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summer_jackelSo, last month, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kynekh_amagire and I made an intrepid quest to the other side of the bay for large, fuzzy pet spiders. When I was an adolescent, I kept a rose-haired tarantula named Gala, lost her to a bad shed, and have wanted another ever since. I'm not currently seeing anyone who seems horribly averse to impressively-sized spiders in the house (at least not that they've mentioned), and Kyn, of course, actively encourages that sort of thing, so away we went.
'Ken, the Bug Guy' (http://www.kenthebugguy.com/) is a very small office/storefront with a warehouse in the back. They have a wide range of animals that are healthy and, of particular importance to me, at least in some cases captive bred or captive hatched. I will mention that the practice of removing wildlife from other countries (often third-word) and selling it here is morally questionable on a number of levels and quietly refrain from further ranting, but suffice to say that this is an issue which concerns me. Still, I wanted a pet tarantula and this place offered some that were more ethical in provenance than many. Also, he had captive bred wolf spiderlings. I have missed the Lady in Velvet, and she needed a successor.
This post is totally about spiders, so you don't want to peek beneath the cut if you don't like them. But here's something else really cute and not spider-related...I kept the parrots up late the other night, and so Gavin was still asleep in his birdy sleeping bag when I took their covers off. He's usually out of bed by the time I get the camera out, but I think it's just adorable that the conure likes to sleep in his soft, fuzzy blanket.
aww.
Meet Josephine, who likes to defy stereotypes. Rose-hairs have the reputation of being a docile, mellow and tractable spider, low maintenance and good for beginners. Gala was certainly that; I remember that she spent most of her time in her hide, and I rarely saw her spidering slowly around in her tank. I suspect that she was an older specimen and certainly wild-caught. Josephine isn't like that at all. She was raised from a small size in a deli cup, and convinced me that she was the one I wanted by refusing to go back in it without a lot of wrangling when I opened it to look at her. She is very active and uses all of the space in her tank. She hunts avidly, and possibly the cutest thing that she does is, frequently, coming _out_ of her hide and into the more exposed part of her tank when I disturb the dresser she sits on, turn on the light or otherwise indicate my presence. I reward her when possible with a cricket for doing this. Josephine is personable.
Stepping about in her hide
Drinking!
Eating. That's a half-finished cricket bolus in her fangs. Yum, right?
I was not expecting to obtain a third spider at all, much less a member of a species I never thought I'd want---the desire to share quarters with an orange baboon tarantula, aka orange bitey thing or p-terror, is all about Kyn. These guys have a reputation for being fast and full of fang and snappiness, not for the faint of heart around big ol' spiders. And sure enough, when a box of them were brought out for Kyn's inspection, at least one stayed in threat display for the whole time we were looking. My current experience suggests that they are shy and defensive when threatened, but quite inoffensive beyond that.
I wasn't expecting them to be so pretty or so fascinating. Bright orange with iridescent feet, how can you not like that? A small, rather vivid one in particular caught my eye, and when it became clear that Kyn had bonded with another one, somehow she ended up coming home with me. Chanterelle is a shy little beast...she comes out at night, and when she realizes I am also being active, she quickly and discreetly makes her way back into her hide, which she's made into a fascinating little four-roomed, silk-walled house with several exits. This spider prefers to be left alone, and will do me no harm, I am certain, unless I am unwise enough to harass or handle her.
When she realizes she's been spotted, the first thing she does is pull her forelegs over her face. Can't see me, no spider here.
You can see those amazing shiny spiderfeets from this angle.
In her den.
This is Lady Macbeth II, who actually is not a black widow but a false black widow. I am still forbidden to ever pet. My first one I found under my house and, not wanting to kill her or release her (not that there isn't a thriving population there...) I decided to keep her around for awhile. She made for a beautiful and fascinating companion, until she made her egg case and passed. When construction on the retaining wall in my back yard disturbed this one, I collected her.
And a lovely little subadult wolf spider. They are so pretty and full of character.
Eyes on the side of her head.
This little forest orb weaver is not in captivity, but she has set up housekeeping beside my door. I had an extra cricket, so I fed her anyway. This is a very small cricket and spider; it took her all night and most of the next morning to eat it.
I blame the progression from 'the spiders in and around my house are to be politely ignored--->the spiders in and around my house are actually pretty cool--->the spiders in and around my house are self-sufficient pets' on Kyn.
And these spiderbabies are Kyn's. She took home a large brown spider, 7-legged from wear, that we found wandering around in my backyard; it seems comfortable in captivity and has produced a couple of egg sacs. When the spiderlings hatched out and got restless, Kyn gave them back to me to release into my backyard. It was actually a really neat experience...I hope that some of them survive to adulthood.
kynekh_amagire and I made an intrepid quest to the other side of the bay for large, fuzzy pet spiders. When I was an adolescent, I kept a rose-haired tarantula named Gala, lost her to a bad shed, and have wanted another ever since. I'm not currently seeing anyone who seems horribly averse to impressively-sized spiders in the house (at least not that they've mentioned), and Kyn, of course, actively encourages that sort of thing, so away we went.'Ken, the Bug Guy' (http://www.kenthebugguy.com/) is a very small office/storefront with a warehouse in the back. They have a wide range of animals that are healthy and, of particular importance to me, at least in some cases captive bred or captive hatched. I will mention that the practice of removing wildlife from other countries (often third-word) and selling it here is morally questionable on a number of levels and quietly refrain from further ranting, but suffice to say that this is an issue which concerns me. Still, I wanted a pet tarantula and this place offered some that were more ethical in provenance than many. Also, he had captive bred wolf spiderlings. I have missed the Lady in Velvet, and she needed a successor.
This post is totally about spiders, so you don't want to peek beneath the cut if you don't like them. But here's something else really cute and not spider-related...I kept the parrots up late the other night, and so Gavin was still asleep in his birdy sleeping bag when I took their covers off. He's usually out of bed by the time I get the camera out, but I think it's just adorable that the conure likes to sleep in his soft, fuzzy blanket.
aww.
Meet Josephine, who likes to defy stereotypes. Rose-hairs have the reputation of being a docile, mellow and tractable spider, low maintenance and good for beginners. Gala was certainly that; I remember that she spent most of her time in her hide, and I rarely saw her spidering slowly around in her tank. I suspect that she was an older specimen and certainly wild-caught. Josephine isn't like that at all. She was raised from a small size in a deli cup, and convinced me that she was the one I wanted by refusing to go back in it without a lot of wrangling when I opened it to look at her. She is very active and uses all of the space in her tank. She hunts avidly, and possibly the cutest thing that she does is, frequently, coming _out_ of her hide and into the more exposed part of her tank when I disturb the dresser she sits on, turn on the light or otherwise indicate my presence. I reward her when possible with a cricket for doing this. Josephine is personable.
Stepping about in her hide
Drinking!
Eating. That's a half-finished cricket bolus in her fangs. Yum, right?
I was not expecting to obtain a third spider at all, much less a member of a species I never thought I'd want---the desire to share quarters with an orange baboon tarantula, aka orange bitey thing or p-terror, is all about Kyn. These guys have a reputation for being fast and full of fang and snappiness, not for the faint of heart around big ol' spiders. And sure enough, when a box of them were brought out for Kyn's inspection, at least one stayed in threat display for the whole time we were looking. My current experience suggests that they are shy and defensive when threatened, but quite inoffensive beyond that.
I wasn't expecting them to be so pretty or so fascinating. Bright orange with iridescent feet, how can you not like that? A small, rather vivid one in particular caught my eye, and when it became clear that Kyn had bonded with another one, somehow she ended up coming home with me. Chanterelle is a shy little beast...she comes out at night, and when she realizes I am also being active, she quickly and discreetly makes her way back into her hide, which she's made into a fascinating little four-roomed, silk-walled house with several exits. This spider prefers to be left alone, and will do me no harm, I am certain, unless I am unwise enough to harass or handle her.
When she realizes she's been spotted, the first thing she does is pull her forelegs over her face. Can't see me, no spider here.
You can see those amazing shiny spiderfeets from this angle.
In her den.
This is Lady Macbeth II, who actually is not a black widow but a false black widow. I am still forbidden to ever pet. My first one I found under my house and, not wanting to kill her or release her (not that there isn't a thriving population there...) I decided to keep her around for awhile. She made for a beautiful and fascinating companion, until she made her egg case and passed. When construction on the retaining wall in my back yard disturbed this one, I collected her.
And a lovely little subadult wolf spider. They are so pretty and full of character.
Eyes on the side of her head.
This little forest orb weaver is not in captivity, but she has set up housekeeping beside my door. I had an extra cricket, so I fed her anyway. This is a very small cricket and spider; it took her all night and most of the next morning to eat it.
I blame the progression from 'the spiders in and around my house are to be politely ignored--->the spiders in and around my house are actually pretty cool--->the spiders in and around my house are self-sufficient pets' on Kyn.
And these spiderbabies are Kyn's. She took home a large brown spider, 7-legged from wear, that we found wandering around in my backyard; it seems comfortable in captivity and has produced a couple of egg sacs. When the spiderlings hatched out and got restless, Kyn gave them back to me to release into my backyard. It was actually a really neat experience...I hope that some of them survive to adulthood.
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no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 12:26 am (UTC)Also: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE spiders! This post is made of awesome and squee.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 01:01 am (UTC)Conures and their taste for cozy, fuzzy sleepwear are adorable.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 01:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 02:54 am (UTC)Spiders kind of get under your skin; keep them around and one realizes by increments how careful and intricate, how deliberate and vulnerable they are. A spider demands little of your attention, and yet its presence is always felt. Captive tarantulas make interesting company.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-10 06:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 01:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 03:56 am (UTC)She's really a beautiful animal. I just need to be respectful when claning her cage, and we won't have problems.
no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 07:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-09-09 04:11 pm (UTC)