So, you want to keep a pet tarantula?

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I have to say Miguel is a far better looking spider than I initially gave him credit for.
Curly Hairs tend to bulk out very well, making them ideal display spiders. :)

This is about as close as I can get without any blurring. Not a bad little macro mode on this camera I have to say.

Miguel04
 
I couldn't wait any longer to hold jezzy, after seeing Leon's pics of Miguel, so I just nudged her onto a credit card and then onto my hand. She seemed quite happy, exploring. She was stomping around a bit too fast for a decent pic though, and I set the wrong flash mode on the camera, so that's why it's a crappy pic. Here she is a-wandering anyway :D

jezhand.jpg


Isn't she a sweetie? :)

Oh, and I got an email from my next spider supplier today saying that she's received my cheque and will post my whiteknee as soon as we get some mild weather. I'm currrently thinking of Brazillian names... I like Iris and Rio at the moment.
 
Like I said - it's not essential to hold your tarantula, far from it - but it's nice to be able to hold it if you want to.
That's one of the main reasons I still really like Pepper - I can hold her at will, my friends can hold her, hell, I can let her sit on my desk all day without worrying.

Same goes for Miguel and the same should also apply to the Avicularia versicolor when it arrives. :)
 
Heres a pic of my spider, its a campina grande salmon pink bird eater, ive had it for about 5 yrs now.

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just realised its no.9 in the 'worst spiders to keep'
 
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Lopez, im not sure how old she is, i think she was about 3yrs old when i got her, but not sure.
she doesnt seem that nasty to be honest, quite docile really, apart from when shes after crickets !
 
Originally posted by JonnyV
Lopez, im not sure how old she is, i think she was about 3yrs old when i got her, but not sure.
she doesnt seem that nasty to be honest, quite docile really, apart from when shes after crickets !
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It's not unusual to get a docile example of a normally aggressive species. My own Baboons are pretty docile compared to some I've seen, and lots of people have extremely nasty Chile rose tarantulas, despite them being apparently docile.

My Curly hair is very docile (but it's only a baby) I'm trying to get it used to being picked up and handled at an early age, like I did with my Chile rose.
It's certainly a voracious feeder - Miguel has taken 5 crickets in the 2 days I've had him. :eek:
 
Well, I managed to set the camera on the correct mode today when I got Jezzie out for her walkies, so here are some remarkably close up pics of her. I've been having loads of trouble getting pics of her in her tank because the vermiculite reflects the flash and whites out the photos. She was a lot less jumpy when I picked her up today, and just seemed happier walking over my hand. They're so careful and delicate when they walk, like they're tiptoeing. It's fascinating :)

I'll have to get a lil vid clip of her strolling about to upload!

Awwwwwww!!
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Roooooooooooooooooooar! She almost looks big on this :D
jezwalk4.jpg
 
Baby Miguel Rodriguez stars in "The Hunt"

Well I can't fathom it. Out of the 4 different species, the greediest one is also

a) The smallest
and
b) The most docile and timid.

Baby Miguel is only about 3.5 cm legspan, no bigger than a plastic milk bottle lid.
But he's happily taking down prey nearly his own size! So far he's demolished 8 full size crickets in 2 days...that's a lot of eating for a very small spider.

Presenting the victim

Miguel05


One Common Field cricket. About half grown, big enough to satisfy any spider.

Entering the arena

Miguel06


The 2 gladiators....err, ignore each other basically. Compare the cricket to Miguel - it really isn't a whole lot smaller than the baby tarantula.
Will Miguel be scared of his foe?

The kill

Miguel07


Well, er no he won't actually. Miguel lets the cricket walk right past before pouncing on it unawares and injecting it with lovely digestive juices.

What a gutsy little beast!
 
Originally posted by Bungee
Nice pics Lopez :eek:

Maybe he is stocking up before he stops eating for a moult?
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It's hard to tell - very often spiderlings will eat like a horse until they physically can't ingest any more food.
This isn't really very good for them, as it pressurises the abdomen beyond its normal levels - so any knock or fall is liable to split the spider open like a pod of peas.
So I'm cutting his food down a bit to save him from damaging himself.

Oh, got a cracking pic of Idi yesterday, thought I'd share it with you as it's the best Macro shot of him I've managed to snap so far:


Idi13


(Sorry it's a bit big :))
 
I still can't believe the size of those fangs! Even on a small tarantula, a bite off him would HURT! :eek:

Anyway, after watching Miguel with a gob full of oversized cricket, I decided to stick the largest cricket I have in the arena with Jezzie and see how she fared.

The result?

BAM! Crunch! Munch!
jezfood1.jpg


She then carried it into her corner for a nice big feast.
jezfood2.jpg


It's was quite funny because as soon as she pounced on the cricket and got hold if it, it started wriggling around and dragged her around her tank a bit before her venom finally kicked in.
 
Originally posted by iam
They are absolutely stunning pics :cool:

You should start up a gallery ;)

/waits patiently for Lopez or Lostkat to make video's
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Just made a very short clip of Miguel eating a cricket.

I apologise for the poor quality, I need to sort out some stronger lighting really. Added to the fact that I can only record 20 seconds, and there's no telling when the beast will strike, it makes filming them eat very tricky indeed.

Still, here is is, a short WMV of Mugabe catching a cricket and killing it.
He catches it RIGHT at the start of the clip, so you need to watch it a couple of times - check out how fast he moves!

http://www.donsroom.co.uk/~lopez/Movies/MiguelEating01.WMV
 
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