Like, I bought some horn worms as a treat for some of my larger Ts last year.
Exactly one ate. The rest just sat as far away from the worms as possible for days.
I eventually just set them outside.
0
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
Today is day 200 since my B. emilia last ate anything. I've seen it maybe 3 times since then because it spends all its time buried, but I can view it through the bottom of its pot to confirm it is still alive.
Never let anyone tell you tarantulas aren't the most nail-bitingly exciting animals you can keep as a pet.
Can't speak to tarantulas, as I think they're larger than physics permits the systems I'm about to describe to work, but I seem to recall hearing once that small-ish spiders don't have proper/full-scale respiratory systems, and instead just osmose oxygen from the atmosphere as they move around. Combined with the way that their legs operate on hydraulic pressure more than muscle tension, a spider has extraordinarily low basal metabolic energy consumption. They can pretty much survive on spare web silk and flexing their legs every once in a while for months.
My favorite musical instrument is the air-raid siren.
+1
Andy JoeWe claim the land for the highlord!The AdirondacksRegistered Userregular
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
Today was a good day because I saw a bug I've never seen before, and even better it was a weird one. Clearing up hedge trimmings and had a genuine moment of feeling like my mind was going because a twig was moving by itself.
It's some species of geometer moth, I think probably Biston betularia. It is bonkers how much it looked like a twig when it stopped moving. I put it back on a bush and carried on working and when I checked again a bit later it took me a minute to find it even though it was in exactly the same spot.
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
edited May 2022
Like a lot of animals, there are some species of tarantula that show strong sexual dimorphism. One is Lampropelma nigerrimum, aka Sangihe Black, an arboreal species from Indonesia. The females are black and the males are grey-brown. And the intersex ones* look like this:
Which I saw and obviously assumed was a photoshop, because that looks bonkers. But nope, it's real.
As the guy in the video says, male and female Ts have vastly different lifespans, so I wonder how long this one would live. I have to assume not very long.
* I say 'ones', but really it's just one one.
Brovid Hasselsmof on
+9
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
Happy birthday to me!
My dad gave me spider money, so I finally got to start the M. balfouri communal I've wanted for ages. And a new pokie for good measure.
Even knowing the balfouri are communal it felt really weird putting 6 spiders in one enclosure together. Hope I don't just end up with one really fat spider.
They're all brown blobs at the moment, but here's what they will look like all grown up
It's spring and I'm super happy that insects are finally out in force (I saw some insects two weeks ago, but they were all "Fuck you. I don't have time to sit still for your silly photos. I gotta collect nectar and shit"
This week Woodland Dor Beetles (Anoplotrupes stercorosus) were fucking everywhere. And I do mean that literally, they were fucking everywhere (hundreds of them in the middle of their first mating of the season). And crawling around. And getting eaten by ants if they were unlucky.
Took a photo of this common, but still magnificent, little beetle.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
We are rapidly approaching Box Elder bug season in the Wasatch Mountains; these little guys end up everywhere, just chilling on your front door, enjoying the sun, and not being eaten by birds because they can make themselves stink and taste nasty.
[/spoiler
+2
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
I just went to check out the bug hotel my brother set up for my nephew and was excited to see some of the holes are sealed up with mud. Then as I was looking at it a fuzzy butt emerged from one of the open holes as a bee reversed out, turned around, and reversed back in. Then came out and flew off a minute later. It must have just laid an egg. Folks I died. That bee stole my heart and now I am dead.
Is there a bird thread? I know there was one during the holidays. Oh well. Y'all get to listen to me talk about birds. They only have two legs so it counts!
Spring in the Wasatch and Uintah Mountains is a birder heaven. We get bald eagles, red-tail hawks, the corvids are still hanging out (I've watched ravens bully red tails out of nesting sites, they're no joke!), but my favorite are the sandhill cranes.
These big, impressive, ancient birds are more common farther east in the sandhill region (because bird names are either hilariously literal or hilariously perverted), but in our spring snow melt/runoff season we start seeing some. They're big! They're awesome! They have daggers for beaks! And yesterday I had one model for me for a good five minutes on the side of the road, cursing that I didn't have binos or a camera in the work truck. So yeah I'm getting a set of compact binos today to keep in the work truck because birds, and especially sandhill cranes, are awesome and I want to admire them.
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
edited May 2022
Really crappy photo because it was taken with my phone through plastic and the subjects are tiny, but I fed the balfouri communal yesterday and it brought some of them out into the open for the first time since they arrived. Just now I checked on them and found these 2 adorable mofo's having a shared lunch
Yes they are feasting on a roach several times bigger than themselves, I don't have any smaller feeders.
That's a Scarlet Tiger Moth.
You might say "There is nothing scarlet about it!". But that's because it's hiding the scarlet red wings and we barely see the slightest hint of them.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
+2
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
edited June 2022
Yeah it had a bright scarlet body, but it was not cooperative about me trying to get a photo of it
Brovid Hasselsmof on
0
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
The moth developed the Predator face pattern on its wings to prevent predation by xenomorphs.
+1
H3KnucklesBut we decide which is rightand which is an illusion.Registered Userregular
Whoa, cool. This is what they look like with their wings splayed:
Posts
They super are!
If you give a T solely dubias, after an indeterminate amount of time they'll like, just not recognize crickets as food.
Not guaranteed, and they'll eventually eat cause they still need food, but they very much are like cats being given dry food after years of only wet.
Exactly one ate. The rest just sat as far away from the worms as possible for days.
I eventually just set them outside.
Never let anyone tell you tarantulas aren't the most nail-bitingly exciting animals you can keep as a pet.
Ladies would you please
Can't speak to tarantulas, as I think they're larger than physics permits the systems I'm about to describe to work, but I seem to recall hearing once that small-ish spiders don't have proper/full-scale respiratory systems, and instead just osmose oxygen from the atmosphere as they move around. Combined with the way that their legs operate on hydraulic pressure more than muscle tension, a spider has extraordinarily low basal metabolic energy consumption. They can pretty much survive on spare web silk and flexing their legs every once in a while for months.
It's some species of geometer moth, I think probably Biston betularia. It is bonkers how much it looked like a twig when it stopped moving. I put it back on a bush and carried on working and when I checked again a bit later it took me a minute to find it even though it was in exactly the same spot.
Which I saw and obviously assumed was a photoshop, because that looks bonkers. But nope, it's real.
As the guy in the video says, male and female Ts have vastly different lifespans, so I wonder how long this one would live. I have to assume not very long.
* I say 'ones', but really it's just one one.
My dad gave me spider money, so I finally got to start the M. balfouri communal I've wanted for ages. And a new pokie for good measure.
Even knowing the balfouri are communal it felt really weird putting 6 spiders in one enclosure together. Hope I don't just end up with one really fat spider.
They're all brown blobs at the moment, but here's what they will look like all grown up
Poecilotheria subfusca 'Lowland' / Ivory Ornamental
Deffo one of my goals for later
Seeing the slings all huddle together is unbearably fucking cute.
This week Woodland Dor Beetles (Anoplotrupes stercorosus) were fucking everywhere. And I do mean that literally, they were fucking everywhere (hundreds of them in the middle of their first mating of the season). And crawling around. And getting eaten by ants if they were unlucky.
Took a photo of this common, but still magnificent, little beetle.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Spring in the Wasatch and Uintah Mountains is a birder heaven. We get bald eagles, red-tail hawks, the corvids are still hanging out (I've watched ravens bully red tails out of nesting sites, they're no joke!), but my favorite are the sandhill cranes.
These big, impressive, ancient birds are more common farther east in the sandhill region (because bird names are either hilariously literal or hilariously perverted), but in our spring snow melt/runoff season we start seeing some. They're big! They're awesome! They have daggers for beaks! And yesterday I had one model for me for a good five minutes on the side of the road, cursing that I didn't have binos or a camera in the work truck. So yeah I'm getting a set of compact binos today to keep in the work truck because birds, and especially sandhill cranes, are awesome and I want to admire them.
https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/239192/all-birds-all-the-time
Yes they are feasting on a roach several times bigger than themselves, I don't have any smaller feeders.
This is such a delightful combination of disgusting and incredibly cute! Look at their cute widdle heads!
Spiders are cool, but everything about roaches is unsettling
You might say "There is nothing scarlet about it!". But that's because it's hiding the scarlet red wings and we barely see the slightest hint of them.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Lepidoptera are often uncooperative with that kind of thing in my experience. I've never managed a picture I'm satisfied with.
Little known fact is that all animal naming is just an elaborate prank played on lay people and novices by the old hands.
They are actually blue though so I guess points to the historical peasants as well.
Folks are weird.
If you want an accurate ID, size and location would be a good start. And by location I don't mean your desk, I mean, like, what city.