Skip to main content

Blogger Absences!

Sorry guys! I don't know if anyone actually reads my spider blog, but I'm sure if you do you'll have noticed that it's on a temporary hiatus.

There are posts queued up, waiting to be edited and finished. I have plenty to write about, including the recent loss of my elderly mantis Catchy, and the rehousing of my Poecilotheria metallica (which was tense). But right now it has to wait, as I am currently juggling my job, my fmaily, and now my new Masters degree in Environmental Management.

I will come back and update on all the lovely (and not so lovely) things that my critters have been up to. But for now, I'm afraid it will have to wait.

Be safe all, and don't squish that spider!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

In Memoriam: Summer edition

Unfortunately, due to the delayed nature of the posting on this blog, the things that I write about in the Summer don't get published until Winter, or vice versa. That's the limitation of a prolific poster writing up a buffer, to be released at regular intervals. It doesn't usually pose a problem, but as I write this post in the middle of Autumn - firstly, it is not going to hit the blog until next year. Secondly, due to the nature of the content here, it may interrupt continuity - I am writing to remember the charming little critters that I lost over this summer. Some of the deaths were expected, there had been plenty of warning. Other deaths were...surprising. But while I mention them here, due to the pre written nature of the content to come, there may be posts further down the line where these names and faces crop up again, almost as though I hadn't lost them. I've been umming and ahhing over the best time to place this post, and to be honest - there's...

Purple Spood has a Name

This new spood finally has a name! It has taken me a while to get around to it, because I was really struggling. I am really hoping that this spider is a male, because the males of this species take on a really vibrant purple colour once they grow on, while the females are a dusty brown. So I wanted a male name, but also something linked to the colour purple, to highlight my hopes for him. All of the purple-themed names I could think of sounded really girly, like "Lavender", or "Heather". But then it occurred to me - Purple Rain. My partner really came up with it, not me. But he's named after a certain purple singer/songwriter - Prince. Yeah, it might be cliche, but I'm really happy with it. So Prince it is!

Arachnophobia and the Quest for Freedom

So, firstly a little bit of back story. My name is Ally, though many people call me Tig. I am a 40 year old animal science laboratory technician at an agricultural university. I graduated with a first class degree in Zoology with aquatic biology. In my time as an undergrad I undertook grassland sampling, invertebrate sampling, kick sampling, and I spent several weeks doing biodiversity work of all kinds in the Borneo rainforest. I have had plenty of exposure to invertebrates, and I have enjoyed it. In my personal life, I have kept giant African land snails, Indian stick insects, and giant millipedes. I love all animals and have no fear of insects - I love to handle them, the bigger the better. ......except for spiders. Spiders, spooders, nopes. More recently I have come to call them Ticklers of Terror. My fear of spiders is such that during my first year of uni I resisted all efforts to have me visit the endangered cave spiders at a site of scientific interest. During my seco...