37G Column Viv for Avicularia

[tropicalmackdaddy]

Oh i know, i was judt wondering, you mentioned keeping poison dart frogs, arent they......poisonous? Lol

[hydrophyte]

Poison dart frogs apparently build their toxic chemical defenses through certain food items. Captive frogs are apparently unable to do this with commonly-used feeder animals, so they do not have the strong poisons in their skin.

At any rate it is not a good idea to handle dart frogs because they are so small.

[hydrophyte]

Look!

[hydrophyte]

Another quick shot a bit closer...

[150EH]

That's a nice looking spider and the red around the mouth says keep your distance.

[hydrophyte]

Thanks! I like this spider a lot. She is real nice and mellow. I want to get some more avics too.

I hope to track down a few A. minatrix. This species is really cool because they retain the real bright colors and pattern even as adults. And you can keep a few together semi-comunally, which could be especially nice for a planted display.

[crazydaz]

So cool to see the fangs and spinnerettes! I would hate to piss her off though! Seems like she would pack a wallop if she decided to strike! Has she ever tried to rub off her hairs on her abdomen? I hear those are nasty! I was scared to death of these abdominal hairs!

Pretty girl, though! Is she arboreal or did she make a borrow somewhere in there?

[hydrophyte]

Avicularia are arboreal New World tarantulas and they are known for their really pretty colorations and usually mellow temperaments. The venom is also not medically significant.

Another genus of arboreals, Poecilotheria, are Old Word species also popular in the hobby and with even more stunning patterns and colors, but these Ts are nervous, prone to bite and with very strong venom. They can send you to the hospital.

This is a Wikimedia Commons image of P. ornata.

[hydrophyte]

Yesterday I got a really cool new collector aroid, Stenospermation marantifolium in trade for some other stuff.



It might be a god plant to put in this setup. I think it is a terrestrial and it is pretty good sized. The longest of these cut canes in 14" long.

I found this Flickr photo album with wild plants in the Osa Peninsula (I've been there!) Costa Rica.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/plantas...n/photostream/

[hydrophyte]

The avic is walking laps around here enclosure. She doesn't seem bothered at all by the lights which are on bright and shiny. I gotta get a video recorder so I can get video of here moving around like this. She climbs all over the plants and the driftwood.

[bostonthiparty]

Wow, beautiful spider and what an awesome setup. Fantasizing about setting up a viv now...

[hydrophyte]

Originally Posted by bostonthiparty

Wow, beautiful spider and what an awesome setup. Fantasizing about setting up a viv now...

These Avicularia tarantulas are really great for combining with live plants. I want to do another setup like this one.

[hydrophyte]

This is just a quick shot of another setup while I have the link handy. This is in my 30 X High tank. I have some nice plants in there.

[hydrophyte]

Well the avic finally did some more webbing and built a web hammock up in the right rear corner of the enclosure. I think she must feel more comfortable there because I see here walking around the enclosure a lot less. Now I wish that I had gotten more pictures when she was more active, but I'm glad that she has settled down because I was worried about all of the falls that she took. She never hurt herself, but I watched her tumble from the top of the tank a couple of times.

[hydrophyte]

Here you can see the web hammock that she made up in the rear right-hand corner. She has just been hanging out there in the web for days, but last night she was out for a little while and I got this shot.