Kettering!!!

[Colin D Wilson]

oh yes and some sort of Striped Millipede(is that how you spell it?) got to find out more about it could not resist it thanks to Shane LOL.

Yes, Shane has that effect....sorry (he likes his Aunty Yvonne though)

Keep it in a tank about twice its length, compost / coir / peat as a base substrate couple of inches deep, somewhere to hide under (bark will do) temperature in your spider room wil be just fine, feed it fruit / veg and salad scraps (it may not eat them till they've gone off a bit, several woodlice in the tank will help clear up remaining bits)
Don't freak out when you see little brown mites wandering over it, they are cleaner mites (normally) and live on the millipede as a symbiotic relationship)
see you before the BTS show.

[James Box]

don't worry, Colin, i'm not interested in a massive moral debate. those go nowhere. i'm just saying i don't "get" the practice. i'm not morally qualified to debate whether it's right or wrong.

Yvonne, was lovely to see you too. hope the new acquisitions do well!

[Colin D Wilson]

don't worry, Colin, i'm not interested in a massive moral debate.

I know mate, it wasn't aimed at you
Just quashing the possibility of one starting up thats all.

i'm just saying i don't "get" the practice.

a lot of people don't, and a lot of people have changes their minds on the subject, although there are many people who still collect this way.
The latest "keeping as pets / breeding for conservation" style of hobby is the way forward i think.

that should do it for this subject i think.

Back on topic

[James Box]

yeppers!

i'm going to try those millis with the toads soon, Colin. i think they're too big for the toads to eat, but i want to make sure...then i'll try that ecosystem on the weekend, if all goes well

Mary, you know you're going to need more snakes!
(says the guy with only one to your two lol)

Andrew, that's a shame you can't take your son on his birthday... would be a great day for him!

Steve, definitely cool to meet you, hope the Thailand thing works out.
i'll get into stick insects one day!

Yvonne, i wouldn't recommend feeding only fruitflies as the Ancylometes, from what i've read, is especially sensitive to the nutrional value of prey, and fruit flies have very little.
mine were given small 1 crickets, and they took them on well enough.
i'm sure fruitflies will provide a good supplement, though.
if you can get hold of squats, they're apparently also good.
i have yet to try my experiment to see if the spiders will take water fleas...will post results, though not at all sure if they're nutritionally complete either.

[Colin D Wilson]

James,
Update on the Toads....have both eaten voraciously

Crickets that have drowned have been taken by the Ancylometes, which is good. Thought about water fleas and daphnia as well though not sure about nutritional content either (i know they're just fed to fish as a supplement)

The Heteropoda sp. (Huntsman) is absoloutely fantastic to watch when hunting, I've repotted mine into a tub 3-4 times larger than it was in, given it a little greenery to hide in too. The first cricket was hunted down and the second was taken by ambush....... fascinating.

[James Box]

i've got to repot the Heteropoda sp as well. i must learn to count, as it is missing a leg, and the moult that was in the tub as well also seemed to be missing a leg, so guess it's not going to regenerate
but it was still more than capable of grabbing a cricket.
think i'll put it in an exo terra once i've got one cleared this weekend.

glad the toads are alright i'm getting more this coming weekend, too.

interesting about drowned crickets...were they submerged, or did the Ancylometes grab them from the surface? it is indeed a good sign.
thanks for letting me know about daphnia. will try them anyways, might be a good way to see some fishing behaviour, in addition to crickets.
also, the newts will probably not mind a bit of a treat here and there as well.

[Claudia Baines]

I wasnt going to reply to Chris comments as I thought they were quite rude, but given that this seems to have sparked further comment, I would just like to add that I agree with James that nobody is complaining, or trying to have some sort of moral debate. I had only heard of the show via this forum and was therefore not aware it was an entymology show and not just tarantulas until I got there - hence my "surprise" about the pinning. Whilst it's always fun to be called "stupid" by a complete stranger on a public forum, I would like to point out that entymology is not the study of dead pinned butterflies and encompasses rather more than that. It is a shame that Chris clearly had a stressful day yesterday and felt the need to be unpleasant - I hope you have a better day today mate. I was not complaining, and thoroughly enjoyed the show. I am glad that these sort of shows are organised, whether motivated by the love of spiders or pinning butterflies. I will be a bit more careful about expressing an opinion on this forum in future, I hadnt realised it would unleash invective like that.

[James Box]

i wouldn't take Chris' posting style personally, Claudia...

[Colin D Wilson]

James the cricket was drowned and floating on the surface, the spider dragged it back to the dryer side of the tub to eat, and managed to consume quite a bit too for saying how small it is.

And for the last word on the pinning subject, because i did say in post 18

"that should do it for this subject i think.

Back on topic "

Any way i'll agree with James above... Chris posts very straight forward, succinct and to the point remarks that those who are not used to them, will question.
(Getting a point across in written form is not always taken as it is meant, you'll notice the use of the *wink* smiley, so don't be too concerned)

I'm sure Chris and other "oldies" in the hobby like me remember the days of the completely "dead" entomological shows, and some times we just assume that others will be aware of the same (sometimes not quite a good thing)

I'm sure in a few threads on here the fact that there's a lot of pinned bugs is mentioned, but i don't expect everyone to read every thread in preparation. Maybe a reference to this should be made in future advertising for these shows for the newcomers to the hobby.

Can we agree to disagree on this and leave it at that please, i don't fancy sitting here tonight cutting and pasting a thread....I've got spiders to feed

[James Box]

strange, isn't it, Colin, about them taking decent sized prey?
i've noticed spiders seem a bit better at taking large prey than tarantulas...but i suppose that makes sense, since tarantulas are larger than what's generally available, whereas true spiders are much smaller.
there's probably a hole in what i said, but T's just seem better with prey smaller than they are.
i may be wrong, but i'd assume they inject digestive enzymes with the venom so that they suck the prey dry? that may also be why they can handle big prey, whereas T's tend to roll up the lot and munch it.

[Louise~Nichols]

Thanks so much for the hugs,bugs and Ts & Spiders
What a fantastic day!!! Thank you Lou &Family for no 5 and Humbug both are fine and feeding(Humbug is totaly nuts we love to watch her i think she is crossed with some sort of earth mover) as she is now moved into a tank the same size as the container that she was in but she has decided to move everthing around to where she wants it and has us in stitches watching her. and No5 has tacken a piece of cricket so all fine thanks again, We will return the container back to you at The BTS next month.
Likewise James I have rehoused the Bogensis slings and will return your tubs, I managed to get a fruit fly culture these seemed to be smaller than the Micro Crickets so all i can do now is hope for the best as i can barely see them even with my specs LOL. It was nice to meet your Mum will she be going to the next one? I finished up with a Brachypelma Vagans, A Pair Grammostola North oh yes and some sort of Striped Millipede(is that how you spell it?) got to find out more about it could not resist it thanks to Shane LOL. Really enjoyed meeting you all again and allready looking forwards to the BTS in May.Thank you Mary and Lou and family for the fantastic hugs, It was worth the journey and more just for them!!!!!!!!! Hugs back to all.

Hiya Yvonne!! I'm so glad that Humbug is keeping up her old ways...she's a total muck-shovelling loony!! Undoubtedly No.5 will develop serious eccentricity as it grows...nothing stays sane here for very long!! LOL
I'm certainly looking forward to *BTS Hug-Fest 2008*...hehehe!! Much love and hugs from all of us here, it was sooooo great to see you again. xxxxxxxx

And James....you might have only one snake now...but really you should start preparing yourself for an extra mouth.....muahahahah, you know just how firm I can be when it comes to persuasion, remember the Apophysis!! hehehe

[James Box]

BTS Hug fest 2008, like the sound of that
was lovely to see you and your family again too

another mouth??? yikes! hehe will start preparing myself! you're spoiling me, though! and you're so persuasive!

[Louise~Nichols]

BTS Hug fest 2008, like the sound of that
was lovely to see you and your family again too

another mouth??? yikes! hehe will start preparing myself! you're spoiling me, though! and you're so persuasive!

YAY!! Muchly hugs...makes the world a better place...and puts a grin on my face! LOL

Masterful even... hehehe...and hey, if I can't spoil my buddies, then who can I spoil? Baby will come with a month or two worth of food too. See ya at BTS!

[Colin D Wilson]

She's turning the place into a "Hippy love in" !!!!!!

James, the spiders actively hunt the smaller crickets, just watched one racing around the little tub. They seem to use a combination of eyesight and vibration. They're easily confused though, my shallow breath on the water surface was enough to make the spider lose track of its quarry, soon to be picked up again after i moved back a little. This is interesting stuff mate

[Claudia Baines]

Thanks James!