#manica

PhoTober

23 Ottobre

Tema: blu

Autore della foto: @persa-tra-i-miei-pensieri

Well. Not exactly one year if we count my ants and mantises but today exactly one year ago I bought my first tarantula... And my second one...

For that reason and because i didn’t post about my animals in a LONG WHILE I’m going to update you on all of them.

Anyway... Lets get the hard one done with first: My mantises.

Sadly those don’t live long and a few weeks ago my last praying mantis has passed away. It was to be expected as they live only for about a year and I got them all before even my first tarantula.

Out of 7 praying mantis I’ve bought 4 reached maturity. Two died of unknown causes, one fell during a molt. Yeah... They are fragile like that.

Still - I want to believe those other 4 had good lives filled with roaches and all the other things mantises like...

Ok.

Now the fun part.

ANTS.

I’m not sure if I reported this before but from my 2 Manica rubida colonies one lost it’s queen right before winter.

Normally the colony would be doomed but at the end of their hibernation I joined the two colonies and the surviving queen adopted the orphaned workers.

The surviving colony is doing quite well I’d say:

Here’s Queen Sola in all of her winged glory. The population of workers has decreased lately but I’m planning to upgrade their habitat in a few weeks.

Still - there’s soon gonna be a boom in new workers:

The pile of larvae and pupae is just enormous.

Now. The other colony - mt Formica cinerea? Umm...

This queen is taking it rather easy. She underwent hibernation with just 8 workers last year and took her time before laying new batch of eggs. The 2nd generation of workers replaced the old one as it was passing away and the numbers never exceeded 20 workers. All seem rather small for the species still.

I try to provide them with a lot of honey (they have a constant supply) and more than enough roaches (I’m exchanging them weekly so that they don’t go bad).

There are about 10 pupae and some more larvae in there... not sure how many because those ants make their test tubes really filthy somehow. And yes - test tubes. I provided another, clean one and they didn’t even bother trying to move into it...

I hope they’ll increase their population before hibernating this year.

Now. The recent find...

During my last hike I found this beauty. The young queen of the second largest ant species in my country: Camponotus herculeanus.

Known for their large size, ability to bite into wood and a soldier caste of workers those ants are one of the most desired species among antkeepers in my country.

I was hoping to find a queen of their larger cousins but I’m not gonna be picky about it.

The queen is currently stored in a dark and calm place where she can do her job and give birth to her first generation of workers (which might take a long time - those species develop slowly).

I expect to see first soldier ants in 3-4 years.

Now. The tarantulas in order of acquisition:

1. Tliltocatl vagans (ex. Brachypelma vagans)

Now this little spider underwent a lot.

A name change among other things - the genus was separated into two and... Well... I don’t want to bother you with details. My Brachypelma is now Tliltocatl.

It molted 6 times during the time I had it and I expect it to molt again within a week. It’s currently pushing 8cm in diagonal leg span (DLS) and after molting it’ll be once again my biggest spider.

Sadly it is due to that the colors are so... Brown.

After molting it’ll be velvet black (legs) with a vibrant red abdomen. I’m hoping for a black carapace after this molt as well.

This is also my only suspected female tarantula.

most keepers want females because they live several times longer than males. 15-30 years (depending on species) compared to 3-7 for males.

2. Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens

We got there!

We got the blue colors - finally!

Until recently the carapace was still a mixture of dark blue and gold - now it’s finally getting the blue-green look to it.

It molted just recently and is still kinda shy - I had to lure it out with food for this picture but I managed somehow.

Suspect male but people on arachnoboards told me to wait a bit longer as they can be a bit tricky to properly identify.

It’s last molt is about 7,5 cm in DLS meaning the spider is now bigger than that.

3. Phormictopus sp. green gold carapace

Another BIG ONE.

Big boy actually. Last attempt at sexing left almost no doubts - it is a male.

On one hand I’m happy because males of Phormictopus genus get some stunning colors when they mature.

On the other hand... Well. He’ll have a short life and the species is quite hard to come by so I might not be able to find him a date.

Perhaps I’ll try to contact the breeder who sold him to me and ask if he’s still breeding them but... I have the feeling that the guy doesn’t like me much.

As for the spider himself... I complained a lot about his temperament - he was bolty and kicked hair at the slightest of disturbances... Was. Recently he got quite calm and almost... gentle... I hope he stays this way.

It also grows FAST. It was a lot smaller than my first two spiders and now can rival them in size at about 7,5 cm in DLS.

4. Psalmopoeus cambridgei

Mr shy. I can’t get a good picture of him no matter how much I try.

Always hiding or escaping the moment I take out the camera. A fussy eater and and overall pain in the butt.

Also - suspect male. His molts are always ruined so they can’t be used to determine it with all certainty but I had a good look on him two or three times and he seems male to me.

I might be wrong tho.

5. Lasiodora klugi

The SMOL one. Not so small anymore.

Still my smallest spider but it grew a lot from that tiny, tiny spiderling that I got back in September.

I hear they speed up a lot after hitting the juvenile stage which should happen soon...

Ultimately this will be my largest spider.

No clue if it’s male or female - too small to even try checking.

6 Harpactira pulchripes

The evil one, eh?

The only Old World tarantula in my collection - Old World meaning it’s from Africa and lacks the irritating hairs the New World Ts use for defense.

To make up for this the OW spiders are faster and their venom is quite nasty.

I get a threat posture from this little guy every time I try to take it’s molt out. That is... 3 times so far.

Still a beautiful spider that grows A LOT with each molt.

So. That’s it. All of my animals not counting the cat. I hope you enjoyed this update.

Back when the European powers were Scrambling for Africa in earnest, many of the political boundaries (such as they were) were pretty loosey goosey - which is why, for instance, within Portuguese Mozambique (what would later become the Republic of Mozambique), two of the provinces were under the direct governance of the Mozambique Company, a royal company with a truly nauseating list of concessions and “rights” within the provinces of Manica and Sofala.  These concessions included: the ability to tax (with a 25-year exemption on being taxed), the power to use “conscripted labor” on its land holdings, and the right to “lease” that labor to adjacent estates.  The Company, in turn, did not fulfill any of its obligations (such as they were), variously had to call for Portuguese military intervention when the “conscripted labor” caused violent uprisings, and when its 50-year lease ran out in 1941 and was not renewed (despite the fact that the Portuguese did not leave the area until 1975), the governor of Manica and Sofala provinces stated, “They did nothing to develop the potential wealth of this entire region, preferring to plunder it and alienate the natives.”  Ugh.

Stamp details: Issued on: January 1, 1895 From: Beira, Mozambique Company MC #11

Issued on: January 1, 1941 From: Beira, Mozambique Company MC #233

Thought I would do this for kicks-- As I rarely draw anything Good Omens on here.

I do have an Oc as well-- Parisa/Manica as well, bio here: