Asheville Wildside

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Asheville Wildside

Specializing in quality Captive produced and personally selected reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, aquatics, and small mammals.
(28)

08/08/2024

Asheville Wildside Care Snapshot!

Mediterranean Garden Snail
(Cornu aspersum)

One of the most widely kept gastropods on the planet, and commonly cultured for human consumption as well as mucus harvesting. This snail has traveled from its native Southern European range to establish populations across much of the globe. In some regions, they have become so naturalized that they have dramatically replaced native snail populations and represent environmental concerns. However, when responsibly kept, these land snails are fascinating pets and culture very easily. Making them excellent feeders for a variety of animals that prefer a bit of crunch in their diet.

This species hails from warm, temperate forests and grasslands of Southern Europe. They have adapted to a variety of conditions, including tropical and sub-tropical climates. They can overwinter by burrowing into loose soil or leaf litter and survive for months while hibernating.

Caring for this species is easy, I use ventilated plastic tubs for housing, being careful to use small ventilation holes as hatchlings are quite small. 2-3" of soil based substrate topped with leaf litter and moss is ideal for holding moisture. Several flat pieces of cork, tree bark, or Styrofoam provide climbing surfaces. Low to mid 70's is a suitable temperate range and keep humidity relatively high, but not overly wet.

These snails eat constantly, and they will accept a wide variety of leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, legumes, moist grains, and small amounts of animal protein. These omnivores are very easy to keep fed, and calcium supplements are essential for good shell formation and growth rates. Commercially available calcium powder can be dusted over food and offered in shallow plastic dishes.

Like all Pulmonate snails (and slugs), these are hermaphroditic animals and produce both s***m and eggs. During mating, two snails will engage in a long courtship embrace that can last several hours. During this time, both individuals exchange genetic information by 'stabbing' each other with a mucus covered calcite spine. The s***m is stored and continuously used to fertilize developing eggs over the snails lifespan. The brooding adults find safe locations in leaf litter, under shallow soil, or under stones to deposit up to 50 eggs per clutch. Most adults will produce 5-6 clutches a year and live an average lifespan of 2-3 years, maturing around 10-12months of age.

While the Giant African land snails are heavily restricted in the US, this species is legal for personal pets and commercial propagation in most states. While the majority of the snails raised in captivity are for human consumption, these fascinating gastropods are easy to keep and culture!

07/31/2024

Asheville Wildside Care Snapshot!

Golden Blue-leg Baboon
(Harpactira pulchripes)

This is a stunning baboon spider endemic to a small region of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It lives in predominantly arid grassland and dry forest regions. It is a warm sub-tropical climate with temperatures averaging 77 degrees Fahrenheit (25c) during the year with high average humidity but lower average annual rainfall of around 24 inches.

These spiders are opportunistic ambush predators. They construct their own or utilize abandoned burrows created by mammals or reptiles. In the absence of this, they may also create silken retreats under stones or in gaps or crevices of fallen timber. When insects, other arthropods, or the occasional small lizard move within striking range, these spiders rush out from their protected positions to strike. Like many old world spiders, H. pulchripes is skittish and fast. Bolting back towards safety when a threat is perceived, but they are far less defensively aggressive than other members of subfamily Harpactirinae. In captive care, they are fairly bold compared to other baboon spiders and can often be observed resting in the open.

This tarantula is sexually dimorphic. Smaller males and immature specimens of both genders have beautiful bright gold bristles across most of the body with striking blue highlights on the legs from the femur to the tarsus. Mature females are larger, measuring 5-6" diagonal legspan, and display much more subdued coloration. Like all spiders in family Theraphosidae, they posses downward articulating chelicera and are venomous, but not known to be dangerous to humans.

This species is easy to keep, size appropriate enclosures, substrate depth to allow burrowing, a pre-made burrow fixture such as cork or other half buried object allows the spider to retreat when necessary and feel confident in its space. Provide a shallow water dish and offer size appropriate prey items once or twice a week. Keep ambient temperatures in the low to mid 70's and keep ambient humidity in the 70's and moisture available.

This species of spider is an excellent candidate for experienced hobbyists and newcomers alike. Especially for those with some new world care experience looking to add an old-world species to their collection.

This species is considered stable, and populations in the wild receive protection from pet trade collecting by South African export laws. All specimens available in the hobby are captive produced and descended from a small number of wild collected foundation animals.

07/24/2024

Come see me this weekend for the Marietta GA Show Me Reptile Show! I'll be there with a tremendous selection of invertebrates and beautiful homemade taxidermy specimens.

07/24/2024

Asheville Wildside Care Snapshot!

Panther Crab
(Parathelphusa pantherina)

This is a new short-form article series I'll be doing (ideally, weekly). It will be much more direct than my often meandering Creature Feature articles.

This beautiful, almost fully aquatic, freshwater crab is called Parathelphusa pantherina, or commonly as the Panther Crab. They are fully freshwater and endemic to Lake Matano, an ancient lake (holding water for over 1 million years) in Sulawesi, a large island in Indonesia.

They are opportunistic predators and scavengers. Like most crabs, they eagerly feed on any animal matter and some plant matter as well. They will eagerly accept commercially available sinking pellets, frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis shrimp, and thin slices of frozen beef heart, or pieces of fresh or frozen fish and shrimp. They will also sample submerged oak leaves, zuchini, squash, and spirulina based pellets. They are secretive and, when exposed, quickly dash into hiding places such as submerged logs, root tangles, and rock crevices.

This species is easy to keep, preferring warm, slightly hard water (PH 7.2-7.4 and 78-80 degrees fahrenheit), lots of hiding places, and good filtration. Secure, escape proof aquariums are necessary to prevent wandering. They will climb out of water periodically and filter intakes, heater cords, airline tubing, etc. can all be used to escape.

In a large enough enclosure, multiple specimens may be kept together, but avoid overcrowding and ensure there are plenty of separate hiding places. They will hunt smaller invertebrates, snails, and smaller or slow-moving fish. If you wish to keep them with other aquarium occupants, I advise fast-moving barbs, rainbowfish, danios, and other similar species that are active in the upper areas of the water column.

This species was recently elevated to endangered status by the IUCN due to population declines resulting from water quality deterioration as a direct result of nickel mining along the shores of Lake Matano. This is a species that we as hobbyists need to focus captive reproduction efforts on. These crabs are still readily available in the hobby as field collected animals and are inexpensive. But all that may change in the coming years if a captive breeding population is not established here in the US.

Many of the larger crabs are popular, but due to complex reproductive strategies in marine environments, they are poor candidates for captive propagation. But the Sulawesi crabs of genus Parathelphusa are perfect for hobby breeders, aquarists, and invertebrate enthusiasts alike!

07/19/2024

Asheville Wildside Creature Feature!

White-lipped Pit Viper
(Trimeresurus albolabris)

In the year of our lord, 1798, French naturalist Bernard-Germaine-Ètienne de La Ville-sur-illon, comte de Lacépède (we are just going to call him 'Bernie') wrote the following.

"The species can undergo such a large number of modifications in its forms and qualities, that without losing its vital capacity, it may be, by its latest conformation and properties, farther removed from its original state than from a different species: it is in that case metamorphosed into a new species."

What Bernie was trying to convey, eleven years before Charles Darwin would even be born, was that he saw scientific evidence of speciation and evolution occurring within animal groups. In 1789, Bernie authored the tome 'Histoire naturelle des serpentes' an exhaustive examination of diverse snake species from Europe, and many regions that would one day become French colonies. Specifically, the area of Southeast Asia that today comprises the countries of Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. One group of snakes that was heavily represented was the arboreal pit vipers. Bernie named this genus Trimeresurus, and it was accepted in 1804. Even 220 years ago, it was evident that within this group of animals, there existed considerable minute variations that reflected geographical distribution. Just like the finches of the Galapagos, it was an excellent example of random mutations occurring within a population, some of those mutations being beneficial, and eventually leading to species diversification. During the 1800s, eleven new species would be listed in the genus, and today, 44 distinct species of Trimeresurus are recognized. Most are very similar animals, and the group is quite successful, with population densities throughout Southeast Asia and the Indopacific region.

Trimeresurus albolabris is widespread throughout tropical dry woodland, monsoon forests, and rainforest regions of Southeast Asia. From Nepal and east India, across southern China, south through Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, and stretching to Indonesia with insular populations in Sumatra, Java, Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, Flores, Sumba, Roti, Kisar, and the Wetar straights. Throughout this massive range, they overlap with many other species of Trimeresurus, and hybridization may also occur in some regions. These snakes are mostly nocturnal. During daylight hours, they find covered positions, forks in tree branches, or tangles of fallen limbs to conceal themselves from potential predators. At night, they perch in advantageous positions and ambush birds, bats, small mammals, frogs, and lizards.

The venom produced by these animals is predominantly hemotoxic. While many bites have been reported in Southeast Asia from snakes of this genus, fatalities are very rare. The species is sexually dimorphic, males are smaller than females, maturing around 18-24 inches in length and with prominent white lateral stripes extending from the labial scales down the length of the animal. Larger females can measure 30-36 inches and are mostly green with red striping on and around the tail.

Like other pit vipers, genus Trimeresurus possesses a deep loreal pit between the eyes and nostrils. This 'pit' structure is the external opening to a complex and incredibly sensitive infrared detection organ. The heat sensing organ is covered with a thin membrane loaded with nerve endings, which are packed with mitochondria that allow detection of thermal radiation. When this radiation is shed by endothermic animals or ectothermic animals that are warmer than their environment, the membranes can detect the slight changes against a background environment. With a pair of these pits, it creates a stereo effect that allows the snake to rapidly detect, predict direction, movement speed, and interpret range with incredible speed and precision. When deprived of sight and smell, many pit vipers have demonstrated the ability to accurately strike moving targets as little as 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit (0.2 degrees celsius) warmer than the environmental temperature.

Genus Trimeresurus are all viviparous, retaining soft shelled ova until the neonates are fully formed and giving birth to developed babies. They are mucus covered and will congregate in masses near the mother. They are capable of climbing, moving, and defending themselves immediately. They shed soon after emerging, and disperse into the forest to hunt small lizards and treefrogs until their growing bodies allow them to tackle larger prey.

The natural world is a wonderful and beautiful web of organisms and relationships. Our understanding of it is, like the very plants and animals themselves, ever evolving. As should our hobby and the way in which it is represented to non-keepers. I have seen dramatic changes in my twenty years working with these incredible animals, and the venomous snake hobby is one area that has transformed radically. Many states, counties, and cities have taken steps to restrict or even outright ban the keeping of venomous reptiles. Many of these restrictions are the result of poor keeping practices that have led to escapes, bites, hospitalizations, and even deaths. We MUST be good stewards of our hobby. We have to demonstrate responsible keeping practices, secure enclosures, proper handling and tool use, and not sensationalize the inherent danger of working with venomous animals. Just like keeping large hoofstock, big cats, bears, crocodilians, and other potentially dangerous animals, venomous snakes represent potential risks to keepers. It is our responsibility to demonstrate through our actions that these snakes can be maintained in a safe, ethical manner and that members of the general public are not put at risk by our love for these animals. One irresponsible keeper can easily undo the work of hundreds of hobbyists and breeders who have diligently maintained their collections for decades without incident.

To quote our boy Bernie up top, "The study of nature is a fertile and delightful occupation, which renews our mind and cheers our spirits." Amen, Bernie. Well said.

07/12/2024

Hey Atlanta! I'll be back in town for Atlanta Repticon this week. Find us in the second building near the back. I'll have four tables absolutely packed with over a hundred species of tarantulas, true spiders, scorpions, uropygids, mantids, phasmids, beetles, millipedes, centipedes, freshwater shrimps, snails and crayfish.

Come by and say 'hi' and grab a spider grab bag! Atlanta Repticon! $25 bag includes...

1x Flightless fruit fly culture (to feed your babies)
1x Phidippus regius 2i
1x Dolomedes albineus 2i
1x Latrodectus geometricus 2i
1x Lasiocyano sazimai 2i

This is a $55 retail value!

07/11/2024

So... I've miscalculated pairing and development times, or the fates have just conspired against me. Either way, I've got too many true spider slings, and I'm excited to reduce my feed burden. So, while supplies last, I've got a killer deal on captive born and bred 2i slings! For just $10, you will receive the following...

1x Phidippus regius (orange and gray phase females)
1x Latrodectus geometricus
1x Dolomedes albineus (white face)

All slings were produced here and are minimum second instar and taking flightless melanogaster fruit flies.

07/03/2024

Not looking forward to splitting these cups. Simultaneous hatches of captive bred Dolomedes albineus and Latrodecrus menavodi. SO MANY SLINGS.

06/28/2024

Stegodyphus dufouri. A semi-social velvet spider from dry woodland and semi-arid scrub in Northwest Africa. Poor dude, she just isn't very interested in his courtship attempts today.

06/28/2024

One of North America's most amazing Orthoptera! Neobarrettia spinosa, also commonly called Greater Arid-land Katydids are large, brightly colored, predatory insects from the Southwestern US and Northern Mexico. They tend to congregate in forested areas with humidity and moisture. They will feed on some fruits and plant matter, but predominantly hunt other insects, arachnids, and even small vertebrates like lizards and treefrogs.

06/26/2024

Hey Hickory NC! Come see us at the Saturday only Hickory Show Me Reptile Show this weekend on 6/29/24! I'll be there with a huge assortment of reptiles, tarantulas, true spiders, scorpions, uropygids, centipedes, millipedes, beetles, and mantids!

06/21/2024

Back in Charlotte Repticon this weekend at the Cabarrus Arena Event Center! Come see one of the largest concentrations of vendors in NC, with tons of quality animals available!

06/18/2024

Caught this guy changing his clothes.

06/14/2024

We will be back in the Knoxville TN area this weekend for Knoxville Repticon! Come out see a ton of great vendors with some incredible animals. I'll be there with over 100 species ready to talk bugs!

06/12/2024

Asheville Wildside Creature Feature!

Fishing Spider
(Dolomedes sp.)

Spiders are among the most successful groups of insectivorous animals on this planet. Over 35,000 identified species, and many more awaiting classification. They inhabit every continent (except Antarctica), and they exist in every ecosystem. From scorching deserts, bogs and wetlands, temperate and tropical forests, grasslands, pampas, praeries, soaring mountains, urban sprawl, and brackish coastlines, where there are insects, there are spiders. They live among and beside us, diligently controlling pest insect populations and doing their best to stay out of our way.

The group I want to discuss today are large and impressive Arachnids found across the planet. Many of the 101 classified species are semi-aquatic and prefer to live in close proximity to waterways. This has led to a myriad of common names, Raft Spiders, Dock Spiders, Fishing Spiders, Water Spiders, etc. Genus Dolomedes possess dense hydrophobic bristles across its body, and this allows the spider to move across the surface tension of the water while hunting insects, tadpoles and small fish. The bristles also allow for diving behavior exhibited in a handful of species. Some Dolomedes species will push themselves under water to better prey on aquatic animals and the bristles trap air bubbles along the opisthosoma near the respiratory spiracles, allowing for prolonged submerged behavior.

These animals are predominantly nocturnal, preferring to hunt when birds are less active. Some species actively hunt along water surfaces and near rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds. Others are terrestrial, displaying arboreal preferences and hunting up and down vertical tree trunks. Across the world, these spiders live in temperate woodland, grassland, bogs, fens, swamps, and tropical forests and are never terribly far from water. They are highly sensitive to vibrations, and the more aquatic species often hunt by resting most of their body and front six legs on the water, and anchoring themselves to the shore or to plants or debris with their rearmost pair of legs. Like most spiders, they are venomous, but their venom is mild and harmless to humans and other mammals.

Dolomedes display dimorphism in genders, with males being considerably smaller than females. In some species, such as Dolomedes okefinokensis, this size difference has grown to extremes. The females of this North American species are over twice the size of mature males and is an excellent example in gigantism, a form of dimorphism often represented in arachnids.

Female Dolomedes are attendant mothers. After courtship and breeding, she will produce a spherical egg sac, depending on the species these may appear small or obnoxiously large and cumbersome. The female holds the sac in her chelicera and carries it under her body everywhere she goes. Under normal circumstances, she will carry the sac throughout all stages of development but occasionally may secure it to a piece of emergent aquatic plant or other secure location to allow her a reprieve to hunt. Healthy females with good nutrient reserves can often endure the entire incubation period without sustenance. Once the sac hatches, the tiny baby Dolomedes emerge and will spend several days in close proximity to the mother, sometimes climbing directly on her and even sharing in prey she has dispatched. But within this brief window of communal tolerance, they molt into second instars and become fully independent predators and disperse into the environment shortly after.

These are beautiful and large spiders, and a few species, namely Dolomedes tenebrosus and Dolomedes okefinokensis, are among North America's largest arachnids, with females often displaying legspans of over four inches. Despite the size and the fast furtive movements, these harmless arachnids will always retreat when given the option and typically freeze when detected. They exhibit an array of fascinating adaptations that make them perfectly adapted to thriving in their chosen environment. Evolution is like a whet stone, it hones and refines over many generations, tens of thousands of years with countless random mutations occurring in populations, weeding out the unsuccessful ones in preference for the beneficial. Taking a group of animals with broad characteristics and features and slowly differentiating through natural selection. Dolomedes genus are prevalent in every continent, from the America's to Australia, and their success across such a massive range is indicative of their adaptability and robust nature.

Here at Asheville Wildside, I work with many different genera of 'true spiders' (Araneomorphae), but genus Dolomedes has captivated me since I was a child. I caught my first female Dolomedes tenebrosus on a half submerged tree at Lake Summit when I was maybe ten or eleven years old. At that time, it was the largest and most amazing spider I had seen with my own eyes. The fact that these incredible arachnids lived here, in my own backyard, was a revelation. I didn't need to travel to the tropics to see spiders as big as my hands, and for the last twenty years, I've had a rotating population of Dolomedes in my collection. I've kept and produced five species, now six, with the addition of this awesome Dolomedes albineus mom finally producing a sac. The only North American species that has evaded me thus far is Dolomedes gertschi, which has a fairly narrow range along the Gila river basin and drainage in Arizona and New Mexico. These are fascinating and fairly long-lived spiders to keep and care for. They are large, active predators and make wonderful display spiders in planted habitats and paludariums with water features. Sometimes, we as keepers get caught up in chasing the newest, the brightest, most colorful animals for our collections, and we miss the beauty living right alongside us. Thanks again for taking the time to read my rambling words and observations about my favorite genus of native spiders, until next time, happy keeping!

06/07/2024

These youngsters grow up so fast!

I love these big grasshoppers. At this stage they are quite heavy and pretty much unfazed by handling attempts. I'm hoping for another productive laying season!

Romalea microptera (Eastern or Painted Lubber) are among our largest North American Orthoptera and produce a defensive secretion that prevents predation from mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians. While displaying brief adult lifespans, they are easy to keep and, with a little bit of work, can be cultured in captivity.

06/06/2024

I've got a very limited number of Blue Death Feinging Beetles (Asbolus verrocosus) available. Only fifty individuals on hand, and I'm not sure when I'll have them again. This year's unusual weather patterns in the Southwestern US have made collecting these insects harder and more unpredictable.

These are field collected adults, shipping, local pick-up and show pick-ups are all available. Message for pricing. Thanks!

06/06/2024

Let's talk about... Non-native arachnids established in the United States!

So, I'm sure everyone else's social media feed has been bombarded by sensationalized news articles regarding an 'invasion' of monstrous, venomous, parachuting spiders!

Run! If the headlines are to be believed, we are obviously all doomed. We don't have the kind of infrastructure or defensive system to deal with such a dire threat!

While these 'clickbait' articles are designed to prey on our arachnophobic friends, it does bring up an interesting conversation topic. Why are we seeing these spiders? The species at the center of this vile plot is a beautiful orb weaver called Trichonephila clavata. It originates from warm, humid forests and woodlines of Eastern Asia. Population densities are found throughout Japan, Eastern China, Korea, and Taiwan. In 2013 a population of these spiders was discovered in Georgia, and in the intervening years these spiders have successfully established breeding populations across most of the Southeast, and will likely continue to spread and eventually become naturalized.

So, is this bad? Not really. Like other orb weavers T. clavata are harmless, their venom is incredibly mild, and they are incredibly reluctant to bite defensively. They mostly build their large webs high above our heads in tree canopies, from large signs, street lights, and even power lines. They prey on flying insects, including mosquitoes, and are not seemingly discouraged by the invasive brown marmorated stink bug (also native to Eastern Asia). They do not represent a threat to humans or any of our native animal populations. They are a bit smaller and appear to be more cold tolerant than their native cousin Trichonephila clavipes, and fill a similar ecological niche.

How did they get here? While we are not 100% sure how the initial populations arrived, it's very likely that specimens hitched rides on cargo vessels, or perhaps fertilized egg sacs arrived on ornamental plants imported from Asian growers. Regardless of the introduction vector, they are likely here to stay.

Are they really flying? This question receives an audible sigh. Many orb weaving spiders across the world, including many native species, practice a reproductive dispersal method known as 'ballooning'. When spiderlings emerge from their egg sacs, they often remain in a cluster or around the females brood web until they molt into second instars. Then, they will march to an elevated position, angle their opisthosoma skywards, and release a long looping strand of silk. Then, when a brisk breeze comes along, they simply release their grip, and allow the winds to spread and disperse the brood across vast distances. This is nothing new. Thousands of spider species do this every year. Billions of baby spiders are flying all around the country every year. Most people never even see them.

Are there other invasive spiders? So, so many. The United States is a large country encompassing many diverse biomes. Animals from all over have been finding their place on this continent since boats first crossed the Atlantic. Insects and arachnids are naturally hardy and adaptable animals, they reproduce quickly and can thrive even in environments with significant competition or predation. Chinese Mantids (Tenodera sinensis) were accidentally introduced in 1896. In the 1930s, Brown Widows (Latrodectus geometricus) from South Africa were found in Florida and have since spread across the warmer southern states. Many species of scorpions in genus Centruroides can now be found stateside from populations in the Caribbean and tropical Central America. The list goes on and on.

The world is not static. Even without human travel, cargo transport, escaped or released pets, or agricultural stowaways, animals have been migrating to new regions of the globe for millions of years. Species move into new areas, sometimes they thrive, sometimes they are forced to adapt, sometimes they fail, or find the environment too extreme. These pressures are major evolutionary drivers. A mutation that may be inconsequential in their natural range may be the key to survival in a new continent.

In the end, we are our planets only currently evolved sapient species. So, a modicum of responsibility falls on us to attempt to preserve natural spaces and the species diversity native to that region. But to think that species migration is an unnatural aspect of our ecosystem is incorrect. Luckily, spiders are among the safest migrants, they don't feed on plants, they don't damage crops or trees, they don't spread disease or harbor parasites dangerous to other animals. They simply slot into the existing food web and mostly stay out of sight. Invertebrates are the first dominion and they have been colonizing the land since it first appeared hundreds of millions of years ago. They were here before vertebrates, they were here before trees, and you can absolutely bet that they will be here long after humans are around to worry about them parachuting across the continent.

So, in closing, let's celebrate this beautiful new addition to our Continent. Let's appreciate their beauty and the work they do in controlling pest insects. Take photographs, share knowledge, not fear, and if you have a spare screen habitat, you can absolutely catch a keep a few T. clavata and welcome our newest neighbors to the Eastern U.S.!

06/04/2024

Live your life with the brash confidence of a sexually mature and reproductively motivated male Monocentropus balfouri.

06/04/2024

While this show is still a few months out, I'm very excited to announce Asheville Wildside will be there with hundreds of invertebrate species and awesome taxidermy specimens. This is going to be a massive show, the 'Tinley'of the south if you will. So if your in the Southeast US, mark your calendars!

When you purchase tickets you can use code 'wildside' at checkout for 10% off the total purchase! This also let's the promoters know your supporting Asheville Wildside and helps us vendors with our table costs!

Visit the website at www.Southeastreptileexpo.com

Hope to see you there in September!

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Swannanoa, NC
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Videos

Stegodyphus dufouri. A semi-social velvet spider from dry woodland and semi-arid scrub in Northwest Africa. Poor dude, she just isn't very interested in his courtship attempts today.

Live your life with the brash confidence of a sexually mature and reproductively motivated male Monocentropus balfouri.

Awesome little Sason sundaicum girl taking down some food from her perfectly constructed arboreal trapdoor.

Gecarcinus ruricola

Should have got more of these! Looks like I'm very female heavy. Rhagodes melanus is a large black species of Solifugid found across North Africa. There have been some major breakthroughs in understanding and care related to these, and a few other Solifugids thanks to the efforts of some Japanese hobbyists. So, I wanted to try to replicate those techniques and see how it works for me. Now I'm smitten and regretting not getting a bunch of them!

"Judge me not by my size" This little Macrothele calpeiana illustrates it's innate predatory abilities perfectly. These are large mygalomorph spiders (not tarantulas, not true spiders) belonging to family Macrothelidae. This is a funnelweb spider and among the largest spiders native to Europe. They can be found in Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Northwest Africa. They inhabit warm forests and scrubby hillsides where they construct dense silken webs around fallen trees, rock piles, and other areas that offer some cover and concealment from potential predators. They detect the slightest vibrations along their silken tubes and catch range webbing. They pinpoint the exact location of the insect or other small arthropod, then dart out to deliver a quick envenomation and retreat back into their funnel with the immobilized prey. At Asheville Wildside we love working with obscure and less commonly kept arachnids and always strive to offer new and unusual species for our fellow hobby breeders and keepers!

This is the most patient female I've ever seen. The species is Black Thick-tailed Scorpion (Parabuthus transvaalicus), a medically significant Scorpion from South Africa. Normally the males are less 'frazzled' than this boy. What you're seeing is a courtship ritual conducted prior to spermatophore deposit. He guides the female by grasping her pedipalps with his own and positions her upon a flat surface, in this situation a piece of slate. He then begins to deposit a spermatophore. This is an external, partly sclerotized structure that resembles a fleshy spear. Then, at the culmination of the courtship 'dance', he moves the female over the spermatophore and she absorbs the deposit to use for future fertilization of a developing brood. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Meet some really unique insects we just received, this is Edrotes ventricosus. They are a incredibly active, small, communal desert dwelling Tenebrionid (darkling beetles) found in the western US and parts of Mexico. These small omnivorous scavengers are covered in small hair like scales and can burrow quite quickly into loose sandy substrate. Also arriving and available this week are the following... Arachnids Colombian Pumpkin Patch (Hapalopus sp. 'large') Emerald Skeleton-leg Tarantula (Ephebopus uatamen) Arizona Blonde (Aphonopelma chalcodes) adults! Texas Tan (Aphonopelma hentzi) adults! Okeefenokee Giant Fishing Spider (Dolomedes okefinokensis) Six-spotted Fishing Spider (Dolomedes triton) African Argiope (Argiope flavipalpis) Cameroon Red-fang Wandering Spiders (Piloctenus haematostoma) pairs! West African Giant Crab Spider (Barylestis occidentalis) adult females! Granite Jumping Spiders (Phidippus octopunctatus) Desert Hairy Scorpion (Hadrurus arizonensis) Giant Vinegaroon (Mastigoproctus tohono) Nicaraguan Tailess Whip-scorpion (Phrynus whitei) Insects Blue Death-feigning Beetles (Asbolus verrucosus) Hairy Sand Beetle (Erdotes ventricosus) Goliath Beetle (Goliathus goliatus) adult pair! Asian Giant Mantis (Hierodula membranacea) Texas Unicorn Mantis (Pseudovates chlorophaea) New Guinea Shield Mantis (Rhombodera kirbyi) African Grass Mantis (Sphodromantis kersteni) Zebra Mantis (Omomantis zebrata) Peruvian Leaf-wing Mantis (Pseudoxyops perpulchra) As always, shoot me a message if you'd like to receive an updated inventory!

A smooth and effortless pairing for these stunning Giant Purple Bloom Tarantulas (Pamphobeteus sp. 'Machalla'). I cut the video off right before insertions so I could hover a few inches above them with forceps, just in case the female changed her mind last minute. But, my worries were unwarranted, she was incredibly patient and allowed this male three total emboli insertions without any adverse reactions. Now he gets a break to recharge and reload and its on to visit female number two!

One thing I see pretty regularly at expos and shows is wild collected invertebrates. There are tons of opinions and experiences out there regarding the wildlife trade and the introduction of animals from wild sources. Regardless of your thoughts on the subject, if your a hobbyist, keeper, collector, breeder or casually care for a single specimen, at some point in that animals history, wild collected individuals created that bloodline. To establish captive breeding programs and sustainable populations of our favorite animals, those foundation specimens have to come from somewhere. Invertebrates are incredibly hardy organisms and can handle the stresses of capture, exportation, minimal or even sub-par care from mass importers and the eventual transition to dedicated hobbyists. If the focus is establishing stable populations of the animals and alleviating the strain on wild collected specimens, then the import trade can be good for the hobby as a whole. These are wild collected Damon medius, a large West African Amblypygi. These are secretive, arboreal, nocturnal arachnids from warm humid forests and forest edge habitats. They are conditionally communal tolerant, but overcrowding can lead to stress, conflict and injuries. I first bred this species several years ago in captivity from similarly sourced wild collected specimens. The babies I kept are adults now and I needed some additional Damon medius to eventually pair up so I wasn't just perpetuating sibling crosses. I also struggle when I see these incredible gentle giants crammed into 8oz. deli cups, legs and sensitive antenniform appendages bent and folded to fit. They are often dehydrated, stressed, overcrowded when not in deli cups for sale, and kept too cool. I picked up every specimen on an importers table at the last show to add to my group and they are being rehydrated and acclimated. If you happen to see specimens like this for sale and are tempted to add them to your collection make sure you take consid

No more flightless hydei for these tiny assassins! The Puerto Rican Dwarf Golds (Holothele culebrae) we produced are fully taking 3/16" crickets and most have molted into 3i now and have an absolutely voracious appetite! We have a very limited number of slings available (I'm keeping nine from the brood to diversify my population). So get yours soon before they are gone! This is the first and only currently available US captive born and bred specimens in the country!

Some fresh oak leaves for the swarm! These are Juvenile Romalea microptera, commonly called Eastern or Giant Lubbers. They are large chunky grasshoppers that move quite slowly and do not stress from handling. They are naturally toxic and therefore face very few predators. These are fascinating and rewarding insects to keep, I house groups of up to 40 in 18x18x36" tall screen enclosures. A shallow layer of substrate and a closed off container of water to place leafy branches in to feed on. They will also consume many commercially produced greens and sample some fruits and protein. If you wish to breed them, hatching ova can be a uphill battle. Keeping juveniles and adults is easy enough and females will lay ova in trays of sand/soil mix 2-3" deep and slightly damp. The ova need a diapause (cool dry conditions) for 60-90 days. Then warm and very humid conditions increasing heat slowly up to about 85 degrees Fahrenheit and very high humidity for another 90-120 days. It's alot of effort, but these wonderful insects are 100% worth it. I'll post a photo of adults from last year's culture down below.

Let's talk about... Communal tolerances! Most species of spiders, both Mygalomorph and Araneomorph are solitary, territorial animals. Only tolerating members of the same species in close proximity during reproductive windows, or when very young. That being said, spiders also alter behavior based on external factors and many species, especially African and Asian genera become tolerant of close proximity during extreme weather events. Examples include genus Heteroscodra, Stromatopelma and Hysterocrates of West Africa, and genus Poecilotheria from India. Both regions regularly experiance severe dry seasons and during these months prey, hydration and suitable retreats are at a premium. It is during these seasonal fluctuations that one can find these normally aggressively territorial animals clustered together. Predatory and territorial behavior is suspended and many dozens of these animals group together behind loose tree bark, under fallen trees or modified burrows in the earth. Spiderlings, juveniles, mature adults, all waiting out the environmental extremes that make life untenable, together. Some hobbyists have had mixed success keeping tarantulas of the above listed genera communal from a young age through to maturity. Occasionally cannibalism occurs, sometimes it is isolated fringe events, other times it may be more consistent. Genus Neoholothele/Holothele from South America and some Caribbean areas are occasionally mentioned for communal tolerances. In my personal experiance with Neoholothele incei, it is only a temporary tolerance when younger. Even when kept in small spaces with limited retreats and hiding options I noticed intermittent cannibalism from the 3rd-4th molt and onwards. Eventually my group of eight specimens dwindled to just two, which took up opposing sides of a habitat and did everything they could to avoid one another. There is one gem among the communal tarantulas that displays an incredible tolerance for group housing. Commonly called

Some successful and not so successful pairings last night. Persistence is the key though, give the females a few days, a nice meal and try again!

Oh no! She dropped her keys! This is a short little video of a immature female Blue-foot Baboon (Idiothele mira). This is a smaller bodied species of tarantula endemic to South Africa. They are one of only two species assigned to the genus and are characterized by a silver gray or bronze coloration with dark striations, and a bright blue fluorescence on the tarsal and metatarsal leg segments. An interesting behavior exhibited by genus Idiothele is the construction of 'trap doors'. Like many African tarantulas, these spiders dig burrows and retreat from intense heat and predators. But blue-foots take the burrow construction one step further, they weave a small hinged opening out of silk and soil and close or open it as needed. Often they rest right at the lip of this trap door so they can quickly explode outwards to subdue passing insects. In this video the young lady rushed out of her burrow to snatch up a cricket, then she seems to confuse herself as to where the actual trap door is located. Eventually she finds the door and disappears from sight!