Arachno-ph0bia

At work currently there’s a huge skip parked outside. We’re having a thorough cleanout. In the process of doing so, I found a wonderful orange support piece for some shelving down the side of the shed - skip fodder - so I pulled it out.

There were no less than three different Steatoda species (False Widows) including some unhatched eggsacs and a swarm of little white spiderlings, a Tegeneria domestica, a daddy-long legs, a louse spider and what appeared to be a black laceweb weaver.

All on one piece of metal!

Spiders are incredibly resourceful creatures and you will find them absolutely everywhere. No house is spider free, no matter how hard some people may try, and ultimately they’re such a huge benefit that cohabiting seems a logical choice.

Those who can’t stand spiders take heed, you’re going to have to learn to live with them.

Quick update whilst I wait for the bus back in to work - the Lasiodora parahybana (Brazilian Salmon) moulted and is huge, dark and gorgeous! The Nhandu chromatus moulted also an her colouration is jaw dropping! Both are very impressive spiders now!

I’ve been mental mapping the new caresheets and hopefully I’ll be starting work properly on them soon.

It’s been quite a while since I last posted a blog entry, mainly due to the site that this blog is tied to (arachnoph0bia) being down for the count. My MobileME account expired, and in fairness, £60 was too expensive and didn’t offer what I wanted (personal domain name, multiple email accounts etc) so now I’ve purchased my own domain and private hosting and the website can now be found at

arachnoph0bia.co.uk

It’s that simple now! In the past few weeks, I’ve moved the Euathlus sp. “Red” (Chile Flame) into a small breeding box (which she’s loving) and both my Brachypelma auratum (Mexican Flameknee) and B.smithi (Redknee) moulted. The auratum is huge now, and the smithi has really grown too! Both are absolutely stunning!

I’ve recently found out that it’s very unlikely I’ll be able to make it to this years AES Show at Kempton, which is a real shame as I loved it last year, but that’s just life, I guess.

Ah well, time for work!

Big thanks to Graeme! The King Baboon (Cithariscius crawshayi) arrived this morning in good health. She was a perfect lady in rehoming and has gone straight into her hide. She’s stunning.

I can’t wait to see this one burrow. I’m proud of the enclosure and I can’t wait to see what she does with it!