#95 - A BRIEF GLIMPSE INTO THE SPARASSIDAE

I'm going to begin working on an article for the BTS Journal about the husbandry of huntsman spiders (Sparassidae) with an emphasis on the genus Heteropoda. In fact, I think I may ask Tom Patterson and/or John Apple to co-author it with me. (Tom and/or John please email me some of your tips and tricks to spidershoppe@icloud.com and I'll put you on as co-author. Photos also welcome, preferably by email not text!). I'll write the piece, but I am happy to incorporate info shared by Tom and/or John and have them be junior authors.

But, since I've neglected this blog of late, I thought I would just give you loyal KMBHS readers some photos and a few text blurbs as a sort of preview of this upcoming article. This is exclusive to KMBHS readers and I will share nowhere else. However, I will also be posting some of the new photos to my @exoticfauna Instagram today. I've been neglecting posting there too, and have instead been focused on my @dailyhandgun Instagram.

Yesterday, I shipped out my Heteropoda lunula and H. davidbowie. Yes, I was sorry to see them go, but the truth is that I was really only raising them to get photographs. I had no intention of breeding them as I have neither the time nor the desire to feed fruit flies to a hundred or more tiny huntsman spiderlings. I've mostly stayed away from breeding true spiders for this very reason. Raising even the smallest tarantula species is so much easier than sparassids and ctenids. They require more frequent feeding and tinier food. I don't enjoy making fruit fly cultures and the task of getting the little flies and such into vials with speed demon huntsman and wandering spider babies is time consuming and frustrating.

Here is a brief glimpse into the Sparassidae focusing solely on the genus Heteropoda. There currently are an astounding 197 species in this genus! The species that is one of the most widespread is H. venatoria, which has a pantropical distribution. In fact, although the genus is Asian and Australasian in origin, this species has been introduced around the world. We believe that the spider being sold as Heteropoda "Cameroon Giant" is actually a large form of H. venatoria. H. venatoria is also the type species of Heteropoda, described by Linnaeus himself way back in 1767 but originally as Aranea venatoria. The genus Heteropoda was created 37 years later by Latrielle.

This first image is of a wild-collected specimen of Heteropoda venatoria that was sold to me as "Heteropoda sp. 'Phetchaburi'", suggesting that it was found in the Phetchaburi Province of Thailand.

Sparassids have a very distinctive appearance with two rows of four eyes and the crab-like habitus. There is perhaps no huntsman spider more spectacular than Heteropoda davidbowie. This species is known from Thailand (Yala),  Malaysia (Padang), Singapore and Indonesia (Sumatra) and was given the rock star legend's name by Jäger in 2008. Females may vary from grayish-brown to orange.  Males have a median longitudinal reddish line that runs from the eyes to the middle of the abdomen. The following spider is one of those I shipped out yesterday. It is still young, but the beginning of the reddish median dorsal markings are becoming apparent and it is likely a male.

H. davidbowie is certainly a gorgeous spider, and it's "facial makeup" is what led Peter Jäger to name it after the glamour and glitter pop star, but I think the most beautiful is Heteropoda lunula. I will miss having these around more than almost all the tarantulas I have sent away. The species was described in 1857 by Doleschall as Olios lunula. It is known from India to Vietnam, Malaysia, Java, Sumatra and Borneo. Taxonomically, it was transferred to many different genera and species over the years until Jäger reestablished called it Heteropoda lunula in 2002. The photos below will show you why it is my favorite.

Of course, as BTS North American Coordinator, and now Editor of its prestigious Journal, I would be remiss if I did not once again solicit your membership. We are putting the finishing touches on the next issue of the Journal right now and I was pleased to see the list of new members to include more Americans including at least two KMBHS readers (John Apple & Kiffnie Holt). Please consider a digital membership if you can't spring for getting the Journal by mail. Here's a link. The upcoming Journal features a major taxonomic revision that I have co-authored. That's all I can say for now ... You'll have to wait until it hits mailboxes some time in December.

My editorial reign begins in the new year and I will look to get my full feature on Sparassidae in one of the three issues of 2016. I hope you've enjoyed this sneak preview and a quick glimpse at three species of the huge genus Heteropoda.

Please remember to follow my @exoticfauna Instagram for pix and such, including spiders and herps but also my other interests like travel and food/drink and tattoos (don't worry I save the firearms for my other IG for the most part). I leave for Costa Rica in three weeks and I will be posting images daily to this account. Now is the time for you to create an Instagram account if you don't have one and give me a follow. I will follow you back. I will be documenting every step of my journey in the land of Pura Vida accompanied by my "bonus dad" Joel.

All the best, MJ

#48 - FINAL FACEBOOK FUCKERY

You've read me rant about Faffbook. My contempt for it is obvious. I like Instagram and Twitter, even though a life without any social media would be a better one. But fuck Faffbook.

Now that I have closed my business and am distancing myself from the hobby I wondered whether I could finally do away with Faffbook. My Instagram account @exoticfauna allows me to share photos with followers without the noise, nonsense and FUCKERY of Faffbook. I also have a new IG account for gun lovers (@dailyhandgun). I don't have many followers there yet so if you have any interest please follow me. 

I haven't done much with Twitter of late because my personal Faffbook page is linked to it and it's also easy to share my IG posts to Twitter as tweets with one click. But reading my Twitter feed used to be a frequent occurrence. I don't read or watch news. Anywhere. Any time. Twitter allows me to follow my interests and what little snippets of news I desire. With a 160 character limit these snippets are necessarily concise. No fluff, no nonsense. 

Faffbook offers me nothing. Last night I was tagged in a post that went on and on with a bunch of discussion I had no interest in reading. I turn off notifications so I am not bothered, but for some reason I kept getting more and more notices as my name was repeatedly used. I can't stand this. Leave me out of your discussions. I have no interest. I don't have the time or desire that the chatterboxes do. The conversation itself didn't really bother me (ok, maybe a little ...), but I am bothered that I can't just avoid any and all conversations if I choose. I also want to prevent being tagged so that I am dragged into the noisy chatter. I share my opinions here in this blog. I'm not going to post them on social media.

Twice before I have deactivated my Facebook account. This is my third incarnation. So I decided that three times is a charm and decided to deactivate again after un-"friending" everyone. Two problems. Number one I am an admin of the BTS Facebook page. This isn't a biggie. There are plenty of admins and mods and one message to my best mate Mark and I'd be relieved of my duties. However, the other problem is my blog. 

How does the blog connect to Facebook? Well, I have repeatedly recommended the app Feedly. I know there are other similar ones, but a reader suggested Feedly to me early on and I love it. I am now reading about ten blogs using this one app. I suggest you do the same. Of course, you can also sign up for a Blogger account instead and keep up with my blog there. 

However, I know damn well that few are going to do either and all of you that waste hours each day on Faffbook are getting my notices of each blog posting there. If I deactivate my Faffbook my KMBHS page will also cease to be published. As will my Spider Shoppe, Exotic Fauna and ArachnoGathering pegs. I'm not bothered by the last three. So, I guess I am going to find out how much my readership drops by deactivating and having no more FB announcements of the blog. You've been warned. At least bookmark kissmybighairyspider.blogspot.com and visit often.

It sucks that FB doesn't allow you to just deactivate your personal page without losing pages you've created. You can just ignore your personal page and I have friends who have done that. I could delete every friend and let it rot, but keep KMBHS going on FB. That doesn't seem like a desirable compromise. 

Arachnoboards has been kind enough to give me banner advertising so I hope this brings me new readers. And I am hoping those who have read my blog for the past two months through almost 50 entries have bookmarked the blog in their browser at least so they can return and catch up when they have the time and desire. 

But your Faffbook announcements will cease. My Faffbook will be obliterated. Looks for me as @exoticfauna on Instagram and Twitter and YouTube. If you're into handguns please follow my @dailyhandgun. 

I'm not going to keep ranting or whining or whinging about FB while it still pops up on my devices. It's time I made another positive life change and moved on. Goodbye Fuckbook. 

PS: For those of you who actually are real friends this of course means no FB Messenger. Close friends can text, acquaintances can email. I also like using Whatsapp for "FB Messenger" style chatting with fast photo shares so you can also use that if you have my phone number AND are a close friend. But from now on it is only Instagram and Twitter for me.

PS2: Sadly, I can't completely dispense with Google+ and Gmail as they are tied to YouTube and I need to keep that account going. But you can always reach me at m.a.jacobi@icloud.com.

#39 - MORE RANDOM SHITE

Hello everyone,

Thanks so much for all of the positive feedback I have been receiving. I also appreciate any negative comments, especially if they are in the form of constructive criticism. Those who are following the blog are part of my team and I welcome your help and ideas as it moves forward.

As you know I've started a new career and my time has become more limited. However, I am dedicated to this project and will make the time to keep the blog entries coming with regularity. In fact, working a full-time job, plus my full-time work as tarantula breeder and keeper with a couple thousand mouths to feed hasn't slowed me down at all. I'm an early riser and a fast typer so I can churn out my blog with my morning coffee. I have the Blogger app on my iPad and iPhone so I can even work at it while on lunch or breaks at work. However, I type much faster on my MacBook Pro and try to do most of the writing first thing in the morning.

I had a bit of a scare this morning. I opened Blogger on my iPad while I was on the throne (I know, TMI) and saw a typo correction that needed to be made in last night's #38 on Pokie breeding. I made the fix and published and then - to my HORROR - I realized that what was on the iPad was only the first few paragraphs of the lengthy Pokie breeding tutorial. I had just overwritten the entire blog with just the first 20% or so of it. Doh! There was a bit of panic and I rushed to my laptop to see if I could access the full version. My laptop had shut down and restarted during the night. Panic increased. Then I remembered Feedly. This is the app that was recommended to me and I recommended to you. It is a great way to follow blogs. I opened Feedly on the iPad and thankfully it showed the full entry from last night because I didn't refresh the feed. I copied and pasted it back into the Blogger app and then re-published the blog in its entirety. Problem solved. Re-writing what I spent an hour or more on last night would have sucked monkey ass.

Since you are following my Blog I just wanted to give a quick reminder of how to follow me elsewhere. Any reader who has read all of my entries (this is #39 since June 3, but there were a few part B posts to bring the total to 46 entries!) knows of my disdain for Faffbook so we'll just forget about that. I am accepting few friend requests these days and haven't been posting much on any of my pages. I am an admin for the BTS Facebook group so I do keep an eye on that so I can delete handling pics and advertisements and any other rule violations, but really the only FB thing I want to promote is my KMBHS page. If you aren't using Feedly or Blogger or something similar to follow this blog you should keep an eye on my announcements on the KMBHS FB page. Of course, you could also just bookmark and revisit KMBHS every day or two. But I will again plug Feedly as I am now following some firearm and photograph blogs there, and it saved my ass this morning.

The social media I enjoy is Instagram. It's just about sharing pix or 15 sec vid clips. I share images and videos. People like, sometimes comment. No nonsense, no Facebook Fuckery (see Blog #24). Just like on Twitter and YouTube my username is @exoticfauna. I will warn you that on Instagram I do sometimes post non-arachnid related images. Most are tarantula pix, but there are also plenty of tattoos, guns, travel, Starbucks in exotic locales, friends, etc. However, the majority of posts are arachnid related. (BTW, for any of you that are into handguns (which I promised wouldn't become a KMBHS topic) I have just started a new Instagram for handgun pix called @dailyhandgun. This will make my @exoticfauna Instagram mostly spiders with the occasional tattoo, people and travel pix and such.

I also wanted to remind everyone that I have canceled the lecture I was going to do on the genus Poecilotheria at the late August NARBC show outside of Dallas, Texas. With the new career I simply cannot take the time off. I apologize to anyone who was looking forward to attending. I also canceled my vendor booth at the October Tinley Park, IL NARBC, both for time off reasons and the fact that my retail sales have mostly ceased.

For those of you waiting for my "clearance" retail list I am working on it as I find the time. I have been inventorying my spiders as I feed them and will send out a list this week. So make sure you are subscribed to my mailing list if you are interested. Now that the e-commerce site has closed I have returned the SPIDERSHOPPE page to my main ExoticFauna site and made it even easier to subscribe with a signup form embedded in the page itself. I will be doing my offers privately via the mailing list moving forward. If you are a re-seller and wish to receive a wholesale list you can email me at spidershoppe@icloud.com and I'll add you manually to that mailing list. I currently have some spiders that need to be sold in bulk and will be offering very generous pricing.

Finally, I'd like to say that this Blog has become like a book or may just be a book disguised as a Blog. I have been writing "essays" to become part of a comprehensive book on tarantula care and breeding. I have considered that instead of just a book that incorporates the basic material and beginner information that my Animal Planet "Tarantulas" already provides quite well, and then continuing on to advanced keeping and breeding, I would instead write a book of assorted topical essays and feature my photography along with that of my friends Chad Campbell and Jason Newland. However, books don't sell and the publishing industry has taken a hit with the economy. Self-publishing options have increased, but the quality of printing (especially with regards to photo reproduction) aren't great and to make a book I'd be happy with would be cost-prohibitive. You are getting these "essays" for free in the form of a blog. I think this is the medium I wish to use. I just need to spread the word and reach as wide of an audience as possible.

Thanks for reading these random thoughts. The next blog entry will return to the Makandawa Rain Forest Reserve for Day 2 of our hunt for Poecilotheria ornata. That will be #6 in the ongoing Tales from the Field series. Casa de Tarantula is at #2 and Breeding Tarantulas is at #1. I look forward to continuing these series and doing a few more "rants". The next rant will be titled "Popularity Contests".

All the best, Michael Jacobi