Smithy started eating again the day before yesterday. She was probably ready to eat days before, but I made the mistake of giving her two super worms on separate occasions. Both times they burrowed before she could catch them. I swear, she's the Homer Simpson of tarantulas. Sooo lazy! Yup, she's a slow moving one. Her style is more or less to stay in one spot and wait for the prey to come her way.
Mustapha on the other hand is the exact opposite. As soon as I put a meal worm in he pounces. I think he rather enjoys hunting. He slowly stalks his way around the terrarium and then tackles. I gave him a cricket today and he gobbled it right up.
It's about time I make a little more room for them in their terrariums. Pretty soon they are going to have the final move, into the 10 gallons.
That will be exciting!
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Molt!
Jeez, almost another month again.
Unfortunately I'm having somewhat of a bad, cranky week. Since my spiders love me and wanted to cheer me up, Smithy surprised me this morning with a molt! Ever since she arrived last July I have witnessed every molt, except one, which was a bad one. She didn't fully escape her exoskeleton and then hid for about a month.
I woke up this morning and checked on them, as per our usual routine. To my utter delight she was writhing in the substrate on her back, fresh out of her skin! Ahhh the new suit is fabulous and oh my, has she grown up! I don't think she has changed suits since January! This one is definitely noticeable. I'm very excited to see how much bigger she'll become after she hardens.
Mustapha is magnificent as usual. I can't believe when he arrived as a freebie I considered giving him away. I picked up some superworms last weekend for a change of pace. He likey! I'll put one in, turn my back and hear a thud against the side of his terrarium. That would be him going in for the kill. He's an extremely enthusiastic eater! He's also incredibly big, hyper and gorgeous. For a spider he has a lot of personality.
One more thing I wanted to mention: A couple of weeks ago Smithy went into fast and I hadn't realized this, so I kept putting crickets in with her that hid, and were not eaten. Eventually she had about three in with her and so I had to take her terrarium off the bookshelf, to fish them out. She didn't like that one bit. She flicked hairs at me. Luckily I didn't get hit but it made me really nervous. I mean, we have birds in the same room and cats that wander everywhere in the house. I knew that was a risk when I decided to keep tarantulas but now it's real, and I'm nervous.
I'll have to do some research on this matter. It's too bad there is not a whole lot of tarantula keeping information out there, aside from the basics.
Anyway, hopefully I'll write again soon with updates!
Unfortunately I'm having somewhat of a bad, cranky week. Since my spiders love me and wanted to cheer me up, Smithy surprised me this morning with a molt! Ever since she arrived last July I have witnessed every molt, except one, which was a bad one. She didn't fully escape her exoskeleton and then hid for about a month.
I woke up this morning and checked on them, as per our usual routine. To my utter delight she was writhing in the substrate on her back, fresh out of her skin! Ahhh the new suit is fabulous and oh my, has she grown up! I don't think she has changed suits since January! This one is definitely noticeable. I'm very excited to see how much bigger she'll become after she hardens.
Mustapha is magnificent as usual. I can't believe when he arrived as a freebie I considered giving him away. I picked up some superworms last weekend for a change of pace. He likey! I'll put one in, turn my back and hear a thud against the side of his terrarium. That would be him going in for the kill. He's an extremely enthusiastic eater! He's also incredibly big, hyper and gorgeous. For a spider he has a lot of personality.
One more thing I wanted to mention: A couple of weeks ago Smithy went into fast and I hadn't realized this, so I kept putting crickets in with her that hid, and were not eaten. Eventually she had about three in with her and so I had to take her terrarium off the bookshelf, to fish them out. She didn't like that one bit. She flicked hairs at me. Luckily I didn't get hit but it made me really nervous. I mean, we have birds in the same room and cats that wander everywhere in the house. I knew that was a risk when I decided to keep tarantulas but now it's real, and I'm nervous.
I'll have to do some research on this matter. It's too bad there is not a whole lot of tarantula keeping information out there, aside from the basics.
Anyway, hopefully I'll write again soon with updates!
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