I blame Raymond for all of this

Raymond, why did you ever let me hold your Chile Rose a few months ago?
Now look at you've made me do....

Subadult female red phase Chile Rose Grammostola rosea (Tan / Tony - check out the boa's head on the carapace! If you look at this one closely, I think it looks like a Badger's head with its eyes closed?!)



Brazilian Black Grammostola pulchra sling munching a cricket



Subadult Usumbara Orange Baboon Pterinochilus murinus - big thanks to Tony W for this stunner! Speed and colours are unbelievable!

ohhhhhh i like that orange baboon :)

Has someone added something to the water up here recently ???....spiders are taking over the hobby , lol.....

Great new additions and I bet more will follow soon, lol

As long as its not those urticating hair thingys I don't mind Buddy (although my Brachys are certainly trying their best LOL). You know how it goes Buddy - you start with 1 and its downhill from there........

Only too well, lol.....then a few scorps, a whip or two then you start to contemplate centipedes

Yup a few scorpions are on the list, as are tail-less and tailed whip scorpions LOL.....I ABSOLUTELY DISLIKE centipedes though, amazing to look at but never, ever venturing down that road LOL.....they give me the serious heebie-jeebies

you getting jealous now buddy??? lol slip a few in the rack and say nout??

Just a bit, lol....
must admit I'm the same with centipedes here...collected a few from city reps back in bill and andy's days for a mate and must admit I was glad to get them handed over when we got back. Had them triple tubbed and still they broke me out in a cold sweat working with them, lol...

morelia wrote:Tan / Tony - check out the boa's head on the carapace! If you look at this one closely, I think it looks like a Badger's head with the eyes closed

Oh wow, nice find. Welcome to the madness lol. Now this is becoming one hell of a collection Karl. Weeny bit scary, but impressive & stunning all the same.

wow an OBT already!!!! :P
Awesome T's

morelia wrote:Yup a few scorpions are on the list, as are tail-less and tailed whip scorpions LOL.....I ABSOLUTELY DISLIKE centipedes though, amazing to look at but never, ever venturing down that road LOL.....they give me the serious heebie-jeebies

Is that what you said about the spiders a while ago?

I have to agree though that Raymond fella is a bad influence.

Great T's Karl, whats next on the agenda?
Like you we owe our T collection to that guy Robinson too.

Joe - yep, baboons already, I really dunno how that happened. 3 months ago I had no T's, and no intention of ever getting any, and now there are 2 baboons here. What is happening to me? LOL

Marty - I've had a phobia of spiders my whole life (until now) but centipedes I've never liked. I bought a few T books years ago and read all about them, thinking that knowledge would be enough to get over my phobia. It took the owner of Chateau Gibbon to coax me to take the plunge and get one (well, actually, get a lot) and so the phobia has died. Centipedes.....while I think they are amazing animals and I will happily watch others in action, they just ain't for me.

John - ohhh I have a list LOL. I'm after a few more Brachypelma species, a Green-bottle Blue (I like heavy webbers) and an Indian Ornamental (I'm a sucker for arboreals with any animal group). I like a few of the baboons too so after some more research may be tempted by another species. I'm not in any hurry to get a wee collection together, its just that quite a few nice T's have sprung up recently and its shame to say no LOL!

Karl, I've no idea what you mean! er... I do know, however, that you're in the process of assembling one heck of a nice tarantula collection as per John, Tony, and if his good lady isn't reading this, Marty! Joking aside, it's easy to see why tarantulas can become addictive: lack of space needed to keep them; variety of species available; stunning colours in many species; and (usually depending on species) ease of keeping.

Great looking T's Karl....

That orange baboon is stunning karl!

I recognised your sig and thought.....theres only one person in NI who (a) likes that animal enough to put it in their avatar; (b) knows that vormela is part of its Latin name.

Cheers Allan - its nuts but stunning to look at. I only hope mine calms down as much as Tony W's!

I had no idea how many stunning species there are! Can anyone recommend a good visual book on tarantula species?

I do my best to spread the Vormela peregusna love!

The best visual guides seem to be scattered over the internet, and these can take time to track down. The only 2 books I've found that are worthwhile are the Barrons 'Tarantulas' book, very general and basic but a good intro, and 'The Tarantula Keepers Handbook' which is a lot more in-depth but again not a visual ID guide.

Its hard to believe with there being so many tarantula keepers, especially in the U.S., that no-one has produced a visual ID guide to even some of the tarantula groups.