titled 'Tension'... I feel I hardly need say any more...  Young Fluffy, the largest of our spiderlings, was only showing me legs when I was taking photos today, but wonderful they are nonetheless. I've been expecting her to moult for over 3 weeks, and finally, she did it last night. You'll have to wait for pics though - she hasn't yet emerged !  And we finish off this month's report with some previously promised 'monster shots' of Legz, who moulted into a 9th instar, 6" beauty of a spider last month. Look at that amazing purple iridescence she shows, which gets moreso with every moult. She's nearing sub-adulthood, so I am pleased that she is through the most vulnerable stages of her life. We may also get to discover fairly soon whether she IS a she ! it's a bit anyone's guess at the moment...  and again, in glorious macro close up (you just HAVE to see these full size)  And that would be the end of another action-packed arachnid report ! There will be a seriously cool vid of Ginnys moult arriving fairly shortly, but it didn't make it quite in time for this months edition, so that'll be in next month's.... Thanks for reading and take care... ZBD, Ginny, Legz, Fluffy, Tenebrus, Boots, Flash, Blue, Binky & me... |
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| Last Updated ( Thursday, 02 August 2007 ) | ||
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