Hello, hello! I don't have much to report tonight, except that all in all I have 61 Baby Lasiodora parahybana left, and all are doing well. None have died.  Let's see if I'm still saying that tomorrow...  I have one left that has a triangular dark patch. There were only 2 that I had notice, but the other yesterday had traded the triangular shape for a circular one. Here is a photo of the one that is left with a triangular patch.

Much more triangular that the round or rectangular ones. I just think it's curious. Nice shine to it too. I just wonder if there is a correlation between the size if the opisthosoma and the shape of the spot and getting ready to molt... Probably not, but we'll see. Time will tell. Hasta mañana. Besos a todos.

Well, the times are changing. Now that there are no more waiting to achieve their first molt,  I have less to keep track of, and, therefore, less to report. There were 2 that died since yesterday. If you remember there was 1 that for the past two days I thought was going to die. Well, it did. It certainly hung on there though. The other one that died was one of the very timid ones. That leaves 4 left in that stack. It kind of doesn't surprise me that one of those would die as only one appears to be eating well, and perhaps life is just too stressful for them. Wow, it's a good thing they don't have to ward off any predators if that's the case. Anyhow, that leaves 58 if I counted right that are now waiting to molt once again.  I did have an interesting surprise though. One of the largest, which I had set as aide for my co-worker, whose dark spot had gone from round to a triangular shape, today now has a nice round spot  - again!

Here are a couple photos of it with it's newly rounded spot.

This one is a fatty. It's usually a very hearty eater. I am hoping that since its dark spot has become round again that this might indicate that it may be getting close to molting again. I hope so. I swear that after eating they look like they are about to burst, and I continually wonder how far their exoskeletons can stretch. That is another reason whyI feed them every other day...to give them time to digest their meal and get a little hungry again. Well, that's all there is for today. Keep you fingers crossed that no more die overnight. Ciao.

Well, tonight there are some new developments...some good, some bad. While the 1 that had a spot did molt, the 1 that still had not developed the spot died. While it was the slowest to develop, it was eating well, and I was hoping to see it get the spot soon. On the other hand, as I said, the last one with the spot did molt. One more step out of the way. So that leaves 60 left that have already molted at least once since I have gotten them...with a total of 61 still alive. I almost forgot to mentions. The one I thought yesterday was dying is still hanging on. I took a picture to post, but I really thing that by tomorrow it will have passed on.

Here you can see it's in a death curl. When I first opened the container I thought it was on it's back. It was so hard to tell. Only with the magnification of my camera could I tell for sure that it is right side up and in a death curl. This is the most prolonged death among these guys that I have seen so far.
  Here is another photo.

Most of them have a rather round dark spot on their opisthosoma(abdomen). It seems that as they feed and their opisthosoma expands the dark spot tends to take on a rectangular shape. I was trying to document this through this photo. In some of the larger ones where the opisthosoma has expanded even more, the dark spot seems to have become a pronounced triaglular shape. At first I thought I was imagining this, but it's true. Some people think the dark spot it made up of urticating bristles, although the one time my Brachypelma boehmei kicked at me, it didn't seem like it was rubbing the dorsal part of its opisthosoma, maybe it was. It happened oh so quickly. Maybe the changing from a round patch to a triangle is purely because of these bristles being rubbed off.

  Here is yet another photo.

As I mentioned much earlier, I try to leave their food in the center of the container. Her you can see the spiderling more in the center of the photo, while the head and thorax of the baby cricket is at the bottom go the photo. The spiderling has dragged the abdomen to the edge of the container at the top of the photo. Most of them do still carry their meals to the edge of the containers. Some just eat them where they find them...lazy buggers.

Howdy Howdy. Well, There is still 1 that is hanging on to the status of having no spot. There also is 1 that has a spot but has not yet molted. There is 1 that I think is dying and will probably be dead tomorrow when I check on it. It is somewhat in a death curl although it is hobbling around somewhat, but I'm not trying to keep my hopes up. I did put some food in with it just in case though. There are 62 that have already molted. There isn't much else to say, except, it's kind of interesting that the one that I had set aside for myself at the beginning because they were eating so well, now, have fallen back to to low side  of the middle of the pack. They slowed in their eating and others have surpassed them in size. Also, the one that I had set aside for my co-worker, because it was eating so much and was, until recently, THE largest of them all, has slowed down and at least 1 other has passed it. However, I am basing this mainly on the size of their abdomens as that is what increases in size most notably when they feed, and when they molt again, my co-worker's baby may once again gain the upper hand. Ok then, until tomorrow, Adieu.

Tonight, my stats are as follows. There is 1 that still has no spot. There are 3 that have a spot but still have not molted. There was 1 new molt, and 58 that have molted already. There was 1 that had died and another I think is dying. I am waiting until tomorrow to verify for sure. The one that had died was one of the three that I had marked for myself. I believe I am sure of the reason/cause of death. Yesterday when I was putting it back with the others, I was about to set it down when it slipped out of my grasp and fell about an inch. I believe this trauma is was caused its demise. The other two that were also in this accident have not yet displayed any ill effects. I will have to keep my fingers crossed. Time will tell. Hasta mañana.

Well, today there were no new molts. One baby still does not developed the spot. 3 have the spot, and 61 have molted since I received them In addition, there are 7 very timid acting ones - 1 more than yesterday. I think I just overlooked this one yesterday. Here is a photo of one of them.

All of its legs appear to be raised off the ground and its carapace and abdomen are arced to help facilitate and/or enhance this posture. That is all I have for tonight. See you tomorrow. Ciao ciao.

All right, for todayLet's see where the statistics leave us. There was 1 that had no spot. There were 3 that had the spot. There were no new molts. One died. It appeared to be one of the ones that had recently molted, which is too bad, but that's the way the ball bounces, unfortunately. What caused it? Who knows? Too much humidity? Not enough humidity? Or perhaps something just went wrong with the molt. There were 61 that have already molted.
  I have now created a stack of the timid ones  -  the ones that hunker down and try to be invisible when I open the container. There are 6 of them. I failed to mention that the one I called Invalido - meaning cripple - because of the white discoloration of its carapace - molted successfully and now has completely normal coloration. I can only  guess that, as I and others thought, it was just some of the previous molt's exuvium that had stuck to him.
  I do have news that Aragog, Katie and Paul's baby is eating ravenously, which is good. It will grow quickly then. And the one that went to Dylan in Kalamazoo, Michigan, is doing well too, although it doesn't come out of its hide  -  at least not while its being watched. It does have a large cage though, and maybe the extra space has it a little overwhelmed. Who knows. Perhaps when the lights go out, it comes out to explore. They are rather nocturnal anyway. Ok, enough rambling. That is all I have for tonight. Hasta mañana.