Updates and new bugs

After a trip on Thursday to GBU Enterprises, I came home with some new bugs, a creature I have never kept on the Desktop before, and a critter that was happily released right after I snapped it’s photo.

A turtle, obviously. Something I have NEVER kept before.

3 Madagascar hissing beetles! Yep, I am bringing them back to the zoo!!

A Black Widow and her brood. After photos, they were kindly released away from my home and back into the wild!

She had a few hundred in there, I think. Now, they will be ‘enjoyed’ by the folks of Stockton, CA.

A Pink Toed spiderling 1″ whom I am still trying to name. Sid IV, if you will.

A cool shot of the spiderlings backside, and as one of the forum members pointed out, the spiderling resembles a Green Bottle Blue, though I doubt GBU made that big of a mistake. I am quite certain this is an avic.

 

I had a great time interviewing one of the co-owners of GBU. and may even be volunteering there if I can get out of some engagements that will take up most of my time over the next month or so.  In the meantime I will be enjoying these new additions, and hopefully will acquire more to begin doing private bug-shows and maybe getting back into selling again.  Who knows!

IT’S A BOY!!!

Mitzy, my fuzzy Lasiodora parahybana (also acquired from GBU back in February) has turned out to be a boy.  I’m toying with renaming him, but may keep it the same just to throw people off.  Even though he will not (most likely) have the opportunity to reproduce, I will still enjoy watching him grow, and will  be keeping him as a personal pet, along with Serj, my A. chalcodes female.  Serj, who can live for up to 25ish years, will hopefully become a companion for my son when he goes to college.  He’s 1 now, so just 17 years to go!

 

 

 

 

 

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• Spider Bugs (a10com.wordpress.com)

So Many Updates… but just a few for now…

Well, I have obviously neglected the Desktop blog, and sadly, there is no longer a desktop.  It looks more like a cardboard box and a couple of 10 gallon tanks.

I feel like the Zoo and I have been moving for eternity, bouncing from place to place in Stockton. Through the past few months I have bought and sold more additions than I care to mention, but the good news is that we now have an official (free) website that allows me to keep a virtual store and more- but the problem is that I have lacked the desire to rewrite care sheets and bug hunting info.

I suck, right?

Well, at least I think we have finally settled somewhere for the long term.  A studio apartment that I share with my mother.  Part of what I have been doing with the Zoo, though, consists of  adding them to yard sales and showings in whatever location I am in.  For instance, when I am at my boyfriend’s house, I have customers meet me there.  Tomorrow I will be here at Mom’s, so my customer is coming here.

This still equals a lot of bouncing for the zoo, hence the cardboard box.  I am down to 5 spiderlings, Sid, Nata, and a new A. avic that I have yet to name.

After this next weekend, though, I think I will finally be able to let these poor guys rest at my mother’s- because my guy is scared to death of them….particularly the roaches I also have.

I am sad to see the zoo has dwindled to such a state, but I am planning to rebuild with the money I make over the next few months.  It is all for the new Buggy Zoo- I call it Zen Critter.

Zen Critter’s website can be found at:

http://zencritter.weebly.com/index.html

Once I get off my tired butt, I will once again add care sheets, better photos, and of course kid guides, and a pitch for some upcoming projects that I already have in the works.  The nice thing  is that my experience with Buggy Zoo has given me the framework for a much bigger (streamlined) idea.

Look for updates soon.

One last note- and I am pretty sad about this:

Siddhartha II (Avicularia avicularia) is not looking well.  He is in a permanent Kritter Keeper to help him get to his food, as he is no longer climbing or moving much.  He appears to be nearing the end, after an ultimate molt last December.  I am already researching ways to preserve him, as he was my first (long living) tarantula on the Desktop.  (You may remember Sid I lived for about 18 days after I got him… thanks PetCo. 😡  )

Sid has been retired from the multiple showings, and only comes out when absolutly necessary. (The last was for his safety, as this most recent move was a very messy one that involved some police, thieves, and sadistic threats from teenagers involving the killing of my critters…but that is another blog, for another day, in another place).

As for Nata, he is well, has taken to being handled (sort of) and is as pretty as ever.

With all the moving, I am surprised that the zoo has not packed up and left me for good.

Confusion and Mites. (Stooopid Mites!!!)

Lets start off with a couple of pictures:

Hissing Cockroach

This is my 2 1/2″ Hissing Cockroach.  I have been reading that I may have her species wrong, so I went to go take these pics to post on Insect Geeks for identification, and I noticed friggen MITES crawling on her!!

They are little and yellow and all over the place!

Ugh!!

I now have to figure out this species, AND what to do about mites.

GREEEEAAAAAT 😐

Happy Saturday.

New Video of A. insignis baby!

In addition to the tarantula spiderlings I got today, the owner of the Invert Shop gave me some baby A. insignis, along with a replacement male!!

This is one of the babies chowing on some lettuce.

Veggie Day!

Carrot crinkle cut slices-

I take one out, take a bite.

My piece, your piece.  Into Tara’s tank it goes.

I wondered if crickets would like carrots too.

Take one out, take a bite.

My piece your piece, into the cricket tank it goes.

Repeat with the feeder roaches, and everybody’s happy!

Turns out that bugs like pre-cut carrots, and tarantulas like bugs who have just eaten pre-cut carrots.

*In other news from the desktop*

I have been trying to spend time with my newest tarantula, the Chilean Rose I rescued from a pet store.

She was kept in a 10 gallon tank with a cross section of plexiglass that divided her from 2 other (MUCH LARGER) Chilean Roses.  When I went to select which one I would go home with, I noticed that one was extremely aggressive (due to starvation I later found out) and the other was very moody and flicked hairs all over the place.

The person who was showing me the spiders knew very little about them, and even had me hold one away from the tank-more than 3 feet up above the floor.  (BIG NO NO for terrestrial tarantulas.)

When he went to pick up the littlest one, she seemed rather frightened, and kept backing away.  We finally got her out of the tank, and once I got her in my hand, she calmed down and sat in my palm.

I guess I would be afraid too if the one’s I shared living quarters with were big and hungry enough to eat me!

I couldn’t bare to put her back in the tank, so I had the salesman grab a box, and home we went.

Every morning, before work, I try to hold her for a couple of minutes, and this evening I sat with her on the floor just letting her explore my hand, or sit there if she wanted to.  It was nice, and she seemed to be okay with me talking to her and holding her up to look closer at her.

The more I do this, the more I hope she gets comfortable with having human interaction.  I don’t normally hold my spiders, but she and Isis have been pre-chosen for education purposes.

Sarvashiva and Isis will go into schools at some point and teach little kids about biology and nature.

One thing I did manage to do at the pet store as I was buying her was educate a group of people (including the salesman) about her species, and New World tarantulas in general.

It was pretty awesome to have kids and their parents asking questions, and then asking if they too could pet the tarantula. Everyone was smiling. 😀

Sarva, you are well on your way! ❤

Molting and Digging

I woke up this morning, after a crappy sleep, and was thrilled to see that my Aeluropoda insignis had molted!  She was about 2 1/2″ before the molt, so I am hopefully going to get the chance to measure her new body after work.  Since I wasn’t expecting to get cockroaches when she was given to me, I know nothing about her- so, every little thing that signifies health and well being makes me grin REALLY BIG!

Since I am on the subject, if you know or have any decent care sheets on this little beauty, send them my way PLEASE!

I have browsed the net and come up with very little.  (Funny how I was just talking with another enthusiast about this very thing-a LACK of info on the net.

*Enthusiasts, hobbyists, professional breeders and the like- PLEASE start putting your experiences out there! People  like me wind up with critters that would benefit from accurate and accessible care sheets! If you have a blog or website dedicated to the invert hobby, let me know so that I can link it-  not just for me, but for other enthusiasts!)

Pics coming soon of my roach molt!

Now, on to the subject of digging-

I had the privilege of digging out Tank yesterday.  She had been MIA for about a week, and so I sat with her jar, a spoon, the nifty film container, a new jar and the gift box lid.  I dug for about 10 minutes(a very tedious and delicate process) and finally found Tank buried about 3/4 of the way down in the center of the jar.  I see no signs of any molting, but she is now visible in a shallower jar, with a roach or 2 to feast on…if she EVER eats

Pardon the rambling, but again I slept like crap, and am in need of another gallon of coffee before the day gets rolling.

When I get time, I will also be posting pics of the elusive Tank, my reclusive Aphonopelma sp. “Davis Mountain Rusty”.

Buggy Zoo Photos

Siddhartha<<<<<CLICK THERE

This is my invertebrate page from my website, Buggy Zoo.

Siddhartha’s Journey

Today is just another day for 4 of my tarantulas.  (With the exception of Serj, who was caught eating a roach this morning-FINALLY. *why I was up looking at spiders at 1am I will never know)

Sid, however, will have to adjust to a new tank set up.  I am rearranging her tank, and adding a long piece of driftwood that I took out in January for molting reasons.  I hope this helps her, as she hasn’t eaten in about 3 weeks (since her last molt), and has torn her web to shreds.  She has also been pacing, which really worries me.

In order for me to clean out her tank, I will need to remove her into a smaller plastic jar.  The hissing roach I have left is occupying the critter keeper, so Sid will have to tough it out for about 15 minutes in my dollar store holder.

I hope Sid takes well to the transformation.

*In other news*

I dropped off the 35mm film from Monday’s picture day, so I should have the pics back in a week.  I SERIOUSLY need to stop spending money, and get a friggen digital.

Sharing a Banana With Tara

I eat a banana or 2 almost every day.  I love them!  They are awesome for the quick sugar pick me up, as I am very prone to hypo-glycemia.  This morning shows no exception, and as I went to the bunch that I have sitting by my coffee pot, I remembered that there were some other folks in the house that might also enjoy a banana with me.

The first thing I did was pick out a medium sized banana.  I didn’t want to eat a big one, so a medium one worked well.  I then went to the cutting board to slice my banana, and made 2 small cuts at the tip (after I had taken a bite, of course.)  I took both slices and cut them into quarters.  One of the quartered pieces went onto a napkin, and the others I just carried by hand.

The little ones in the deli cup got the napkin slices, and Tara, my remaining female hisser, got the free slices.

Tara hasn’t eaten at all since I brought her and her mate home.  I am very thankful that she didn’t eat the orange I placed in their tank, as I think that’s what killed my male.  (I forgot to wash the fruit before I put it in the tank :*(  The male went to town on it, but Tara ignored it.

I am hoping to have more success with the banana.

On another note:

Tank (my A. unnamed sling) has become even more anti-social, and has dug deeper into her jar.  The really cool thing is that the burrow is by the glass so I can see her!  Serj is also still visible in her jar.  I almost feel like I have an ant farm with spiderlings!

I have been taking suggestions from various forums that I post on, on how to feed the slings.  Using tweezers is the latest suggestion, so I will try it this weekend.

Day 4: Thoughts About Naming, Feeding and Sling Keeping

So I have officially named my slings:

B. smithi (Isis)

A. unnamed (Tank)

A. Chalcodes (Serj)

Still no name for the female Hisser,  Sorry little buddy!!

Now that the name game is over, I am still a little nervous about feeding.  I have been looking across the web for ideas, and the term “Maggot” has come up quite a bit.  Never thought I’d be googling maggots…but if they keep my little ones happy, so be it.

I just hope that they remain happy, healthy, and ALIVE.  I am still a little sad over the loss of my male hisser.