Afternoon there, everybody...

Its JW back with this month's spider diaries, and hasn't it all been go round here ? 'Yes' is the short answer.

There have been 2 moults, Binky, who got through no 9 with great success around 2 weeks ago, and Zebedee, (who only moults around once a year) has just got past what I guess to be no 15, and that was last Sunday night...

I got all of Binksters moult on video, and backed it up to a DVD that I have now subsequently lost, so can't send you that this time round - maybe I'll find it soon...

 

 

No such luck with Zebs though, who retired to her burrow to get on with hers, out of the reach of my prying night vision cameras...

There's also been a tank change for Zebs, who now seems far happier that she is now sitting on new cork bark and 100% peat moss, as opposed to the 60/40 ratio potting / soil / vermiculite she's been on in the past. That's all my spiders on that now, and they are all happier for it.

Zebs was relatively well behaved when we went to change her tank. She has moulted into an 8" spider now, with fangs bordering 2cm long, and is therefore in the 'difficult' category to handle...

But, we were careful, and I explained to her that it was all fine, and there was no bitey-bitey action whatsoever, tho she flicked a bit when I tried to retrieve her moult (photos coming soon), but no running and jumping fun, so on the whole, what a superlatively well behaved young lady she was...

Binksters, the other star of today's photoshoot, couldn't have cared less when I went in to get her ex skeleton...

I imagine this might be because she has now grown to 15 cm (that's a 3 cm increase, folks), and is far too hairy to see whets going on.

Ginny, as usual, is the recluse of the collection again, and has spent most of the last month underground doing things that make sense  only to her. but I see her often enough to know all is well, and that she is basically a content, fat, happy little spider. No escape attempts for about 3 months now - something I also attribute to the peat moss substrate I popped in when her tank last got changed...

And that's it from us for now - I will be back when I've found that video / and or have taken some cool photos of the recovered moults...

Do enjoy the ones attached for now, which are available full size, in the gallery.

Zebs, Ginnevra, Binky, and JW