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The aim of
this BLOG is to give an insight into how I decided to set up and look
after a Curly Hair (Brachypelma Albopilosa) Spiderling.
The reason I
chose this type of spider was the fact that it is easy to care for from
what I had read on other sites and had a very small price tag.
These can be
bought from many distributors in the UK. I got mine from:
The Spider Shop.co.uk : Tarantula Suppliers
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Feel free to contact me on Facebook if you've got any questions about the Blog. It's always good to hear from people who have a genuine interest in spiders, especially the Curly Hair. I've not updated the blog for a while, but the info still stands and I'm using the principles which I developed here to keep other spiders. A quick note when you contact me on facebook now, let me know you found me here as I've got a couple of different blogs! Looking forward to hearing from you!! |
below or CLICK HERE to see the video.
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with tissue. The Spiderlings are located in the middle of the tissue.
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I purchased mine at B&Q for 4 pounds UK. You get a very big bag for that price (at the very least 5 litres). Many spiders like to burrow and
make a little nest. Vermiculite is ideal for this. I have heard that sand is not meant to be used, though peat and vermiculite is a good idea.
This will all depend on where your spider is indigenous.
the tissue paper. Previously I have removed the tissue paper in the bath incase the Spiderling escaped, but this time I was brave and
opened it in the kitchen. At first the spider was a slow to move, but a slight prod with my finger encouraged him to move.
in getting them out the packet. In the end I used a small piece of paper and encouraged them onto it with my finger. I then popped them in
the tank with the curly hair Spiderling. I needed a couple of them as the relative size of the ferrero rocher box is like a football field. After a
couple of false attempts, the Spiderling finally got hold of one of the crickets and scurried off to eat it. I removed the remaining crickets.
recording everyday I feed them seems a little time consuming (especially when I have two Spiderlings and both are fed at the
same time)! You may find that the sister BLOG relating to the Chilean Rose Spiderling has similar content. Bear with me on this
one and remember that there may be other people out there who need to look at the Chilean Rose diary and not this one.
I have given him crickets the same size and he seems to have no problem with these though they do fight back more
than the smaller variety. I have been feeding my crickets on a mixture of butternut squash, and carrot. I tried feeding
them some bacon, but for some reason they didn't take to it like the last lot of crickets I had.
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very small the Spiderlings tend to stay put and do not come out. However at this size they start to explore their surroundings. Note
the tiny hairs on the legs and the abdomen. These have only just started to show through. Not also the strange pattern on the
abdomen - this appears to be where he has shed and got new skin, the darker area being the original skin from when he was smaller.
It is worth noting too that when they
feed the spiders abdomen becomes really stretched and taught. This is
quite amusing, but
does go to show how delicate they actually are.
Dropping a spider of this size will probably kill it.
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first shed skin - which occurred soon after I got him last year and the picture on the right shows the Spiderlings shed skin about
four weeks ago (I think he might be due for another shed soon). Note how small the first skin is. The coin is a UK 1 pence piece.
The reason I am not sure of
the shed dates is because after shedding the Spiderling tends to hide the skin in
it's burrow. It wasn't until I actually
went about looking for it did I
find the skin under the camera cartridge lid. It is not unusual for the
Spiderlings to move the shedded
skin about, or even appear to guard it.
that the Spiderling is going to shed it's skin soon. As a general rule the spider attacks the cricket straight away.
cricket to go in there but the spider wasn't hungry. This did mean I had the pleasure of trying to get the cricket out the camera cartridge
and back into the cricket house.
he lay on his side and performed a really strange maneuver with his legs - as though cleaning himself. Also when just shed Spiderlings
tend to sit in slightly different positions from what they would normally - spread out or in a tight ball.
Another thing worth noting too is that because the Spiderlings do not
eat before shedding, their abdomens shrink. When they have gained their
appetite back (they are usually VERY hungry after a molt) the abdomen
fills out again. I assume the lack of food and the shrinking of the
abdomen (the only real soft part of the spider) means it is easier to
shed. Though this is obviously only conjecture.
small cricket but it was snapped up almost instantly.
then dividing it in half (this way I don't have to buy two tanks). I've seen a few plastic ones about but they tend to have a draw angle on
(because of the way they are made) which makes it difficult to heat using the heat mat.
I've posted a question on a spider forum so looking forward to seeing what the community can suggest!
however is about half an hour later he had left it on the floor and wandered off. I don't think he'd been disturbed by anything as I'd been
having my tea. I looked again ten minutes later and he'd come back and picked it up again. I've never seen any of my Spiderling do that before.
want the Spiderlings to get damaged!
colder on the floor than in the kitchen where he currently resides. I'll be moving him back soon.
I had was every time I went near the Spiderlings tank (let alone open the lid) he scurried off into his hidey hole. I even tried feeding him
but to no avail. Came to the conclusion that the Spiderling either hated me for moving him about the other day, or was about to shed.
Looked in this morning and there was a white Spiderling and a skin. He shed! I'll endeavor to get some more pictures.
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time spread out as though it has been stretched. This is something I have noted with all the Spiderlings. It looks somewhat similar to
if the spider was sunbathing. Another curious position they also lie in is with some of their legs underneath them and some not.
It looks as though they have had an accident. Last night I looked at the Spiderling and he was in this position, I thought he had died.
I lifted the lid off and he jumped into usual spider position and then scuttled off into his hidey hole.
When the Spiderlings have shed their thorax is bigger than their
abdomen. I think this is because they have not eaten for a while, though
it might be because water from the abdomen (or some sort of liquid) is
used in the shedding process which dehydrates the Spiderling.
and shriveled. When I opened the lid of his tank he scurried away into his hidey hole. I located a small cricket and popped it into the tank
and then went off to make some lunch. When I came back the cricket was still milling about so I 'encouraged' it near the mouth of the hidey
hole. The Spiderling shot out, took the cricket and then wandered back inside. Hopefully when I next see him he'll be a bit fatter!
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in the picture on the right you can get an idea of how tiny the Spiderling was when he arrived. The shed skin is just a fraction of the size!
see her BLOG by going to the links page above).
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I decided to feed him and the cricket was dispatched quickly.
Rose seems to favour. Either that or it spreads itself out onto the camera cartridge lid. It's still a bit nervous when I move about in the
kitchen (such as washing the dishes or putting things away) it will go and hide. The Chilean Rose is not bothered by such things. I'm
not sure if all Curly Hair Spiderlings are this nervous or just mine. He is looking a bit better after feeding and his abdomen has filled out.
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lot and I didn't want to damage the spider. However, I came to the conclusion last night that spiders have been around considerably longer
than humans, and so could probably look after themselves. I gave the Curly Spiderling the biggest cricket I had. The cricket was about the
size of the Spiderlings body, it was massive. I popped it into the tank, it walked a couple of paces and the spider zoomed out its hidey hole
grabbed it and went back into the darkness.
There was no
struggle, no kicking, no running about - a very swift kill. I wondered
why it had been easy for the Spiderling, but looking closer
he had
gripped the cricket by the neck and killed it instantly.
This morning the Spiderling was looking considerably fatter in the abdomen department!
to watch the FREE Spiderling video. He really is very curious!
went for it straight away.
on. I decided to see if the Spiderling was hungry last night. I popped in a big cricket and the Spiderling hid in his hidey hole. The cricket
wandered about a bit and then the Spiderling came out and very slowly crept towards to the cricket. For some reason this seemed to
be a really stupid cricket - they are usually quite canny and sense the spider and freeze. The cricket however wandered towards the
Spiderling with gay abandon. The Spiderling jumped, as did the cricket. The cricket got away and the Spiderling when a bit mad and
ran off to the other side of the tank.
He then started to come back slowly to where the cricket
had landed. I'm not too sure how the Spiderling knew where it was. I am
assuming
it can sense it because of the fine mesh of web on the
vermiculite. The Spiderling jumped again and missed, but this time the
cricket didn't
really get away. The Spiderling jumped for the second
time, got the cricket and ended up on it's back for a moment until it
righted itself and
looked as pleased as a Spiderling can!
The Spiderling then proceeded to complete it's little dance while weaving more web, and ended up standing on it's tip toes eating the cricket.
to shed within the next week or so.
Looking forward to seeing how he copes with the new locusts (see below).
for a while and then went into a little weird ball. I tried to feed him a locust yesterday but he didn't come out of his house.
The Spiderling then actually put it's feet on the locust - and still it didn't move. They stayed like this for some time and then the locust moved and the
Spiderling ate it! It does imply that the Spiderlings hunting sense is primarily based on movement and touch. Certainly when close up.
I've got a video of the Spiderling catching a
locust - but at the moment it's a bit too big. When I get the chance
over the next couple of weeks I'll edit it and
post it on the BLOG.
is now. Although you cannot see it in the photo he has started to dig quite a big hole in the front of the tank and half hides down there. I've seen a new
home for him - but it's a case of going to get it.
some locusts and crickets. Figure variety is the spice of life! Popped a locust in the tank and it was eaten barely before it hit the vermiculite!
upload as soon as possible.
sure why he is suddenly doing this, though I think it may have something to do with the fact he's getting too big to fit into his camera cartridge.
last second they pounce. The locusts are quite small compared to the Spiderling so they don't stand much of a chance. They are also completely
non aggressive. I have never been bitten my a locust or a cricket - I am assuming they have always relied on large numbers and their ability to
jump to avoid predators. This doesn't help in a one to one closed environment like the tank!
changing the crickets and they're all dead, along with my cactus...
down into the vermiculite). I'm not sure what has started the sudden bout of digging.
Here's how I did it.
It's worth noting first that I've got two Spiderlings so I had to find a tank which could
fit them both in AND be big enough for them to grow. If you've got the
one Spiderling you can either put it in a smaller tank than the one I've
used or do this and then increase the divide so the tanks 'grows' with
the Spiderling.
I believe that putting a smaller spider in a big tank
stresses them out, but this doesn't sit well with 30 million years of
evolution and them being outside in
the desert or the jungle (both
being larger than your average fish tank).
This means I had to split the tank in two. I'll post the tank measurements later but you'll
see about how big it is in the following photos. The tank cost circa 15
pounds GB from my local exotic pet shop and came with a lid. I
figured it wasn't worth buying the tank online as glass is heavy and
costs a lot to post.
When I bought the tank I noticed there was a DIY shop over the road
so I wandered in and asked them for Perspex. Luckily they had a
bit of cut off which I picked up for 2 pounds GB.
This was some
three times bigger than I needed. Make sure you don't get ripped off
when
buying plastic - it's clear and three / four mm thick. You don't
need anything special or branded (unless you want to get some funky
coloured
acrylic - but note that this can be more expensive than the
tank).
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to take into account the fact the divider is going INSIDE the tank (i.e. minus the width of the glass from your drawing). Also take into
account the shape of the roof. Spiders and crickets are very good climbers, if there is a gap between the divider and the lid they may well
climb over - you don't want to have spider wars!
I used a large hacksaw shown
above (though
you could probably use an electric saw) to roughly cut around my
template. When cutting make sure
you don't lean on the plastic if it is
hanging over the edge or saw too fast - otherwise this will crack the
Perspex. I coated the blade in wax (by running
a candle along it - this
helps reduce friction). When sawing go slowly as to avoid mistakes. I did this on a workbench.
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accurate edge to the Perspex. The best way I found to do this was to place the plastic in two pieces of wood and clamp them together
using the workbench. I then whizzed the plastic down until it was up to the cardboard template. The whizzer is very fast and although
it looks like there is quite a lot of plastic to remove it took a matter of seconds. At this stage it is best to take your time as making a
mistake now could be costly. Note: You must use the correct safety equipment when doing this as bits of plastic are flying everywhere!
Once the plastic was
roughly the right shape and size I took it out and tried to fit it in
the tank. I'd been a bit generous with my
measurements as it's better to
have the plastic a bit bigger and cut it down than a bit smaller. If it
didn't fit I whizzed it again and repeated
until it fitted.
I then used varying grades of sandpaper (or glass paper) to take the
edge off the plastic and to shape the top so it fitted snugly into the
lid of the tank.
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with all sorts of ideas involving plastic extructions which the Perspex slotted into and glue - in the end I figured I was making the
solution far too complicated and opted for clipping in the plastic. This way you don't need to worry about poisoning the spiders
with glue (some are highly toxic) and if I want to remove / adjust the divider at a later date it will take a matter of seconds.
The vermiculite was added next (this also adds to the
stability of the plastic divider) as was some water. I popped the
Spiderlings into
the tank (as above) and then removed the lids.
covered with a fine web though the Spiderling is still hiding in it's little house.
I've yet to remove the old tank from the new habitat - mainly because the Spiderling is still hiding in it!
was hiding down by the side of it's old tank (which I haven't moved yet). Don't want to disturb him too much if he is about to shed his skin.
when it touched it's leg. I took the cricket out (well actually it was a locust) and the Chilean Rose snapped it up!
When I was making some food I
looked into the Spiderlings house and he was upside down which usually
means they are
shedding. I remember seeing my first Spiderling upside
down and wondering what the hell was going on. Luckily I left it, but a
good bit
of advice I heard once was that Spiderlings curl up and die,
they don't turn upside down and die. I decided to be very quiet and not
disturb
the Spiderling and left him to it.
very much bigger and very BLACK! He looks ace! Couldn't see him very well as he was half hiding in his nest.
compared to the rest of his body. I thought this didn't look too good and so decided to feed him a small locust. The locust landed and
Spiderling turned around in his burrow. A few steps later by the locust the Spiderling was out the burrow and had one of it's legs on top
of the locust. They stayed like this for about a minute and then the Spiderling just picked the locust up. They really don't offer any resistance
at all and the Spiderlings just do not have to work for their food. I might move them onto crickets again as they usually gave them a run for
their money - running about the tank, over and under obstacles!
going to make it a bit difficult to remove! There is a great big pile of vermiculite which he has moved so the burrow must be pretty substantial.
black legs and the cricket was gone.
substrate under the old Ferrero Rocher box. I popped another locust into the tank and (like the last one) it decided to go for a little wander
down to the Spiderlings burrow. It was eaten fairly fast!
seen the Spiderling since moving it to it's new house is in the dead of night when I go to the kitchen to get a drink. I saw him last night -
he wasn't moving, no doubt wondering why it had suddenly turned to daylight after several hours of darkness.
I've even managed to spell check the BLOG too... hopefully it'll make a bit more sense now!
really black now except for some of the hairs on its abdomen which are brown.
I'm thinking of changing the look of the BLOG. I'd be
interested to hear from anyone who might have any ideas about it, but I
know it's a pain in
the arse to view all the way to the bottom. Still it
does get good Google ratings. A BLOG which is not read is a waste of
time in my opinion.
If you do want to contact me, please use the form on
the contact page.
his legs out the edge. I am assuming this is probably to do with the fact the little fella is starving as I haven't fed him in a couple of days.
I managed to get hold of some more locusts at the weekend and popped one in the tank for him. When I did this he was hiding and slowly
emerged as the locust wandered about the tank. It was interesting watching him come out - being able to fit into such a tiny space and
then literally unfolding.
The locust made a move to get away
and the Spiderling jumped. I thought it was going to eat it on the
surface but it decided to take it back
to it's hidey hole to munch on
there. NO WAY I thought, it's not going to fit. I was wrong - I don't
know how they do it, but the Spiderling
managed to get back into it's
burrow with the locust still in it's mouth with minimum effort. They
just keep on surprising me!
I'm still planning on changing the site - but I definitely need more photos of the black spiderling. Now he's coming out more I'll try and get some!
no idea how he fits down there, especially with a locust in his mouth!!!
popping into the tank. I'm still a bit worried about over feeding them.
brining quite large amounts of vermiculite up from under the Ferrero Rocher box and dumping them in the corner of the tank. It was quite interesting
to watch. The Spiderling seemed to know exactly what it was doing. It would carefully place the vermiculite down and then pat it with it's feet.
not storing them somewhere (though there could technically be hundreds of them under his old house, hence why he is moving vermiculite out the way)!
These are about two or three times bigger than any cricket I've fed the spider before. Though the locusts are quite big, they are mostly leg.
The crickets are fat and round and scurry about very fast as well as sometimes jumping (the locusts only really jump and can not move
very fast otherwise).
The crickets aren't actually silent to be honest. I
was bringing them home in the car and I could hear the little fellas
singing away to
each other in the back. They're not very loud, and you
can happily read or watch TV with them singing - but I doubt you'll be
too happy
if they were in your bedroom. Then again I was sitting there
reading my book with the crickets chirping away in the background and
it
did remind me of being on holiday in Continental Europe - but
without the blue skies, bikini clad women and humid drunken evenings...
Okay, so it was nothing like being on holiday.
I fed the Spiderling a nice fat cricket and it too it down into it's hidey hole to eat.burrow. I'm quite impressed but he hasn't made any attempt to come out.
for the Spiderling to shed it's skin under there. Not a chance. I'm half tempted to dig him out and see what he's doing - but I'm not going to.
He's managed to dig the burrow so well that I guess he can get himself out if he needs to. It's not like it's collapsed either as there was nothing
to collapse on (the vermiculite has been pushed up the hole and it's got web on it which I think is what is making it stick and not fall back down).
Although you cannot see it on the photograph there is a space under the moved vermiculite.
As you can see from the photo above the right hand side
(between the acrylic and the Ferrero Rocher box) is where the entrance
used to
be to his burrow. It is now totally filled up with a mixture of
vermiculite and silk.
cricket in the tank for it and see if I can tempt it out of it's nest but I have a feeling that it's going to be in there until in needs to shed.
made no attempt to come out and get it. Think it's going to be a case of sitting and waiting for it to come out when it's good and ready!!!!
As you can see from the photo below - the Spiderling has
made a fairly large burrow. You can just make out his shed skin to the
right of the picture.
I have no idea how he managed to shed in such a
confined environment.
and added more vermiculite for him to dig.
his old house. He's also spun a lot of web on the floor of the tank.
and thus a difficult catch. The Spiderling managed to get it in the end though and took it back in to the plantpot.
He has also been wandering about exploring the tank. Watching it trying to climb over the old Ferrero Rocher box.
jumps at the chance when there is a cricket in spitting distance. The cricket followed the Spiderling into the plant pot and the Spiderling
ran out! Very unusual behaviour considering it usually goes bananas when a cricket is about. It took me ages to get the cricket out as
I had to try and not disturb the Spiderling too much. In the end I used a trusty spoon to lift the cricket out the tank. The Spiderling soon
went back in it's house.
assume he is going to be shedding soon as it has been a while since he last shed.
tank and made a nice little home there. I found it yesterday. Today however while looking at the Spiderling I saw something move out
the corner of my eye. On closer inspection it was a very very small cricket. I had a look around the tank and there's loads of the little fella's.
Looks like the escapee cricket has laid eggs in the nice moist vermiculite and they've hatched. Not too sure how to get rid of them.
I think I'm going to have to take the Spiderling out and replace all the Vermiculite.
He is due for a change, but talk about a pain in
the neck. The thing is I think he's due for a shed soon so I'm a bit
worried about doing it.
Then again I'm worried about not doing it and
him shedding and getting stressed out by baby crickets crawling about
all over the place!
lid I moved him in his plant pot to a holding tank (also known as a Fluffy Candy Floss plastic box).
I then proceed to scrape all the
old vermiculite out with a cup and then my hands. I didn't see one
single baby cricket. I've no idea where
they have gone. Although a
couple of people have suggested that the Spiderling has eaten them, I
doubt it. They were about 1mm to
2mm long and I just cannot see the
Spiderling finding them, let along being bothered to try and eat them.
Also added to this is the fact the
Spiderling hasn't / wasn't interested
in any food prior to me finding the baby crickets.
What I think has happened to them is they either died because of lack
of food - or they simply crawled out the tank (I haven't seen
any in my
flat).
I replaced all the vermiculite with fresh substrate and then popped
the Spiderling (still in plant pot) back into the tank. He didn't come
out, but it all looks a lot cleaner now. I'm thinking about changing the
Chilean Rose, but it's a viscous little fella with a lot more web.
It has taken up its customary position of just having a couple of its front legs poking out the plant pot entrance.
I might get it a stone or some bark to sit on / dig under. The
Chilean Rose Spiderling spends most of it's time on top of the plant
pots
whereas the Curly Hair seems to prefer sitting inside.
brought the shed skin out of it's house and placed it on the ground - Spiderlings obviously like to keep their houses clean!
Looking in at
lunch time the Spiderling has come out of hiding and is spread out on
the vermiculite. I assume it's drying out when they
do this. It's
certainly a lot bigger and as usual it's all legs (their abdomens seem
to get smaller when they shed - probably from lack of
eating or the
transference of fluids to some other part of the body).
have covered most of the vermiculite in a fine layer of web. I popped a cricket in today and the Spiderling ran away and hid. It did come
back out again put it wasn't interested in eating at all. I have read somewhere that when they shed the Spiderlings also lose the lining
of their stomach - so I am guessing that I'd probably not be all that hungry if I'd lost the lining of my stomach either!
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and wreak great havoc on Middle Eastern Crops.
feeding it with a variety of six legged goodies.
I've recently popped some bark
in the tank. The image on the right above is the original piece of bark
I got from the shop.
It cost about 4 quid. Make sure you don't get
ripped off by greedy shop keepers. It's fairly big and I only used a
fraction of it
for the Spiderling. I'll probably use another bit for my
Chilean Rose when I clean out the tank and then give the rest away.
Before I put it in I made sure I washed it with warm water.
The Spiderling has explored it quite a lot. Walking over it, around
it, under it to "see" (or rather feel) what it is. The Spiderling
has
also started to dig again in the corner of his tank by the plant pot.
I'd love to know the trigger for these little excavating
bouts of
activity. Then again, the Spiderling does actually spend quite a lot of
time walking up the sides of the glass. It spins
web up the sides which
seems to aid it's ability to stick. Now it's getting bigger it is quite
interesting to see it defy gravity with such ease.
It hasn't been eating the last couple of days. Maybe it's due for another shed...? Or it's fed up with eating the same food!
in the very near future so remember to check back soon!
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making sure that the Spiderlings are kept nice and warm (I check the heat matt every day).
As you can see from the photo above the Curly Hair Spiderling
has made quite an impressive nest. The vermiculite used
to be totally
level. If you look in the top right of the picture you can see
vermiculite on the top of the bark. The Spiderling has
spun web from the
glass to the bark and then placed the substrate on top. A proper
engineer. The only problem with this
though is it seems to collapse
every so often and therefore needs rebuilding on a regular basis.
I have propped a DVD case against the side of the tank where the nest
is so as to give the Spiderling a more nest like
feel with a reduced
amount of light. I assume this is why it has dug such a deep and
elaborate burrow.
I thought the Spiderling may have had mites the other week. Tiny
little specks of white around it's jaws. I've checked around
and
apparently these can be removed with a paint brush (the ones used for
painting model aircraft) but they seem to have
disappeared. I'm making
the assumption that they probably were not mites (as the tank never has
any dead food material
left over in) and were probably specs of
vermiculite from the Spider digging so much.
I fed the Spiderling
today, but the cricket went down one of the numerous hidey holes in the
burrow so I've no idea if the
Spiderling has eaten it or not.
hides under his bark. I just don't think he's very bright to be honest. This does mean that he now spends a great deal of
his time in the plant pot which he has avoided since building his house. I am tempted to flatten all the vermiculite and let
him start again.
I bought a paintbrush the other
day incase he had mites - but the little white specs have gone now from
his body and
mouth - so I assume they must have been vermiculite from
all the digging. There was a couple of bits on him which I
moved with
the brush. He didn't seem all that bothered by it and certainly didn't
try and attack the brush like I thought he
would do.
which has undergone numerous patches and repairs.
It has been starting to worry
me a bit, though I know the winter does slow them down. Today however on
my way into
work I looked in and the Spiderling was upside down. To the
casual observer this is not good as the Spiderling looks
dead. NEVER
MOVE A SPIDER IF IT'S UPSIDE DOWN! Spiders don't fall flat on their
backs when they die they crunch
up into a ball. If it's on it's back
chances are it's shedding its skin and must not be touched.
yet though I did touch its foot and it moved away (if it were hungry it'd jumped and tried to eat the stick I touched it with).
I have heard that during their shed they remove their stomach lining. I do not know if this is true but it would help explain
why it isn't eating...! I'm assuming now it is larger it will also take longer for the exoskeleton to dry out.
hole for the first time in some 8 weeks (he may have come out at night but I've not seen him).
I popped a locust in the tank and the Spiderling turned
around, I blinked and the locust was gone! I'm assuming the
Spiderling
is hungry still and no doubt I'll try and feed him again later. I think
he might need to have a substrate change.
It's been quite a while since
I did this though I didn't want to disturb the Spiderling if it was
going to shed.
I bought some more vermiculite at the weekend. 5 pounds for 10 litres
worth. 10 litres is A LOT and will probably
last me about a year - so if
you're just starting out it might be worth trying to get a smaller bag.
I bought this from Homebase
but I've got it from B&Q in the past. It'll
be near the gardening equipment and maybe next to compost and potting
materials.
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went mad trying to get it and looked very pleased with itself when it had. It came out its plant pot and did a lap of honour
around the tank.
tank in a fine layer of web. It's even been climbing the sides of the tank spinning web up there. I think it spins the web on
the side of the tank which makes walking up the sides easier. I seemed in no great rush to get this done and was
spinning at a leisurely pace for quite some time.
really want to feed it to the Spiderling as it was the oldest cricket I've ever seen. I've no idea how it lasted to long -
they usually die quite quickly. I'll have to get some more crickets soon!
biggest but decided against it. The Spiderling wasn't hungry.
One thing which
I have noticed the Spiderling do is spread out on the vermiculite. It's
a strange thing to watch as they
are really quite long. There's not a
great deal of room in the tank for it to do this and the Spiderling has
been spending
quite a lot of time in it's plant pot (I've only seen it
in it's hidey hole the once since shedding).
name from! I decided to see if the Spiderling was hungry and popped a locust into the tank to today. The Spiderling
didn't seem to notice at first (it could have been asleep - how do you tell)? It then lazily turned around. The locust
jumped a few times and then the Spiderling, quite relaxed just picked it up in it's mouth and ate it! There's no fighting
anymore. I think the locusts are a bit too docile for the Spiders. I seem to remember the black crickets putting up a real
fight which always makes feeding time more interesting.
Spiderling with a locust today. The locust (as they often do) ended up jumping onto the Spiderling and the Spiderling
caught it and had a feast
I tried taking some more photos of the Spiderling with my new camera (my
old one got stolen) but they turned out poorly).
I'm trying to get my
hands on a new Nikon or Canon...
Spiderling though there was a lot of scrabbling about. The larger brown crickets are quite shiny and slippery.
I noticed that there was a strange bald patch on the Spiderlings abdomen too. It's still moving about okay but it is a bit skinny.
Spiderling had another cricket.
the walls trying to push the lid up and get out. Twice it managed to actually hang upside down on the lid before it fell off.
Didn't really know what to do. I can't stop it climbing but watching it fall off is a bit painful. Then again this sort of thing
must happen quite often in the wild so I assume they're okay (mine actually bounced).
The Spiderling did eat another cricket!
I was watching the crickets last night. I decided to put some
vermiculite in the bottom of their house. The female
crickets
spend most of their time down there digging little holes to lay
their eggs. Might be an opportunity for me to
grow my own
crickets for free!
Spiderling has been trying to escape a lot recently, climbing the sides of the tank and tapping the white lid. On a
number of occasions he has fallen off and I note that one of his legs has got a scratch on it.
I'll probably let him out more
and see if I can get him used to it. One day I might even hold
him. He did start to crawl on my
hand but backed off. I assumed
that this is because he is not used to walking on flesh and they
have very sensitive feet.
doesn't like the vermiculite base.
This means a trip to B&Q probably this weekend to get some
peat or coir. I'll replace the stuff in the tank and see if he
likes it or not.
but was not eaten.
to feed it recently as I need to get some more crickets!
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of all his exercise.
A couple of people have suggested that
the reason the Spiderling's abdomen has lost it's hair is
because it is stressed due to
the substrate conditions.
Here I used a mixture of peat (from a sustainable source) and
vermiculite. The Spiderling didn't really quite know what to
make of it. All it's life it has had vermiculite and now a
strange brown substance has appeared!
I popped a cricket in to the tank before changing it and the Spiderling attacked it very quickly and ate it in record time!
he seems really hungry. He is spending a great deal of time hiding though and I haven't seen him walking about like he was
earlier in the year!
seem to spot, then it fell off the glass and onto the locust and ate it. It was all a bit bizarre to watch, and I'm fairly certain the
Spiderling hadn't planned it.
I've
managed to get a good shot of the Spiderlings bald patch. I am
not too sure what the white material is on the Spiders
right
hand side. My thought was that it might be some sort of mould
infection. When I fed the Spiderling I used a soft sable
brush
to gently wipe the side of the abdomen but the white material
did not come off.
I'll just have to see what happens next. I'm
hoping that the Spiderling will shed in the next few weeks,
though if it's a
male this might be as big as it gets?
He looks skinnier and has something wrong with his leg. He
also keeps on going to the heat pad which he's never
done
before. To the best of my knowledge the flat isn't any colder
than usual.
It's almost
certainly a male (due to the hooks under it's front legs)
and is
getting quite old now. I've considered quite a lot the reason
why it might not be very happy, and thought it might
be
something to do with temperature or humidity.
I've bought a digital thermometer and a
hydrometer for the tank so I can monitor the temperature and the amount
of water in
the air (humidity). The hydrometer has fallen off
the side of the tank and is on the peat and reading 100 percent
humidity.
Personally I would not recommend the analogue Exo-Terra hydrometer - and invest in a digital one.
The temperature in the tank is within normal
levels for the Spiderling as is the humidity. Though it is worth
noting
that certain areas of the tank are warmer (closer to the
heat matt) and wetter (under bark) than other areas.
I'm
currently letting the tank dry out a bit to see if the
Spiderling prefers this - as it spends quite a lot of it's time
under a piece of bark were it is quite wet.
One of the
most frustrating things about keeping spiders is the inability
to get any Vetinary care for them. Unlike a cat
or a dog there
is no drugs for them and the fact that they don't interact much
makes spotting disease quite hard.
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