November, 1999

November 2, 1999:
I've tried both boots and the A. versicolor with crickets over the past few days and neither seems hungry so I won't push the issue. The A. versicolor simply ignores them, and boots seems to be simply using them for practice. She'll stalk one, and then, instead of pouncing as she normally does, she'll just give it a swift kick in the rear. Today, the A. versicolor was adding to her web again. She likes to rip holes in the web with her fangs (or legs, or pedipalps or whatever), and then use those as anchor points for new threads, just covers them over, pulls new threads through them for new parts of the web or sometimes just leaves them. She nearly encorporated a live cricket that she had been ignoring into a new part of the web (the cricket was smart enough to move when she tried to attatch some webbing to it). I'll be taking the crickets out of both cages shortly.

Ambush finally came out of her hole today! She was actually standing outside of her burrow doing not much of anything. I went to grab my camera so I could get a good picture of her, but by the time I got back she was making a break for the hole and I didn't have time to set up a shot. It looks like her abdomen is getting darker and it's definately shiny, so she may be nearing a molt. I don't know if she'll molt inside or outside of the burrow. It was actully the first time she'd spent any time outside of the burrow since the first couple of days I had her. She eventually came out again, and I was able to take some pictures. I'll post them soon. Just to see if she was hungry I threw in a cricket. She showed no interest and in fact decided to head underground when the cricket started to annoy her. I won't be surprised if she comes back out again though. I'm guessing her burrow is too tight a space to molt in right now.

November 4, 1999:
She hasn't come back out of the burrow again. After I got home from work I saw her in there, but she was in the exact same position as she was last night (with her belly resting on the ground). I opened to cage to spy in to make sure she was alright, and discovered that the substrate was BONE DRY. I had just misted it yesterday! Apparently every other day for misting isn't cutting it. The water dish was mostly full though. I actually very concerned for her welfare now... I think she's alive (she keeps waving one or two legs very slightly), but I don't know if she's healthy. She's not upside down in the molting position, and she's not in the legs curled up underneath dying position. I think it's still moist in her burrow, so I don't think she's dehydrated. She was also making the same sort of gestures with her legs when she was standing mostly motionless outside her burrow. Both then and now, she doesn't even move when I disturb the cage. The only way she moved before was if a cricket or something bumped into her, or I blew on her. I'm not going to give her a cricket now, and there's no way for me to blow on her, so I guess I'll just wait. I don't think it's panic time yet, but if she hasn't moved at all by tomorrow, I'm ready for full panic mode. Needless to say, I gave an extra through misting to all three spiders today. She stopped eating on the 15th of October (good thing I've been keeping this diary); it'll be three weeks tomorrow, so if she's gonna molt, I'd have to assume it's soon.

The A. versicolor seems to be the most active and happiest of the three. She's almost always working on her web. She's started to cover over parts of the plastic now, so it's getting harder to see her clearly. I'm glad I got the pictures of her when I did. It'll be a while before I can see her that well again.

Boots is hanging out on the side of the container again. She's not active right now, but she did move a bit when I misted the cage. She'll probably do her wandering thing later tonight.

November 7, 1999:
Well, I'm pretty sure Ambush is dead. I don't yet know what killed her, but I hope to find out when I retrieve the body (I'll probably do that tonight or tomorrow). It's frustrating to have my first spider die after only a month and a half in my care, but I think I'll get over it. If I can find out why she died I might even learn something from it. Fortunately I have two spiders left to help console me, and they're both much easier to keep an eye on.

Speaking of the other spiders, neither has started eating again, but I'll try them again tonight. They could be near molts, but I think they might just be full. The A. versicolor is always adding to her web, and it's becoming a pretty dense mass now. I'll try to post a picture. Boots has a very small pocket shaped web at the top that she sometimes occupies, and lots of other webbing around the cage, which she adds to when I'm not looking (unlike the A. versicolor who lets me watch her). She seems to sometimes freely venture on to the substrate as well. Whenever I open the cage, there will be dangling threads of silk with crumbs of dirt along their lengths.

The roaches have been hyperactive the past week or so. They're eating at a greatly accellerated pace (a baby carrot will be gone in a couple days instead of a couple weeks), and they're always making a racket. I haven't seen any new babies, but I expect them any time.

November 8, 1999:
Ok, I'm going to say that officially, for sure, Ambush is dead as a doornail. I dug her up today and there was some bleeding around her carapace and near her forward book lungs. I assume she died because she got stuck early on in a molt. There's not enough bleeding for me to say she bled to death, which would explain why she was still wiggling for about a day after the original injury. It could have been a humidity related problem. I got a humidifier today for my own sake (I had started to mist myself for goodness sake), so that should help out my remaining two spiders as well. Also, I got a good look at her underside, and she's almost certainly female. If anybody has any suggestions on how to preserve the body, let me know. I've thought about doing "lost wax" to cast her in metal, but I'm not sure how good that would work with how furry she is. I'm very sad about the whole situation, but it was much worse when I just didn't know for sure.

November 9, 1999:
The humidifier I got yesterday came with a small hygrometer, which showed that my apartment was under 40% humidity (quite dry!) The A. versicolor cage was perfect at 75%, but the A. metallica was too low at about 65%. I did a more thorough mosturizing job on her cage today. I don't know why that one was lower - I had been treating it the same as the other. Perhaps the web holds some mosture in? The substrate also seemed substantially drier. I'm going to keep measuring that until I get it up to at least 75% if not higher. The humidifier should help the whole apartment.

The A. versicolor has webbed over so much of the plastic that it's hard to see her well. You can tell where she's at, and see all her parts, but it's really hard to tell if her abdomen has changed color or is shiny or anything. With a flashlight you can kinda see. The web is almost solid white from the other side. She could be nearing a molt. Her abdomen had been getting darker and shinier, but it hasn't change in over a week. I'm making sure to keep it nice and humid in case she is.

At first I thought boots wasn't near a molt, but she's continued to refuse food for a while now (though most of my crickets are getting too big - when is my shipment coming?) Also, suddenly today she started to change color. It's only slightly visible on her abdomen (which was largely black to begin with), but her legs are definately darker. They look like they have peachy colored hairs over nearly black legs. I think she is a little ways of yet, but I'm pretty sure she's in the middle of a pre-molt fast. Of course, she'll prove me wrong. She's also got one leg over top of her back, which looks weird but it doesn't look like an injury. It is possible that she's just perched that way in her web (which seems to be permenantly established at the top of the cage).

November 10, 1999:
The spiders didn't do anything today. So little that it was actually an event (in the case of Ambush, it wouldn't have been odd, but these two tend to be much more active). This was the few days that the A. versicolor wasn't working on the web and mostly only moved when the cage was disturbed. Boots had been clinging to the side since last night, and has moved, but only slightly. I'm trying to keep everybody's humidity level about right, but it's been tricky.

Also, I noticed last night that boots does most of her work in the dark. That could explain her haphazard web job (-: . I had never caught her in the act of webbing until last night. The light had been off in their room for an hour or so, and right after I turned it on, I saw her webbing. She stopped shortly after the light went on though.

I was thinking about naming all the T's after various forms of attack as I did with Ambush, but Boots broke that trend already, and Phalanx was the only cool one I could come up with, and it just doesn't seem fitting. I was going to name Boots "Lars", but almost every A. metallica on the web was named that (no Kirk, James or Jason though)! I was thinking about naming the A. versicolor "Weaver" because of her webbing skills but that sounded "SOOOO STUPID!!" Then I thought about the last time I can remember hearing that name, then decided "Philo" would be cooler. So, unless I think of a better name, she'll be named Philo. I can't think of any T with long white hair, so it shouldn't intrude on the namespace of future tarantulas. I think I've found a great new pool of names for future spiders.

I added a couple pictures the other day. I also plan on adding a "why?" section later tonight with some info on how I got into these things, and some general info about tarantulas and even a bit on the roaches.

November 11, 1999:
Well, Boots got darker again today. It seems like she stays the same color for a while, then suddenly gets a shade darker, then does the same thing again a few days later. Her abdomen is very much hairier than the rest of her, so I don't know if I'll be able to see much difference there. It was pretty much black to begin with anyhow. She did move around a bit and do some webbing today, and was hanging upside down from her now more proper web home. Her posture and movement have changed since I first got her. She acted like a clown at first, liftiing her silly boots way up in the air as she walked. Now she moves less, but with purpose. She's almost got confidence and swagger. I suspect that she and Philo are moving less than when I first got them because they've acclimated to their homes and have built their webs to reside in. Her posture while hanging in her web reminds me more of a common spider I might see around the house than the adorable little tarantula that was shipped to me. It's as if she's saying "Hey, I may be tiny, but I'm still a badass." One behavior I noticed about a week ago was odd... She carried a few small droplets of water from the top of the cage where I had misted, and arranged them on the side of th container. She then stood near them for a while. I thought she might have been trying to humidify herself (this was earlier when I was struggling more to keep the humidity up), but if that were the case I'd think she would stand right over them or just hang from the top of the cage where I had sprayed. I have seen both Avicularia drink from the water I've sprayed on them.

Philo is still just like she was when I got her, except now she spends all of her time in her web. The web is so dense now that I can't see if there's any change in the color of her abdomen, or if it's gotten any shinier. I can see what basic colors she is in various parts, and can see individual parts (legs, abdomen, mouth, etc), but no detail. To be safe, I'll be extra careful about keeping the humidity up.

I've found that the humidity in the cages drops pretty quickly. I have to give each cage a through misting (more with Boots for some reason even though the enclosures are pretty much identical) and have to refil the water dishes almost every other day (again, Boots's more often.) I think I might have way more ventilation in the top than I need, and I could cover some of that up. Still, neither spider looks hungry.

November 12, 1999:
Ok, now it's possible to see that boots's abdomen is shiny and black (aside from the peachy stripes of hairs that obscure that).

The first batch of crickets came today. I don't think they're one week crickets, and there's A LOT MORE than 50. It looks like about 500 billion pinhead crickets. Wow! There were also to pieces slices of some sort of fruit or vegitable in there that were too desicated by the crickets to identify. There were lots of dead crickets in there too, but they MUST be nearly impossible to keep alive at that size. I hope I have enough survive to be big enough to feed to either of my spiders. These are certainly too small.

I think the cages are too humid now. I don't think I'm getting a very good reading with the hygrometer sitting over top of the openings in the top of the cage. I want to get a reading in the top where the spiders are rather than down by the bottom, but there is no way to put the hygrometer in the top of the cage. I'm gonna keep misting them lightly, but I'll let the substrate dry out a bit. The hot glue job in boots's cage failed in one spot, so the stick was sticking down a little further than it should be. When I would go to fill the water dish then close the cage, it was getting tilted as I screwd it on but leveled back out when it was all the way on, so I didn't notice at first. Of course, the water was spilling at, and I, being stupid and all and wondering why the dish was emptying so fast, would refill it. The substrate had gotten way too wet, so I replaced that, and did some minor modifications to the stick and water dish to keep it from happening again.

This humidity thing is really frustrating me. I think that I should probably worry about it less.

November 13, 1999:
I put a couple pictures of boots up on her photo album page. You can easily see how she's changed color compared to her first picture. I've found these spiders terribly difficult to photograph. You just can't get a feel for how they really look from the pictures. Of course, that's a good excuse for you to go out and get some!

Both spiders haven't done much lately. Philo is still sealed in her web. I think she's happy with it for now - she hasn't added on to it in a couple days. She sometimes stands in a scrunched up position (like the position she was in when I first opened the vial she was shipped in). It seems like that's her "leave me alone, bunghole" position. She still will jump when I mist the cage.

Boots has been hanging from the bottom of her tangled web for a while. Shortly after I took a few pictures and had gone to the computer to download them, she fell, which she hadn't done in days. She didn't seem to be in a hurry to get back up. Instead, she climbed just a little ways up then threw down a couple strands to make a makeshift web. She's sitting their now in what doesn't really look like a relaxing position. She often sits in odd positions with one leg cocked at a weird angle. It isn't always the same leg (though it's often one of the back legs) so it's not an injury. Sometimes its crossed over her back or underneath her belly to cling to a strand of silk or something.

Every time I sit down to make a diary entry, I intend to make it a short one. Every time, I end up making a huge freaking essay about the spiders just sitting there. I'm gonna cut down on the length of these in the future. Of course this extra paragraph to complain about my diary habits doesn't help. Of course that last sentence...

November 14, 1999:
Well, It's about 6:20am right now, only hours after my last update. I often do the entries for the day well after midnight - I'm not a very good sleeper. Being an insomniac finally paid off.

I was sitting there amazed at how much late night programming had improved over the past several years. In particular, Cartoon Network's Toonami rulez (I got to see Thundercats, one of the best episodes of Robotech and Voltron!). Then some morning kiddie shows started coming on (what little kids wake up in time to watch something at 5am?) After that I decided to call it a night, but right before I jumped in bed, I decided to check on the spiders one more time... Philo wasn't doing anything, but Boots (who was still near the spot where I had taken the most recent photograph only hours before), was flexing her legs strangely. Realizing what was probably happening, I was about to grab the camera, but then realized that it would be very difficult to get a good angle on her with the way she had arranged herself between the stick and the side of the cage, even if I moved the cage (which I WAS NOT willing to do.) So I sat and watched, starting at about 5:30am... Less than a minute after I sat down, the front of the carapace rasied up and flipped backward... Yep, she's molting, but how's the humidity... The hygrometer was on top of the cage and read about 75% - near the bottom it would be higher, certainly in the safe molting range, but she's on her side... Is that her intent? Slowly the skin of the abdomen slid off like a sock two sizes too small. At that point, she slid a short distance down the side of the container, still on her side, while I nearly fainted. She would be fine though... It was hard to see what was going on at this point, other than a jumble of squiggling legs. One leg was bent backwards from all the others, and I thought it might be in trouble, or perhaps already broken... Slowly, the legs started to slide out. I could see their progress because the "boots" on the new legs could be seen through the old skin. As they moved along, I could see that the oddball leg was keeping up with the others. The extraction of the legs took the majority of the time. She would make a big push, then rest before the next effort. As they were drawn out further, it looked like a spider on her side with a bunch of scraggly leg things stuck to her feet. Finally all the legs emerged and I started counting... Let's see, 10 fingers, 10 toes... Wait... 8 legs, 2 pedipalps, 2 fangs, everything seems to be in order! The whole process took just about half an hour.

She layed on her side for a while, then started all kinds of crazy stretching excersises, and even some weight lifting type excercises. As she was doing her excercises, her appendages where getting fatter, and her abdomen was shrinking. It seemed like she was pumping fluid from her abdomen into her legs.

I think she went to the bottom of the cage on purpose. If she had molted in her scrawny web she probably would have thrown her self out and plummeted to the bottom while in a very vulnerable position.

What people say about freshly molted spiders looking like ghosts is true. She's a grayish color about like vaseline or milk jug plastic. I don't think her markings are going to change much from her initial appearance. I'll try to get a picture of her before she starts looking normal, but she might stay in a difficult spot at the bottom of the cage. I might have to wait a while before retriving the exuva as well. It's on the damp substrate, so it should stay fresh for a little while I think. She's definately a lot bigger than she was. Based on that, I'm going to guess that she's now 3rd instar. I know that Philo is 4th instar, and Boots appears to be about one molt away from her size if she increases by close to the same ratio again.

Update: Well, she finally crawled into a position where I could take a picture about 8 hours after she finished molting. It was a pretty crummy spot though, but at least I had an angle where I could get a shot of her. She was right along the curved part of the cage, and that made it hard to get a good angle on her and made the picture's focus kinda screwy. She moved again, and I was able to get a couple decent pictures from a different angle. She also was not as pale as she was right after she molted, so I suspect her color will be back in just a day or two. Her abomen was very hairy when she emerged, so it's got nice color already. The pattern is pretty close to the same, but more well defined, and the orangish color is stronger. When it plumps back up again, it should look really cool. Also, her carapce was black as soon as she emerged. The chelicerae and fans where white at first, but they're a dark gray now. Also, her two tone hairs are more interesting (more than just two stripes now).

It looks like her exuva came off in one piece... The carapce appears to be attached to the rest. I can't retrieve it yet; she's not in a position where I can open the cage safely in her fragile condition.

Philo started her fast around the same time that Boots did, perhaps a few days earlier. Since she's larger, I suspect that the fast will be longer, but she could molt any day now. It'll be really cool when she does, because then she'll be getting pretty big. Also, I can't wait to see how much her color changes. I wish she would come out of the web for it so I could see her well. Her web is robust enough to support the weight of ten men, so I don't think she has any reason to venture out.

I'm becoming increasingly dissatisfied with my current cages. They have a number of problems. First, the smaller crickets can, and have, squeezed out the top. Opening the cage disturbs the spider significantly and leaves them without ground for the duration that it's open. Throwing crickets in is a pain (though I've gotten pretty good at it.) I can't open the cage if the spider is near the bottom or on the sides of the container.

I've been thinking about a new cage design, but it could probably be refined. It would be a clear square container similar to those I have now. It would sit right side up, with the top replaced by a plastic screen, or cheesecloth. The bottom would have some substrate, and a piece of cork bark would rest inside. One side would have a hole cut in it as close to the bottom as possible, with the threads from a smaller container glued in place there. That way, I could have a lid on the side near the bottom for doing whatever without disturbing the spider at the top, and without having to remove the whole bottom. The only potential problem is if the spider incorporates the opening into her web. I think that can be minimized if the opening is kept fairly small (just big enough to work with) and it's kept as close to the bottom as possible. They usually put their webs as high up as possible, so it shouldn't be a problem if the cage is tall enough. Also, I could arrange a couple of slabs of cork bark to really encourage web building near the top. Also, I wouldn't have to glue the climbing material in place.

Boy, I sure failed in my attempt to make these shorter. Good thing nobody reads them.

November 16, 1999:
Boots hadn't moved much, but she was up against the plastic long enough to get a rough measurement on her new size. I figure she's about 1.25" legspan. I wasn't every able to get a good measurement on her previously, but I figure she was about the size of a nickel or a quarter at most. That would put her at about 0.75" previously. I've given up on measuring body lengths - their abdomens change size too much to make any sensible measurements. I also retrived her exuva... I don't think you can find out too much from that other than that it was probably worn by a spider at one time. It's mostly intact, and in one piece, but it's so small and fragile and tangled that you can't make much out of it. The abomen all twisted, so it's hard to tell how much of that is there. The carapace is still attached. I'll post a couple pictures to boots's photo page.

I think I might change the A. versicolor's name to Tick while Philo is still considered tenative. It makes more sense, though Philo is such a cool name I'll save it for a future spider (I know I'll get a couple more at least, eventually).

November 18, 1999:
Boots finally left the bottom of the cage yesterday and started climbing around. I suspect she'll start eating soon. I put a few of the tiny crickets in her cage, and one of the few medium sized ones I have left. I haven't seen the tiny ones much, but they are small enough to escape through the top, and I think I squished one while closing the container. The medium sized one hasn't ventured up much, and the spider hasn't gone down. She may have eaten one of the tiny ones though.

Philo/Tick worked on her web yesterday as well, which she hadn't done for a while. She didn't do much though. Most of their activity was going on very late at night after I came in from watching the Leonids.

November 19, 1999:
Neither spider is showing any interest in eating. The mold is starting to grow again, especially in boots's cage. I will probably make new cages and get some cork bark as soon as possible. The grape vine is awesome looking, but it just molds way too easily. In the mean time, I'll try to cut the dampness down. Update: Well, I spoke too soon. As soon as I looked up, Boots had snatched the cricket. I think it just took it's sweet time getting to the top of the cage. Philo/Tick's cage is holding up ok right now, but Boots's is falling into terrible disrepair. The hack I used to hold the vine in the right place is failing, and so it's making a big mess when I open and close the cage. The mold is also starting to move up the stick. I try to remove it, but that's not a lasting solution. It's weird because that cage is no more humid than the other, where molding hasn't been a problem. I don't think I'm keeping it too humid, I just think the grape wood was a bad choice for a humid cage. I haven't yet found a local supplier of cork bark, but I need to get some soon because I want to move boots as soon as possible.

November 22, 1999:
Boots is much faster and more skittish now, but calms down quickly. She still has a tangled mess for a web, and she spends more time near it, or hanging from it than she does in it.

Philo/Tick must be VERY near a molt. Her abdomen looks very shiny on the bottom and top, even though I'm looking through her web. She was moving around a bit last night, and had done some webbing the previous couple of days, but she didn't move AT ALL this morning, and was stretched out more than she normally is. She didn't even budge when I misted her web (which is really unusual, and bothers me some...) The humidity in my apartment drops suddenly sometimes, and I probably have too much ventilation in the cages, so I hope she didn't pull an "Ambush" during the night. I gave her an extra through misting this morning and cranked the humidifer up to make up for the fact that my heater ran a lot last night.

Update: Predicting tarantula molting is easier than I thought. Philo/Tick did molt today while I was at work. She looks really weird right now because she has a stark white skin under her blue hair. It looks like she's got blue legs with white stripes. Her web is annoying and makes it difficult to see her. She is intact and fine as far as I can tell, so my confidence in my own spider caring abilities is improving. She's MUCH bigger. I think she'll have to remodel her web in order to be able to move around (she's had to bend almost completly in half when turning around in her current web now that she's grown). It's very hard to see her, but I think her abdomen is a bit pinkish. I hope she goes out of the web at some point so I can see her. She really managed to destroy her exuva. It just looks like a glob in her web. Based on Boots's appearance in the hours after her molt, I would have to say she molted between 5 and 7 o'clock this evening. She was still doing "stretching" excercies and pumping up her legs when I got home at 7:30ish. I'll try to get a picture, but I don't know how it will come out. I think that I'll make Tick her real name now.

I did obtain some cork bark finally today. I've almost got the new cage for boots prepared. It'll be just a 1 quart container this time. It should be a more appropriate size. The new container for Tick will be similar to her current one but 60 oz (same height, but narrower). I'm not in to much of a hurry on that one since she's still recovering from the molt and the mold in her cage isn't bad. I'm also not anxious to try to chase her out of her web.

November 23, 1999:
Boots handled a pretty big cricket (I misjudged the size when I grabbed it); when I saw it near boots, I thought it might be bad news (it had a body length slightly longer than Boots's). She made short work of it though and in impressive fashion. I will avoid putting ones that big in there, but it's good to know I've got a margin of saftey. She's starting to fatten back up nicely. A few more crickets and she'll be looking great.

Tick will have to redo her web when she recovers. She can only turn around in the large center spot, and only by contorting herself strangely. She's got really uncomfortable resting postions now (sometimes it looks like she has missing legs until she moves again) because of the cramped spaces. Her butt continues to get smaller. She's darker than she was before, and now it seem like the bottom of her abdomen is navy blue instead of the sky blue it was before, and she's got a medium blue for the stripe patterns on the top. Her legs are a dark color as well. It's too hard to see her to make a definate assesment of her color yet. I hope she surrenders her exuva today. She keeps moving it around.

November 25, 1999:
I moved Boots to her new enclosure today, and it was just as tricky as I expected. I stuck her in the fridge for a couple minutes, but I would have been better off with a few more. I got the new cage ready (I'll post pictures and an explanation of it's construction soon), and then opened her old cage. After lots of chasing around with a paintbrush, I got her out of the cage and into a pill bottle. The big trick was getting her out of that and into the new cage. Eventually she ended up in the cage, after a lot more chasing around. I felt guilty moving her because she had really started to build a good web today. It was just a big tangle, but it was still a really nice respectible tangle. It had to be done though, and the new home will be much better. She seems pretty docile, because if she was going to choose a time to strike the paintbrush, she would have now. she seemed really shaken up by the move, but I threw in a good sized cricket, and it was an ex-cricket not too much later.

Tick seems to be bigger every time I look at her. She hasn't streched out fully enough to make a good measurement of her size because she doesn't have that much room in her web. The mold in her cage is getting worse (still not nearly as bad as boots's, which fortunately hadn't spred to the spider yet as could be seen in today's close examination), so I want to get her to her new cage as soon as possible, but I want her fully recovered and eating first. She also gave up her skin today. It's in better shape tanglewise than boots's, but she had played with it so much that some of the legs were nearly broken in half (but where still hanging together enough for me to retrieve it in one peice). The abdomen is a big knot, but the rest is in good shape, and after mostening it lightly, I was able to flatten it out into a nice pose. I don't think it's fresh enough to sex her by though. I'll try to see if I can see something though. She's even more skittish than before. When I misted her cage earlier (which sometimes gets a small reaction, depending on how much hits the web), she threw a tantrum, running back and forth, tossing her shed skin around like that gorrila in that old Samsonite luggage commercial, eventually kicking it out of the web. I'm not looking forward to moving her. I'll probably have to destroy her web, which happens to be about as tough as wrought iron. I can't wait until modern chemestry synthesizes spider silk - it'll be the most useful material on earth.

November 28, 1999:
I'm pretty confident that Tick has fully recovered from her molt. She has been venturing out of her web and runs around when I mist the cage. The enclosure had deteriorated quite a bit, so I decided it was time to switch cages. I stuck her in the fridge for 5 minutes then opened her cage and tried to chase her out. I had to rip the cheesecloth/glue off the top (which was easy because the hot glue doesn't stick to the plastic well.) It was hard to chase her out of her web until I thought to just gently blow on her (which gets her moving like nothing else.) Then some gentle brusing got her into a cup, then eventually into the new cage. Overall, it was an easier move than Boots, even though Tick is much faster and more skittish. I guess I'm learning along the way.

With my new cages, I'm confident that I've elminated the major problems that forced me to trash the old ones. The first and most apparent problem was accessing the cages. Opening on the bottom was great for keeping the spider in, but made it tough to take things in or out without shaking the whole thing up. Getting the crickets in was especially tricky. To make sure the crickets could climb up the wood, it touched the substrate, which made an increasing mess every time I opened the cage. This worsened as the cages deteriorated. Hot glue was used to suspend the wood inside the containers, and that was coming loose in spots, which wouldn't have been a problem if that wasn't the only thing keeping the wood up. It had become increasingly difficult to open and close the container. The top was too open, and the humidity in the cages dropped too quickly. Worst of all, the grape wood I used molded very easily.

The new containers should be much better. I took two round plastic containers (60oz. for Tick, 32oz. for Boots), and removed the tops, and cut off the thread portion with a soldering iron (leaving a semi-rough melted edge). I then hot glued on a couple layers of that same cheesecloth to the top, using lots of glue around the edge, and a grid across the top. I then peeled that off and had a make-shift ventilated snap-on lid. I cut holes in the sides and glued in the upper portions of small Snapware containers. I put in a damp mixture of peat, spagnum moss and vermiculite for substrate, threw in a piece of cork bark and put the make-shift top back on, securing it with a little hot glue (it doesn't quite snap on perfectly!) It was really easy getting the spiders in the cages, and filling the water dish though the doors on the side, so I suspect that these cages will work out much better.

November 29, 1999:
Both spiders are eating for sure now. I didn't have any reasonable sized crickets, so I threw several of the tiny ones in Tick's cage hoping that she'd show interest. I saw her eat a few, and I don't see any left in the cage, so I assume she got most of them. I'll have to get some more from the pet store. The crickets aren't growing very fast. I got the next shipment today, but it got delayed with the holiday weekend and the survival rate wasn't too good. The previous batch made up for it though.

Both spiders have started to web up their new containers. I expected Tick to go straight to the top and build her web there, but she ended up building a web that wasn't even half way up. That doesn't bother me at all - she's in a very visible location. Boots has two webs - one near the top and the other near the bottom. Oddly enough, she seems to spend an equal amount of time in each. The webs of both spiders are still rather tenuous, so it's hard to tell what form they'll take.

Copyright ©1999-2008 Thomas Schumm