Ally's Eight-Legged Journey

My new jumping spider has been home for a few days now. She is a very shy little thing, not nearly as curious as Winnie was, but I am hoping that will come with time. She molted in transit, so I have mostly left her alone to adjust as I didn't want to stress her out too much. She is currently smaller than Winnie was - I don't think I remembered how small Winnie was when she arrived, so I wasn't expecting it - but she is cute. She has the same magenta chelicerae as Winnie did, though her colouring is a slightly different shade - brighter. As she has been home a while, I have determined that Winona didn't seem to fit her after all. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was too close to Winnie, maybe I didn't like the fact that it would inevitably be shortened to Winnie. But she has since been named Wilma - so now my jumping spiders are Fred and Wilma. Cheesy? Maybe. But I like it.

Since getting Diablo I have become increasingly curious about how scorpions eat. Unfortunately, Diablo has so far refused to eat so I can't satisfy my curiosity that way. I do have some dubia roaches on order though, in case he just doesn't like the locust hoppers that I've offered. While I wait for him to decide that he is hungry, I have been googling for more information. Scorpions confuse me. They don't have fangs, like spiders do. They have clawlike chelicerae instead. It looks like they should be able to physically eat their bugs, but I have been very clearly taught that scorpions can only imbibe liquids. So how do they eat? The internet hasn't been hugely helpful in this matter - there were many articles discussing what scorpions eat, but very few regarding how. And the ones that were tended to be locked behind paywalls. Not helpful. Obviously, I know that scorpions use their stinger to paralyse prey. But then what? In the image above, the chelicer...

Well, this is sad. I came home from work last night to find that both of my daughter's female stick insects had died. I did suspect they wouldn't last very long, as when they arrived they were larger than I thought I was buying - mature rather than the nymphs I expected. However, I had hoped that they would live a little longer than this. It's possible that they fell victim to the ministrations of a six year old, and one of the females had a habit of escaping to it's also possible they were exposed to environmental issues. Though given their size, and the fact that Zucchini at least had started to slow down a week or two ago, I do suspect old age. I now have to decide whether or not to replace the females. I know that my daughter would like me to, but she does still have the two males to look after. And I have not been cleaning the floor or the enclosure in the hopes that there may be eggs in there. So it may be that there will be stick insect nymphs in there so...

So after saying that I wouldn't order any more insects, I have ordered more insects. This time, I have ordered a giant dead leaf mantis Deroplatys desiccata , two Mozambique fire millipedes Centrobolus splendidus , and..... another mystery box. As if I didn't learn the first time. This time, I have specifically requested no scorpions (along with no old world T's, and no bitey/stingy things) and explained that I do not have an enclosure large enough for such things. I don't even know why I'm buying them any more. I love them, and they fascinate me - like little tiny mech suits - but I am running out of space. This absolutely has to be my last purchase. And I'm asking people to help hold me to that! When I move house and have a larger space, then I can rethink things. For now though, I must start being a responsible adult (very boring!) Deroplatys desiccata Centrobolus splendidus

My flower mantis has a name! I took a photo of him on my hand (after a particularly large lunch) and he looked about ready to punch me in the face. So his name is Tyson, after the famous boxer. And let's face it - if you're a bug, he's just as likely to bite you too! So here are Tyson, and Catchy, who seems to have tripled in size.

So, the side effect of getting into spiders has been that whenever I see a spider into the "wild", I want to know exactly what it is. I found this spider on the doorframe of one of my labs, and try as I might, I could not ID it for the life of me. I'm reaching out to some spider groups in the hope that someone there knows, but in the meantime, here's a wild spood! In reality, the stripe down his head was yellow, and the black marks on his abdomen were more blue. I wish I had taken a photo of his eye arrangement, as that could have at least narrowed down what spider family he was from, but I didn't think of it at the time.

While I was rehousing the spoods the other day, one of the ones I rehoused was Anansi. When I lifted the bark hide, I discovered that he had molted again, the third time since he came to me. I had expected this - he had seriously over eaten previously, and then taken to hiding in isolation. What I wasn't expecting was how big he had gotten. He is absolutely gorgeous, and after Incy, is my biggest spood. He has surpassed both Lolth and Shelob. Just compare these photos of now versus when he first came home.

Diablo's new tank arrived on Friday. It is the Exo Terra large faunarium. I don't actually feel that it is big enough, but it is the largest that I can fit into my room, currently, so it will have to do. I have read online that most people keep their forest scorpions in 10 gallon aquariums, so I have been window shopping and have earmarked a very nice glass tank, with cross ventilation, front opening, and a padlock, here . When I move, he will be rehoused again into that. For now though, Mister Grumpy will have to make do with what I have. I was very anxious about the idea of removing him from his tank for this - while I know that his sting is likened to a bee or a wasp sting, I don't actively expose myself to bees or wasps. I don't want to be stung, at all. Nor do I want my daughter to be stung, so she was removed from the room while I was doing this. I needn't have worried, however. While he was a little wary of me, and clearly did not want to be handled,...

So as of writing, my scorpion - now named Diablo - has been home for one night. Obviously, having scrambled to get an enclosure together for him, his housing situation is less than ideal. His roaming space needs to be about 12 inches by 12 inches, and he really needs a substrate deep enough to dig into. I get this, so the first thing I did once he was settled into his temporary accomodation was to order him an enclosure that was much larger. I've also ordered him a water bowl, better substrate, feeding tongs, and a thermometer/hygrometer to keep a better eye on his environment. I spent about £51 in doing so. (I could have got it for £35 plus postage from TSS, if only their earliest delivery date wasn't in 7 days time!) But really? Did he really have to circle his enclosure *all night*, tapping on the plastic as if trying to find the weak spot? I barely slept as I was hugely anxious that he would escape! And then his tapping intrigued the cat who spent part of the night tr...