summer_jackel

So, last month, 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.

( now, spiders )

I will freely admit that I've always been a bit fond of spiders, and have quite a lot of love for tarantulas beginning with Gala, the rose-hair that I kept when I was in high school. This fondness applied to random spiders I might encounter in general, however, has been enough at odds with the opinions of most of the people around me that I'd gone into a holding pattern of "politely ignore them unless it's strictly necessary to remove them to the outside." My lady-friend, however, loves spiders the way that serious birdwatchers love birds, so under her influence I have been paying more attention to them. I'm glad of that; they really are quite beautiful and fascinating, and gratifying to a wildlife-watcher and wannabe photographer because unlike big mammals and birds, there's nearly always one about.

Which brings me to this morning, when I noticed this little jumping spider on the door of my truck. I've never seen one like this, but that could easily be because I have been deliberately not looking, which is too bad because geez, this is an adorably kittenish little thing. Kyn, consider this your get-well-soon spiderpic. Please let me know if you can identify it.

"Hi! You can't possibly be scared of me, can you? I am tiny and fuzzy and have big anime eyes."



( spiders and puppies )