My Zoo, Continued
Well, we lost Hernando. He was a pretty old spider by tarantula standards, so this wasn’t a shock. Most male tarantulas don’t live long after their ultimate molt, and his came about a year ago. In some cases, a a male tarantula will attempt a post-ultimate molt, which nearly always ends in death. That’s what happened in this case. Males generally live 3-6 years (G. rosea species, anyway) with females often going as long as 20 years. I suspect in the pet industry breeders are less discriminate about gender, and all the pet shop employees I’ve ever asked have been completely clueless.
Kathleen jokes that Isaac will learn subtraction from our pet attrition; Hillary the rat died a few days ago as well. Anyway, Hernando was my first spider pet, and I learned a lot watching him. Maybe it’s time for a more active/aggressive species? I wonder if Kathleen will go for that. . .