Recent content by bbbs53

Yes, Boris. A she.

Not a problem. I have had both together for more than 30 years without issue. I have 3 dogs now and have had all of the time I have had my spiders. Neither of them cares or is bothered by the others, total non issue.

"Boris" the spider. After the 1966 Who album A Quick one.

Cage lid must be secured or you will come up missing a spider. If she does get out they tend to head to the bathroom in search of water I assume. On occasion mine will try the lid all the way around and if not mechanically fastened she could easily push it off. I have more than 6 years into this...

Go ahead, the rash is a bummer. There are less irritating ones to handle if you must however it puts the spider at risk unless you are in very close proximity to the ground. Urticating bristles don't take much exposure to skin to make a nasty break out and it can last for more than 10 days...

I usually cast mine in resin. The trick is posing them before they get stiff. I still have my first red leg from 1990 and it is a lot easier to do now.

Call a beekeeper and have them capture the swarm. It is in the phonebook under apiary. Killing them is not the way to go, they are way to valuable to the keeper. I don't allow ANY insecticides on my property and of course do not collect outside bugs for food. The contamination factor is just too...

Is nature cruel? This isn't really relevant since these creatures will eat mice in the wild. Man's laws don't really apply to wild things and our perception of cruelty doesn't amount to much in their regard. When I first started keeping spiders, there wasn't the supply of crickets and other food...

Mine i quite docile and just over 5 years. I don't handle her however, mainly because of the risk of damage to her and of course the urticating bristles. They are good feeders and don't spend all of their time hidden. She is vibration sensitive, this years fireworks upset her worse than my dogs...

Getting and caring for a large arachnid is a great way to get over a phobia. My hamorii won't eat roaches, both like crickets which as you have mentioned are cheap. Ants are a problem for them in the wild and precautions against them are the best defense. A lot of us became keepers when given or...

B. hamorii, 1, B boehmei, 1. My first spider was a hamorii way back in 1990. She was easy and docile and didn't mind when one was in her cage. The boehmei is a bit more skittish and runs for cover on occasion when the top door is opened. She has never flicked bristles however and is a good...

It is a valid opinion he has and I am fairly sure there is no offense in the way it is stated. Experience is what gave it to him and observation. A lot of us have been keeping these since 1990 or longer and nothing in his opinion is wrong. To get offended because you don't like the tone is...

You aren't the only phobe to become a keeper and change into a lover, it happens to a lot of us. My first spider was a B. smithi that I got because the owner couldn't keep her. She was quite docile and didn't even have irritating bristles. That was in 1993, since then I have kept a few others...

Unless the place you walk in and buy crickets turns them over fairly fast, one usually gets a mixture of small to large and the quantity varies by how much time the store employee wishes to expend in rounding them up out of a large trash can. Since I am only keeping one adult spider I usually...

It is definitely going to molt. If it has quit eating, hold the food until at least a week after it is finished. Be alive on the water however and if you can, elevate the humidity a bit in the enclosure. When you find it flat on it's back, don't panic, it is a bit startling the first time...