Well, very few of us had the nards to "show your fugly mug" so let's try pets. I was just going to leave it at bizzare pets, but I thought that might limit it some... So, let's go with bizzare/favorite pets This is Jay. Jay is a female Chillean Rose Hair tarrantula. She is the biggest of the 2 I have, so she is a bit better fodder for conversation. Umm, she is ~9 years old (judging by molt frequency I can place her within about 6 months of her birth), and spread out about 9 inches around. I got 1 of her half spread out, and another of her walking on my hand...
I have a Vietnamese Gecko at home but no camera to take a picture of it. OMG, that spider looks so damn scary....
Oftentimes I can flip her over and show off her fangs (ask Cort, he's seen me do it), and I tried it for the effect but she was being uncooperative. I think it is because she is so heavy with food (she ate a pink mouse about a week ago). Her fangs are actually very large, bigger than a wood rattlers or diamondback rattlers are. She hurts more than a rattler does too, with almost 7000 pounds of bite force per square inch. Obviously a rattler is more venomous, but they don't hurt as bad (been bit by a wood rattler and several tarrantulas, and in all instances I deserved it. Both are docile, but get defensive and dangerous when provoked). It takes alot to get Jay to bite. She has become very used to people being around her, so she is well domesticated.
And on the opposite end of the spectrum from the deadly venomous spider... http://www.betteraudio.com/geolemon/cat B) He's a pure-white American Shorthair breed, with odd-colored eyes - one yellow, and one blue (which is actually a desirable trait for show cats of this breed). Often, this breed of cat, if they have blue eyes are deaf... or deaf in the ear corresponding to the blue eye, but my cat has good hearing. He's very intelligent, and remarkably well behaved. If anything, he's a too good natured... My wife and I are afraid to get a second cat, because there's just no way it'll be as good as this one. I must say, in support of cats in general... They can be very faithful friends, eager to please. They are self-cleaning (particularly my white cat... everything gets white dirty, and he won't put up with that! )... They are litter trained (no needing to 'let them out'). They don't scrounge for food. They don't lick their own poop and then lick your face. Obviously, I'm not a big dog-owning advocate... I'd rather borrow a dog... but own a cat. :lol: Not sure about that whole tarantula thing... A cat will cuddle up with you on the couch and purr... What does a tarantula do? <_< Although, my sister used to have a 4 foot long Ball Python, and it was a nice Python. Gave good neck massages.
Tarrantulas actually are not deadly. In fact, humans are more likely to die from a bee sting than from even the most toxic tarrantula... What will the tarrantula do? Bite the cat of course . Actually I have a cat too umm, lemme see if I can dig up a pic... There she is... Oreo is the black one, and Arwen is the other one. Arwen is dead now . Oreo is indoor and similar to Chris' cats. I agree with Chris. Dogs are loyal to the end and stupid to no end, you can kick it daily and it will come back. Cats have to develop a trust with people, and in people, and intelligence and kindness are returned 10 fold. I have always found that a person that gets on well with cats, is typically a person worth befriending.
[The Bafoon] I got a snake man... one time I fed it some beer man... it was slivering this way and that... it was all focked up... [/The Bafoon] LoL, really though, only non-traditional (cats and dogs I mean) pets I've ever owned are rodents. A pair of guinea pigs. A gerbil. Two different hamsters (huge golden hamster and now a syrian dwarf hamster). Thats about it really. I wouldn't mind a REALLY nice cat or a small dog though, probably a cat. They are easier to take care of and more intelligent.
hey seth... I raised scorpions for years.... and had a Wolley hair beast named PHOBEA, Pink Toes that i sacrificed to the scorpions and some rose hairs that i enjoyed watching at night... Nothing is cooler than filling a 20 gallong long with vermiculite and making hills and damns in it....and putthing a pinktoe at the end of it in a small box with one open end facing the glass taped to the glass itself... and then having the scorpions awake and feel the intruder... they start to work together to dig and move the earth like little bulldozers and work as a team to pry the boxx off the glass to expose the spider and then its a free for all they chase the spider all over the tank till they finally get a sting on it and then its bbq a la 8-legubus and the madd feast begins... :blink: It was national geographic in my living room for years at night fall....my friends would come over and get a drink and smoke a bag and bring a tarantula from the pet store to sacrifice to the mini tank scorpions...they'd show up like it was super bowl sunday and gang up on the couch, doin play by play hooting and hollering for their favorite scorpion ( i had about 8 or more at one time and one in the chamber nursing young) Prozak, Boomshaka, Empress my largest ones spanning 4 inches across and 9+ inches stinger to claw. The rest were normal sized...6-8 inches long...and then the babies normally around .5 inches and up in growth...
I had several pink toes for a while, about 15, in a 55 gallon tank. They are supposedly "community spiders" unlike all other tarrantulas that are solitary. One got pregnant though and killed all the others in the tank. So much for community . I fed her to Jay after she destroyed the $300 or so worth of her tankmates. I taught that bitch <_< . Anyways, they were very tiny and very fast, but lacked any real agressive nature.. I assume judging by the name "Empress", and their size that you were rasing Emporer Scorps? I was looking at them for a while, considering breeding them (like I did for a bit with Rose Hair, and Mexican Red Knee Tarrantulas), but their nocturnal nature and fondness of inactivity strayed me from them. They're big, but really not active. I used to have several killer fish too. I raised Snakeheads, Tanganican Ciclids, Oscars, Dempseys, and Manguense as well. I used to be heavily into extreemly aggressive animals, but after a while the time effort, money, etc. made me decide on a more moderate level of animals. I've had Jay for years and I also have a Skeleton Tarrantula (Skully) as well, which I have had for several years. Skully is far quicker, far smaller, and considerably more agressive. More along the lines of a Baboon spider... I mean really aggressive and mean.
wrong...to an extent... If the cage remains untampered with ....they are relatively docile...and lathargic (mostly due to overfeeding) ... Screw with that tank while they sleep and when they awaken...they'll go right to work......they like the ground to be flat.... ..make big sharp hills in it..and put obsticals in the way so they can't get to the other side of the tank...and watch them get pissed and knock stuff down and start a demolition team ... throw a foe into the mix (rosehair tarantula or praying mantis) and you got a couple hours of entertainment goin on... also feeding them every day like most people do...not a great idea...makes them very slow and lathargic.. And of course.... ...get a black light to seal in the fun...
I was not aware that movement of surroundings impacted their docile nature. I know with some of the fish I had, changing the surroundings made a differance in movement, but it was due to the fish staking "new" territory. Ciclids are territorial, but I assumed with Emporer Scorps being communal that wouldn't affect them. I can see where they would want flat surfaces, as natural defences require flatter surfaces for greater movement transfer (the assumption being they are blind to detail and use the hairs in thier legs as vibration receptors, similar to the Tarrantulas). They do look cool under a blacklight though. I tried the same with my tarrantulas but the effect was not there
you got it... and yes they are communal but only to themselves...they'll sleep all piled up on eachother..but the moment something is sensed moving in the tank thats on the menu......its time to kill...
Interesting stuff! But they won't really try to just bite at things that it doesn't think are food... like you?
