January, 2001

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January 2, 2001:
MOLTx3! P. rufilata #2 finally molted on the 31st, and the B. coloratovillosum molted on that date as well. Also, the C. thorelli molted today.

Also the big news from the wild weekend is that the H. lividum dropped her sac! I'm gonna let her keep it for a while, and take it out shortly before the spiderlings emerge to keep them contained. I'll keep my fingers crossed that nothing bad happens... More details in the breeding section...

January 3, 2001:
MOLT! One of the smaller A. geniculata males (we'll call him geniculata male #2 for now) molted yesterday.

The cobalt seems to be moving her eggsac around the burrow, but doesn't seem to clutch it all the time. She'll set it down or anchor it for a while before going back to tend to it. I don't know if this is normal behavior or not. She does move it several times a day though.

January 4, 2001:
MOLTx4! Wow, the P. fasciata, T. blondi, A. purpurea #1 and H. gigas #1 all molted yesterday. I really was caught off guard on some of those (the A. purpurea in particular). The P. fasciata grew a lot, as did the blondi. The A. purpurea finally seems to be getting over the hump and are taking off. Their previous molt made the abdomen chevrons fade, and it looks like they're gone now. It looks really really blue!

The H. lividum continues to guard her eggsac, changing positions and moving it around several times each day. She doesn't appear to be eating, so I assume she'll remain sealed in an off food until the eggsac is done. I'm very excited.

January 5, 2001:
MOLT! I saw late last night before I went to bed that the V. platyomma had spun a molting mat, and had finished molting by this morning.

January 8, 2001:
MOLTx5! This weekend was one full of molts. First were the smallest male C. cyaneopubescens and the smaller female of the same on Saturday. On Sunday the P. regalis, not unexpectedly, molted into a mature male. I'll be searching for a girlfriend for him. Early this morning the other small male C. cyaneopubescens molted, as did H. gigas #2.

I've also started the search for a male B. boehmei to keep Raul company.

I moved both P. rufilata into larger quarters, which were sorely needed. Sadly, sexing them by the "little patch of hairs" method tells me that they're both males. That is very frustrating, but I'm not confident enough with myself on that method, so I'll hold out some hope still.

Update: MOLT! It looks like the s. g. robusta molted today. The only way I can tell is that it looks thinner, longer and a bit paler (fangs are not black anymore) than it did this morning. It looks like there's also a very small piece of its old skin that it didn't eat. I suspect it's molted on other occasions without my knowledge.

January 10, 2001:
MOLT! The little a. avic molted finally. There are many others that should also molt soon.

I moved the P. fasciata into a 5.5 gallon aquarium, and sexed its most recent molt while I was at it. Not surprisingly, it appears to be male.

Looking at my calendar, it looks like I'm going to be gone during most of the week that the cobalt blue eggsac should be hatching! I may adjust the temperature to try to slow that down or speed it up, or I may just have to check right before and right after I leave to see if the spiderlings are ready to emerge.

Update: MOLTx3! The N. carapoensis, A. purpurea #2 and T. gigas all molted today. Also, the shipment of A. metallica spiderlings (which was postponed because of weeks of horrible weather) arrived today in fine shape.

I've noticed a small outbreak of mites in the H. lividum cage. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'd rather not pull the eggsac just yet.

Also, in other less than good news, it seems that Curly #2 has that darn hernia problem. I'm not sure if there's anything I can do about that.

January 12, 2001:
MOLT! The A. huriana molted yesterday, and its legs are surprisingly green.

January 15, 2001:
MOLTx3! Curly #2 molted Friday and the G. actaeon and P. ornata molted Sunday. The ornata is looking just awesome. Can't wait to get pictures. Curly didn't seem to be harmed by his hernia problem. I'll have to get a look at his underside to see if it got better or worse.

Update: MOLTx2! The smallest (unsexed) A. geniculata molted, as did the A. urticans (finally). Hopefully the latter will start eating normal amounts and acting normal now.

January 18, 2001:
MOLT! I'm reporting the C. crawshayi as molting, but I have no idea when it occured. I noticed no noticeable fasting period, and no growth, but did see a shed skin in there that was previously hidden from view.

Also, I'd have to say that this has not been one of my better weeks. Today, the H. lividum abandoned her eggsac and was looking mighty dejected. The eggsac was bad, shrivled and hard, filled with mites. I'll take it as a lesson to remove the eggsac and incubate it myself so that I can keep a close eye on it.

MOLTx2! The P. formosa FINALLY molted and looks really cool. I think it's a male, but for some reason, every time I try to sex the molt of an arboreal, it always seems to be all torn up. This last intermolt period was more than twice as long as the previous, so I'm not going to even bother with a guess for the next molt.

The B. smithi was the other molt, and it's really starting to look nice (even though it's growing slow as snot).

January 22, 2001:
MOLT! The only molt over the weekend to report was P. rufilata #1 on Saturday. The two rufilata are not synchronized with molting at all anymore. The weird thing is, the upcoming molts for both are predicted as the same date (02/26), even though P. rufilata #2 will be a whole molt behind (but not far in size).

I meant to take some pictures and do some much needed updates over the weekend, but I simply ran out of time. I'll try to get some new stuff up over the course of the week.

Update: MOLT! The other small male geniculata molted. Kuni should only be another few more weeks at most...

I'm going to name all the breeders rather than giving them boring numbers like #1 or #2. There might be some name shifting at first, but I'll keep the numbers too so that they stay stright.

January 23, 2001:
MOLTx2! The A. minatrix and the larger C. cyaneopubescens female (Teri or #1) molted.

January 25, 2001:
MOLTx4! The B. coloratovillosum, A. braunshauseni (finally) and I think A. versicolor #2 all molted yesterday, and the P. pulcher got its start not long after midnight last night. Also, our Tarantula mascott at work, Bubba (2-3" A. avicularia) molted as well.

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