I'm excited...

[Azdaja]

Ok, I doubt anyone cares, but I just got a bunch of new invertebrates at this show I went to earlier today.
My complete collection (using common/non-latin names) at this time:

Scorpions:
Fat tail
Yellow fat tail
Black fat tail
Tri-coloured burrowing
Malaysian giant
Thailand thick tailed
African thick tailed

Tarantulas:
Mexican red knee
Rio Grande Gold
Orange Baboon (2)
Goliath bird eater

Centipedes:
(all of the Scolopendra or 'Giant' species)
Red head
Puerto-Rican
Haitian
S. polymorpha...sorry, I don't know the 'common name' for this one.

I know it's a long shot, but is anyone else here into this hobby? I'm looking for others to talk with about care/breeding/collections/etc. There are a couple message boards, but still, the more people I know the better.

[Scáthach]

at the risk of sounding stupid (lol when has it bothered me before?) you keep all these [live] and breed them? that sounds interesting!
i dont know very much about any of them to be honest but tarantulas,lizards,snakes etc have always interested me...spiders do scare me a little though :eek:

does the Goliath bird eater live up to its name?
how big are the Scolopendra,or are they just 'giant' in relation to your average centipede?

anyway, sorry for the questioning!

[Azdaja]

<< anyway, sorry for the questioning! >>

No, it's fine. I love talking about this stuff.

1) Yes I do keep them live and (try to) breed them.
2) Yes, the Goliath bird eater does live up to its name. They will actually eat birds when full-grown. These are said to be the worlds largest spider.
3) The giant centipedes range from 6 inches long through to 1 foot long, depending on sub-species and individual.

<< i dont know very much about any of them to be honest but tarantulas,lizards,snakes etc have always interested me...spiders do scare me a little though >>

Yes, I've always felt the same. It figures we both live in areas where none of these animals can be found out in nature (well except for a few types of snake, in my case).

[Scáthach]

we dont even have snakes here (apparently st patrick got rid of them lol) as for spiders and centipedes the biggest are about an inch or two long!!

how large is the goliath bird eater? does its diet consist only of birds or do you feed it things that are..well easier to find?

what do you keep all of them in?
are they expensive to keep and difficult to find?

i'd like to hear more about all of these if you ever have the time they sound really interesting

[Ominous Lord Spoonblade]

Yeah that does sound very cool! Do you have pictures you can show us??

I would love to have a spider that eats birds....mwahahaha....I could finally achieve my revenge.....

[Azdaja]

Originally posted by Scathach
i'd like to hear more about all of these if you ever have the time they sound really interesting

But of course!

Originally posted by Scathach
how large is the goliath bird eater? does its diet consist only of birds or do you feed it things that are..well easier to find?

They can get 11+ inches. VERY big spiders.
As far as diet goes, most captive 'pet' Goliaths have probably never actually eaten a bird....mainly because birds are expensive and nobody wants to spend $15.00 on a spiders dinner.
Usually they are fed either large roaches or baby ('pinkie') rats. Younger spiders who are only a few inches long can be fed crickets or mealworms...or whatever feeder insect your petstore carries.

Originally posted by Scathach
what do you keep all of them in?
are they expensive to keep and difficult to find?

I keep all of them in plastic 'rubbermaid' containers of various sizes. The bigger the animal, the bigger the container. Alot of people will use glass aquarium fish tanks, but I think that is a needless waste of money.

Some can be expensive and/or hard to find, others cheap and easy to find. A full-grown Goliath birdeater, for instance, runs about $180.00. Whereas I've seen flatrock scorpions for sale for under $15.00.

Chances are in Ireland, species from the USA are going to be more expensive than they are for me (because I live in the US). Conversely, North African species would probably be cheaper for you guys, because you are closer to that region than I am.

But now let me ask you two things I've been wondering about:
1) Are snakes legal to keep in Ireland? I just wonder because of the whole St. Patricks thing.
2) Are spiders/scorpions/centipedes legal to keep in Ireland?

[Azdaja]

Originally posted by Vanessa
I would love to have a spider that eats birds....mwahahaha....I could finally achieve my revenge.....

Hey, you should be careful. I know this girl whose parents own a pet supplies company. They had a Goliath in the warehouse, and my friend was told to go clean out its cage.
Well she takes the lid off, and everything is fine....until she accidentially elbows the side of the cage lightly.
The spider comes flying out and chases her across the warehouse. LOL!

Originally posted by Vanessa
Yeah that does sound very cool! Do you have pictures you can show us??

I found some online pics of the different types/species I have (but not my individual animals...I have no webcam):

http://www.goldenphoenixexotica.com/dopede.JPG (don't do what the idiot in the picture is doing)

http://www.goldenphoenixexotica.com/robusta.jpg

http://www.arachnopets.com/centipede...aneiceps01.htm

http://www.arachnopets.com/tarantula...oderatum01.htm

http://www.arachnopets.com/tarantula...usumbara03.htm

http://atshq.org/gallery/Ed/whywehatetroll-02a.jpg

http://atshq.org/pix/Rhys/tb.jpg

http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/a_amoreuxi.jpg

http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/a_australis4.jpg

http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/a_bicolor(dg).jpg

http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/c_gracilis1.jpg

http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/p_liosoma1.jpg

http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files...svaalicus1.jpg

http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/o_ecristatus.jpg

http://www.ub.ntnu.no/scorpion-files/p_viatoris2.jpg

[Scáthach]

thanks for the info Asdaja

im not completely sure about the answers to your questions but i know that at least quite a few types of snakes are legal to keep here,small ones definetly and some larger ones.apart from the legal aspect the chances of finding them here are slim and i dont think theres a great interest in them either!
pet shops generally have small ones and one or two big ones,the biggest ive seen in one was a python i think? i may have the type wrong since it was a long time ago but it was very long and thick,black also as i remember.

spiders are legal here to the best of my knowledge but again ive only seen tarantulas really-thats about as exciting as it gets here!
i dont know about scorpions or centipedes,obviously we have wild and small centipedes but i doubt theres much call for scorpions or large centipedes! you never know though.

an 11 inch spider sounds impressive btw

well im going to fgo look at those pics and see if im more scared or intrigued

[Scáthach]

ok i have to say that although the centipedes look quite cool theyre a bit terrifying too!!!!

the scorpions and spiders are cute especially this one :

[Azdaja]

Originally posted by Scathach
thanks for the info Asdaja
pet shops generally have small ones and one or two big ones,the biggest ive seen in one was a python i think? i may have the type wrong since it was a long time ago but it was very long and thick,black also as i remember.

Yeah, it probably was a python.
About 10 years ago I saw this movie "Hellraiser", which was filmed in England. There is a scene filmed inside a petstore, and they had monkeys for sale! I could not believe it!
Ever since then I'm been really curious as to what sorts of animals petstores in other countries carry.

Originally posted by Scathach
spiders are legal here to the best of my knowledge but again ive only seen tarantulas really-thats about as exciting as it gets here!
i dont know about scorpions or centipedes,obviously we have wild and small centipedes but i doubt theres much call for scorpions or large centipedes! you never know though.

Hey, you would be surprised! I know that the largest invertebrate society in the world - the American Tarantula Society (which also deals with scorps and centipedes) - has a British counterpart (the British Tarantula Society, obviously. lol). I've also come across a few websites for British invert dealers. One guy has a whole bunch of centipedes for sale, including some stuff I've NEVER seen available in the USA.