Tarantula Madness

[Green_Elite_Cab]

Some bad news, then some good news (or worse news, depending on your perspective)

Unfortunately, my pink-toe died. It was a rather sudden onset, which is something not exactly unexpected from these species. They have a reputation for poor recovery if they get sick.

That said, apparently, this particular individual never really did that well, and there is evidence to suggest that this may have been from a large "batch" of imported spiders that did not do well in general.


The good news is that I got a few new ones.....

I picked up a Chilean Rose Tarantula, and a new Pink-Toe.

The Chilean Rose tarantula (Grammostola rosea) is supposed to be a good pet. As far as giant spiders go, these are supposed to be "friendly". Except mine. Mine has a bad attitude every day.

I'm pretty sure its plotting to kill me. It attacks anything that moves to fast and looks smaller than it (like water dropping into it's bowl). It will attack anything I use to move it (where as the pink toe will just lazily get out of the way). According to the experts, about 1 in 1,000 of these has an attitude problem like this.

Normally, that would be a bad thing, but there is some perks to this. #1, the thing has a personality, and is actually exciting to watch. Unlike my Pink Toe, which only does anything if it thinks no one is looking, this Chilean Rose is NOT shy. Feeding time is always a blast.

It helps that she is healthy, behaving normally (sometimes these have trouble adjusting to the seasons in the "northern" hemisphere), and her cage requirements are the bare minimum and that's the way it likes it! She also is much bigger than the pink toe, and will potentially grow even larger than this!

Searching for a way out...



Delicious crickets. Not visible here is the second cricket. This thing will literally kill everything in its cage and try to eat it, all at once. It is not unusual for tarantulas to ball up a few crickets into one messy blob and eat it all at once. At the very least, it will wrap one of them up "to go" in silk and finish it later, taking it with it like a bag of lunch.



The metallic pink color on its prosoma (head/leg section) is what gets it the "rose" name. These come in a grey and a reddish-copper form as well. Pink is apparently the most common.




My new Pink-Toe (Avicularia avicularia) is just a tad smaller than my old one, and she is missing a leg (rear-most left leg). That said, spiders have the amazing ability to regenerate, and so next molt she'll have a mini-leg, and then after that, a full-sized leg. Unlike my first one, this one eats (at least, I've definitely caught it with food in it's mouth). That said, I can't tell if it ate the last cricket I through in there. I don't see any dead cricket spitballs around, but the cricket seems absent (and it didn't escape, thats for sure!).

At the very least, this one is behaving slightly more "normal". It probably helps that now that I've had experience with it, that I'm not pestering it constantly worrying if its ok. If its missing a leg and is STILL happy, then I've got a winner.

One thing that makes me wonder though, is that this girl is a tad darker blue. Tarantulas do come in color variations, but the Avicularia genus has many different species that look "close", and I wonder if my other Pink-toe was really a typical "pink toe" and not a trickier relative (or vice-versa).

In any event, its clear my first tarantula was just having problems and a hard time recovering from them. This one is healthy and so far, normal.



But if that wasn't enough, I had to pick up a TOTALLY NEW FRIEND

This is an "Asian Forest Scorpion" specifically hetermetrus petersii (there are several different species with a similar common name). Though my parents know about my tarantulas, they don't know about this.

You can just tell how happy it is to come home with me-




Actually, to be fair, its personality is much more like a stubborn crab. He only comes out at night and in the early morning, prowling the cage before finding a dark place to sleep for the day. My mom is terrified of scorpions, much more so than the tarantulas, but I find this ironic. Despite the formidable weaponry (and I wouldn't risk putting my bare hands too close), it really will just stubbornly stay in one place, without pinching or stinging. Its not interested in a fight, it just wants to be left alone!

Unlike the Chilean rose, i'm not worried this thing will try to kill me in my sleep.

It will raise its claws but it never seems to try hard to pinch the tongs, and I think it only attempted a half-hearted sting once. Apart from it's general grumpiness, it is interesting to watch. Like the pink toe, when it thinks no one is looking, it comes out and walks around, trying to escape many times. Its tail (metasoma) is surprisingly strong, and it will stand up on the tip of its stinger trying to reach the top of the tank.

Fortunately, unlike the tarantula, scorpions don't have "sticky feet", only claws like typical insects (though this is an arachnid). This means it can't climb glass for it's life.

I am worried since I haven't seen it eat (and males like this one are notorious for going for months without eating), but it may also not be warm enough for it. This is a tropical jungle variety scorpion, and though i did give it a heat pad, it doesn't hang out near it.

This is a fairly large scorpion, and its likely to get bigger, as this is one of the larger varieties in the world. It prefers to use its claws rather than its sting. Ironically, its the small scorpions with the little scissor claws that you need to watch out for. Large scorpions get by on strength alone, but the little one pack the venom.



Scorpion in profile:



I woke up and found him like this one morning. Apparently, he learned out to hide from the cats in the Petsmart.




Apparently, its a Pennsylvania Railroad fan. Believe it or not, this scorpion, like the PRR is actually green. Unfortunately, I can't think of any PRR-based names for this guy. Pennsy the Scorpion? nah.




He retreated into a particularly expose hole in the corner, but this gives us a chance to see some neat things. Scorpions have two eyes on top of their heads, but they also have several on the edge of their carapace, visible here. They are in banks of three (only two visible on each side in this photo), that looks like headlights/blinkers on the corners.

I'd always wondered how these things could see in front of them, and now I know!



An obscured picture, but you can see the "pectines", a unique structure to scorpions that function as a "nose" of sorts. they lead up to the "genital" region, and the size of the pectines and the configuration here suggests its a male, though its a subtle thing. Unlike tarantulas, being male doesn't severely limit its life span. If it stays in good health, it should live a few years.

The slits going up the abdomen are the intakes for its "book lungs". These are actually little wet flaps of tissue (hence "book") that the scorpion breaths through, unlike other insects which don't any sort of lung-like apparatus. These are actually a vulnerable place, as capillary action can draw water into them and drown them very easily. Tarantulas also have two pairs of these, but they are not quite the same. However, tarantulas and spiders have the benefit of water repellent bristles to protect themselves from drowning immediately.



So there you have it, more arachnid madness. Next I'll have to get a Giant Vinegroon, or a tail-less whip scorpion. Those last two at least don't have any sort of venom or excessive pinchyness to them, so they might actually make "safe" pets.