Ally's Eight-Legged Journey

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...

This is Ladybug. Ladybug is my third jumping spider, though she is not a Regal jumper like Fred and Wilma are. She is a Widow jumping spider, or Phidippus ardens . I believe this spider is a she, as the males tend to be a vibrant red (hence her name) while she is more of a burned orange on her abdomen. I don't have a particularly imaginative enclosure for her right now - I haven't decided what "theme" to decorate it with. But right now she has been moved into a spare acrylic arboreal enclose I had lying around, has been fed and watered, and has not so helpfully made her hammock and attached it to the front door. Should I ever open her enclosure, I will destroy her house... Fortunately this enclosure has a second feeding hatch, so it's not so critical.... yet.

So, the first critter to be unpacked from my recent mystery box was the Brazilian white knee, or Acanthoscuria geniculata . I was desperate to get this spood out of his tube because he seemed quite large from peering in. As it turns out, I couldn't even see a fraction of the spood, and he was much larger than I had realised. So much so, in fact, that when he came out of his tube, his legs were all crumpled up and tangled over each other. I didn't want to manipulate him too much, because he was already incredibly stressed and was flicking hairs at me while I tried to move him off of his tissue home. I am hoping that with a little bit of time and the space to sdtretch out, that he will be able to right himself without too much hassle. Failing that, he ought to be okay once he molts. As can be seen by this photo, this spood is actually quite a bit larger than any of my other ones. When fully grown he ought to get to be around eight inches across, diagonally. Right now he is...

I got my replacement female jumping spider today, Phidippus regius . I haven't opened the tube yet to let her out as I am still at work. As such, she doesn't even have a name as yet because I wanted to see her before I named her. Her theoretical name at the moment is Winona - Close enough to Winnie that I still feel that I have my Winnie, but different enough to not be a direct replacement. And obviously, a play on Winona Ryder (Winona Spider). I have also received my Caribena versicolor (also still in it's tube), three braplast tubs to rehouse my original Spood trio (photos to come), and another arboreal sling keeper. All exactly as I expected, no issues here. But.... I also received my first mystery box. I've never ordered a mystery box before, and common sense ought to have deterred me, as a novice. But I was bored, and the devil makes work for idle hands.... So I ordered a £30 mystery box from The Spider Shop. And, well. I don't regret it, that'...

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...

She is finally here!! She arrived at lunchtime today. I knew I was going to be at work, so I asked for her to be shipped to the university to avoid her potentially sitting in a cold porchway for hours until I got home. I was so anxious about her arriving okay that I was checking my emails every 15 minutes in case there was an email to tell me I had a package at reception. Just before 1pm, it finally came. I immediately went to collect the box. I had opted for stealth shipping - there would be no branding or labels on the box informing handlers of its contents, because I didn't want to scare people who might not like to be handling a box with a live spider in it. The first thing I wanted to do once I got her into the warmth of my office was to check she had arrived unharmed. Unfortunately, when I opened the box to check, I found that she was so securely acked that I wouldn't be able to get her out safely until I was ready to put her into her new home, as I couldn't ...