December, 1999

December 6, 1999:
There hasn't been much new going on with the spiders. I broke down and got some crickets from the pet store. My second shipment of one weekers came, and my first shipment is finally getting bigger, but it may be a couple weeks still before they're a good size. Both spiders are consuming mass quantities. I can't believe how much Boots has eaten. She must be ready to burst. Tick is faster and more skittish than she was before the molt, though she hasn't sprayed quite as much poop. Both spiders have left me nice little silk wrapped packages to clean out, but they've devoured most of the crickets in their entirety. These new cages are definately better, though the opening is just a tad small and tricky to work through. It's much better than opening the bottom of the cage though.

December 11, 1999:
They're both still eating. Boots is rediculously fat, and her abdomen is very shiny. She demolished the top portion of her web today, for no apparent reason. It was more of a tangle than anything else. Tick has made an absolute mess out of her cage. There is all kinds of goop sprayed everywhere. She's also done some odd webbing. Sometimes she'll web over the openings in her web, only to reopen them a few hours later. Her web was sort of triangle shaped with openings in the corner (the one on top where she hangs out the most being larger). Today she demolished the bottom wall. I think she realized that all the crickets were coming from the bottom, and she was having trouble catching them through the small holes down there. I'll probably post some pictures later tonight.

December 12, 1999:
Boots is finally starting to seem less willing to eat. Tick's appetite is more voracious than ever though. Boots demolished her upper web, then started wandering around the cage, eventually taking up residence in the lid on the side. Fortunately, she decided that wasn't a good spot, then she went back up the cork and started to rebuild her upper web. Tick has started to decorate her web with bits of substrate now. She has made a disgusting looking mess out of part of her cage.

I've posted some pictures of Tick, Boots and their new enclosures and updated their pages as well.

December 21, 1999:
I've been busy, and it's a while since I've made an entry, but not too much has happened. Both spiders have continued to do what they were doing last time I posted. They're both still eating, though I have to get some more decent sized crickets. I must be doing something wrong with the tiny ones I got mailorder because they still aren't much bigger (it's been at least 5 weeks since I first got them). The spiders will eat them, but they don't qualify as a meal. Tick continues to fortify and expand her web and continues to add bits of substrate to it. Boots kept smashing and rebuilding her upper web. She doesn't do much with the lower web except occasionly add a few more random looking strands. She built a new web between the top of the cage and the chip of cork bark sticking out of the main piece. It is vaguely tube shaped, and she seems to be making it into a real home. The spiders seem pretty happy.

The new cages are holding humidity better, partially because the cheesecloth is put on a bit more densely, and largely because the sphagnum moss really improves the moisture holding properties of the substrate. I only have to remositen the cages a couple times a week instead of every day. This has picked up a bit lately because it's friggin' cold outside and my heater runs a lot. Also, from what I've seen of these so far, the ideal humidity for Avicularia is no more than 75% (probably anywhere from 70-75% is good, and even if the cage gets outside that range they seem pretty tolerant). They are less active, slower and fussier if it gets up around 80%. People who say it should be higher than that seem to be the same ones that say Avicularia are hard to raise. I don't see how it would get that high in their natural environment (up in the trees).

Copyright ©1999-2008 Thomas Schumm