Show Us Your Pets!

[Daddy Kool]

I love bulldogs! Have had them since before I started school. Show us the pets you love!



The late great Sherman circa 2000 with his #1 fan, our son Graeme.



Do you kiss on the first date?



Miss Clementine, our current spoiled rotten bulldog.

[08ChallengerDad]

You don't want to see my pets - they give people nightmares.

[buckwheat]

I need to upload some pix of Buckwheat he is a solid black colby Pitbull 70lbs of muscle. He lives like Kid Rock in the house relaxing just a big baby. He has movie star status in my area all the kids come see him and for holloween he is the MAN! I have all the kool candy snickers, kit kats, milkyway bars all the good stuff and Buckwheat is at the door waiting. BTW: He gets the first ride in the Hot Rod before anyone!!


buckwheat

[Daddy Kool]

Originally Posted by buckwheat

I need to upload some pix of Buckwheat he is a solid black colby Pitbull 70lbs of muscle. He lives like Kid Rock in the house relaxing just a big baby. He has movie star status in my area all the kids come see him and for holloween he is the MAN! I have all the kool candy snickers, kit kats, milkyway bars all the good stuff and Buckwheat is at the door waiting. BTW: He gets the first ride in the Hot Rod before anyone!!


buckwheat

Cool! Post some pics.

[Daddy Kool]

Originally Posted by 08ChallengerDad

You don't want to see my pets - they give people nightmares.

Halloween is coming, scare us!

[08ChallengerDad]

Okay.....
These are photos of the species I have. Mine are all terrestrial tarantulas and like to burrow. Therein, when I take them out of their "caves", they get a bit cranky, and I don't have pics loaded to a URL. So I'm using the "generic" photos for reference.

I've had Goliath for 5 years. She's mature, about 8-8 1/2 inches spread out. She's a Choco Gold Stripe (Grammostola Aureoaustrata) and weighs about 8-10 ounces (depending on which stage of the molt she's in). Usually very friendly but intimidating because of her size.

Carmen is a Mexican RedKnee (Brachypelma Smithii) - the classic tarantula. I've had her for 7 years. She about 6" spread out and weight about 5-6 ounces. She has a bad attitude - unusual for a Smithii.

Fang was a Rio Grande Gold (Aphonopelma moderatum). She passed last week. She had a tenuous molt and I lost her to a bacterial infection.

I had five others (mostly tree spiders - much more colorful, but VERY fast and a bit more aggressive), but sold them a few years ago. My wife is arachnophobic, so the T's I still have stay in heated terrariums under towels on a shelf in the basement - where my wife has slowly become accustomed to having them there. She still doesn't LIKE them, but she's not afraid of them anymore, so we're keeping the last two.

[buckwheat]

WOW! I never seen anything that that except in books. What do they eat? do they live together?


buckwheat

[Daddy Kool]

Very exotic pets! I'm sorry to hear you lost Fang. How did you come to keep such unique species?

[08ChallengerDad]

They eat crickets mostly, and occasionally, I'll give them "pinkies" (baby mice).
I modified a few "critter cages" - aquariums with a screened/locking top. I cut lexan to fit as a divider on the 10 gallon tanks and seated it with clear silicone gasket - giving them each half of the volume of the tanks. I have three 10 gal tanks split into two - housing for 6 T's.
They can't be kept all together. They're very territorial and will fight until there's only one T left alive. They can see each other (their vision is poor) in the cages, but can't make contact. That's best for all of them.

When my son was young, he liked to sleep on the floor of his bedroom closet. He said he was "camping out" in his cave. I called him my spider - and the nickname stuck.
After the divorce, I had a lot of idle time and started a sim-racing team named Arachnid Racing - in honor of my son. He felt the team should have a mascot, so I bought Carmen. Well he and his sister were so fascinated by her, I was begged to get more T's. Over the next few years, I bought a Chilean Rosehair, (Rosie - 6"), a Brazilian Pinktoe (Flash - 4"), a Metallic Pinktoe (Mumbo Jumbo - 4" - absolutely gorgeous spider and VERY fast), a Mexican Red Leg (Tick - 3"), Goliath, and Fang.
When I met my current wife, she was deathly afraid of spiders, so I began to sell them off. Well time passed, the wedding happened and I was still keeping three that didn't sell (the ladies remaining range in price from Goliath - $100 to Carmen - $450). My wife didn't want me to give them away, so I keep them in the basement hidden behind towels on a rack. They seem to like it just fine there.

They're great pets - no vet bills, cheap to feed, relatively no care, and YES, I do handle them. Yes, they're all poisonous - but in such minute amounts that the only real threat they pose would be to very young children. Yes, they bite and it hurts like a b@$t@^d! But they won't bite unless they have a reason, so I try not to give them one.

Thanks for the condolences. I'll miss Fang. She was small but had a LOT of attitude. She was docile and hard to p*$$ off, but when she put her pedipalps up in an attack posture, she could jump about a foot and hit you with her fangs......never sink them in, but hit you with them. She was a fun spider to have.
Goliath is very lethargic. I feed her well. At her size, you don't want to get her too worked up.
Carmen is just miserable. She doesn't bite, but she flicks urticating hairs from her abdomen with her back legs. When they float and get on your skin, it feels like you've been stung by a thousand bees. It's not fun.

Thanks for asking!

[08ChallengerDad]

BTW - here's a picture of a Metallic Pinktoe (looks just like Mumbo). They're gorgeous, but very fast and skittish. Most tree spiders are.

They build hammock webs stretched between tree limbs.

Here's a pic of a Pinktoe (like Flash);

They make tube webs on the sides of trees.