Not a good week for the Babies.

Sunday morning, I get up, and go to mist down the spiders. You remember the spiders, right? I blogged about them. My lovelies.

Roady, my mature male OBT is out of his hide, at the edge of his tank. Straaaange....he's usually reclusive, unless he's hunting. I fed him a few days ago, and he didn't eat, there were dead crickets in his tank. I misted his enclosure with water, dripping some on him, too. That normally sends a spider fleeing. Roady...was dead. Poor little orange bastard. When I got him, though, I knew I wouldn't have him forever. First off, he was badly mistreated, missing a leg, dehydrated, living in a takeout container with a cottonball, and no substrate. Bad scene. Secondly, I found out he was male. When males reach maturity, it's only a matter of time, before they die, that's just the way it is. Since I had no idea how long he was full grown for, I had no idea what to expect from his life-span. I had him for 7 months, and he was a good, interesting, vicious pet. It saddens me, but, it doesn't suprise me.

The one that REALLY got to me, was Luci. I fed them all, Sunday, as well. I love watching them eat. Luci and Dulce both have been reclusive lately, but, when I peer into their burrows with a flashlight I can see them. Sunday night, all the crickets I threw in their enclosures were gone (Opti ate something like seven crix!)except Luci's. I shined my flashlight into her hide, to check on her, and I saw something strange, sort of like her underside, or an exuvia or something, like she moulted and it was still in there. I used my tweezers to pick the molt out of her hide, like I always do...and she was half attached to it, dead :( She must have died mid-moult. My poor baby. She was only about an inch across, and just starting to show those striking colors that she's reknowned for. Black, with stark white banding around her legs, and long reddish rusty colored hairs on her abdomen.

So, yeah, that one upset me.

The rest are thriving, though. Opti just moulted AGAIN, I've never seen a spider grow so fast, or eat so much, he's INSANE. He sits in his hide all day waiting for food to rain from the sky, then he pops out like an orange muppet from hell, and dissapears with his prey. Great stuff. Priscilla is fat, and fine, mincing around her tank, like the princess she is. Speck is about half an inch across now, quadrupled in size, from when I got her, and can almost finish a whole cricket, in one sitting. She's starting to get some of her stripey markings, too. Dulce is normal, timid, and doing well. Nasty is...well, nasty.

I placed an order to Swift's last night, I couldn't help myself. I'm getting another Giant White Knee, like Luci, and something called a "Brazilian Red & White" Both tiny babies, at 1/4".

I'm excited about them coming in.