Tarantula Madness

[Green_Elite_Cab]

I've ended up with a few extra animals since I last posted-

Giant Tanzanian Whipspider, Damon diadema

Sometimes called a tail-less whip scorpion, this creature is neither a scorpion nor a spider, but its own group, "amblypygi". This roughly translates to "blunt butt". They are more closely related to spiders. You may notice that this is the animal they demonstrated the "curses" on in the Harry Potter movies.

As fearsome as they appear, they totally lack any venom, and their claws are not particularly strong or sharp, posing no risk to humans. These fascinating animals are rarely seen as pets, so of course I had to have one.

They get their name from their first pair of legs, which are modified to be more like antennas and feelers that appear like whips. Since their eye-sight is poor, these whips are their primary way of finding their way around. Their "whipspan" can easily reach over a foot long, even though the animal itself may only be a few inches across. It prefers to hang around in hollow logs or small caves, snatching any small animal it can overpower. They are fairly "shy", and will scuttle sideways like a crab into a hide if disturbed.

They have a low appetite, eating only a cricket or so every two weeks.

Males and females can be easily identified by the length of their "Pedipalps" (the "arm-like" structures with the claws on the ends). Males such as this have longer pedipalps.

Unfortunately for my specimen, he came from the pet shop missing a whip, and he lost his other whip not long after. He can still hunt, but has some difficulty. Luckily, they grow back, but it may be another year before the next molt. In the photo below, he still has his right hand whip.



A little bit fuzzy, but you can see his "arms" extended, apparently grooming himself.



"Amazonian Pink Toe", Avicularia amazonica?

This little guy is probably my youngest spider. Its legspan barely exceeds an inch, though it reportedly grows up to be a fairly large arboreal tarantula. This guy is a little different from my previous pink-toed spiders, having neat "tiger stripes".

I hadn't had much luck with the more common "Avicularia avicularia" pink-toes, so I'm hoping this guy fairs much better. My prior ones were likely wild caught and came with diseases. Pink-toes tend to be docile and bites are unheard of. The only reason they make poor "hand" pets is that their tree-climbing nature means they will "leap" to the top of your head as fast as they can, out of instinct.

This one is so far successful, and has even begun "webbing" its enclosure up. its also much fatter now than in this photo, so I'm hoping it will grow a bit by next year.



Olive-Keeled Flat Rock Scorpion, Hadogenes paudicens

This is my newest animal, an African species (from the same general area as the whipsider above) that is known for its unusual shape. The animal is adapted to fitting into very thin cracks in rocks, and so even though this scorpion is fairly large, it is also VERY flat. Instead of curled up over itself, its sting is usually held to the side. In this species, the length of the tail indicates the sex. The shorter tail of this individual indicates that its probably female.

This species has one of the WEAKEST sting of all scorpions. Reportedly, it is so minor that most people only notice the physical "jab" of the stinger, but no noticeable symptoms of a sting. When sensation is felt, it is said to be similar to a stinging nettle.

They prefer to live in and on solid rocks, and so this cage will be changed soon. They are fairly shy, and mine has already backed herself into a thin "hole" I made under her water dish provided by the pet shop.



Potential New Friend- Desert Hairy Scorpion

I made the mistake of asking about the species, so the pet shop is bringing one in for me. Its my fault for asking, but then I've heard good things about this animal as a captive.

This would be my only "US" species, common in the southwest. I look forward to it, since this one is supposedly more active than my other two scorpions.



Some other cool photos

My Chilean Dwarf Flame tarantula is super docile and slow moving. I decided to take a risk and let it walk on my hand. It shows no fear or hesitation, and just "walks" incessantly. Its lack of fear or aggression make it a great "hand pet" tarantula. Its bite (apparently super rare) isn't anything to be worried about. It really isn't much larger than a full grown Wolf-Spider or Fishing spider. Its maximum leg-span will be 3" when it reaches maturity.





My "Chilean Rose" tarantula is seen here stretching itself out not long after it molted. Though it is now "Hardened", it is still growing a tiny bit. This spider is 100% more docile than it was before the molt, and is ALWAYS sitting in strange poses. I feel bad for him, since he has been searching for a mate but I don't know anyone with a female of this species. He may only have a year or two of life unfortunately. Had this been a female of this species, it would easily live another 10 years.




When this photo was taken of my Cobalt Blue Tarantula, it was the first time I'd seen this tarantula come out of its burrow in 2 1/2 months. It had molted and grew bigger down there at some point! Now she is once again prowling the cage every night. She is probably most aggressive and high strung tarantula, but as you can see, she is VERY colorful. To be fair, part of the color is the fault of the camera's light (under normal light and depending on the angle, she seems almost black or blue-grey with deep electric blue legs), but but she looks good when the camera flashes!



My Costa Rican Zebra tarantula is taking a long drink from her water bowl. Apparently, she silked the area up so much that the water was draining from her water bowl via capillary action! I would fill the bowl, and it would drain in minutes! I cleaned her bowl off, and the water now stays in the bowl! The spider was so thirsty that as soon as I closed her tank, she would run out from her hide and sip the water.





This spider also LOVES to dig. I buried its home to make a deep, un-collapsible burrow, but she not only undermined the back of it, but has almost completely dug her home out of the substrate. Its basically an 8-legged bulldozer. If only they could be trains to run cables and things!



My Asian Forest Scorpion exploring its freshly cleaned enclosure. These animals are VERY clean, but this scorpion's requirement for a moist environment means that it does end up growing pests and fungus on occasion. After a year, it was time to clean the cage!