October, 1999

October 1, 1999:
I spotted that tiny cricket that I thought might have escaped this morning. He was apparently hiding perfectly still all last night to avoid capture (either that or Ambush thought he was too tiny to bother with). I looked in there real quickly before I went to work, and didn't see him, but it is quite probable that he's hiding from me again. I doubt he'll survive until I get home. If he does, he's definately earned a stay of execution.

Update: Well, I couldn't find the tiny cricket, so I assumed he was caught. I decided to throw two more in the cage, since Ambush was sticking her legs out again. When I opened the door on the top to put the crickets in she ran back inside but that didn't stop her from snatching those two up as soon as I turned my back for any length of time. The stupid little tiny one was still there though! I fished him out, figuring that either he was too good at hiding, or she didn't want to bother with one so small. He was probably the smallest of all the crickets I got, but I have a couple others that are only slightly larger. I threw in two more, but they've been in there for a couple hours and she hasn't shown any interest. If they don't get eaten after 24 hours, I'll take them out and try again the next day. It doesn't surprise me that she's full. She's eaten 8 crickets over about a 20 hour period. She's probably doubled her weight (or more) unless she only ate the drumsticks or something. I still haven't seen any leftover bits, so either she's eating every last bit of the crickets, or the remnants are still in her burrow. I haven't read any tarantula pages that mention having to open up the burrow to get out rotting cricket scraps, so I assume she'll bring them out eventually.

Update: Well, she nabbed the larger of the two crickets when I wasn't looking. After a while, I put in a a largish one to compliment the smallish one that was left. I don't think she likes the smallest crickets so much. The new cricket made the mistake of knocking a ball of dirt into the cave while exploring (apparently awakening Ambush.) All that could be seen at the entrance to the burrow was one leg resting on a fragment of the offending dirt ball, tapping it occasionaly. She emerged a little further when a cricket walked on top of the PVc. Over the next minute or two, she made a few gestures with her front legs. Shortly thereafter, the smaller cricket made the mistake of walking to the top of the mound, less than an inch away from her. She didn't even have to get all the way out of the burrow to snatch him up. That makes 10 in less than 30 hours. I don't think the fat one that remains in the cage has long to live... Although she's slowed to 4 today compared to her 6 yesterday, I think she'll continue to take them in at a good clip for a while to come. I'm gonna keep watching her until I get a good look at how fat she's gotten.

Update: I decided to throw in one of the larger crickets that I had to see how she tackles something a bit bigger. It was about twice as long as the other crickets I'd used so far, making it about one half to two thirds her body length. I don't think she'll have any trouble with it, but it should make for a better show.

Update: Well, the cricket pulled one of its own front legs off when I captured it, so it was limping around the cage a bit. It eventually wandered directly into the burrow, and didn't come out. I could swear I heard a quick little crunch sound...

October 2, 1999:
When I woke up this morning, some more dirt had piled up at the entrance to the burrow. Later on, the remaining cricket wandered into the small gap remaining, and did not come out. I threw in two more little crickets, and one eventually stumbled into the hole. The burrow is nearly sealed with dirt now, so I don't know if she intends to come out any time soon. The last 3 crickets esentially just committed suicide; she didn't exactly hunt them down. Now that she's sorta sealed up her burrow, I assume she doesn't want any more visitors. I hope that those crickets aren't down there having a molting spider feast or something... I suppose if that were the case, at least one would have wandered out by now. Of course, the burrow could be too steep for them to climb... I'll probably take that one cricket out pretty soon, then wait until I see some sort of sign of activity before I throw in another.

October 3, 1999:
Even more dirt has piled up at her doorway. I don't think any cricket could stumble though the entrance now. I have seen them try to burrow in the corners of the cage before (with limited success), so they might be able to find their way in if they really wanted to, but I think they'd just walk over the top of the burrow first. One interesting thing to note is that all of the vermiculite in the dirt that's being kicked out now is of the fine-grained variety. She had kicked out some coarse vermiculite and a few pieces of sphagnum moss (from the top of the previous substrate) prior to her most recent attempt to seal off her burrow. So either she's burrowing horizontally or she's just kicking out whatever dirt she can to close the burrow.

I've made a few additions to the photo album.

October 4, 1999:
Ambush remains hidden this morning, though even more dirt has been kicked out of the burrow. I hope she hits one of the sides soon.

Update: After I got home from work, more dirt had been kicked out, and it looks like she hit bottom. There is a window about 1" square in area about an inch from the back left corner of the cage. I can't see in there though; it's hard to put the cage at a good viewing angle and shine light in there at the same time. I don't want to shake up the cage too much and disturb whatever mysterious activity is going on. I'm sure she'll let me know when she's hungry again.

October 5, 1999:
No new dirt was kicked out today as far as I can tell. Bill Randall suggests that she might be molting, or at least, I should make that assumption. That makes sense to me. If (after she comes out) it turns out that she did molt, I'd put today as the most likely day that it would have occured, since it was the first day that showed no outward signs of activity. I'm kinda bummed that I don't get to see the molt, but I'm excited because I might have a new and bigger spider soon. It'll probably be a week before she comes bustin' out looking for a snack. I might let her hunt around for a little while so I get a chance to see her. Probably if I totally satisfy her hunger she'll probably just go back into the burrow to hide again.

At the suggestion of Bill Randall, I replaced the messy sponge with a rock. I'll probably try his trick of using a partially paraffin lined terra cotta saucer if I can find one about the right size. In the mean time, I was able to find the absolute perfect rock for the pill bottle lid I'm using. Thanks again Bill!

On a not too related note, I changed around the housing for my roaches and for the crickets. The crickets had managed to make a pig sty out of their container in less than a week. I put them in a tall plastic waste basket with some empty TP rolls in the bottom. I don't think they can climb out of it, so I don't think I need any sort of lid. I also threw out the bark, sticks and leaves from the roach aquarium in favor of a loose pile of egg cartons. It doesn't look as nice, but it's more sanitary, it gives the roaches more room (it makes lots of little roach apartments), and it will be easier to find roaches without having to dig up all the bedding when I want to feed them to Ambush. It was tricky finding all the roaches when I cleaned out their cage. Some of the small ones were hiding in cracks in the bark chips. I'm pretty sure I got all of them, but it is possible that one eluded my grasp.

It will probably be a while before I feed Ambush roaches anyway. I want to get a good breeding population going before I start bumping them off, and the only mature adult roaches I have are my original five males. The rest are mostly females (of the ones that are big enough so that you can easily tell), but none are adults yet. There are 4 or 5 that are only one molt away though. Also, the very smallest baby roaches which are about the right size are too hard to catch, and can too easily escape the spider's cage (unlike the crickets, they can scale the sides and top of the cage with total ease, and can squeeze through the ventilation holes in the top.) Ambush is a few molts away from being able to tackle the less-escape-prone medium sized roaches and she's probably years away from being able to handle the adult roaches (although they might be willing to give her a piggy back ride.)

October 6, 1999:
No new dirt again today. The water dish doesn't evaporate as quickly with the rock instead of the sponge, which could be considered good or bad. The crickets seem happier in their new home and the roaches, well, they're hangin' out. Some of them sure got pissed when I tried to move them.

I've already started thinking about what I would like for my second tarantula even though I've only had this one for a little over a week. I don't think I could get it any time soon though - we're already getting frost warnings here, and I'm not sure how easily spiders can be shipped when it gets below freezing. It would probably be best if I wait until I've gottle a little more experienced with the one I've got. I'm pretty sure I'd like an arboreal (to have something different). I'd need something fairly hardy and easy to care for, but it doesn't have to be QUITE as docile as the common beginner species. I'd like it to be fast growing and of medium to large size (a little smaller than medium would be OK.) Also, it would be good if it made for a good show - colorful and active enough so that I would get a chance to see it sometimes. Lastly, I'd like one that's different - available, but not one that's considered common. Right now I'm leaning toward Avicularia Versicolor, though several other Avicularia look good as well.

October 7, 1999:
No signs of activity again this morning. I know this is probably normal behavior, but it still makes me anxious because I'm so new at this.

Update: After work, I came home to discover that the burrow had opened and Ambush was moving out more dirt. I haven't been able to get a good look at her, so I have no indication if she's molted. I threw in a cricket, and it simply vanished when it walked in front of the burrow. She had been poking her legs out a bit, but I didn't see her at all when she snatched the cricket, it was just gone in a blur. I threw in another cricket, but I should probably let her go hungry for a few days until I get a chance to see her for more than a second. Since the dirt mound has been altered, I finally was able to shine some light into the burrow, but I wasn't able to really see anything very well.

October 8, 1999:
I took the cricket out. Ambush didn't seem too interested in it. It would have been nice and soft and tasty too - it molted while it was in her cage. I retrived the discarded skin too. I think that my misting and other maintainence on the cage I did last night scared her back into her hole for a while. I packed down some of the substrate that she'd kicked out since it was making a big mess of the entire enclosure. This morning, when I checked on her, she was just peeking out of the burrow, but it didn't take too much looking by me to make her go hide. She had piled even more dirt near the entrance of her burrow. With the way she's piling it up, I think she's trying to make a vertical entryway instead of the horizontal one. When I change the substrate in her cage (she'll proabably end up getting moved to a larger cage first), I bury her hide a little differently (mostly deeper) to make that a little less messy. I don't think she's molted, but I can't tell for sure because I haven't gotten a decent look at her. I'm going to wait until she gets hungry enough to come out looking for food before I feed her again. It's pretty clear that she's feeding again though - she's obviously trying to keep the burrow open, and the first cricket I threw in got devoured quickly.

Update: Well, I was wrong. By the time I got home from work, she had resealed her burrow. I wish she would come out already. She did open the window in the bottom of the cage again, and expanded it to include a tiny part of the back side of the cage. I've rotated the cage around to make the front into the back in the hopes that that opens up a bit more. I can see inside just enough to see her legs, and she's not on her back or anything. Although the placement of the cage allows it to be viewed from both sides, I call one side the front because you can view it more closely. The back side also gets quite a bit more light (because the brightest lights in my apartment are on that side), so I think she might be happier with less light coming into the window.

I hope I'm keeping the cage humid enough... It's started getting cool enough that my heater has kicked in, and that really dries out my apartment. I think I'll have to mist the cage twice a day to keep the substrate from drying out completely. I probably ought to get a humidifer anyhow. Also, my thermostat has a dumb hysteresis. It waits until it gets down to about 60 degrees, then the heater runs until it gets up to 85 or something. I'm gonna see if I can set that to a smaller sort of range.

October 10, 1999:
When she reclosed her burrow, I guessed that she might open it today, and low and behold, I actually guessed something right. As of about 3:30am, the burrow was totally sealed, but by about 10:00am a small hole had opened. The next time I looked at it (about 4) it had opened completely. Ambush has spent the entire day avoiding me. She hangs out of the front of her burrow, but when I try to get a good look at her or take her picture, she runs back in. She seems to have four basic living spots in her burrow. The very bottom where she retreats whenever she's disturbed. I can see a couple of her legs right up against her window there. After she spends some time there, she'll take a step up so that she can't be seen unless a flashlight is shined in through the opening. Then she'll skip quite a length of her burrow to a point about an inch or two inside the entrance. She can be seen barely through the entrance of the burrow with some extra light. Then, the farthest she ventures is halfway out of the burrow. I was able to get a decent picture of her there; I'll post it soon. She hasn't completely left the burrow for more than a second at a time since she first took up residence there.

October 11, 1999:
Well, A LOT more dirt is piled up by the entrance this morning. The entrance is considerably smaller as well. I saw one of her legs pushing some dirt around near the entrance, but by the time I looked at it again, she had retreated to the bottom of the burrow. It looks like most of the new dirt had been removed from this lower chamber. The window on the side and bottom has grown slightly, and some dirt had been cleaned off. Also, looking inside it can be seen that the size of that chamber has nearly doubled (mostly grown toward the left).

Ambush now stands entirely on the bottom of the cage. She doesn't seem bothered by the fact that those walls are transparent. I don't think she even realizes it. I can see her much better through the window now, and I'm pretty certain she hasn't molted. She doesn't look any larger (other than her abdomen which grew during the big feast) and I've heard that spiderlings' abdomens will shrink during a molt (I guess they used the stored up energy in there to do all that growing during a short period of time). Her abdomen may have shrank slighly, but she's only eaten one small cricket in the last week. It's pretty hard to get enough light in there to take a picture, so I hope she continues to dig some more down there. I'll try to get a picture of at least that chamber today.

Her dirt pile is becoming an increasingly dominant feature of the enclosure. If it grows much more, I'll have to move it or the water dish (some dirt has piled up next to the dish, and will pile up in it if the pile continues to grow). It didn't take her long to pile it back up after I mashed most of it down. The substrate that gets taken out of the burrow is of a considerably different texture than that which hasn't been processed by Ambush. The regular substrate feels a lot like humusy soil, but the stuff she brings out feels like piles of big spongey crumbs even when I pack it down. She seems to roll it into small lumps and carries them out. Either that or she just fluffs it up as she digs it out. It also seems somewhat drier than the surrounding substrate, probably because it doesn't get misted, but she may be taking some of the moisture out of it. The only time I've seen her carrying it, she was rolling around a good sized hunk of vermiculite with some peat stuck to it in her mouth area. She droped it short of where she looked to be carrying it to when I came spying, then kicked it right before going back in her hole for a few hours. I have also found a small amount of spider silk in the dirt, so she may be using that to hold it together. The dirt in the burrow seems to be holding its structural integrity pretty well.

The peat/vermiculite mix seems to hold together better than either alone and the dampness and semi-firm packing seem to help as well. There hasn't been a cave in yet, but I think Ambush will be able to handle such a situation and dig herself out of trouble (I'd imagine it has to happen sometimes in the wild). She seems to be smart enough to not remove any of the supporting dirt from under or around the pipe. In fact, it looks like she's reinforced some spots. I'd imagine that "the elements" would also carry away some of the dirt at the entrance to their burrow (in fact, my misting often causes it to settle down, and even knocks over the rediculously steep parts). I wonder if they expect (and even count on) that, or if it's simply an annoyance that they live with. I don't think there's much chance of her burrow getting flooded in my care, but is that a concern for Tarantulas in the wild?

I was concerned about the heat and humidity, but I don't think that'll be too much of a problem. Ambush seems to be healthy and happy (if a bit shy). I think the temperature in my apartment is high enough to keep her reasonably active, and I'm sure her burrow is plenty humid enough (since she's surrounded by damp substrate). Even if the humidity in most of the cage isn't very high, I'm sure it is next to the substrate where her lungs are. I've never seen her near the water dish, so I don't think she's dehydrated at all.

I can see why it is easy to get hooked on raising tarantulas. It's exciting when one does something, but just one doesn't do much exciting stuff very often. Although Ambush is almost always digging in her burrow, I almost never see it. I may order a second tarantula before the cold weather really hits. Yesterday and today got into the 70s, so I think its still possible to ship. I'm pretty well decided on Avicularia Versicolor, but I was also pretty well decided on Grammastola Pulchra before being advised (thanks again Bill!) to go with the Curly Hair. If anybody who reads this (does anybody read this?) has any advice they'd like to give on the subject, send me mail at phong@bighairyspiders.com. The reasons why I'd choose this species over others are as follows:
    - It's arboreal
    - It's pretty docile (though it can be fast)
    - I've read that it requires lower humidity and is a bit hardier than other Avicularia
    - It's pretty fast growing
    - Those COLORS can't be beat! Awesome display species!
    - It might not be big, but it's still big enough to be cool
    - It's not so common, not everyone has one, and you won't find it in most pet stores.
Unfortunately, all species have drawbacks:
    - It's fast and is a skilled escape artist (I've seen people use inverted cages to solve that.)
    - They can be expensive and hard to find
    - They're probably tougher to raise than the popular beginner terrestrials

Update: The dirt pile had gotten even bigger by the time I got home. The entrance to the burrow is nearly sealed. The windows into the burrow have grown considerably, as has the bottom chamber of the burrow. This by itself is not exciting. I am excited because Ambush MAY have molted! I haven't seen the discarded skin, but when I look into her burrow, her rump looks whitish with patches of a more normal (but still lighter) gray color, especially on top. I hope she's not molding or anything. Actually, looking again, it looks like her abdomen is darkening as I type this. I may be seeing things however. The hairs on her rear look "new" and fresh, and I seem to recall a bald spot that I can't see anymore. She also looks larger, but again, I may be seeing things. Her rump doesn't look shrunken at all, but I don't know if all species do that. She seems to be a little slow and shaky on her feet. I don't know if that's a sign that she's just molted, or that she's ill in some way.

When I started to investigate, she climbed up higher into her burrow where I couldn't see her, so I thought she was annoyed at my voyeurism, but she's continued to go up and down the burrow several times just during the time I've been typing this update. She may be digging right now. I wouldn't expect that out of a recently molted spider, but then again, I don't know what to expect at all. I just shined some light in there, and didn't see her at first, but then she came strolling down the stairs to say hello. The way she came at me so suddenly actually startled me... The color on her rump appears more consitant now (darker on top fading to a lighter color on the bottom). Now it basically seems lighter than before overall. Most of the rest of her seems to be about the same color though. I don't know what to think.

Update: I just looked at her again, and now I'm almost positive that her abdomen and carapace arre a lighter color (almost peachy - a far cry from her old gray). It may just be the brightness of the flashlight I'm using, but I'm getting less sceptical by the minute. I can see the end of the PVC pipe through the window, but there is still a significant part of the burrow's upper chamber that I can't see, so the silk mat and skin may be there. I think I saw her fangs (can't be sure cause it's so hard to see in there), and they appeared to be pinkish-red rather than the black color they were when I last saw them (the day I got her). Again, that could be the bright light from the flashlight shining through them.

October 12, 1999:
This morning the burrow entrance had been groomed. It is open a normal amount (just enough for her to crawl through), and the dirt has been piled up neatly in a semicircle in front of the pipe. It creates what seems like a vertical entrance. The burrow is getting more complex every day.

After I got home, the burrow situation became clearer. The dirt pile had been very carefully groomed to provide a consistant slope into the entrance of the burrow in the pipe (which had been made a little bit steeper). The bottom chamber was larger again, as were the windows. She had left some dirt all over the bottom of the chamber, so the plastic bottom of the cage is mostly covered. I'm not sure she liked walking on the plastic down there, she seems to slip on it a bit.

Ambush was waiting at the entrance to the burrow, telling me that she was hungry. I decided to oblige and threw in a cricket. When I opened the cage, she retreted to the very bottom of the burrow (as she always does when I disturb her), and I watched the cricket wander for a few minutes. Ambush was still in her bottom chamber, so I figured it was safe to turn away. I was gone less than a minute, but she managed to sneak in her attack during that time. Urrrg! I came back just in time to see her back legs slip into the darkness of her burrow. I realized that this might be an awesome opportunity. Looking in through the window I could see her carrying her feast down the stairs! I don't think there is any part of the burrow that I can't see that's large enough to hide a discarded skin - she hasn't molted.

I hastily set up the tripod and grabbed a flashlight to provide the light for the shots. I was able to get a couple half-way decent shots of her facing the camera digesting her meal. You can tell it's a cricket only because one of the jumping legs wasn't totally mutilated. Unfortunately, it is difficult to see her fangs in any of the pictures, but I was able to get a good look at them on the camera's LCD when she moved them. When you look at the pictures realize the conditions under which they were taken. The only source of light was a handheld flashlight shined through a small window on one side of the cage. The camera was pointed at a slightly larger window through plastic with bits of dirt stuck to it. You may notice the camera's reflection. The subject was moving (for some of the shots), and the exposure was somewhat long because of the low light. Also, all of this was set up in a very short period of time. I'll post the pictures tonight or tomorrow.

In less than 10 minutes, the cricket was nearly completely dissolved. There was just of few globs of goo hanging from her fangs. Those were gone in a short period of time. Now I know why I haven't found any cricket remains whatsoever. She eats every last scrap. She's gonna have to clean up the entrance to the burrow... Either she or the cricket knocked some dirt over. I'll probably do more damage when I mist it tonight.

Update: I was cleaning up the dirt and such and realized that the coarse grain vermiculite isn't cool at all. I got big chunks of mica all over my fingers. I'm glad I got the fine grained stuff for most of the substrate. After I had finished misting and such, I tried to locate ambush and found that she was right near the entrace of her burrow, just inside the shadow of the pipe (only an inch away from where my fingers had been). I had used a brush or some other tool in the past for mucking around in the cage, I don't know why I didn't this time. I remember now why I got a non- agressive species.

I just threw another cricket in the cage, and it was gone before I knew what happened. I thought I dropped it on the floor, but then I looked in the burrow and here comes Ambush with a really mangled cricket hooked on her fangs. She destroyed this one even worse than the last. Yuck! Unfortunately she didn't pose well for a picture until it was mostly digested. I did get a picture of her stuffing a FRIGGIN' NASTY looking unrecognizable ball of slimy goo into her face. DAMN, WOMAN! Use a napkin or somethin'!

A couple of neat things (besides the cricket carnage) can be seen in these pictures. The first is the funky kinky hairs that give this species its name - it's usually hard to see what they look like in pictures. The other is the cool Alfalfa style hairdoo that Ambush is sporting. If I had seen that earlier she would have a different name! Unfortunately, the doo will probably change with the next molt.

Update: Woops! There goes another cricket. She seems to know that they're around shortly after I put them in the cage, because she walks up her stairway, but not all the way. She lets the cricket wander right to the entrance of the burrow, then she snatches it up and takes it downstairs.

October 13, 1999:
Ambush was waiting for breakfast at the entrance to her burrow this morning (there had been no new digging efforts). She disapeared when I opened the cage, but that's not new. I grabed a TP roll from the cricket tub and managed to shake out a handful of crickets (normally I'm lucky if I get one). I tried to drop one in the cage, but I ended up with three. They won't last long though. I went to get a drink of water, and in that time the smallest of the three was gone! I looked into the burrow to find her waiting on her staircase for the crickets to go by the entrance as she usually does. I figured the cricket was hiding. The other crickets wandered around for a couple minutes until one decided that the burrow looks like a safe place to hide. There was just a flash, then a crunch, and the cricket was gone. I then watched as Ambush backed down her stairway, then turned around in her dining room to display her fully subdued, yet still twitching prey. Well, I suppose one twitch doesn't quite count as twitching. Then I noticed a second small pair of jumping legs! She had captured the little cricket, then, realizing that there were more to be had and the trip wasn't worth it for only one scrawny cricket, she captured a second one before retreating to enjoy her meal. Neat! The third cricket wandered in and out of her burrow shortly thereafter, but I think her mouth was full.

Update: Well, the cricket was gone by the time I got home. I threw in some more (generally two at a time), and they've all been eaten except for one smart little one that is standing still far from the burrow. Unless he's totally unlike all the other crickets I've thrown in there, it will only be a matter of time before he wanders too close to the hole.

A small amount of dirt has been moved out of the burrow today, but the digging has slowed considerably. If Ambush wanted to reclose the burrow, it would only have been a matter of placing the dirt differently, so I assume she's still in feedbag mode. I don't mind so much that she's spending all her time in her burrow since I can see in there pretty well now. In fact, she is easier to observe in there because it seems like my spying goes completely unnoticed. When she's out of the burrow, she wants nothing to do with me, but she doesn't even seem to know I exist when she's in the burrow even though I'm being much more intrusive.

October 15, 1999:
I bought some more crickets yesterday, but they must have just gotten their shipment in because they were all really tiny. I suppose I could have gotten the adult crickets, but I feel more comfortable with the little ones for now. I think I've underestimated Ambush's size, and overestimated the size of the crickets. Now that I've seen her with one in her mouth, I can see why she eats a lot of them - most are really small for her. I'll probably move to adult crickets after she molts.

Speaking of crickets, Ambush ate several more last night. They were so small that I threw in about four. Only one was left when I went to bed, but he hadn't even moved by morning, so he may be dead. Her appetite seems boundless at this point. She's eaten several small crickets for several days in a row now. Burrowing activity has dropped off sharply - she may be satisfied with the size of her burrow for now. Perhaps when she gets full again she'll move out some more dirt. While I was at the pet store, I picked up some cool pieces of wood they had for cage furnishings. They didn't have any cork bark, but this stuff looked very clean and throughly sanitized. It's actually a chunk of heavily gnarled old grape vine. It looks super awesome; I might post some pictures. The bark has been removed and it's been throughly scrubbed. From the size it looks like it was intended for a reptile cage, but I'm sure it's safe for tarantuals as well. It has a very rough texture, even the crickets will be able to climb it. I'll have to saw it into smaller pieces for use in an arboreal spider cage, but some parts of it are about as big around as my thumb, so it should work alright. They also had some pieces of dried de-needeled cactus, but they didn't look as cool, and there was no way to saw it down into small enough pieces.

I'll probably order two arboreals as soon as I get enclosures for them. I want to order two because most of the spiderlings I've found available of the species I want are pretty small, and chances are it will be hard to sex them at that size. If I get two, chances are better that at least one is female. Since I'm ordering two, I might as well get two different species - probably A. Versicolor and A. Metallica. I haven't found an appropriate container yet, mostly because I'm looking for one that would work well for an inverted cage setup, is the right size and will have appropriate ventilation. I'd like it to be plastic (so I can put holes in it for ventilation) and a deep screw on top. A snap on lid wouldn't be so bad, but I'll probably modify it so that it comes off very easily since the container basically just has to rest on the lid. I'll probably find some rubbermaid container that'll work out alright. I hope I still have my hot glue gun - I'll need to glue the wood pieces to the inside of the container.

Update: By the time I got home, the cricket was gone and Ambush had begun the process of sealing the burrow. The burrow was fully closed about an hour later. I'm sensing a pattern here. Now that she's sealed herself in, she's very inactive. When the burrow was open, she'd at least walk around or dig or something (except when she was expecting guests for dinner.) Right now, she's moving only slightly. I wonder how long it will be before she molts... I noticed today that her abdomen looks a little shiny, though it hasn't changed colors at all.

After work, I picked up a couple of containers and they're just about perfect. They're 64oz (2 quart) round Snapware dry food storage containers. Set on their side they're practically the same size as Ambush's container. The lids screw on and are hinged to snap open (I'll probably hot glue them shut). There is a rim on the hinged portion about two thirds of an inch high, so I'll be able to fill that with substrate without interfereing with the threaded part. I tried melting holes in the bottom (well, it will be the top), but that didn't seem like it was going to provide very good ventilation, so I cut out the bottom and will hot glue in some sort of plastic screen or something. The only problem is that the lids are domed on the top so if I put them upside down (a neat trick to prevent the escape of arboreal spiders) it'll wobble or tip over. To fix that I sliced off four pieces (well, eight really, since I needed to do two lids) of hot glue stick about a quarter of an inch thick, melted one side and glued them to the lid in appropriate places. I melted down the ones that stuck up to much with a soldering iron to eliminate any wobble. They seem to make excellent feet for the container.

I cut a piece of the gnarled wood for use in one of the containers and discovered that it is rock-like in its hardness. Sawing it was quite the chore. It was also tricky to get a piece just the right length because of it's irregular shape. I want it to go diagonally across the container reaching nearly the top while at the same time slightly touching the substrate without interefereing with the operation of the lid. It also can't go deep into the substrate because it will make a big mess when the lid is screwed/unscrewed. I cut off an L-shaped piece that should be perfect (and looks beautiful). I'll securely hot glue that to the inside of the enclosure so that the spider and its web are disturbed as little as possible when it's opened.

I've seen so many warnings not to use containers that are too large, but I can't imagine that a spider large enough to feed on small crickets would have trouble finding them in this size enclosure. My experience so far with crickets is that they are the dumbest creatures on earth. I've had many drown in small droplets of water. Here's what goes through a cricket's mind when it goes into Ambush's container.

"Can I escape through this corner? ... nope, I'll try the next."
"Can I escape through this corner? ... nope, I'll try the next."
"I wonder if I can escape through this water dish ... AHHHGG! I'M DROWING! Maybe if I poop I can get out ... nope ... maybe if I poop on this rock ... Hey it worked! Now I can climb off this rock to the next corner!"
"Can I escape through this corner? ... nope, I'll try the next."
"Can I escape through this corner? ... nope, I'll try the next."
(Repeat the above for anywhere from 2 minutes to 12 hours)
"Well, I guess I can't escape - I wonder where I can hide. Hey, what's on that mound over there. Hmmm... This dark scary tunnel looks like a great place to ... AHHHHGGG!" *CRUNCH*

I predict that the following will be a typical cricket thought pattern once placed in the arboreal cage.

"I bet I can get out if I wander around in circles for a really long time ... (time passes) ... I think I'm getting somewhere ... (time passes) ... I must be walking through the forest because I keep going by these sticks that go up, maybe I should climb one; I'll probably be safe there ... Hey, I wonder what that white silky thing is up there ... Wow, a large hairy arthropod with huge fangs. He looks friendly, I'll go over and say hi. Hello there, how's it ... AHHHHHGG!" *CRUNCH*

I'd really rather not get any spiderlings so small that I need to get even smaller crickets or even fruit flies in order to feed them. I'll try to shop around until I can get ones that have a legspan of about one and a half inches (bigger would be fine.)

October 16, 1999:
Ambush moved once today I think. I don't think she's unhappy, she's just full. She's active when the burrow's open, and once she fills her tummy, she just takes a break. When she isn't in dormant mode she's active enough to tell me that she's happy with her environment. I'd like to find some sort of device for measuring humidity to see if that's right, but I'm sure it's fine in her burrow at the very least.

I finished preparing the arboreal containers today. I hot-glued in the pieces of wood, and they look sweet. I think I'll put a piece in Ambush's cage just for looks. It was tricky trimming them just right and then gluing them exactly how I wanted. I also think I've got the wrong kind of hot glue. It sticks to the wood great, but to get it to stick to the plastic with any sort of strength I had to melt the plastic and kind of mix it with the glue. I had to glue the wood to the containers in three spots for it to be secure. I got the best results by melting a hole in the side with a soldering iron then injecting enough hot glue to bond to the wood and slightly overfill the hole, then mixing the glue and melted plastic together with the tip of the glue gun or the soldering iron. It sounds like it will make a big mess and look horrible, but it actually looks fine (better than just trying to glue the wood to the inside), and produces a very strong bond.

For the top of the enclosure I used some hardware (i.e. not recommended for culinary use) cheesecloth. It is made of a synthetic fiber (probably polyester), so it shouldn't make much mess. I was worried that a spider might get its claws stuck in it, but it's so soft that they could pull them free. The big problem is that a spider might be able to tear it apart. I made a grid of hot glue over the top so that any holes made in the cheesecloth would be too small for escape. I hope they can't tear though that. The glue also stabilizes the stretchy cheescloth. The whole setup provides plenty of ventilation.

I glued terra cotta saucers between the wood and the side of the container near the bottom and placed some rocks in them. They are glazed on the inside so they won't weep too badly. After looking for quite some time, these were the smallest I could find, and they were still bigger than I would have liked. They look nicer than any plastic thing though. After I glued them in, I realized they would be tough to fill. I eventually discovered that if I slowly dripped water though the cheesecloth, I could fill them without making a mess. That will be thwarted when the spider builds it's web above, on top of, or including the dish. Oh well.

I glued the snapping part of the lids closed and filled the central area of the lid with damp vermiculite. Since the spider won't be touching the bottom much, I figured vermiculite would be ok (and more sanitary). Also, I'm hoping that the crickets won't like it and will climb up the wood.

Next came the cricket test. I wanted to find out if they can escape, and see what they do when they are put in that environment. The cricket wandered around in circles for a while, then proceeded to climb up the wood, taking a bathroom break at the water dish. He then walked across the cheesecloth and then fell into the water dish. Then, get this, he crawled into the water and under a rock. I thought he would drown for sure, but he emerged on the other side a minute or two later. He then climbed back to the top and fell again. After that, he developed a little acrophobia.

I realized a couple of things from this test. First, I can't remove the water dishes to clean them, and if I place them in the bottom of the container where I can remove them, they won't fit. I think I'll use small lids and mist the web until I find a better solution. Also, getting the crickets into the cage is tough. I have to throw them on the vermiculite and then quickly screw it back together hoping that the cricket is smart enough not to get squashed in the process. I think I'll create some sort of door on the side of the container that can be used for putting in crickets. I'll probably cut the top off of a plastic pop bottle and attach that to the side. I can use the cap from the bottle to close that off, then I can just unscrew it, stuff the cricket in, and close it back up without disturbing the cage too much.

October 17, 1999:
I've read a lot of conflicting information about he size of containers for arboreals. Some pages have suggested enclosures that are twice as high as the legspan of the spider. To me that seems rediculously small. Their tube web would take up half the container. Others have suggested 16oz containers for Arboreals up to 2" in legspan, but mine are 64oz! Of course, that's not much bigger in any one dimension since we're talking about volume, but still... I have seen lots of pictures of spiders in containers that are MUCH larger than 2x their legspan, so I don't know if that's a minimum or what... I've also read of adult spiders in containers as large as 30 gallons without difficulties, and sub-adult spiders in five and ten gallon aquariums. I know for sure that they won't have trouble finding their food. Crickets will climb stright up the stick to the nearest spider they can find. They're dumb that way. If it does become a problem, I'll move them to something more cozy.

October 18, 1999:
I'm guessing that Ambush will open her burrow wednesday. I doubt that she's molting - I've read of other curly hairs with the exact same sort of behavior down to the finest details (including walking on the walls and ceiling the first night in the container, then creating a burrow where they spend all their time).

I ordered an A. versicolor and A. metallica from Pet Center USA. When I inquired about the A. versicolor he got very excited and just raved about them. He said they were in their fourth instar and between one and a half and two inches in legspan. So it should be pretty similar in size to Ambush. It will be interesting to compare growth rates - the A. versicolor will be faster for sure, but it will be neat to see just how much. He didn't get quite as excited about the A. metallica, but said they were about an inch. That's probably big enough to handle the tiny crickets I have. Ambush will probably get the biggest ones (except for the adult crickets, which will have to wait). I think the A. versicolor will probably be able to handle crickets almost as big as Ambush's. I asked for females, but he can't guarantee that. He said the A. versicolor was big enough to make it pretty easy, but the A. metallica would be tough. I may have to get a smaller container for that one, but I'll give what I have a try. If I find that it becomes a problem after a few days, I'll try to find a smaller home. There's not too much chance of it starving in that time.

October 19, 1999:
No spiders today. The guy said they were very busy and might not be able to ship them out until the next day (judging from Ambush, I'm sure sexing and packaging is pretty tedious). He said he would call if he did get them shipped out yesterday, and I didn't get a call, so I'll expect them tomorrow.

Everybody at work has started calling me Spidey. It's pretty irritating. Nobody harrasses the guy that has the gecko, tarantula and madagascar hissing roaches, and will soon have another gecko, a euromastyx (sp?) and some tazmanian millipedes.

October 20, 1999:
As expected, the new spiders arrived today. The box was quite a bit smaller than the one for Ambush (which was probably overkill and also contained the cage). There was also a heat pack in the box which seems sensible, since the temperature has dropped around here quite a bit. The vials they came in were labeled, but once I could see the spiders, it wasn't much of a challenge to determine which was which!

The A. metallica was in paper towel and the lower half of the vial was filled with moist peat. It (I say it because at that size it must be very difficult to sex, though when I asked for a female they said they would do their best), had crawled out of its paper towel some time during shipment and a couple of legs were visible thorugh the vial. I took the paper towel out (along with the spider which scrunched up when I did that and carefully placed it in the cage. I think it may be too small for this cage, but we'll see. I do think it will be able to eat the very smallest crickets without too much trouble, and once it stretched back out, I'm pretty sure the legspan is about an inch. It doesn't have much in the way of coloring - it looks almost freshly hatched. It is peachy with black toes and a black carapace and the abdomen has the beginnings of what look to be a black stripe pattern. I tore the paper towel so that I could fit it in the cage in a sorta flat way, and set it inside the cage. A few minutes later it had climbed to the top of the branch (while I wasn't looking) and hasn't moved since.

The A. versicolor is AMAZINg. If you like tarantulas, you must get one. Even if you don't like them, you must get one. WOW! It seemed really tiny when it was inside the paper towel, but onced it got out and stretched out it looked much bigger. Ambush must be about two and a half inches, because I was able to measure this one pretty accurately, and the legspan was approximately one and three quarters inches (give or take). Once I opened the paper towel and encouraged her into the container, she jumped then bolted up the stick to the top of the container as soon as she got one foot off of the paper towel. If I hadn't gone with an inverted container cage design, she would have been out and across the room and probably squashed by a co-worker. Fortunately, to her, safe meant up, and up meant contained. She's everything I hoped for and more. She's a beautiful deep blue color with lighter blue stripes on her leg joints and abdomen. Her carapace is a stunning metallic blue and her little book lungs are plainly visible in white. I've heard that their placement is one way to distinguish males and females. The guy said he could give me a female with some certainty, so perhaps that's how he could distinguish them. Beyond her beauty, she is very active and fast. When her cage is disturbed, she'll sometimes run around the cage in the blink of an eye. She's spent most of the time since she was unpacked exploring her cage resting for only a few minutes at a time (sometimes while she was in the middle of doing something). The closest she got to the bottom of the cage was a few inches, which sounds normal for arboreals. She eventually established a favorite spot near the top (but not right at the top), and just sorta stayed near there for a while. Now she's started to build her web, and it's absoultely fascinating. She's already proven to be more skittish than Ambush... She's sprayed poop when the cage was disturbed (which also functions to keep the poop away from the spider in addition to defense), and she's pounced at thin air a couple times when the cage was disturbed.

Looks like I've got a spider for every size cricket now. Ambush gets the biggest ones, the A. versicolor gets the medium, and the A. metallica gets the itty bitty ones.

A co-worker (who currently owns an adult female grammastola rosea) who saw the A. versicolor immediately got on the internet and ordered one.

Overall, I'm pretty darn happy. Hopefully I'll be able to take some pictures before the web gets so extensive that it's hard to see the spider well. I'm surprised that he A. versicolor isn't a more popular species - from everything I've read, their temprament isn't too bad (other than they are very fast), and they are STUNNING when it comes to looks. I've also heard they're hardier than most other Avicularia. As far as the A. metallica, it's hard to say. I know almost nothing about this species, so we'll have to see if it turns out to be a good one. He's finally started exploring and he doesn't look to be as good a climber (at least at his current size) as the versicolor. He's fallen from the wall and celing several times. He hasn't injured himself yet - I suppose arboreals will meet with gusts of wind and get knocked off their perch sometimes in the wild and have to deal with that. I hope he learns that his feet just aren't meant for plastic just yet - maybe when he gets bigger. The A. versicolor was cautious on the plastic, but didn't have any trouble.

Update:
After I got home, I gave a tiny cricket to the tiny spider, and a medium sized one to the larger. Both crickets ran all around the cage for a while, but eventually they went up the stick. I saw the larger one on the opposite side of the stick from the spider and nothing was happening. I figured it was sleeping or not hungry. Next time I looked, it was gone. I assumed it was hiding, because the spider didn't appear to be feeding. But then I noticed a mangled tied up cricket in the web. I guess she's saving it for a rainy day. I've seen her tend to it now and then, but she doesn't look like she's eaten any of it. The smaller one had either fallen or climbed to the bottom and was wandering around. I saw the little cricket about a third of the way up the stick, so I assumed the former. Next time I looked, I couldn't see the cricket, but it was tiny, so it could be hiding. I looked at the spider, which was walking around the bottom, and I could just see two antennas flicking about. The spider walked over to the stick slowly and I could see the now dying cricket being carried back up to the top of the cage. The A. metallica has yet to build any sort of web, but it's possible that they don't when they're that small.

Update:
Ambush is still dormant. The A. versicolor has been hovering over her crickets (I gave her a second one) for a while. I don't know if she's eating them, or just hanging out. I haven't seen the cricket that the A. metallica was eating, but the spider has been wandering all over the cage (and occasionally falling, with no apparent ill effects), so I assume it's been eaten. Still no web for that spider. I took some pictures, they're in the photo album section.

October 21, 1999:
The A. versicolor posed on the side of the container for me this morning. I got a decent picture of her underside and posted it in the photo album. I should get the sections for the new spiders done this evening. The abdomens of both new spiders have swolen from their recent meals; I couldn't see the crickets in the web any more (but it was hard to tell with the spider in the way).

The A. metallica had moved around some during the night aparently because he was now hanging underneath the top part of his stick. He seems ot be very adept at falling. it doesn't look like he's injured himself in any way and he seems to fall quite gracefully. He manages to flip himself around in the air like a cat to always land on his feet, and I've seen him "bail out" on a couple of occasions by jumping accurately to the stick when he feels himself slipping off the wall. He also explores the length of his stick (and even the bottom of the container when he falls) quite a bit, so I don't think he'll have any trouble finding food. I get the feeling that he doesn't feel "at home" to the extent that the A. versicolor does.

I've never sexed a tarantula before, but from the pretty good closeup of the A. versicolor I'd have to guess that she's female (based on the excellent diagrams on Diddly Bo's Arachnids.) It's tricky to see the epigastric furrow, but it looks sorta curved to me (depending on the angle at which you look at it.) It could be an illusion brought on by the curvature of the abdomen though. Also, the forward book lungs couldn't be any further apart without leaving the abdomen altogether, which makes me lean towards female. Most dramatically, the forward book lungs are tilted far from horizontal (more so than even the diagrams would suggest.) Since I'm the anti-expert in this field, I would appreciate any opinions anyone else has on the subject. I'll try to get an even tighter closeup if she (I hope) is willing.

Update: Well, whatever people say about spiders having trouble finding food in large containers is hogwash, at least in the case of Avicularia metallica. Every cricket I've thrown in the cage is gone in less than an hour, which is pretty significant considering that she resides primarily in the top of the cage, and the tiny crickets don't usually climb that high. The last one I threw in lasted less than two minutes. The A. versicolor has slowed down a bit, but she's gets spooked a great deal more than the A. metallica when I open her cage, and she takes several minutes to get back to her usual self. Now that she's got her web how she likes it, she doesn't roam the cage as much either. Both are starting to fatten up nicely.

I'm a bit concerned that there is a bit of mold growing at the bottom of the grape vine in the A. versicolor container. I scraped off what I could, but I'm going to let the substrate dry out a bit - I think it's a little on the soggy side (I spilled quite a bit of water on it when I filled the dish once). The water had been getting soaked up by the wood and not surprisingly had created a good environment for mold growth. I'll try to dry the substrate out a bit, and may find some way to keep the wood drier (maybe by keeping it off of the substrate a bit, or sealing it somehow.)

October 24, 1999:
Well, I ended up replacing the substrate in A. versicolor cage with a mix of peat and vermiculite and made it a bit drier. We'll see if it becomes a problem again. I've thought about getting new containers (probably more appropriately sized in the case of the A. metallica) and starting over with cork bark, but I'll see how this goes. That will also give me a chance to redo some of the things I don't like about these cages. If the mold doesn't become a problem, I'll stick with it as it is. Another possibility is taking the spiders out of their cages temporarily to allow me to burn off any grime that has formed with a soldering iron, seal it somehow to prevent it from soaking up more water, replace the substrate (making it only slighly damp), add a door for cricket insertion and let the fumes I generate air out. I might skip the cricket door - putting in crickets has only been minor trouble.

Yesterday the A. metallica refused a cricket (when the cricket bumped into her she just sorta acted annoyed) and has started acting funny. She had eaten one or two tiny crickets each day prior to that, so she may have been full. She had also started roaming the cage again (and falling) so I'm not sure what she's up to. She's was having even more trouble climbing the wall's (probably because she's gained some weight from pigging out). Even when she does sit still, she fidgets and cleans her claws with her mouth sometimes. She started to build a web about a third of the way up the vine, but then abandoned it when I inadvertantly bumped the cage. She then did her running around thing for a while and didn't get back to building it (now just a few inches higher up the vine) until about 4 today. When she saw me watching she stopped and hasn't moved in the slightest since. I think I'm gonna name her "Boots" for her funny black feet. It is possible that she's preparing for a molt. Although she hasn't done much webbing, it covers a lot of ground. She's got strands coming from the substrate and the water dish, and one strand several inches long going pretty high up on her vine. Most of it is either just barely visible when the light glances off of it, or is visible because it has some crumbs of substrate stuck to it.

The A. versicolor has made her web a little thicker and robust. She seems to add reinforecements right after she kills a cricket. It's possible that she's reparing some damage that is done in the mad dash to catch the cricket. She's also getting downright obese from all the crickets she's been mowing down and she shows no signs of slowing. Boots has plumped up too, but not to nearly the same extent. I got some more crickets today, but I think I'm gonna get mail order contract-crickets from fluker farms in the future.

Update: Looking more closely at Boots's cage, I see a bit more webbing than I thought there was. Also, the A. versicolor stopped to take a drink from some drops of water on her web while she was working on a cricket. She even carried back a drop of water in her mouth when she went back to finish off her meal. While she was drinking, I got a magnifying glass and took a close look at her underside. I was able to get a very good look, and I'm pretty confident that she's female.

October 26, 1999:
Boots has eaten a couple crickets the past couple days, so the fast was just one day long. I don't think she's ready for a molt. I did remove a cricket jumping leg that had either been droped or discarded. I also changed the substrate as I did with the A. versicolor even though the mold hasn't seemed to grow back here. I also coated the bottom of the wood that touches the substrate with hot glue to prevent it from soaking up water and becoming a problem again.

The A. versicolor has enlarged her web significantly today, knocking down part of a wall and adding another whole room. I haven't seen her in that part of the web yet, but it should make it easier for me to mist the web. It doesn't really have any sort of shape that is easily described anymore. She seems to still be eating, though one cricket in her cage refuses to leave the safety of the bottom of the cage. Her web additions include a much more extensive trip wire system. Her abdomen has grown so much that it is starting to look less colorful. Her blue hairs have spread out and the bland skin is showing through. It's also starting to get shiny. I don't think she's ready for a molt quite yet, but I doubt it's too far off. I probably don't know what I'm talking about though. I'll see if it starts to get darker.

Ambush remains in her burrow. It's been well over a week now but she seems to be fine. She doesn't move much, but she's in a different position every day, so she's moving some. She still looks very plump.

October 28, 1999:
I don't know what's up with Boots - her behavior seems completely random. She had eaten a few crickets, then I thought she ate some more, but they were actually hiding in her cage. She's got a few strands of silk in just about every part of the cage, some spanning significant distances. She seems to have started several main webs and abandoned them. I think I'll move her to a smaller container.

The A. versicolor is probably near a molt. She's ate a cricket I threw in the cage the day before yesterday, but only after letting it go by several times. Normally she'd go right after it. She also didn't finish it, and left a nasty glob for me to clean out. I damaged her web a bit in the process, but she seems to be fixing it. Her abdomen is quite shiny now, and if it weren't for the blue hair on it, it would be a brownish color. I don't know if that's because it's stretched out so much that the skin is showing though the more spread out hair now or because she's nearing a molt and that's what it looks like. I think (this may be my imagination going overactive) that it's starting to get a bit darker as well. I'm going to assume that she's near a molt and basically wait and see.

Yep, Ambush is still in her burrow. I see her change positions now and then, and she's got a new one where she's got her side pressed right up against the side and you just see a jumble of legs. When she backs away from the window I can see well enough in there to tell that she hasn't molted or anything. I'm not really expecting her to.

October 30, 1999:
The A. versicolor has stopped eating I think. She's sealed off her web and made some additions as well. She's made it longer around the top of the container, so now it looks like a lumpy crooked tube with a funnel dropping out of the middle. The part to the right of the funnel is shorter and narrower. The openings on the ends of the tube are sorta pinched halfway shut. The opening in the bottom of the funnel is small, and is used primarily for a garbage chute. She never leaves her web, and her current design prevents crickets from entering, though they could probably get stuck on the outside. Her abdomen looks especially bald on the top front part. I don't know where the urticating hairs are, but I don't think I've ever seen her kick any. She has sprayed poop when agitated though. She also sprays poop just to poop (it's splatered all over the sides of the cage). The abdomen may be getting darker, but I'm not totally sure. I'm gonna keep any eye on it though. Also, looking at her underside, now she looks more male. URGG! Other times she looks female. I have to say it is totally inconclusive and I'll wait until I send the exuva to an expert before I get my hopes up or down. She also needs a name. I just can't think of anything good.

I don't know what's up with boots. She had been staying at the top of the cage, but now she's crawled into a knot in the wood in the lower part. I don't think she's stopped eating, but I'm not even sure. I also saw her walking around and over the water dish. I think she must have fallen, because she didn't stay there long.

I'm getting less satisfied with my choice of cage design. The bottom opening thing is just a pain. I think I'll have something with a screen on top that can be opened, but isn't usually, and a door on the side as well. The door would be placed near the bottom and away from the climbing branch and whatnot so a spider would (hopefully) not build it's web on it. With that sort of configuration, I wouldn't have to glue in the climbing material either. Also, although the sandblasted grape vine looks SUPER AWESOME, it molds very easily when it soaks up moisture. Even when it was just resting against the just damp (not soggy) substrate, it started soaking up water and molding and even rotting in some places. I think I solved it by sealing the bottom with hot glue, but I may go with cork bark in the future.

Yes, Ambush remains in her cave. I think it'll be two weeks tomorrow. Compared to the two new spiders, she really looks big. Way bigger than I remember her when I got her. But when I got her, I measured her, and she seemed to have a legspan of about 2.5", which is just a little under what I would estimate her as when I compare her to the two new ones. The Spider Patch guy must have been referring to body length when he sold her to me - that's gotta be about 1.5" at least.

Update: I think I figured out why I was having trouble sexing the A. versicolor. There are at least two furrow like features near the forward book lungs that I've been looking at. One (more faint than the other) connects the back corners of the book lungs and is definately curved. The other is more easily seen and appears to be sorta straight line from some angles, but looks like two little curves from another. That one is further forward and is more visible. So, now I have to figure out which one is the right one.

The roaches were making all sorts of comotion so I decided to take a look. I noticed (finally) and adult female walking around, and also a fighting behavior I hadn't seen before. Two large males had butted heads together and were having a shoving match (and strangely, weren't hissing much). I'd seen them fight many times before they got the egg cartons, but haven't since, because it's hard to see them now. I have heard them rattling the egg cartons though. Prior to the egg cartons, I'd never seen this particular sort of male posturing. I'd seen them ram heads, "stilt", wave their butts (looks like the bee dance), curve their butts way in the air, hiss, and even bite once (with little effect), try to knock each other over, but never lock horns and shove. Perhaps it has to do with the presence of mature females (which I suspect will soon be gravid females). Hopefully I'll have a new gang of baby roaches soon. Copyright ©1999-2010 Thomas Schumm