Australian Tarantulas - One Australians Journey

[Dave Jay]

Also, I've been researching Ant Keeping and experimenting with making my own Formicariums.
This has lead to one good idea, they use power packs as heating! Those black boxes you plug in to power your appliances all provide constant mild heat, most of them anyway, phone chargers excepted I would think, they get hot. The ones that keep a fairly constant heat can be plugged into powerboards and placed where heat is needed, plug more here or less there and get the right temp for free!
To me it's a duh moment, I didn't realise that it was the powerboard providing the ambient heat in my corner!
I do worry about magnetic fields though.

 

[Dave Jay]

The other thing is I was coming up with designs for ants but they're perfect for Tarantulas.
They're not finished yet but this is so far in as few pictures as possible. The gap between the insert and the 'glass' will be filled with substrate of course.

 

[Dave Jay]

@Tortoise Tom , I know you have a flair for decorating (enclosures!). I had this idea as soon as I saw the box in the other container, its no difference to a toilet roll in a jar.
It does mean however that the spiders burrow will be visible and it cant collapse 3" of substrate on its head.

 

[MassExodus]

Dave can you show us a ventral pic of the big goliath? Great thread man. You have free range huntsmen as pets? You lucky bastard! That orange badge is cool, how bout some pics of your other houseguests?

 

[Tortoise Tom]

@Tortoise Tom , I know you have a flair for decorating (enclosures!). I had this idea as soon as I saw the box in the other container, its no difference to a toilet roll in a jar.
It does mean however that the spiders burrow will be visible and it cant collapse 3" of substrate on its head.

Thanks you for the compliment, but I think mine are pretty basic. What a coincidence that you should bring this up. Your concept is similar to something called the "Lund" cage that I'm reading about in my current book:

It is described as an aquarium within an aquarium and the gap is filled with substrate for the tarantula to burrow in. Your concept takes it a step further with better development of the inner portion.

 

[Whitelightning777]

Here's a few pictures of the badge Huntsman from the night I found it staggering around on the kitchen bench.
Not great pictures but all I have atm. They don't convey how vivid the orange is, but it gives some idea. One shows the "badge" quite well though.
View attachment 29863 View attachment 29864 View attachment 29865 View attachment 29866 View attachment 29867

Ironically enough, hobbyists in the United States world probably pay good money for an orange OBT colored huntsman.

 

[Whitelightning777]

Also, I've been researching Ant Keeping and experimenting with making my own Formicariums.
This has lead to one good idea, they use power packs as heating! Those black boxes you plug in to power your appliances all provide constant mild heat, most of them anyway, phone chargers excepted I would think, they get hot. The ones that keep a fairly constant heat can be plugged into powerboards and placed where heat is needed, plug more here or less there and get the right temp for free!
To me it's a duh moment, I didn't realise that it was the powerboard providing the ambient heat in my corner!
I do worry about magnetic fields though.

Just make sure the heat source is to the side or above the T, never below it. Monitor the temperature closely to avoid any hotspots.

Set up an empty enclosure identical to the occupied ones in order to measure and be safe. Do use a thermometer, digital or the kind that tapes directly to the acrylic or glass and watch them carefully.

If you screw up, the results can be fatal!!

Less is more and a spread out gentle heat gradient is what you want. I can send more detailed instructions.

The benefits are faster growth, less inclination to climb the walls and hang upside down upon the roof and less of a chance of feeders overpowering the T. Many feeders are more cold tolerant then tarantulas.

Disadvantages are increased food requirements, increased defensiveness/aggression (which with a highly venomous species is nothing to joke about) & perhaps a shorter life for males.

I strongly suspect that more frequent molts and increased effectiveness of venom also occur but there isn't enough research out there to prove it.

To pacify my Ts prior to maintenance, I simply turn off the heaters for an hour, really really slows them down, but they are still plenty fast.

Overall, it's probably best to move the cages into a warmer area of the home, especially if it's 75 degrees Fahrenheit or even slightly above first.

Sadly enough, in my home the roommate requires unusually cool temps that make it impossible to lounge around with a T-shirt and shorts. I need a bathrobe and sweat pants just to sleep. Usually if you're A-ok lounging around wearing very light or even no clothing, the Ts are fine as well.

 

[Arachnoclown]

This is the first time we've seen Belindas' Phlogius 'goliath' since the night we got it.
View attachment 30981 View attachment 30982
It's about 3 and half inches dls, do you think the pedipalps are looking male?

Love the color of these spiders...so beautiful.

 

[Dave Jay]

Dave can you show us a ventral pic of the big goliath? Great thread man. You have free range huntsmen as pets? You lucky bastard! That orange badge is cool, how bout some pics of your other houseguests?

I'll try to get some ventral pics when it's out next, it's not big though, between 4 and 5 inches dls, the huntsmans are bigger!
I like the badge huntsmans too but lately the ones that come inside seem to be on their last legs, although a couple came good, I think other spiders in the house attack them. There's plenty of big brown ones, I'm sure there must be one behind every picture in the house! It was freaky the night of the power failure, of course it was pitch black in here and got very cold very quickly, they seemed to be attracted to the warmth of my netbook. They usually just sit on the walls not walk around on the table while I'm typing.

 

[MassExodus]

Thats awesome. So can you handle them, or do they freak out like wolf spiders and bolt? Ive heard they're fast. They seem big and kind of goofy to me..remember those sticky rubber octopus toys that you throw at a wall, and it crawls down it? They remind me of those. Also, thanks to you, I cant think of huntsman spiders without remembering that they cause car accidents, which as messed up as it is, gets me laughing. Years ago driving down a country road with my windows rolled down, I had a bug that looked like some huge mutated form of katydid/mantis/scorpion hybrid that had a six inch legspan hit me in the chest, then start crawling up my neck. I made some weird gurgling screaming sound and drove off the road, beating the **** out of myself with one hand. Looking back its hilarious, at the time I almost pooped a little. I still havent ID'd the insect, Ive googled every known bug in Texas.

 

[Dave Jay]

Thats awesome. So can you handle them, or do they freak out like wolf spiders and bolt? Ive heard they're fast. They seem big and kind of goofy to me..remember those sticky rubber octopus toys that you throw at a wall, and it crawls down it? They remind me of those. Also, thanks to you, I cant think of huntsman spiders without remembering that they cause car accidents, which as messed up as it is, gets me laughing. Years ago driving down a country road with my windows rolled down, I had a bug that looked like some huge mutated form of katydid/mantis/scorpion hybrid that had a six inch legspan hit me in the chest, then start crawling up my neck. I made some weird gurgling screaming sound and drove off the road, beating the **** out of myself with one hand. Looking back its hilarious, at the time I almost pooped a little. I still havent ID'd the insect, Ive googled every known bug in Texas.

My wife handles huntsmans, usually to freak people out! I catch them in jars and put them outside if they stray from their 'allowed zones' but if you miss a couple of times they jump off the wall at you. Something about them freaks me out to be honest, weird legs or something, I dunno. I don't care if they live on the wall, or even walk across my keyboard but I don't want to hold them at all!

 

[MassExodus]

My wife handles huntsmans, usually to freak people out! I catch them in jars and put them outside if they stray from their 'allowed zones' but if you miss a couple of times they jump off the wall at you. Something about them freaks me out to be honest, weird legs or something, I dunno. I don't care if they live on the wall, or even walk across my keyboard but I don't want to hold them at all!

Ahaahaa. First thing I'd do if I saw one.

 

[Dave Jay]

I've been very busy of late, I have fed without recording it. I fed Geophrey and the sp.2 that were out, but it must be about a month since I fed everyone at once.
I have also sold 5 of the Selenotypus "sp.2" in starter kits, all were ones that were out and about, most have had blocked burrows for quite a while now, basically brumating over winter like most of my scorpions and both my lizards do . Only the frogs are provided with heat during winter but they slow down too.
Feeding

Geophrey - half mealworm pupae

S. "sp.2" -

Burrows blocked (not fed) - 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13,
4, 9 - small cricket
5, 16 - half mealworm pupae

Phlogius "stents"

5 medium cricket
1, 2, 3 small cricket

Pq 113

1, 2, 3 small cricket

Selenotypus plumipes - small medium cricket.

 

[Dave Jay]

None of the spiders have been active and only Geoffrey (P. crassipes) has taken food.
17th of September all spiders except the sp.2 given crickets to suit their size.
Geoffrey was fed around the 10th and 3rd September too.
Plumipes given a cricket even though the burrow is blocked. I can see her in her burrow, lively and reactive but no sign that she's moulted at all. The sp.2 are all in closed burrows. The Blue Legs and stents have open burrows but not visible except num 5 who showed no response to a cricket being put in the enclosure at all. If she didn't change position daily I'd think she was dead. It's spring now but still frosty nights and 12c days with the odd bit of sun here and there, hopefully it warms up soon.

 

[Dave Jay]

A few pics of young Geoffrey in his new tank. He's much better behaved in this larger enclosure and actually ambushes the crickets rather than running away from them as he did in the little container.

The round circle of webbing is where I sat his old container on the plants just sitting above the substrate, he made his bed underneath it. Now he lives in the pipe (shrimp tube) and has attached webbing from the entrance to the circle, that is now his ambush spot. When a cricket enters the circle Geoffrey leaps out of the pipe and grabs it, he seems to web up his prey almost like some true spiders do, maybe it helps when tackling prey that is relatively large compared to his size.

 

[Dave Jay]

31st October 2018
I must have forgotten to record the last feeding, but I know all bar the sp.2 slings and the plumipes were fed 1 cricket each.
Young Geoffrey has been getting a tiny cricket each week since moving him to the new enclosure last month.

Sp.2 - #4, 9, 10, 11 fed small cricket
All others still have burrows blocked.

Stents 1, 2, 3 fed small/med crickets
Stents 5 large cricket

The plumipes has unblocked it's burrow at last, given medium cricket.

Blue Legs 1 & 3 - small cricket
Blue Leg 2 - sml/med cricket

 

[Dave Jay]

10th November 2018

Stents 1 and 5 given medium cricket
Stents 2 and 3 given small cricket
All Blue Legs - small cricket
Plumipes - medium cricket
Geoffrey - small cricket

 

[Dave Jay]

I thought I'd show the difference in webbing between the four Phlogius sp. "stents" in my part of the collection.

Stent #1

Stent #2

Stent #3

Stent #5

So there's quite a lot of variation within the species!

 

[Dave Jay]

Now some random photos from Friday night.
All Phlogius sp. "stents"

#3 - this is about all I ever see of this little one, it has two entrances to it's burrow but no visible webbing.

#1

#5

#1

#5

#5

 

[Enn49]

I thought I'd show the difference in webbing between the four Phlogius sp. "stents" in my part of the collection.

Stent #1
View attachment 33489

Stent #2
View attachment 33490

Stent #3
View attachment 33491

Stent #5
View attachment 33492

So there's quite a lot of variation within the species!

It has always amazed me just how Ts of the same species differ in the way they choose to build their homes and their different personalities..