Did some T hunting today

Hi all,
Where I live there are plenty of wild A. chalcodes like Ts living naturally by a big lake, so I decided to see if I could lure a few of the ladies out of their burrows. I was successful with one adorable little girl which measured approximately 3" DLS. Just a bit of water was necessary to encourage her to the top so I could get a small stick behind her butt to get her the rest of the way up. Enjoy the pictures of the wild Ts I call neighbors. This little one was very sweet and cooperative once I got her out for pictures. I put her right back when I was done of course.

Cute! I've been meaning to go critter hunting out here for a while now I enjoy watching them in their natural habitat!

She's gorgeous. And now i'm sad there aren't too many aphos in the europe

Love the blonde Aphonopelmas. Beautiful t! I'm jealous!

I feel grateful that I live in tarantula territory. I feel sad for our fellows who live in Germany and England - Europe in general. Then I realize they can get to Africa and beyond by car and ferry and I feel jealous. I have found the turrets of the A. mojave and an uncountable mass of Iodious burrows in Mojave; my 8 year old son and I took a road trip to Tuscon last summer and - as a requested service - cleaned out the yard where we were staying, got some A. chalcodes. We have the Aphonopelma Iodious and Reversum here in San Diego- brown, black, tan and furry... love it. If ever in town, look me up. Paul

She's gorgeous nice find.

What a doll face. =) We have tarantulas here in California, but I only see them by the thousands when they migrate.

Ahhh, where's the coco fiber?

What a beauty!!

gotta love aphonopelma!

Smokehound714 said:

gotta love aphonopelma!

Click to expand...

True that! They are rapidly becoming one of my favorite genera. Just need to get my hands on an adult female chalcodes.

goodoldneon said:

Ahhh, where's the coco fiber?

Click to expand...

i don't think you can find any coco fibr in the wild

I personally hate coco fiber. It looks like a golem ate a bunch of hair and took a dump.


You will never unsee.

Did some more T hunting today and lured out this beauty. She was around 6" and just as calm and docile as the one at the top of this page. I thought it was interesting how much darker her carapace was and redder her legs were compared to the other one I found of the same species only a hundred yards away.

Wow man those are really pretty!! Super jealous wish I could go out and find T's.

The larger one looks to have recently molted. She is a real beauty, I have wanted one just like her for a while. Your lucky to have such awesome Ts just right outside. And your pictures are great keep them coming.

That's awesome man. I wish I could have been there with you. T hunting is a great adventure. Can't wait to do some when we go to the convention.

I found this little 3.5" darling right outside my front door a couple nights ago wandering aimlessly, probably driven from her burrow by the heavy rains that have been sweeping across Arizona the last week, and thought about giving her a home with me.

She's pretty calm when handled, but when in the temporary shoe-box enclosure I made for her she's extremely skittish, jumping and running around at the slightest touch and even kicking hairs. So I decided to release her back into the wild, but with a fighting chance against her predators. In a protected area, I dug a "burrow" with the spike of a pickaxe that's about 10" deep, tamped down the dirt around the hole and used a bit of water to pack down and reinforce the walls. I let it dry for a day and introduced her to it this morning. She took to it immediately. She explored its depths, laying silk everywhere. I walked around in the empty field near my place and found a cricket under a plank of wood and offered it to her by just tossing the cricket near the entrance where she was waiting and immediately took the cricket. I'm so happy I was able to safely return her to the wild. I know where the hole is so I can visit her whenever I want.
Here she is in her pre-made burrow finishing the cricket(note the rectangular shape due to the pickaxe):

I'll be excited if she's still there tomorrow and has expanded her burrow. I'll post pictures of that if anyone's interested.

Well, it was not to be. I went out to dinner and when I returned, the hole was empty. She's moved on. I must not be as good a burrow builder as I thought. At least she got a meal out of the deal.

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.