Picture Post!

The tarantulas have been active! We took them out to play the other day and finally captured some decent pics! However, we almost found out the hard way that Mustapha doesn't like to play. He nearly flicked on us!

The first two are of the notoriously unphotogenic Mustapha. The pics do him no justice. He's twice the size of Smithy, hairy and quite the spectacular specimen. The rest are of Smithy, our eight legged golden retriever:)

Playtime!

We decided that it was time to dig a little hole under each of the spider's hides because they are growing so quickly and we are trying to prolong the process of getting them a permanent terrarium by making them a bit more room. Mostly because we don't want to buy a 5 gallon, only to have to replace it in a few months with a 10 and then 15.

We wanted to see if Mustapha wanted to play first. He didn't. Actually he looked very close to flicking hairs on us! He's not very photogenic either:/ Still to this day we don't have a decent pic of him! We are thinking now that he is actually a she. The name Mustapha really suits him/her. I've been calling her Staphie. H/she's very active and looking absolutely magnificent! If he does end up being a look-no-touch spider, I can definitely live with that.

Smithy on the other hand is so adorable. We took her out, took pics and played with her for a bit. We also happened to get great pics, which I promise to post VERY soon. Not that anybody reads this except me and whoever finds the link on Facebook!

In other good news, Smithy fixed up her bad molt and is eating steadily again. Staphie has seriously outgrown her. Now I have to wonder if she's a he! At least the name will still work but I must admit I would be a little sad over the fact that he wouldn't live as long.

I guess that's it for now!

An Update...Finally!

Wow I'm making posts like once a month now. Oops! I swear, I haven't lost interest in my tarantulas:P

Some good and bad news:

I'll start with the bad. Smithy had a bad molt. It's definitely not as bad as some pictures I've seen of Ts with their legs stuck together but she does have some old exoskeleton attacked to her abdomen and back. About a week ago Chris and I decided that it had been way too long since we had seen her come out of her hide. So we lifted it. I think she's depressed. I'm not going to do anything about it because it's not effecting her movement. We saw her come out of her hide the other day for some water and I'm pretty sure she has been eating again. It should be okay. I'm going to have to spray her terrarium more often.

The Good news. Mustapha has been out a lot, eating like a madman (or woman?), and growing like crazy! He's getting so badass. It completely fascinates me that 8 mos ago he was just a little speck, not even as big as my baby fingernail! Now he must have a diameter of 2 inches! He's outgrown Smithy by far!

Maybe I'm just being paranoid but I wonder if he's out so much because his hide is getting too small for him. No doubt, he will need a 5 gallon soon at a minimum!

I definitely have to get pictures now that he's more active. He climbed up his piece of cork bark earlier and now he's chillin' out on his substrate.

It would be good to get him a new home, and then the crickets can also move into a bigger habitat. Right now they live in a plastic container and holy crap, do they ever stink. Phooey!