Insects

Here is a crash course on insects, I figured for the average person, insects can really be a foreign concept. They are not often covered in school and most people do not take the time to learn about them by themselves. So for those of you, here are some of the characteristics and facts of insects. Insects are part of the Phylum Arthropoda meaning they are related to spider, scorpions, and crayfish. They have a hard outer shell called an exoskeleton. Exoskeletons are composed very similar to our hair and fingernails. This provides support and protection for the insect. The exoskeleton cannot expand, which restricts the growth of the insect. To circumvent this, the insect goes through a processes called molting. Underneath the exoskeleton they grow. As they loose room inside, they begin to form a new exoskeleton underneath the old one. When the exoskeleton has fully formed, they use muscles to push against their old exoskeleton, cracking it down the back and then slowly push it off like an old pair of clothes. Their new exoskeleton is soft at first but within a couple of days it hardens, taking the place of the old one. During this process, insects are often quite sensative and isolate themselves.
They have 3 body segments: the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The head is self explanatory, as the part of the organism that has the sensory organs, like this eyes and where the mouth is located, as the beginning of the digestive system. The second body part is called the thorax. This has little function except to connect the head and the abdomen. This is the body part where the legs are attached to the insect. All insects have 3 pairs of legs, giving a total of 6 legs. The final body part is the abdomen. This is where most of the organs in the insect is located. Insects have 2 long appendages on the top of their head referred to as antennae and they are the insects main sensory organ.
The lifecycle of insects involve giving birth through expelling eggs, often hundreds to thousands at a time. The life cycle continues onto the eggs hatching into the larval form of the insect. The larva will look entirely different from the adult insect. The larva is often either aquatic, like that of a dragon fly, or worm-like, like a maggot or larval fly. This larvae goes through several molts, getting larger until it either goes through a metamorphic change, like that of a butterfly. It will often make a cuccoon or pupa within the transformation takes place. When the insect emerges it is in its adult form and is ready to mate and start the cycle over. Other insects do not produce larvae. When their young hatch from the egg, the emerge as what is called dwarfs. One example of this is crickets. The baby cricket emerges looking exactly like it adult counterpart, except much smaller. They then go through a series of molts until they reach maturity.
If this interests you make sure to follow, and as always please feel free to leave any questions or comments and I will make sure to answer them to the best of my ability. Keep checking for more posts on how Fluffy, Aragog (the name of the Rose Hair Tarantula if it was not previously mentioned) and the cockroaches as well as more crash courses!

New Tarantula

Its been awhile since I've created a post but a lot has happened. If you remember my previous post about the tarantula event, tarantula night at preuss pets, I went to that last Sunday. While I was there I entered my Avicularia Versicolor, Fluffy, in a contest for "cool prizes." I assumed cool prizes meant a T-shirt, mug or gift card. I was excited to hear that Fluffy won 2nd place for his beautiful blue color. They lead me to the prize table, which contained several different species of spiderlings. Therefore, me and my boyfriend are now the proud owners of a little Chilean Rose Hair spiderling. This is one of the most common tarantula breeds and can be found in most pet stores. However, I again want to stress the importance of finding a GOOD pet store when making the choice to get a pet tarantula. Many pet stores do not know how to care for tarantulas and therefore will sell sick, malnourished or abused spiders. I have heard too many horror stories of spiders being abused by careless pet stores that do not hire employees that know how to care for the animals. While at tarantula night I met several breeders that have a variety of kinds of tarantulas that have been properly cared for. If you can not make it into a pet store like Preuss but your thinking of getting a pet, please leave me a comment and I will be glad to give you some references to some good people that can ship you whatever kind of tarantula you want. For any information on kinds on breeds that make the best pets again please leave me a comment and I will be glad to make another post! Until then keep following!

Here's a photo, sorry its not the best. He is so small!

Crash Course: Cockroaches

Well I haven't gotten any questions so I'm going to just start giving some general information about Cockroaches. The type of cockroaches I own are Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. My most common questions seems to be "HISSING?!" Yes they really do hiss. It is a defense mechanism used to make them sound like a snake hissing if they feel threatened. The desired effect is that the predator who is searching for a tasty cockroach snack will assume the hissing is coming from a snake and run away from the potential threat, leaving the cockroach. The hissing is also often used in their breeding ritual ;) They produce these sounds from black spots on the back of their abdomen. These spots are actually holes called spiracles which the cockroaches use to breathe. When air is pushed through these holes rapidly it causes the hissing sound that so often characterizes them.
Some other basic characteristics is that they are wingless, unlike most cockroaches.

They make strong pets and despite their alien-like appearance and their bad reputation I would highly suggest them. However, before you think about purchasing one check to see if your state requires a permit to either own or breed cockroaches. This is to prevent one from getting into the environment and becoming a non-native species. This is mainly in southern states. If you can make hissing cockroaches you pets they are excellent for reptile owners because they can be bread and used as feeder insects as well as a pet. 

As far as their appearance, I have included a picture for a reference. They are a mixture of blacks, browns and even orange. They are the largest species of cockroach, ranging from 2-3 in. as adults. The cockroach in the picture above is a male. You can tell by the protrusions that look like horns above his head. Females only have small bumps. These "horns" are used in defense and mating. Though it is hard to see in this picture you can see some of the black spots on his abdomen that he uses for hissing. Well there's a crash course on Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches.

Check back for more news on my pets as well as a crash courses on Tarantula's and Avicularia Versicolors and lots more! Make sure to follow and leave any questions in the comments and I will be glad to answer them in my next post!

Fluffy/Cockroach update

Hey guys! Just an update cuz I haven't posted in awhile, Fluffy has molted! She molted yesterday night. This was long awaited and I am very glad that she did because it took her way longer than usual. Her 1st molt was on August 22nd and this is her 2nd molt! She is so little and adorable! If you have any questions about how Tarantulas molt please leave any questions in the comment box
In other news, we still only have 1 cockroach baby. This is highly unusual. Our guess is that since we did not have our females for the length of time that it usually takes for them to have babies that we were sent a pregnant female. The stress from being shipped probably caused to her lose several of her young only leaving one viable baby. We cannot know for sure but we are very happy to have little Mojica (thats what we named the baby:). On a side note, there are 4 males and 2 females. The males names are rico, skipper cowalski and private. The females do not have any names yet. If you can think of any cool names we are open to ideas in the comment. (names like squish or gross are not appreciated :P)
Leave comments ask questions and I promise to answer them to the best of my ability! Also make sure to follow!

Cockroach Baby

Don't have a lot of time but I just wanted to mention that my hissing cockroaches that me and my boyfriend have been trying to colonize for awhile have had a baby. We did not even know that they were pregnant and despite the fact that they usually have 25-45 babies there is only 1. He is our little miracle! Pictures and more description coming later!

Fluffy Update

I'm starting to get worried. Fluffy has not eaten for 3-4 weeks. It is common for tarantulas to not eat when they are in pre-molt and Fluffy is way over due but it should have happened by now. Though I am still confident she is just a late bloomer, if she doesn't hurry up she will still be too vulnerable to take her to the tarantula night I posted about earlier. I will keep you updated about her condition. Also, since this is a short post please feel free to leave any comments asking questions about molting and I would be happy to make another post explaining the process fuller. Make sure to subscribe and add your friends!

Tarantula Event

At Preuss Pets in East Lansing, there is a Tarantula night on October 28th. Come out bring your tarantulas or just check out everyone else. There will be contests games and speakers. Even if you don't like tarantulas but you happen to see this, I highly suggest checking out Preuss Pets. They are an amazing pet store and a cool destination. I got Fluffy and several of my cockroaches there. They are also available to asks questions about exotic pets and are very knowledgeable, unlike many common pet stores. You will see many more posts involving them. So if you can come check it out, Preuss Pets in East Lansing October 28th TARANTULA NIGHT!