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summer_jackelI have been meaning to do a spider update for awhile, since Josephine molted and exciting progress has been made in my long-term project of establishing a small, stable population of captive-breeding Chilean rose tarantulas. There are also snakes. Happy Halloween!
Kyn and I walked dogs, carved pumpkins, and made lots of tasty things last night. The spider pumpkin is Kyn's, the toothy face is mine, and Delphi is not completely thrilled to be posed on either of them.
I was a little startled to realize that I have had this guy for 13 years. It certainly doesn't seem that long ago.
By ball python standards, Del is a comfortably established adult, who will hopefully be with me for another decade or so. This minute snip of serpent, by comparison, is approximately 18 days old. I am calling him Pale Julian, and he is not well-established at all, although he has made large strides toward that goal.
Kyn and I visited a reptile expo this weekend, where I met this little fellow. I have coveted an albino ball python since my early 20s; it turns out that his affordability was due to his devastatingly tender age. He'd shed, but had not yet eaten. His two brothers still had vestiges of their egg teeth, but Julian had rubbed his snout a bit in his energetic attempts to escape his deli cup and was plump and alert. By the time I absorbed all of these details, of course, I had bonded with him. I am happy to report that he ate his first meal without trouble last night. Good snakeling, keep doing that.
He seems to be a content ball python, by which I mean he is coiled motionlessly in his hide.
I have mixed feelings about these events; on one hand, the vast majority of animals available were healthy, captive bred specimens of species which make excellent pets. They give an educated pet owner the opportunity to compare condition of a lot of animals and to speak directly with and assess the people who bred them, which is a very good thing. With ball pythons in particular, my favorite snake for ages, the mutant color morph hobby encourages people to want CB animals, and thankfully there are apparently far fewer cheap, wild-collected hatchlings available generally than there were when I obtained (CB) Del. On the other end of the spectrum, it always makes me incredibly sad to see baby monitor lizards of the large, energetic, extra-fiddly-care species for sale, because even public zoos seem to have a hard time giving them enough space. I am not going to even ask whether that tank full of agitated baby Nile monitors were bred in captivity, nor after the husbandry practices by which their parents are kept if so. But it is horribly sad.
Back on the reasonable-in-captivity end of the spectrum, I found exactly the rose tarantulas I hoped for: A mature female and a mature male. Alejandro here is the boy, a gorgeous, active fellow with the brightest coloring of any rosie I've seen. Sadly, he probably has only a few months to live---ah, the poignant tragedy of the male spider! With lots of help from my favorite spider expert, I will soon attempt to breed him to the freshly molted and hopefully very well fed Lady Josephine.
This photo makes him look brighter than he actually is, but he is very bright nonetheless.
He should be well on board with this plan. Shortly after I purchased him, while walking around a loud, busy, crowded building, the beast spun a sperm web and loaded his palps. Male spiders apparently are interested in only one thing. Well, he is in luck, but I hope the females don't eat him.
This photo makes him look drabber than he actually is. Compare his longer legs and smaller body than the mature females, below---cool sexual dimorphism! He also has enlarged palps and hooks on his inside front legs, which are relatively subtle.
Lady Esperanza here is my new female. Like the vast majority of available adults, she was cheaply obtained and almost certainly wild caught. I selected her when I noticed that she was chewing on the substrate in an attempt to escape her deli cup (are you seeing a pattern yet)? She is now relaxing in larger quarters. Both of them ate immediately upon being offered food, so yay, happy spiders. My itsy bitsy spiderlings are eating very well, but have not molted. They will be small for some time.
And here is Lady Josephine, in her new clothes. I am amazed by how dark she still is!
Here is a shot of Josephine in molt, still laying on her back while her exoskeleton hardens.
Kyn and I walked dogs, carved pumpkins, and made lots of tasty things last night. The spider pumpkin is Kyn's, the toothy face is mine, and Delphi is not completely thrilled to be posed on either of them.
I was a little startled to realize that I have had this guy for 13 years. It certainly doesn't seem that long ago.
By ball python standards, Del is a comfortably established adult, who will hopefully be with me for another decade or so. This minute snip of serpent, by comparison, is approximately 18 days old. I am calling him Pale Julian, and he is not well-established at all, although he has made large strides toward that goal.
Kyn and I visited a reptile expo this weekend, where I met this little fellow. I have coveted an albino ball python since my early 20s; it turns out that his affordability was due to his devastatingly tender age. He'd shed, but had not yet eaten. His two brothers still had vestiges of their egg teeth, but Julian had rubbed his snout a bit in his energetic attempts to escape his deli cup and was plump and alert. By the time I absorbed all of these details, of course, I had bonded with him. I am happy to report that he ate his first meal without trouble last night. Good snakeling, keep doing that.
He seems to be a content ball python, by which I mean he is coiled motionlessly in his hide.
I have mixed feelings about these events; on one hand, the vast majority of animals available were healthy, captive bred specimens of species which make excellent pets. They give an educated pet owner the opportunity to compare condition of a lot of animals and to speak directly with and assess the people who bred them, which is a very good thing. With ball pythons in particular, my favorite snake for ages, the mutant color morph hobby encourages people to want CB animals, and thankfully there are apparently far fewer cheap, wild-collected hatchlings available generally than there were when I obtained (CB) Del. On the other end of the spectrum, it always makes me incredibly sad to see baby monitor lizards of the large, energetic, extra-fiddly-care species for sale, because even public zoos seem to have a hard time giving them enough space. I am not going to even ask whether that tank full of agitated baby Nile monitors were bred in captivity, nor after the husbandry practices by which their parents are kept if so. But it is horribly sad.
Back on the reasonable-in-captivity end of the spectrum, I found exactly the rose tarantulas I hoped for: A mature female and a mature male. Alejandro here is the boy, a gorgeous, active fellow with the brightest coloring of any rosie I've seen. Sadly, he probably has only a few months to live---ah, the poignant tragedy of the male spider! With lots of help from my favorite spider expert, I will soon attempt to breed him to the freshly molted and hopefully very well fed Lady Josephine.
This photo makes him look brighter than he actually is, but he is very bright nonetheless.
He should be well on board with this plan. Shortly after I purchased him, while walking around a loud, busy, crowded building, the beast spun a sperm web and loaded his palps. Male spiders apparently are interested in only one thing. Well, he is in luck, but I hope the females don't eat him.
This photo makes him look drabber than he actually is. Compare his longer legs and smaller body than the mature females, below---cool sexual dimorphism! He also has enlarged palps and hooks on his inside front legs, which are relatively subtle.
Lady Esperanza here is my new female. Like the vast majority of available adults, she was cheaply obtained and almost certainly wild caught. I selected her when I noticed that she was chewing on the substrate in an attempt to escape her deli cup (are you seeing a pattern yet)? She is now relaxing in larger quarters. Both of them ate immediately upon being offered food, so yay, happy spiders. My itsy bitsy spiderlings are eating very well, but have not molted. They will be small for some time.
And here is Lady Josephine, in her new clothes. I am amazed by how dark she still is!
Here is a shot of Josephine in molt, still laying on her back while her exoskeleton hardens.
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no subject
Date: 2011-10-31 10:00 pm (UTC)I've always been leery of keeping ball pythons because back in the day they were hard to keep alive.
(In the 80s, I heard a lot about adults that would just stop eating and die.)
I tend more towards colubrids myself, in any case.
Its probably a combination of the bright colors, and growing up with many wild caught california king and gopher snakes.
I kept a couple Tucson blonde tarantulas when I lived in Arizona- but never for long.
Those and the scorpions tended to creep out my room mates,and they'd pressure me to get rid of them, so I'd take them back to where I caught them and released.
I had a gorgeous Arizona longnosed snake for a while too.
I let him go where I found him before moving back to california.
-Badger-
no subject
Date: 2011-10-31 11:36 pm (UTC)That said, Delphi gave me some problems when he was a couple of years old and approaching adult size. I'd been powerfeeding him fairly strongly at once a week, although at the time I thought I was being moderate in comparison to what average care standards seemed to be. He was absolutely fine until he stopped eating for 9 months. This did not make me happy!!! However, when he ate again, he had not lost appreciable weight; he was just so overfed that he needed most of a year to process it when his metabolism slowed. For a year or so after he started eating again, he was really finicky and unreliable. He has given me no trouble for years, though.
The solution to all of my problems with him was to feed him less. It is not kind to overfeed a ball python, although mammalian sensibilities make that hard sometimes! I plan on weekly feeding Julian until he is big enough to take the next size prey, and then to slowly reduce his feedings until he's of a size to be on Del's monthly schedule. He will not grow as quickly, but hopefully he will be an easier keeper and healthier snake for it.
Colubrids are wonderful (I am always tempted by the king and milksnakes) but I do not want a large snake collection, and I love boids, especially the ball pythons with their adorable little faces, the best. So I am sticking with them.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-01 12:34 am (UTC)Every herp fan has their favorite family of species.
I don't believe I will ever keep arachnids again,just because I don't have the time or energy to keep them properly anymore.
I have pet rats at the moment, and that also makes me reluctant to keep reptiles for now.
Not that I fear them managing to meet the hard way...I'm just sticking to one type of pet at the moment because it simplifies my life.
-Badger-
no subject
Date: 2011-11-01 01:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-02 12:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-05 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-06 02:38 am (UTC)