Tag Archives: bug

We made a mom happy for the Mother’s Day

We were doing a Snake Inspection Service but it was not a snake but a Centipede.

A mom of 4 young kids was bitten on the elbow by something during sleeping on her bed in her house in Stanley. The entire arm was numb. She went to hospital and had the whole family stayed in hotel overnight. Panic mode is on.

Next day Goatee Toni and crew came to there and had a complete check for a Snake Inspection. From the bite mark and symptoms we were suspecting it was a Green Pit Viper. But it turned out we found a Centipede! It was extremely active when we caught it. We will release it in new territories.

The kids were happy and the mom can have a good sleep tonight without such a many-legged roommate.

We believe it’s the best gift for the Mother’s Day for her.

Silkworm life cycle kits available

Silkworm Life Cycle kits – Available Now! After these you will have to wait till 2014 summer.

Surprised to find out some moms bought our Silkworms not only for their kids.

We delivered 2 sets of Silkworm kits to one of the moms last night. She was so excited seeing the worms and said it brought back her childhood memories.

Strongly believed that she ordered 1 set for her kid, and another set for herself 🙂

Tiffany the tarantula becomes a mom of hundreds

I’m happy to announce that Tiffany, our famous tarantula, Rosie’s sister, gave birth to hundreds of babies successfully.

It was her first time but everything went well. For the past month Tiffany has been doing a great job looking after her babies in the egg sac.

After coming back from the movie The Amazing Spider-Man we decided to open the egg sac. Nothing about the movie but it was the right timing. Tiffany is always a sweet girl but when it comes to protecting her babies she shows me her fangs. It took a while for us to remove the egg sac by distracting her with some juicy high protein treats.

This was Tiffany before she got gravid.

KJS

Sneak a peek inside the sack.

Spiderlings

Opening the sack

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Some trailblazers stepping out of the nest to explore the world.

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Now the eyes can be easily seen before body turns dark.

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Little baby fangs. The tenderest moment of these killing weapons.

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Spiderlings are only about 5 millimeters.

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Spiderlings are moving slowly and very fragile. Now they do not have to feed until they grow to the next stage. Actually they are not able to kill a prey until their body gets more developed.

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In the wild, spiderlings at this stage are totally vulnerable and make the easiest meal for all insectivores. Survival rate can be lower than 10% in some areas. But in here these pink babies have nothing to be worried about. I cannot wait to feed them their first bug and let you meet them soon!

Winter Silkworms

Since kid we learned that silkworms are only active during summertime and go into hibernation before winter.

This year, now in mid December at 55°F, I found these worms unexpectedly! This is unusual. Probably they somehow did not manage to pupate, or it is a small-sized big indication of global warming.

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Rosie the tarantula on Nokia commercial

Goatee Toni handling Rosie the beautiful spider girl shows up in Nokia E7 TV commercial for 4 seconds.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUMoDK9X4v4]

This is the German version. There are a lot other amazing shots taken that will probably be on other upcoming versions.

*Update:

More of us on the upcoming English version, but unfortunately it’s not for Hong Kong. Here is a screen capture

Tarantulas eat alive

If you find having a tarantula crawling over your hand hair-raising, you’ve gotta see them eat to scale up your feeling.

Tarantulas are predators. In the wild when the hunger comes they will prey on almost everything smaller- insects, geckos, tree frogs, and even venomous snakes. The way they hunt is fascinating. Unlike other spiders tarantulas don’t spin web. Instead, they capture prey on their own by their speed and power. Fangs are located underneath so they will swiftly move on top of the prey, bite, and eat.

From the prey’s view it would be extremely scary. Imagine a huge hairy spider jumps on top of you, and you’re surrounded by 8 hairy legs getting a nasty bite on top of your head by 2 huge shape fangs. It’s kinda like you’re going to a salon for a perm and inside the machine there are 2 vertical swords waiting.. Finally venom is injected directly into your brain and you suffer gigantic pain before falling into a coma. Even after you die your body melts into bloody liquid turning into nutrition for another creature… Alright, luckily there’s not yet any tarantula found bigger than human 🙂

But everything has its good side if you will use some brain. Our tarantulas are mainly fed on insects. so no bloody scene during feeding. I always try to find interesting facts out of scary critters. Here is one now I can think of. Interesting to tell, unlike other animals, the smaller young tarantulas eat more than the bigger adults. Spiderlings can feed as much as everyday, while adults can fast for 3 months or more. Besides, tarantulas can smell. Without nostrils they smell by feet. Imagine you have to step on a cheesecake with barefoot to taste it. 🙂

New 8-legged friend

Hi world!
I’m Ashley the caretaker in the frogs and spiders department
and this is my first blog entry!:-)

Here’s our new friend – Brazilian Black Tarantula
Her body is all black in color, you may think it’s a little bit scary.
But she is extremely friendly and easy to handle.

Just do not be deceived by appearances;-)

Alien was born before 2011

Ok so this is one of our Madagascan hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa). I just found her about to molt. For first time viewers it’s reasonable you have no clue what the ivory white bug with jet black eyes is. They look strange when they have become white because being dark seems to be typical of roaches.

A lil bit facts of this big bug. The hisser is native to Madagascan rainforests and is one of the world’s largest cockroaches. There are a few species that are bigger but the hisser is obviously more well-known than those. I have often found groups of them under logs in the past trips. They would hiss at the beginning of disturbance, but soon would stop hissing and run instead. These gentle giants would not attack no matter how bad they are disturbed. Yeah they are cockroaches, but are so different from the house ones. The Malagasies are naturally clean. Actually they won’t survive in dirty environment. They are relatively slow moving and wingless, means they cannot fly.

Every time they molt they go on a new stage of life. They will molt totally 6 times in their life. Freshly molted hissers are soft and ivory white.  Without the protection of their shed exoskeleton, they would only choose to molt in the middle of the night in somewhere secretive. The body will be hardened and turn dark again quickly.

I’ve spent some time watching her shed entirely. I can’t remember how many times I have seen this but every single time it interests me in a different way. This time it happened right before new year. Obviously this cute hisser girl wants a brand new life in 2011.

By understanding these little critters you will be inspired in some way you’ve never expected. If people can shed like these cold blooded critters, we will be more open-minded and our society will be more positive. Regeneration is the word.

You can now learn from a cockroach how to live a brand new life in 2011.

Happy 2011 everyone!!