Birthdays and Antics

I wrote the breeders today for the first time since the Tarantulas' arrival exactly a week ago. I had a few questions I needed to ask, and I wasn't getting straight answers from books, or forums. The most important for me was, can you overfeed a spiderling? I asked, because Smithy is the Homer Simpson of spiders. I swear, she fell asleep last night holding a (sucked almost dry) larva in her arms.

Amanda, from Tarantula Canada, told me that although a spiderling can't be overfed, their abdomens can become very swollen, leaving them more vulnerable to ruptures, if they fall. That makes sense to me, so I'm not feeding Smithy for a couple of days. She definitely looks full!

I also asked about their hatch date. I want to be able to celebrate their birth...err hatchdates. Mustapha was born in their care, and his hatchdate is May 20 2009. Even though from my understanding, he was in an eggsac since January...Bizarre!

Smithy, is from another breeder. She estimates she was hatched in June 2008! Holy crap! Smithy is over a year old? I had NO idea! I'm actually excited because that means she'll be full grown in two years from now, rather than three like I thought. Awesome!

Other Observations:

-After Mustapha's molt yesterday, he spread out and dried(?..lol) for a few hours.

-Smithy is a stop motion pet. I'll go look at her one minute and she's in a slightly different spot/position from the last time I looked. Sometimes she waves at me.

-All I did this morning was look at Mustapha, and he jumped back in to his burrow again. Who knows how long he'll be there? He's very shy.

-I went in to Smithy's container this morning to pull out the bug. She was pretty close to my finger and didn't seem to care. This is good!

I know I want to handle Smithy. Even when I do, it will be with the utmost care and caution. Mustapha, I'm not too sure about. When he's full grown he'll have an 8-9 inch legspan, and a bite that can cause significant physical harm. It all depends on his temperament.