My little Avic avic, Shooter, recently had his first molt (under my care) in his tube web. I had stopped by to take a peek and noticed he had so many legs! It seemed to go well, and when it was over Shooter was definitely bigger. I took some time to admire him, and noticed – tibial spurs! Oh no, I just got the critter a couple of months ago, an unplanned purchase but so cute I couldn’t resist. There was a chance he’d turn out male, but this was way too soon.
This revolting development was especially upsetting because I’d just shipped my GBB, Elwood (my first T), off for a breeding loan. What to do? My thoughts wandered back to my first handling session, my buddy Josh was kind enough to let me hold some of his critters, and among them was a cute little Avic avic. Perhaps he could be persuaded… but Josh recently bred his L. parahybana and already has hundreds of new slings. An added complication was that Shooter, despite his growth spurt, was still pretty small and I was worried about his chances of surviving a mating with a much-larger female. Things were looking grim. I should try to find him a mate but was just too depressed to deal with it right then.
So I gave Shooter time to harden up, then went to his cage with tasty crickets. There he was, still parked on top of his old molt, and I took a moment to remove it before feeding and watering Shooter. I wonder if Avics leave their sheds in their webs in the wild? Anyway, I took it aside to have a look and saw little pads at the end of the feet, so cute, I didn’t know avics had footpads like Usumbaras. Little red fangs, and… tibial spurs??? What the hell? Upon closer inspection they weren’t hooks at all, just tufts of hair at the joints, with a tiny hairfree spot, looked just like a spur. I rushed over to Shooter and… many tufts, a bald spot, no hooks! Male or female, looks like Shooter will be around a while longer.
So once again, I’ve been completely fooled by my Ts. Not to mention hours away from emailing Josh and/or advertising a ‘mature male Avic avic’ on the Invertsonals! This is pathetic.
This revolting development was especially upsetting because I’d just shipped my GBB, Elwood (my first T), off for a breeding loan. What to do? My thoughts wandered back to my first handling session, my buddy Josh was kind enough to let me hold some of his critters, and among them was a cute little Avic avic. Perhaps he could be persuaded… but Josh recently bred his L. parahybana and already has hundreds of new slings. An added complication was that Shooter, despite his growth spurt, was still pretty small and I was worried about his chances of surviving a mating with a much-larger female. Things were looking grim. I should try to find him a mate but was just too depressed to deal with it right then.
So I gave Shooter time to harden up, then went to his cage with tasty crickets. There he was, still parked on top of his old molt, and I took a moment to remove it before feeding and watering Shooter. I wonder if Avics leave their sheds in their webs in the wild? Anyway, I took it aside to have a look and saw little pads at the end of the feet, so cute, I didn’t know avics had footpads like Usumbaras. Little red fangs, and… tibial spurs??? What the hell? Upon closer inspection they weren’t hooks at all, just tufts of hair at the joints, with a tiny hairfree spot, looked just like a spur. I rushed over to Shooter and… many tufts, a bald spot, no hooks! Male or female, looks like Shooter will be around a while longer.
So once again, I’ve been completely fooled by my Ts. Not to mention hours away from emailing Josh and/or advertising a ‘mature male Avic avic’ on the Invertsonals! This is pathetic.