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.

Ziggy is on the prowl again. Whenever one of my spiders is out and about, I tend to assume it's hungry, because as a rule they tend to hide away where I can't see them. They emerge to hunt, so that is when I usually feed them. It was a text book feeding for Ziggy. He was wandering around, so I dropped a small locust in. He grabbed it and immediately dragged it into his web to eat it. Perfect - one well fed spiderling. Hopefully he hangs around for many more feedings, because I can't wait for this one to be grown up. One thing that interested me while he was feeding though, was just how well camouflaged he is when he's sitting against that bark. Some times I will be looking into the tank for ages before I finally catch a glimpse of a leg. It's hard to get a clear photograph through misty perspex - and one day he will have a shiny glass enclosure. But for now I have done my best.

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 ...

Well, I can't unsee it now. Ziggy popped his head out of his hide (presumably hoping for a spot of lunch) so I snapped this photo of him: He looks so big compared to when I first got him a couple of months ago, so I must be doing something right. He's definitely one of my favourites, aesthetically, even if I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot barge pole. But...When I was looking at the photo a little later on, I couldn't help but notice a passing resemblance to a certain blue muppet.... Ziggy reminds me of Uncle Deadly.... I mean, there are definitely worse muppets he could resemble, and Uncle Deadly is one of my favourites. So I'm not complaining. But I definitely can't unsee it now...

As part of my mission to feed all of the hungry spoods before Amsterdam, I threw a worm in to Ziggy this evening. I don't see Ziggy very often - he has dug himself a lovely series of tunnels under his bark hide, and for the most part he just sits in there. A bit strange, considering I thought he was an arboreal species, but I'm no expert in spider behaviour. But this means that if I see him out and about, then I know he's hungry. And tonight, he was out. Ziggy is one of my favourite spiders. I'm a little nervous of him, because he is very fast, and I know that if he bit me it would bloody well hurt - he's an Old World species of tarantula rather than a New World, which means that his primary defense mechanism (well, if running and hiding isn't an option) is venom. I really don't want him to bite me. But that said, I can't help but think he is a beautiful spider. His blue colouring is starting to develop, although it's not there yet, and I love...

Another rehousing! This time it is Ziggy (previously Poe). Ziggy was getting to the point where he could almost span the entire floor of his enclosure with his legs, and to be honest, his enclosure was pretty boring for an arboreal species. He was housed in the small Arboreal Keeper from the Spider Shop, but it really wasn't appropriate for him at this point. As he is an arboreal species, I wanted to get him something similar to what my mantises and jumping spiders are in, so again I turned to Amazon to get him this : Like my other enclosures, it was a flatpacked acrylic box that I needed to assemble myself, but it's top opening and has a nice strong magnetised lid so that he is unlikely to get out. Cork bark, spider plants, and moss for humidity are fast becoming my favourite decor items, as they offer a more naturalistic environment for the spiders. Yes, Fred has a castle, skulls and a coffin, but to be honest it is wasted on him as he tends to sit up in the corners far ...

I got a surprise today. I have been home sick from work as I got Freshers flu (can you call it freshers flu in January?) Whilst I was in bed, I could hear a buzzing, as if a bee had gotten trapped in my room. I couldn't find the source for love nor money... until I looked to the Spood shelf. The green bottle casters that I had written off as dead had finally hatched. I'm not sure what had taken so long, but suddenly I find myself with a box full of hungry green bottles. Since hatching, the green bottles have been given a healthy meal of chicken, and some of them have been unfortunate enough to find their way into my enclosures. Catchy thoroughly enjoyed having the chance to properly hunt larger prey, Joy immediately leapt on the fly with all the ferocity of a starving Spood, and even Poe came out for a munch. I haven't seen him since he arrived, so that was a real treat. There was one Spood who wasn't interested in the flies though. The spood who I had initially bought ...

Spood. Big spood. Showing off his legs spood. Hi, I'm wearing socks spood. This is Poe. Poe is not his permanent name, I just can't decide what to call him yet. This is Poecilotheria metallica , another species from my dream wish list. I absolutely adore the colours on this spider, and affectionately call it "the Lidl spider". This poor spood spent longer in the mail system than I would have liked, as not only did Royal Mail fail on their promise of "next day by 1pm", but my postie didn't even ring my doorbell when delivering. He just put a note through the door and left. This was most frustrating, as with the weather cold and everything shutting down for Christmas, I was very stressed about the poor spood's welfare. After multiple visits to my local office, an hour on hold to customer services, and two posties and a manager frantically searching for the missing parcel, he was finally handed over to me. This is an old world spider with a medica...