Tarantulas and Spiders

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Originally Posted by carlson

Damon your a FF?? I didn't know that. Im in last year of fire science degree got all my certifications already. Jus no paid openings in my town at moment. My chaco has made such a tunnel set up now I never see her ha, has a big open spot by the acrylic I can drop the roach down the hole an she attacks there. But then she has a hide hole I cant see into that chills in the middle. An water dish has become MIA idk what the hell, I cleared it out the other day came back an everything was changed to reburry an move the cap.

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lol nope not a FF. im a roughneck. I work on an oil rig. My avatar pic is of the Belle Vernon, PA FF carring what was left of my bp's out after my house burnt down in 2010. Those guys have all my respect. not a snake person in the lot of them and yet they were still willing to put their lives on the line for my pets! I lost 15k in animals and supplies that day and that was the least of it. My family all made it out and 6 of my bp's. the rest was a total loss. ;( thats where this forum name came from H.ouse O.f F.ire R.eptiles. When I went legit and got a business license we went with BFE Pets and Supply because we were starting to move on to all kinds of exotics not just reptiles.

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Originally Posted by H.o.F.R

lol nope not a FF. im a roughneck. I work on an oil rig. My avatar pic is of the Belle Vernon, PA FF carring what was left of my bp's out after my house burnt down in 2010. Those guys have all my respect. not a snake person in the lot of them and yet they were still willing to put their lives on the line for my pets! I lost 15k in animals and supplies that day and that was the least of it. My family all made it out and 6 of my bp's. the rest was a total loss. ;( thats where this forum name came from H.ouse O.f F.ire R.eptiles. When I went legit and got a business license we went with BFE Pets and Supply because we were starting to move on to all kinds of exotics not just reptiles.

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Wow man, that's horrible. Thank goodness your family came through okay.

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Originally Posted by 3skulls

Oh wow! She is getting some size.

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Yep eatting good too just likes to hide from me is all ha.

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I'm pretty pissed right now. Missed the post office because they closed at 4:30 instead of 5pm like i thought. I bought 65 NC's. As i packed rich and damon's 25/each i found 3 empty cups. So instead of 15 for myself i've only got 12. And i havent checked those cups yet so i'm hoping all them have a T in them at least. Idk if they died or the guy just messed up or what, but thats annoying. I got them for a great deal so i'm not losing much money, but it bothers me that i didn't get what i paid for. :mad:

That sucks Mike. Some people just suck!

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Originally Posted by H.o.F.R

Shayla (my 12 y/o) says that obt has to have some color but not be an adult or the deals off and she'll tear the doll apart herself. Lol

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I'd just like everyone to know that i'm being passively aggressively negotiated with by a little girl and i'm losing...

Tell shayla to slow her roll! i'll be scoping T's out at the expo in NH, and like 2 weeks before that in anaheim. It might not be an obt. If shes anything like her daddy then i know she likes all types of T's haha

EDIT: how many of the NC's has she claimed already lol?

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Originally Posted by 3skulls

That sucks Mike. Some people just suck!

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Yea. He seemed like a pretty cool guy. I'm sure it was an honest mistake, but still, annoying.

Take a guess at sex. Mine will be below.

< Rear ---- front >
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/27/amu6a4e8.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/27/ysapape4.jpg

So this is the molt from my P. cambridgei from weeks ago. She cleaned house last night and put it right beside her door for me.

My guess is female. In person I can make out a flap. :)

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Originally Posted by 3skulls

Take a guess at sex. Mine will be below.

< Rear ---- front >
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/27/amu6a4e8.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/27/ysapape4.jpg

So this is the molt from my P. cambridgei from weeks ago. She cleaned house last night and put it right beside her door for me.

My guess is female. In person I can make out a flap. :)

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I cant tell at all from those pics lol

Haha made this on my phone.
Yeah it's hard to tell in the pics.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/27/upagetaz.jpg

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

I'd just like everyone to know that i'm being passively aggressively negotiated with by a little girl and i'm losing...

Tell shayla to slow her roll! i'll be scoping T's out at the expo in NH, and like 2 weeks before that in anaheim. It might not be an obt. If shes anything like her daddy then i know she likes all types of T's haha

EDIT: how many of the NC's has she claimed already lol?

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lmao! I told her what ya said. she says she'll get her list of what would be acceptable here shortly!

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Originally Posted by 3skulls

Haha made this on my phone.
Yeah it's hard to tell in the pics.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/27/upagetaz.jpg

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Yea no, i knew what i was looking at for the most part. Its just too blurry for me to really tell. Sorry lol

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Originally Posted by H.o.F.R

lmao! I told her what ya said. she says she'll get her list of what would be acceptable here shortly!

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i'm getting her a list too! balfouri's and I. mira's! Lotssss of balfouris!!!!

I had mentioned bean beetles yesterday and I found some info on them. looks like what I have are all juveniles. however the adults are only about 2.5 mm so still smaller than a new dubia. i'm going to divide up one of the colonies that I bought and grow several more hopefully.

http://beanbeetles.org/handbook/

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

i'm getting her a list too! balfouri's and I. mira's! Lotssss of balfouris!!!!

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she wont have those for a long time!!! she cant have them until I have them! and I wont share those! lol

Damon you have no idea (maybe you do) how much I'm hoping they work.

I just killed off a couple hundred adult male dubia. I'm hoping they will take the thighs as a meal. Getting pinheads once a month isn't going to cut it. Cutting up crickets is no fun and I don't want to order 1000 online and waste over half of them.

Are bean beetles enough food for babies tho? I mean like a good percentage of nutrients and stuff?

I would think they would be better than FFFs

I'd be interested!

how big do these beetles get??

are they big enough to feed 3/4" slings??

I'm going to start a Blatta lateralis colony. :)

dont worry Mike i've already got a starter colony with your name on it. one for Rich too just hope it works out! i'm stoked about them. it seriously cut my sling feeding time in half. if they work out i'll for sure be selling them down the road!

Rich I just shot a pm to someone on AB about a turkish roach colony! if they answer back i'd be happy to split it with you guys. Best deal i've seen on them they want $37 shipped for a 1000 and I got the wife to agree that the roaches would be better for us than buying crickets! and they lay eggs and the nymphs are about the same size as a 1/8 cricket. and the adults are about the same size as a 1" cricket!

as far as feeding a 3/4" they should be able to take dubia nymphs or 1/8 crickets no trouble. I havent had the bean beetles long enough to know what the adults look like but that link says they get about 3mm

Any major differences between dubias and turkish roaches?

Yea if those bean beetles are easy then i'd rather feed just one of them instead of having to cutup dubias lol.

Damon i TOLD you roaches were way easier than crickets! Lol

Dude damon the other irminia molted. Did she even look pre molt to you? I'll get better pics tmrw but teaser pic:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/27/u4evepa7.jpg

My obt molted too. Her cup is really webbed up but i shined the flashlight in and was like "wow shes looking REALLY orange..." I'm happy. Her first molt with me since i got her from richypoo. I'll try and get a pic of her tmrw too.

Meph, i'll get the dubia pics tmrw for you too, i didn't forget. I was in a real rush to get those T's out today (and failed lol) but i'll take pics showing the straw packing too. My back crapped out after being hunched over concentrating on packing all those T's.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Dude damon the other irminia molted. Did she even look pre molt to you? I'll get better pics tmrw but teaser pic:
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/27/u4evepa7.jpg

My obt molted too. Her cup is really webbed up but i shined the flashlight in and was like "wow shes looking REALLY orange..." I'm happy. Her first molt with me since i got her from richypoo. I'll try and get a pic of her tmrw too.

Meph, i'll get the dubia pics tmrw for you too, i didn't forget. I was in a real rush to get those T's out today (and failed lol) but i'll take pics showing the straw packing too. My back crapped out after being hunched over concentrating on packing all those T's.

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no and she never quit eating either unless she didnt eat for you. man i love how they look after a molt!

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Any major differences between dubias and turkish roaches?

Yea if those bean beetles are easy then i'd rather feed just one of them instead of having to cutup dubias lol.

Damon i TOLD you roaches were way easier than crickets! Lol

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just size and color far as I know but havent looked into it real hard yet. The wife is the one that didnt want the roaches! I had a colony of giant hissers! she didnt like them so I got rid of them.

Speaking of mailing roaches do you tell fedex that what your mailing?? Or no lol. I gotta get a new box for you rich then see what I can round into containers theres a good amout think anoter female dropped babies.

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So, do you clean/clear out the web at any time during the Spider's life, or does it stick around like the bedding??

And are there any pieces of equipment I should get for my T?? Long tweezers obviously...

Carlson, don't ask, don't tell :p

Mike, the main things are size, speed, and the lats drop egg cases, dubia suck them back up. Lats, the males can fly. Dubia the males flutter when falling.
Looks like you need a substrate for the lats (I'm guessing for the egg cases)

I'm still reading up on them. I'm only wanting the lats for the smaller babies.

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Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

So, do you clean/clear out the web at any time during the Spider's life, or does it stick around like the bedding??

And are there any pieces of equipment I should get for my T?? Long tweezers obviously...

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I'll pull molts of left over food out of the webs but I never rip down the web (unless transferring)
A few tools I use:
Long tweezers
Small tweezers
LED flashlight
LED head lamp when I need 2 hands
I have metal skewers I have shaped into different hooks
Different size paintbrushes
A few spray bottles
A feeding syringe I use to water

Oh and Mike, a few of my OBTs have molted too! I need to transfer them all soon :o
Man I really love OBTs.

Paintbrushes??

And some of the caresheets I read said you use a water bowl with marbles in it so they can get out....

Do you actually use the syringe to squirt the water into the spider's mouth??

I drill holes near water bowls. Then I can water with the syringe without having to open the enclosure.

A paintbrush is used to help nudge your T to move. Or to test to see what kind of mood its in. A soft brush won't hurt them.

Mike here's Shalya's partial list of what she would except. all under 2" preferably. H. Incei gold, A. franki, versicolor, obt, peacock spider, and any of the Chilean dwarfs except sp red cause she has one already. lol I had to make her shorten the list because she wasnt looking at the prices of stuff and she was listing P. metalicas and some hard to find stuff that cost a fortune. lol

One more tool i've found useful in addition to what rich listed: an antenna off an old broken radio. It can be used to prod spiders like what you'd use the paint brush for or just rearrange stuff in the enclosures. The reason why i like it is because its an antenna so the length is adjustable. When i'm doing stuff in the smaller cups i make it shorter and in bigger enclosures just make it longer.

Yea rich i'm gunna transfer my obt to a smaller cube. Not sure if i wanna give him a more arboreal or more burrowing setup... I really like the tunnel my meridionalis has made in her cube. I need more ceratogyrus!

I was going to go a bit more arboreal with my OBTs but... I think they are happier with a deeper substrate and lots of anchor points.

Making more of a sheet web over a burrow. All the sac mates to yours have pulled down all webbing and have gone underground.

I could be way off on this but what i've noticed with my obt's is they burrow when they are about to molt. most of my slings are burrowed and the ones that have recently come back out are rocking fresh exoskeletons.

So here's what i've got going on with my bean beetles so far.... I purchased 2 cultures. I used one and fed approximately 150 slings. the other one I divided into 10 starter cultures of 20-25 beetles each. The starter cultures wont be touched or sold until I see eggs on the beans. which from what i'm reading can take up to 7 weeks but normally you should see reproduction at about 4 weeks when using adult beetles. The original cultures both have hundreds of eggs that I can see and at least 50 beetles each. if what I witnessed today was actually mating then the males tend to be slightly larger than the females. If they are indeed mature and mating then the largest adults that i have seen are very comparable to fruit fly adults. the mature males can fly but i've only had one actually do anything more than flutter back down to the beans. These things are 100 times easier to use than fruit flies or even pinheads. I'm hoping the cultures take off and I can use them on a regular basis without buying them! I will keep you guys posted on them.

If I or we can find a way to cut feeding time down, I can get 100s more :D


I think the B. lats will help a ton.
They are more "icky" looking on the roach front.

The beetles will be awesome. If they work, that might be something I can sell at the pet stores along side with the dubia.

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Originally Posted by 3skulls

If I or we can find a way to cut feeding time down, I can get 100s more :D


I think the B. lats will help a ton.
They are more "icky" looking on the roach front.

The beetles will be awesome. If they work, that might be something I can sell at the pet stores along side with the dubia.

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:P I was thinking about setting out beetles at the shows maybe 1/2 price with the purchase of a sling. Cultures retail at the shows for $8. I'm kinda stoked about the B. lats too. I can't wait to not smell crickets! And they seem like the perfect replacement!

No one has ever had them down here. I'm looking for stuff to add thy others don't have.
Like I said, I would be the 4th bug guy. The shows just aren't big enough :(

I used to have bean beetles and kept them going for about a year before letting the culture die out. They're kind of a feast or famine type of bug. The adult been beetle doesn't feed, they're entire purpose is to mate and die which they do over the course of about 7-14 days. Then you have a container of black eyed peas sitting on the shelf and taking up space for about 6 weeks until one day you find it crawling with about a billion new bean beetles (which will only live for another 7-14 days so you better feed them off quick) I found it hard to synchronize my cultures so that I had beetles hatching out all the time so usually I had nothing to feed off for weeks at a time. They're a good supplement but certainly not a replacement for other bugs.

good to know thanks MarkS! I just got some and trying them out.

Rich: sounds like its time to move! lol or maybe buy out 1 or 2 of the other bug guys. :P

I was thinking you and Mike could come in and tell everyone, this town isn't big enough for yous. :p

GBB's are here!!! :dance:

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1d8eb722.jpg

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Originally Posted by 3skulls

I was thinking you and Mike could come in and tell everyone, this town isn't big enough for yous. :p

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I'll round up my gang! :P

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/...ps27ef4f04.jpg

We'll clear that town! (clint eastwood whistle)

Haha look at Mike in the front there :p

GBBs!! So freaking cool looking :)

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Originally Posted by H.o.F.R

GBB's are here!!! :dance:

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1d8eb722.jpg

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is that one of those straw things??

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Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

is that one of those straw things??

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yes they came straw packed and I had just chased it out onto my hand!

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Originally Posted by H.o.F.R

I'll round up my gang! :P

http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/...ps27ef4f04.jpg

We'll clear that town! (clint eastwood whistle)

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The guy on the left looks like walter white from breaking bad haha

That guy on the left is me. the one next to me is my dad, the one on the right was a friend, and the kid is my nephew. Thats a wedding pic. best man, groomsman, and ring bearer. even the ring bearer was packing heat along with the preacher. lol we had a western themed wedding. the guys rode in on horses and the women came in on a 1947 john deere pulling a hay wagon. Bet you guys didnt have me pinned as a cowboy/redneck. lol

Gives new meaning to: "There's a snake in my boot"....in your case there might be :D