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Patrick's 2014 Grow Log

Yeeee freaking haaaa! It's that time of year can you believe it? I'll try to do a better job keeping the glog updated but don't hate me if I don't please!
 
Going to cut back on types and just grow a few this year. Absolutely fell in love with the Trinidad Scorpion Morouga from CPI last season so that will be my main grow. Got a few Sepia Serpents from SS that I'm intrigued by so a few of them. Had poor success with the Carolina Reaper last year so I'm going to give them another shot this season. Some 7 Pot Brain Strains and some 7 Pot Primo's will round things out. I imagine I'll be adding a few here and there as I can't never be happy with things at the beginning.
 
Best of luck to all of you and I hope you all have a wonderful season.
 
Let's get this grow thing on!!
 
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Dulac those look awesome congrats! I've got plenty of seeds but I thank you for the offer. Good luck with your Atomic SB.
 
Six days and I've got my first seedling, a TS Morouga from CPI. Last years seeds too--I think. Here's why I think. After planting the TSM's I planted a few Sepia Serpents and had a couple of seeds left over. When I went to put them back into their bag I goofed up and put them in a bag marked TS Morouga CPI. So the dozen TSM seeds were then joined by a couple Sepia Serpent seeds. I planted the rest of the TSM's and I marked each container with TSM CPI ss to differentiate between the first go round of TSM seeds and the second with the potential SS seeds. That make sense?.
 
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patrick said:
Dulac those look awesome congrats! I've got plenty of seeds but I thank you for the offer. Good luck with your Atomic SB.
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NP. Thanks, I'm very happy with how it's turning out. I've passed them around and earlier SB7J seeds :) . People love the flavor of the SB7J. I can't wait to see how yours turn out this year. I hope you get the SB7J look you wanted originally. If I see any I think you would be interested in, I'll let you know.
 
stc3248 said:
Makes perfect sense to me! Congrats on the new baby!
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Shane that made my day! Thanks
 
Hi Pia, good to hear from you. Best of luck to you too!
 
Dulac I'll keep an eye on your glog and if I see any good looking pods in your pics of the SB7J I'll give you a shout, thank you.
 
Thanks for the compliment maximum.
 
I was woken up this morning by several "pings" and wondered what the heck? Took a peek at the seeds and went from one popping the top to nine total overnight. I usually use coco coir to start seeds in but I was out so went with what was on hand, Pro Mix HP. Had doubts but not sure why, maybe because of the different types of potting soils available that folks use. I guess I just saved myself the hassle of having to use a soil specifically made for seeds from here on out.
 
Anyway following the rule of "no pics or it didn't happen" here's the proof. Two have seed caps, hope they work themselves free.
 
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Spicegeist said:
Is it true that a tarantula bite feels similar to capsaicin on a mucus membrane?
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That would depend upon the genus of the tarantula that bit you. Most of them the bite shows less of a reaction than a bee sting to someone who isn't allergic to it. In fact tarantula venom lacks the peptides that would cause any type of allergic reaction ie., you cannot be allergic to a T bite. Some genera, Poecilotheria, Pterinochilus, and most other Asian/African ones can cause some discomfort. Swelling, burning and traveling body cramps which can last for a couple of weeks. I've been bitten but not by any of the more potent species and had almost zero reaction. I know of a couple of folks who have been tagged by the Poecilotheria genus who have said if they had the option of losing an arm or getting bit again they would choose losing the arm and I'm not sure if they weren't serious. One thing to remember is no one in recorded history has ever died from a tarantula bite.

Here is a photo of a Poecilotheria metallica, one of the most beautiful tarantulas out there. These are from Sri Lanka and are considered endangered. They live in trees and their territory has been reduced to a small monastery in India. Captive breeding is starting to show some success in the past six or seven years though. All of the Poecilotheria species have the same pattern on their abdomen but come in different colors.
 
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Here is the female that bit me. She's a Cyriocosmus elegans. They are dwarf tarantulas. She is an adult female and will not get much bigger. I didn't even realize she bit me until I happened to see two tiny marks on my arm in the mirror. If you have to get bit these are the ones you want to do it.
 
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patrick said:
 

 
Here is the female that bit me. She's a Cyriocosmus elegans. They are dwarf tarantulas. She is an adult female and will not get much bigger. I didn't even realize she bit me until I happened to see two tiny marks on my arm in the mirror. If you have to get bit these are the ones you want to do it.
 
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That's funny you didn't even feel it, silly little tarantula ;) .  Beautiful creatures.
 
Her fangs might be 1/32nd of an inch. I have a few that the fangs are getting close to an inch. Those I want nothing to do with. I don't play with them, more like keeping fish. I just watch them in their enclosures. The time I did get bit I was breeding that pair and the female decided to go for a walk up my arm. I was home along and didn't want her to get under my shirt so when she got to the crook of my elbow I pinched her just a little and she bit.
 
Very cool Patrick! I have always been fascinated by snakes and tarantulas. I always take the time to move them off the trails before the next person comes along. We used to get these giant whip scorpions around El Paso called vinegaroons (sp) alien looking creatures.
 
Congrats on the new arrivals!
 
Regarding Tarantula's, we have some roaming around here:
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I know the pic sucks...what can you tell me about it?
 
AND is it true they shoot their hairs when angered?  Sorry for the hijack!
 
I've kept vinegaroons before too Shane. Kept all kinds of crazy critters.
 
Dew that is from the Genus Aphonopelma, the only genus native to the U.S. There are many different species of them and Texas has several. They are quite similar in appearance and to tell species apart you need to get down to some very specific markers. Doing it from a photo is almost impossible. 99% of the tarantulas you find out in the open wandering around in the early summer are mature males out looking for females. Sadly that is their last go around as once a male becomes sexually mature they stop eating and concentrate on mating. The lucky ones will hook up with several females before dying of starvation. The unlucky ones usually get munched by the female after mating. They cannot "shoot" hairs and don't get "angry". They do it as a form of defense. Tarantulas don't have a brain so emotions isn't something they can experience. They're called urticating hairs by the way. They are the hair on the abdomen and they release them by rubbing a back leg against the abdomen. They are extremely lightweight and readily float. Some are barbed and will stick in skin. They are extremely itchy and some people will develop an allergy to them. I've know keepers who had no problems at first but after being exposed to them for some time will start reacting to them. The reaction becomes more severe after every exposure. Only "new world", North and South America, tarantulas have urticating hair. Old World, rest of the world, tarantulas have the more potent venom. The original itching powder was made from tarantula urticating hair.
 
There is a guy, Dr Brent Hendrixson, who has been collecting Aphonoplema species all across the country with help from lots of hobbyists who is currently identifying and classifying them using DNA. A huge project to say the least. I'm happy to say I've sent him specimens for his research and have met him several times. I recently gave up my position as Secretary/Treasurer with The American Tarantula Society after seven years of serving. The society has a large conference each year in July, usually in Arizona with the past four years being in Tucson. I recommend anyone with the time and interest to check it out.
 
Always happy to talk about tarantulas and other inverts.
 
That metalica is stunningly beautiful.  What do you feed your tatantulas?
 
I had a dream a few nights ago that we were tearing out a ceiling for a
remodel, andd tarantulas were falling out and dropping to the floor where
they would crawl toward us and then jump at our legs.  We had to finally
get out of there   :rofl:   How's that for crazy.  I'm not afraid of them or
anything - had a rose colored variety in my classroom once and really
liked it - beautiful coloration.
 
Oh, and congrats on the sprouts!
 
Dew you're most welcome, if you ever have any questions shoot me a PM.
 
Paul I agree wholeheartedly about the P. metallica. I feed crickets and roaches. The roaches I grow on my own. They're Blaptica dubia and are originally from South America. They can get to about 2.5 inches and are a easy to keep. They can't fly, climb glass or smooth plastic, make no noise, have no smell and cannot survive the climate if they were to get loose. They breed like bunnies above 75F and shutdown below 70 so breeding is easy to control. Only issue is some T's wont eat them. However they grow just like snakes/tarantulas and shed their skin. If you can catch them right after molting the T's just love them. All soft and gooey. Yum! Great dream by the way. Falling from a ceiling would kill most adults, their abdomen is very soft and they can't jump. Just crawl. That's great that you had one in your classroom, can't teach kids too young nowadays. You ever want another one for the kids to learn from you let me know.
 
I'm up to 15 or 16 seedlings now and started another 10 Reapers and five SB7J F1's today.
 
Hey Mike! Good to hear from you. Thanks for the well wishes and the same to you.
 
I have a couple of pics I wanted to pose, just a few more seedlings popping out but photobucket is maintaining right now. Be back soon!
 
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