Ally's Eight-Legged Journey

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!

Just a short post today, to share a better picture of my new Purple Bloom tarantula, or Pamphobeteus sp. machalla. This spider doesn't have a name as yet, because I really want to call it something related to the colour purple, but I am hoping it will be a boy, and all those names sound decidedly feminine. For example, Violet. Or Lavender. A random name generator came up with Shadow, Cobweb or Webster. Well, I already have a Webster, and Cobweb was the name of my friends' little white cat. So I need some new ideas... I'm sure something will hit me. So, here is his ass, in all its naked glory. Seriously. This spider has a bald patch on its ass. A New World tarantula like this one will kick it's abdomen when it feels threatened or stressed to send a flurry of 'urticating' hairs into the air. These hairs are an irritant, both to skin and when inhaled. The result of this to the tarantula is that the hair on its abdomen disappears, leaving bald patches. ...

And I've done it again... I keep saying I've got enough critters, but then I put in another order - I just can't help myself! A lot of it is because of my "wishlist", which I have shared several times on this blog. As a regular customer of The Spider Shop , I am signed up to their newsletter so that I can see what they have coming in, when they get it. Currently I am most interested in the T. seladonia Brazilian jewel dwarf tarantula - an absolutely gorgeous arboreal trapdoor tarantula with a pink and blue sheen to it's abdomen, but which costs about £90 for a 0.5cm spiderling, and can often fail to thrive in captivity if it fails to build a trapdoor. As such, it's a risky purchase that I talk myself out of every time they come in stock, and they are never in stock for very long. This week, however, a spider came along which I was very interested in - Pamphobeteus sp. machalla . A terrestrial tarantula from South America, these spiders are orange wi...