I haven' blogged in ages!

Hi guys,

I'm so sorry I've been away for so long, you're probably thinking my spiders died and I just gave up. But no, that's not true! They just haven't done anything since! They are growing quite slowly I guess, perhaps I should up their feeds.

In the past month (months?) I haven't blogged I've finish my final uni project, graduated, moved house and started the job hunt. Little spidies came along too and they are very happy. The Tiger Rump spend all of it's time in its little burrow underground, he does come out to feed but he seems so cosy in there. The Red Knee is growing more hair (as is Tiger Rump) and is spending more time on the substrate that he has webbed furiously.

I hope all of my followers' spiders are well and I shall be reading up on you all shortly!

:)

Update

Here is my Red Knee about a week ago. He's becoming really active now and has a done a little more burrowing.

The Tiger Rump is also doing a lot more now, yesterday when I fed him he started to build a web for his food which was awesome.

The weather is getting warmer now I don't have the heat mat on all the time, but the Red Knee seems to like the substrate more when it's a bit warmer.

Doing Well

Sorry for the lack of news lately, but I have been stupidly busy during these last weeks as I have my final hand in for my photography degree tomorrow!
The spiders are great, Red Knee has finally made a spot of web in the corner, and likes to have a wee wrestle with his pray when fed. Same goes for the Tiger Rump, he has built a castle in his little film canester, it sort of winds around into little tunnels and hide outs, he loves it! Nobody has moulted again, but I suspect Tiger Rump has moulted but it's either hidden in the substrate or he ate it.

I will get some photos up soon :)

Update

The spiderlings are both coming along well, both are eating well and seem to be happy! The C. Fasciatum has built an underground layer in his pot; with webbing to hold up the roof and a gap for him to rush out to snatch his food. Mr red knee is quite happy kicking about the substrate.
Both also seem to be growing well :)

B. Smithi Sucessfully Fed!

Five nights after moulting, Red Knee was offered a cricket and he ate it straight away! As he didn't eat at all with me prior to his moult, it is really pleasing to see him eat and act as normal! I'll probably give him another one tomorrow.

The Tiger Rump is underground, but has cleverly built a descrete entrance to his burrow which was only noticealbe when he sneaked back in! He seems to also be a little off his food, it's a sign!

B. Smithi Moulted!

After much anticipation red knee has finally moulted :) I was doing my usual check this morning and didn't notice the moult straight away, and for a second I was like "Oo he looks strange" then noticed it was guarding its fresh moult by sitting on it. It looks so tiny compared to the spider! I don't know what it's like to be a spiderling, but I bet he feels much more comfortable, all I have to do now is let him harden up and hopefully I'll be able to feed him by the end of the week. Which will be amazing as he hasn't accepted food at all since I got him so to see him eat will be a relief.

Here are two photos, the first is post moult and the second is the exoskeleton with a ruler for emphasis on the tinyness! Don't worry, I'm not gonna hassle him again until he's ready to eat.

Webbing

The Tiger Rump has built a nice silk trap web next to its burrow; which is now a couple of burrows that could be joined together. It spends most of its time tucked away underneath, and it's exciting to see it make its place more of a home!

As for the Red Knee, it seems to be getting darker every day and heading closer to a moult, I hope it will happen any day now as it hasn't eaten since we had it, which is slightly worrying but it is to be expected. There will be photographes when it does :)

It is probably not possible to get some photos of the webbing, but I'm sure that spiderling will spin more and then you can see some photos!

Buried Alive C.Fasciatum

Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds! The spider is alive and well, but I assigned myself the task this morning of digging him out. Well, carefully taking some substrate out a grain at a time to find it all cosy and tucked up half way down the tub. Of course, he's gone back into a burrow now so I expect he knows what he's doing, just wanted to make sure it was alive and well seeings as he's only wee!

The first burrows

Since the last blog, both spiderlings have been settling in well. For the Tiger Rump, perhaps too well! It is very pleasing to see it eating well, it has had 4 crickets since arrival a week ago yesterday (!) and has made a really good burrow, which goes quite far down. In fact today, we found that it had actually burried itself alive and we cannot see the entrance to the burrow! We tried to find it but we didn't want to hurt it, so it's just going to be left to it's own business for now! And hope it surfaces soon...

Red Knee (photo on the right) is great, he's just been sitting on his substrate all day long, and, as you can see, has finally burried himself into the corner of the pot! I'm hoping he is going to shed soon, as I tried another cricket today and he just wasn't interested.

Day 3 - Crazy Spiderling

Decided to give the C. fasciatum a cricket last night and he was on it in an instant! He looked a bit hungry. Today he has been burrowing a bit, and we looked just now and he is head first into a burrow that was started a bit for him.

On the other hand, the B. smithi managed to, somehow, move over to the other side of his seperator last night! Couldn't work out how he'd done it! But never the less he looks fine, and seems to be preparing for moult as there is some sign of webbing and is staying in one spot. We also decided to make their substrate a little dryer, by adding some dry substrate. The humidity levels were a bit too high, as measured with a hygrometer in an equally substrated empty pot.

Day 2

Later in the day yesterday, I decided to move the B. smithi into another tub, so I could open the lid easily and monitor it's feeding easily. The tub is a bit big, so it has a splitter down the middle. I'm also wiping off the condensation that appears on the lid, just so it isn't too himid.

The C. fasciatum is in the film canester, and was quick to pounce on a cricket yesterday. This spider is generally being quite relaxed, but has been ambling about. The Red Knee is not interested in food at all, I gave him a cricket again this morning but removed it after 15 mins because he simply wasn't interested, the cricket went up to him about 5 times and the spider was like "Nah I'm cool, not hungry" So it's probably going to moult, he has the tale tale dark patch on his abdomen!

The Arrival

Upon deciding to raise spiderlings, we finally decided which species to go for. Brachypelma smithi (Mexican Red Knee - a popular and classic tarantula) and the beautiful Cyclosternum fasciatum (Costa Rican Tiger Rump) was our final choice. We ordered them from www.thespidershop.co.uk, and they came in a well packed box in wee boxes with a single use heat mat at the other side of the box to keep them from freezing overnight.

10.30am saw us receive this package!

We had prepared the living containers the night before, two empty film pots and two small boxes, pushed in air holes, and provided some substrate. Probably one of the most nerve wracking experiences of my life was transfering the first spiderling to the film container. It was all warm and cosy in it's wee travelling pot! So here they are, little spiderlings:



To give you a rough idea, the tissue used was a damp piece of toilet paper. The Red Knee, is about 1cm, but the Tiger Rump is not even half of that, so incredibly small and delicate! The Tiger Rump is very happy in the film pot, and has even had a pinhead cricket for tea. The Red Knee, we suspect to moult soon as it was not bothered about food and has a dark patch on it's abdomen! :D


Mexican Red Knee - above
Costa Rican Tiger Rump - below

They are both doing great and are probably looking forward to a nice rest after travelling (!)