An 8-legged Update

Sorry for the delay in posting! Things got busy and I lost track of time.

As an update, there have been a few arrivals and a few losses. Such is the life of someone who keeps invertebrates as pets. I have been taking lots of pictures with the T3 and learning what it takes to capture great images, so I’ll share a few here.

RIP Snow

Snow, my Phidippus mystaceus

Who got annoyed with me taking pictures

And Midnight

Midnight, my girlfriend’s Mexican flame knee, Brachypelma auratum

But there is always more space for invert pets! A local pet store recently got a new shipment of tarantulas and some of them are very difficult to get, including Oligoxystre diamentinensis! Even though it’s only about half an inch long, it’s already turning blue! A very exciting thing to see, but not what I picked up (not yet anyway…). Instead, I got a Chilean copper (Paraphysa scrofa) and Arizona blonde (Aphonopelma chalcodes or Aphonopelma paysoni, depending on region).

Chilean copper, Paraphysa scrofa

The P. scrofa is a gentle species that maxes out at around 4 inches (10 cm). Very pretty tarantula that may be worth breeding in the future!

Arizona blonde, likely Aphonopelma chalcodes

And of all the species to give me a threat display, I got it from this guy! Normally a very calm species, but I guess this one wasn’t in the mood!

She just wants to give you a hug!

Finally, I got around to splitting up the black hole spiderlings (Kukulcania hibernalis). The mother had given me a sac at the end of last year that hatched and produced over 60 slings! I didn’t have near enough containers, so I let them cannibalize for a bit. I thought the numbers had gotten below 10, but after rounding all the little ones up, the total was still over 20. A few more than expected, but still more than enough to raise and trade or sell later on!

As a final note, if you want to see more of my pictures, you can check my ArachnoBoards picture thread here.