New Aphonopelma Flagstaff!

O.K., when I put my last entry on Jan 15th about my Aphonoplema Flagstaff Orange arriving D.O.A. I should have gone back to say that I did get a replacement. Sam in Arizona quickly sent another bigger female flagstaff orange along with a free female Aphonopelma paysoni blonde.

The flagstaff is almost 5" and the paysoni is about 3.75". Sam had these packed really well and they have been doing great since Jan. 30th. These both come directly from the Arizona area where Sam lives so I assume he has no problem finding a few of these, depending on the weather and time of year.

After placing these girls in their new enclosures, the flagstaff almost immediately found the water dish and stuck her face down in it for a long drink. I took three or four pics of that along with some pics of them posing for me. As is my luck however, when I went to upload them on my pc the memory card showed error and I lost all my pics on that card. Luckily most of them were already on my pc.

These two girls are calm and slow moving as is with most Aphonopelma's.The first day though the flagstaff was walking slightly sideways I guess is how i'd describe it. She was almost dragging one leg but I could not find any injuries and she's been o.k. since then.

Here's some pics of my newest Arizona T's:

Aphonopelma sp. flagstaff orange

The one on the solid black fake leather is the Aphonopelma sp. paysoni blonde.

New Haplopelma species!

I was on Arachnoboards and saw a gorgeous Haplopelma minax for sale. These are jet black with faint tiger stripes on the abd. They come from the Malaysia rain forest and spend their days deep in a burrow until nightfall. They are fairly aggressive/defensive and have a habit of sitting motionless if they are prodded are even sprayed with water, then will explode in a burst of speed biting whatever it feels threatened by. After a little haggling, I made a deal for this black beauty and received her by USPS just Thursday.

So far she has behaved herself and has not tried take a chunk of my flesh yet. She is about 6" maybe a tad more and the last two nights has been exploring her new enclosure. I had an old 10 gal tank and added about 6" of peat moss, some fake plants, small bamboo and a small stone pagoda . She's tried to dig down in the back corner but I buried two large, rectangular tupperware type containers across the back of the tank. They are side by side and about 4" tall leaving an area across the front length of the tank about 4" wide for her to burrow.

Above are a few pics of her in her new home I took the other night. Just need a name for her...yes, I really name all my tarantulas.