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Basics

Name: Ori
Age: adult
Adopted: 24.06.2023 at 5-6i
Species: Phidippus Regius Apalachicola
Gender: female
Molted with me: 2 times
Passed: 13.10.2024

13.10.2024

I know the day would come... but I wasn't ready. When Holly died I was devastated, but when Ori died I was in pain. ( still am.. I can barely write) I don't think I felt that much pain in my chest before. At least this time, I could say goodbye. She wasn't fully gone when I checked on her enclosure, a few hours later however, she was.

A few days a go, Ori was starting to slow down to the point she stayed at the bottom of her enclosure. She went back up once, but I found her on the ground a day after again. I tried to feed her but she sadly dropped the worm, then she stopped showing interest in food entriely. She hasn't eaten in a bit (I think it was 2 months) and I was getting worried slighly, however I wasn't expecting her to pass away. It wasn't her time yet... but she was simply too tired.

I am incredibly proud of her, she showed signs of old age, long long before she passed. I wasn't expecting for her to stay with me for this long, but she did. Ori was almost 2 years old. She spent 1 year and 4 months with me + 2-3 months before I got her in my hands. Which makes her approx 1,6 - 1,8 years old. She even stayed with me till my birthday, which was a week prior (oct. 6th), thank you Ori, you were a wonderful little fella and I will miss you so much.

Rest in peace my darling...

Diary

11.07.2024

Rather unexpected news. Ori bit me. Or well, was trying to (possibly just holding onto me?). I wanted to feed her and took her out on her sheel as usual. Everything was fine. She then started wandering around, quite fast for her age, she is usually not in the mood to move. As I was handeling her for a bit.. she suddenly stopped, literally quished herself into the back of my hand and bit down. I could feel it. She did it several times even, it was hard to get her off of me.

When I navigated her to her food... she went nuts. Jumped on everything that moved instantly. Could be that she was hungry and my skin felt tasty. Btw she did not break skin, but it was slighty red and I saw her big ass fangs trying to get in. lol.

Look at this little shit. Taken minutes before trying to end me.


30.06.2024

Ever since it got warmer (too warm sigh) Ori is enjoying it. She is a lot more active, but still fat & hanging around.

I handled her a few times since my last entry. But this was in her calm state lol. Honestly with her none existing grab, I probably won't hold her much anymore. I'm too scared she falls again. Speaking of falling.. she ripped out one of her front legs that got stuck while falling from the moss of her nutshell. But she doesn't have any issues with it as far as I can tell.


26.05.2024

Haven't written an update on Ori since march. She is still kickn! TwT It is kind of heartbreaking to see her slow movements when she walks. However when I poke her (unfortunately, I have sometimes, to guide her back in after feeding as she barely moves on her own) she's PISSED. I for that reason haven't handled her anymore ever since. She's biting the brush pretty hard.. and I am kinda afraid, sorry girl D: you're cute but damn, chill.

I even dropped her the other day :/ it wasnt too high, but high enough. She's fine, thankfully. Happended during feeding. I though she had grip, but she didn't. was a good 40cm fall...

Also some good news. Ori eats on her own again. Yeah, really. I was not expecting that but seems to have energy for it still.


22.03.2024

LOOK AT HER EAT! Not only that, but it's a green bottle fly! I bought these flies in winter and they never hatched, no matter the effort. Now suddenly they all do?? Are they seasonal? Not that I know. But anyway, that's awesome!

Now.. getting her to eat needed some tweaks. I now know that she is 100% uninterested in hunting. Likely due to age. Left her in a box together with the fly for quite a while. No reaction whatsoever. Not now, not in past attempts with other insects. Then.. I remembered something, guts!! I squished the fly so it was slightly covered in its insides, but still alive, then I held it in front of her face. Well... I squished it into her face (gently). Then, unsure what to do with her legs.. she took it! Finally! She bit right into it. I'm a happy spider mom now.


16.03.2024

I dont have bad news to share for once. Ori is doing good! She's always behind her favorite leaf in the enclosure and not doing much, but she is much, much stronger than a few weeks a go. When I poke her, she goes insane, she even bit my brush. Which is a sign she is still kickn. She was pretty much unresponsive some time a go and I was extremely worried. :(

Now the things is, she still didn't make a hammock. But I think this is not because she doesn't feel save, its because she is unable to. Likely due to her age. She can not web anymore. She has no safety line either. The only thing she does occationally is making little dots. The underside of her leaf is covered in it. Full of white dots and she snuggles herself between leaf and stem.

Ori has not eaten in 2 months. But I am not too worried here. I offer food once a week and if she has no interest, so be it. She is still thick, but got noticeably smaller. I have added two new photos to her gallery below, where she is on my hand!


07.02.2024

Ori is still very big. She never got smaller. I feel like she could be egg bound. I really hope she will lay eggs soon, I am pretty sure thats the reason she is staying so large. She is also very lazy, hanging around all the time and not doing much.

I rehoused her 2 weeks a go, along with Holly. She got an 20x20x30 terarrium from me, along with a multipurpose day and heatlamp. Temps were a struggle since the cold season. The little heatpad wasn't super strong and it was overall a pretty annoying setup. I can tell she feels much nicer with more heat. However she still didn't start building her hammock, so there's likely something wrong with her... I will try keep her as comfy as I can and keep you updated on her.


05.09.2023

Ori has gotten huge. Which kinda makes me wonder if she is adult already since her last molt and may lay eggs soon? She won't have babies, I never paired her. But they lay eggs either way. Other than that Ori is doing great and always curious.


03.08.2023

Ori's personality changed since her last molt which she completed by the 1st of August. Her body colors changed to something much lighter and she let me pick her up for the first time ever on that day. And after that again and again and again. I was literally hard to get her of off me. It feels super funny when she walks on my hands and arms.

Ori also entered her new home! She has much more room and decor now and is walking around all the time. However when she is near the heatpad, she rests there and enjoys the warmth. She becomes a lot more active when I move her away from it. For handeling, I move her away so she's not just sitting in one spot.

I also have bad news... My plant lamp which I had been using for her enclosure as well broke today. Hopefully I will be able to get a replacement or repair. For now, she will be under my desklamp and stalk me lol.


26.07.2023

This is probably the cutest pic I've gotten of her face so far oml... She has made a big hammock and is probably moulting again soon. I've been working on her new setup yesterday which is almost complete now. I'll put her in when she's ready for it.

Here is a sneak peek, incomplete.


15.07.2023

Ori is out again since a few days now, very active and she has grown! She's gotten little more fluffy as well.

I put a few more things in her temporary home so she has a bit more to interact with. The nerve plant, which is on this pic is replaced with some fake lavender plant now. I don't have substrate in there so live plants obviously won't make it long.


08.07.2023

I had the right feeling about it.. she molted!! I was expecting that because she built quite a thick hammock and didn't came out since the 28th last month. Right now, she is still inside and I can barely see her, I see a shadow with a bit of detail shining through. But I can see two seperate bodies. I doupt I have another spider in there ;). It's her old skeleton! She likely moulted over night. I saw her inside laying on the side this morning with all her legs facing one direction. Later then, she got back up and went deeper into her green shell. let's see when she will be back out again to eat something. Right now I can't see her anymore at all.

I'm also very curious to see if she changed colors in any way after that molt.


28.06.2023

She started building her hammock today inside the shell I hang on the top with magnets. I was hopeing she would go for the shell, and she did! She is looking outside with her fluffy little pedipalps.. I can't 😭


25.06.2023

I gave her a thicc ass snack today! A fly! It's really fun to watch her hunt. I always put the food I wanna give in the fridge for a bit, it makes the insects slow and they aren't just flying away. It makes the feeding a lot easier. You can do that with pretty much any insect. But for everything that either flys or jumps, it especially useful.

Ori actually ate the whole thing. Crazy how these small critters can take that much. After that she was massive.


24.06.2023

Ohh, look who is here! She probably had a rough ride. Was in transit for almost one week. For some reason it seems important boxes always take long, while other shit I buy online literally takes a day. huh. You have to be kidding me.

I was just happy she made it here safely. When I unpacked her, she was crawling around slowly in her little tube. They provided some wet paper for her too.

I gave her two very small flies and let her rest. I also tried to put her on my hand but she didn't like being near it.

Home

Exo Terra 20x20x30 // currently her old setup is within this big one. Due to her age, and the fact that she has fallen off the wall at the very top several times in the past.

Gallery

Instar = amount of times the spider grew out of her old exoskeleton

Instar 7-8

since: 01.08.2023


Instar 6-7

since: 10.07.2023


Instar 5-6

since: (?)24.06.2023