Ally's Eight-Legged Journey

It's a feeding day. I know this because Ziggy is out and about. Ziggy is my elusive P. metallica . Like most metallicas, he is very shy, and very bolty - He will bolt back down into his tunnel at the slightest hint of movement from the outside. This is how I know when he is hungry - A hungry Ziggy doesn't bolt as easily. When I was feeding him today, I couldn't help but notice that he is finally coming into his adult colouring. He still has the juvie grey colouration on his carapace and abdomen, but his legs are starting to get the blue and yellow markings of an adult. It's really nice to see because an adult P. metallica is quite a beautiful sight. I'm quite excited to see that I'm getting to see it in my own home.

The elusive Ziggy is out and about! Obviously that means he is hungry and looking for food, so I threw a small cricket into his enclosure, but not before I snapped a photo. I am pretty sure that he has molted again - He has got a series of tunnels under the substrate, so I don't actually see him out and about very often. Nor do I know when he's in premolt, molting, or molted! This is why I gave up on my Spood-sheet. I wasn't getting the information to properly update it! He definitely looks like he's just about doubled in size now, compared to when I first got him, and his legs are starting to look chinkier, and get that nice feathered look that old world T's tend to get - they look like they're wearing little leg warmers. His adult markings are starting to develop - you can clearly see the dark markings on his abdomen and the cream stripe down the middle, althouth he's not developing the blue and yellow that I'm so excited to see. That said, the ...