Stan's Visit

[Poec54]

How long does it take you to change the water dishes, feed and do cage maintenance? Do you do it all on the one day or over several days?

Depends on the time of year. When it's cool out I don't feed them as often, and the water in their bowls doesn't evaporate as fast, so in the winter it can only be 5 hours a week. Now that it's warming up (in Florida anyways) that doubles. There's always somebody molting and needing extra rations. When I went thru Friday night, just feeding/watering the ones on the three shelves in the middle of the room, I pulled out a dozen juvenile/subadult Poec molts and found a regalis with a new egg sac. Earlier in the week, a fasciata laid a sac. Always surprises.

Being more active after dark, I'll do most of my work with them in the evenings, as I can see who's out and hungry. I'm long past doing the whole room in one session. Because of space limitations, most cages are stacked, so I have to haul them out and set them on a bar stool, clean/water/feed, put them back, and haul out the next stack. Good exercise. I'll usually do 2 or 3 sets of shelves in a session, which is a couple hours give or take, depending on how many cages I have on the shelves. Slings are disproportionately the most work, as they can't go as long between feeding and watering. I'll do them a couple times a week until they get to be juveniles. It's a commitment. I'm always very glad to sell/trade off the slings I produce, as they noticeably add time to the weekly routine.

But I've managed to accumulate some great species, and love to watch them. It's worth it.

 

[Mike41793]

"cool" in Florida is probably like summer here in CT. I'm. Jealous lol

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[Poec54]

"cool" in Florida is probably like summer here in CT. I'm. Jealous lol

Yes, our winters are mild. I haven't turned on the furnance in 4 years. A/C runs most of the year though...

 

[Wildenthusiast]

Yes, our winters are mild. I haven't turned on the furnance in 4 years. A/C runs most of the year though...

Naples is beautiful, as long as you're a fan of regular thundershowers.
In all honesty, I do love the city. Especially the ever increasing diversity of the flora and fauna.

 

[Shrike]

Nice set up!

 

[korg]

Thanks for sharing. You should post pictures more often... I bet you've got a lot of interesting stuff back in that lair.

 

[herpguy]

Very nice setup! Most normal people wouldn't realize you can house hundreds of spiders in only a room like that. Looks very neat!

 

[klawfran3]

Hey poec, what do you feed them? I'm sure it takes a Lot of food for that many hungry mouths. And do you breed whatever food you use or do you mail order it?


Also, what lives in those huge bins I see in the first picture? A few adult theraphosas or maybe some LPs?

 

[Mike41793]

Hey poec, what do you feed them? I'm sure it takes a Lot of food for that many hungry mouths. And do you breed whatever food you use or do you mail order it?


Also, what lives in those huge bins I see in the first picture? A few adult theraphosas or maybe some LPs?

The blue bins in the middle? Well, there's egg crates in the one so I assume that's where he keeps roaches or crickets or something.

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[Poec54]

Hey poec, what do you feed them? I'm sure it takes a Lot of food for that many hungry mouths. And do you breed whatever food you use or do you mail order it?


Also, what lives in those huge bins I see in the first picture? A few adult theraphosas or maybe some LPs?

I buy my freeders, it would take an even larger room of just them in order to produce enough. I spend enough time maintaining spiders as it is, I don't want to be a cricket rancher too.

In the first pic, the blue bins have crickets in them, as with the plastic containers on top of them. Under the blue bins are 4 cages, with ornata and miranda females. The Theraphosa cages are in the last pic, on the left, stacked on the floor. They're 64 qt plastic boxes. On top of them are a couple 15 qt plastic boxes with P platyomma in them.

I'm always upgrading cage sizes and getting in new arrivals (trades and purchases), and therefore moving and rearranging a lot (Stan will have new things to see next winter). Sometimes I forget where I've moved things to, or where I put a new spider or two. I just bought a label maker to help with that, but haven't used it yet.

 

[Hopeful T Owner]

One word to sum this up......

WOW!!! Lol x

Julia x

 

[Poec54]

One word to sum this up......

WOW!!! Lol x

Julia x

You never know where it will lead. There's so many species available now, so much information online, and lots of great people to help.

 

[Ghost Dragon]

Great T room setup, Poec54, and great story about your visit with Stan. I've only talked with him via email, but he sounds like a great guy. Hope I get to meet him one of these days. Have both 1st (packed away somewhere) and 2nd editions of the TKG, which was instrumental in me finally taking the plunge into the world of T collecting & care, so much so that I named the B. emilia I picked up last fall after both Stan's late wife and an extremely long lived emilia they had years ago.

Duchess Marguerite (or Maggie for short).

 

[Poec54]

I don't know of anyone who's done as much to inform people about tarantula care as Stan has.

 

[goodoldneon]

Great post and photos. I would love to have coffee with both of you.

Thanks again for posting.

 

[LordWaffle]

I missed this thread somehow. I really like your setup. I live in an apartment, so my space is very limited. My spider room and my living room are the same room. With any luck, I'll be out of here in the nearish future and will have a dedicated spider room. For now, it's two (nearly three) shelving units that line different areas of my living space. Hah.

 

[Poec54]

I missed this thread somehow. I really like your setup. I live in an apartment, so my space is very limited. My spider room and my living room are the same room. With any luck, I'll be out of here in the nearish future and will have a dedicated spider room. For now, it's two (nearly three) shelving units that line different areas of my living space. Hah.

I've always had a dedicated spider room (spare bedroom or garage). Much better to have them closed off from the kids, cats, and dogs so nothing gets tipped over. Plus I can control the temp and humidity in that room.

 

[Stan Schultz]

I am a bit embarrassed that Rick finally had to write up a report of my little visit. My only excuse is that I've been traveling a bit, and simply couldn't find the time to compose a long exposé. Thanks, Rick, for picking up the chore.

For those of you who have been watching these forums, Rick is a true Renaissance man! Not only does he have a very large collection of tarantulas, but he lives in the midst of a tropical paradise. His (very large) yard is a huge botanical garden. He especially favors palms, bromeliads and crotons. His estate could easily be used as the set for another Tarzan movie!

But, it doesn't stop there! Not only has he made a respectable reputation keeping giant fuzzy spiders, and maintaining his own private jungle, but he's also an accomplished blues guitarist!

So, here we have an accountant, a botanist, an arachnologist, and a musician all wrapped into one guy! And, that's only what I learned about him in a few hours. I can only wonder what else there is to know about him.

Way to go, Rick!

Thanks so much for your hospitality and the guided tours. My visit with you was clearly one of the two major high points of this Winter's migration! (Sorry, you have to share the top spot with the Kennedy Space Center. But, it took something like NASA to do it!)

:worship:

 

[PhiGamTeacher]

Man, if only:

1.) My students could tour your spider room and

2.) Stan or Rick could tour and talk to our spider classroom!

 

[ieatkats]

Green with envy!! I think we all dream of collection like yours not to mention the visit!!!