To my followers

Dear fine people of WordPress and beyond,

Thank you for the time you have taken to stop by, like, and comment on my blog.  I appreciate it very much.  If you are new, please bare with the shameless promotion of my Examiner articles, as I am a new contributor to the site, and have not yet gotten my legs.

Also, in case you have noticed, a lot of my older posts here are missing their photos and have expired links.  This is due to the hosting website, which is no longer available.  I apologize for this, and have been working (slowly) to get the photos back up.  The computer that had the originals is also down, so I have to comb through my multiple social media sites to see if back-ups were saved. Please bare with me during this painstaking process, and thank you, in advance, for your patience.  If you are looking for something in particular, or have any questions, please feel free to contact me using the form in the sidebar.

To piggyback on the photos issue, I also must warn that I have incredibly bad luck with cameras.  If I have not posted in a while, it is probably to do a broken piece of equipment.

I am happy to have you aboard, and would love to hear from you!

Thanks again, and I look forward to helping you along your journey into the world of invertebrate hunting and keeping.  See you around!

Sidnata

A few old and new pics

Me and some of my past and present critters 🙂

Osiris (E, cyanognathos)

Nata (G. Rosea)  RIP

Nata

Mitzy (L.P.)

Zero (C. fasciatum)

Serj (A. chalcodes)

To My Fellow Keepers (UPDATE)

Hello again!  It’s been a long time, and if you are browsing my site for photos of beautiful tarantulas and hissing roaches, I am sad to say, you will be disappointed,  Everything I had was linked to a website that I have since let lapse.

Since relocating the zoo to California, my priorities have shifted and unfortunately, my luck with electronics extended to my laptop. The Toshiba  is now sitting idly by, awaiting the day it will come alive again.  I have since sold most of the critters except for Serj, my beautiful 3 1/2″ A. Chalcodes.  I had her sexed in February, and received the happiest news!  It’s all skirts and barbies for her! 🙂

Then, I decided that while getting her sexed, I would try my luck with an LP (Salmon Pink Birdeater) sling.  I bought Mitzy right then, and am awaiting the day  when I will discover whether it’s bloomers or boxers for the little 3/4″ beauty.  Both she and Serj were a 1/8″ handful in the beginning, but now they are both getting huge! I never thought that my little desert freebie would turn out to be a critter that will probably go to college with my son.  Mitzy is designated to be for sale, but not until another molt or 6….

What’s that?  You didn’t know I had a baby?  Well….yes, and he is a beautiful, bouncing boy, born July 22nd, 2012.

Serj came before he did, and in between, I was devastated by the loss of both Sid and Nata within a few weeks of each other.   They  now reside in my freezer and are awaiting preservation.  (Yes, I know, I know….a year and a half is a long time to live in a freezer…but please bare with me! I’ve been busy!)  My baby is now learning about T’s through Serj and Mitzy, and will one day understand the beginnings of Buggy Zoo. He will also learn the story of  how Sid and Nata started it all.  They are definitely missed.

So, here’s to a new chapter of “The Zoo” with Mitzy, and a very pretty Serj leading the way.  Perhaps the name of the blog will change to From the Desktop of Serj and Mitzy….Naaahhhh

I look forward to bringing you new photos, on a new laptop (thanks to my Oregon friend who understood my predicament).  Until my old one is up, you can still view many photos on my facebook pages, since sadly, the Toshiba holds all of the originals. (A great lesson in BACKING UP FILES.)

Also, I look forward to sharing my son’s journey around the zoo with all of you.  If I ever refer to “Moo”, you will know I am talking about him.

Thank you for reading 😀

Have a great day, week, month, and year.

Buggy Zoo Photos

Siddhartha<<<<<CLICK THERE

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

SID!!

Exciting news!!  I dumped 4 crickets into Sid’s tank and she finally decided they were good enough to chow on!!  She is having her first meal in weeks right now!

I had to do a cricket count a bit ago, as one was on the floor scaring the hell out of my cat.  (Franky is a city cat, so he has no idea what to do with crawly things..)  This was one of the 4 that belonged to Sid.

Nata got 3, plus she still had one remaining from the last batch.  The way she is eating, I expect these to last a little less than a week.  After that, she is cut off for a week or so.  I don’t want to risk her growing up too fast 😉

I guess this weeks project is to figure how the crickets are escaping from Sid’s tank.  I imagine this is why she hasn’t been eating, and possibly why my house sounds like a warm spring night in the woods!

She has finally stopped pacing, and all is well in Buggy Zoo.

Making Some Changes/Slings and Things

Sid is still not quite acting normal.  I checked for mites, possible leftover crickets (that have soured) and other outside influences that could be causing her odd behavior.

So, yesterday I spent some time adding and subtracting some things from her tank, along with removing the remains of her tattered web.  I added in a piece of driftwood that runs the length of the 10 gallon tank, (which thankfully is shaped well, to run from the bottom of the tank to the top, one side to the other at a slant) I have also placed another piece that runs the width of the tank directly under the upward part of the long driftwood…if that makes any sense.)

Sid is sitting by the shorter piece now, on the side of the tank, but has been all over the place.  I hope the pacing stops soon.  She has fresh water, new things to climb, and perfect humidity.  In a little while I will go to the market and try to feed her some crickets.

Nata on the other hand, has been pigging out since yesterday, and I think she might be on her 3rd cricket this week.  She is fascinating to watch, and is quite lively!

SLINGS*

Serj is taking on an ENORMOUS feeder roach right now.  This is her 2nd in the last 24 hours.   She is very active, and I enjoy watching her continually dig in her burrow.

Tank (AKA- Darwin as she has been dubbed) has also been actively burrowing, but I am noticing that the black spot on her abdomen is getting rather dull in color.  This may explain the lack of feeding, as these are both signs of an upcoming molt.  Her burrow is about 2 times as deep as Serj’s, and appears to be molded inward towards the center of the jar, making her difficult to see at times.  It looks like she is making various chambers.

Isis is looking a lot larger than she did a week ago.  I don’t know if it has to do with the added visibility of her jar (compared to her deli cup) but she too looks dull like Tank.  The difference is that she seems to eat readily, and has had at least 2 roaches that I am aware of in the last week.

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.

Day 6: Roaches and Burrows

I had to remove the nifty film cartridges from Tank and Serj’s jars.  They both chose to burrow instead!!!  Tank chose a burrow far enough into the center of the jar to where I can only see her abdomen.  Serj, on the other hand, chose a burrow right next to the side of the jar where I can see her!

I gave Isis 1 dead, one live roach, and she seems to be ignoring both.

Tank got 2 semi live roaches, but when I put the flashlight on, I startled one of the roaches.  It jumped into the burrow, and scared the hell out of Tank.  Tank jumped out, and proceeded to climb up the side of her jar.  OOPS!

Serj got 2 accidentally live roaches.  I thought they were more incapacitated, so hopefully she will see them before they burrow.  I may have to retry again after work today.

in other news:

Realizing what she’s done, Sid is staring at what remains of her web.  Perhaps she will build a new one soon?

Day 5: Sid and the Web/Feeding Time

Sid’s web has been destroyed.  I noticed it this morning during my daily Tarantula check.  She has been hanging out on the sides of her tank for the past week or so, but I had no idea that she had destroyed her home!

EEEEK!! All this after I threw 3 deliciously plump crickets into her lair. Humph.  She hasn’t been eating well, and has not seemed to care about the roaches i was trying to give her.  She just molted, and isn’t due for another one for a couple of months.  I guess I will wait and see what happens.

Isis, on the other hand, fully enjoyed a roach last night.  I had the idea to use the nifty 35mm cartridge to rattle the roaches up a bit.  (For some reason, this seems less horrible than cutting them up..)

Serj also seemed to notice her roach, but just sat by it for a while.  I couldn’t tell if she had eaten it or not.

Tank-well…….  no luck yet, as far as I saw.  She just sits on the side of her cup.  I think she is not liking the coconut fiber substrate.  Oh well….it’s all we have for now.

I thought over the maggot food idea, and decided against the potential colony of flies.  Nothing against flies, but my apartment is not suited for a bug room yet, nor do we have a shed.

For now, all 5 tarantulas are living on my desk in the livingroom.  It is set into the wall, so they aren’t hit with constant bright lights.  (They wouldn’t be, anyway, due to the fact that we live like cave dwellers as it is.)

Day 3: Picture Day!!

Well, if my camera worked the way it’s supposed to (Cannon AE-1) I will have some awesome shots of each sling, along with my older tarantulas.

The flashlight that I was using to light the deli cups seemed to really annoy the little ones (which I expected) so I had to get as many photos as I could, VERY quickly.

Sadly, when I went to photograph my Madagascars, I discovered that my male was deceased-and he stank to high hell!!  Like rotting meat.  Odd for an insect…not sure if that is normal for this kind….

I did at least manage to get some decent macros of the deceased, and the living hisser.  I am pretty bummed about this though….

Sid was clinging to the side of (her) tank, so I did get some good shots of the iridescent  coloring on her legs, as well as a few macros of her fangs.  Nata, on the other hand preferred to stay camera shy.  She remained huddled in the back of her Dibs container-turned burrow.  I did get some pics of her back there, just nothing exciting.

Hopefully I will have the roll developed this week.  I am praying to the Canon 35mm gods that the camera worked.

We shall see……