San Francisco Bay Area Tarantula Society

BCathcart · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:39 am Post subject:

Maybe we can organize a few different trips, so anyone who wants to go, can go.. like you said, so things dont get too crazy... I am heading up prob. this weekend with my wife... we will see how that goes.. This will be my first time to diablo...

CodeWilster · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 8:42 am Post subject:

Have fun! Keep in mind the burrows definitely do not stand out, it took us the whole trip (~3.5 hours) to find four burrows and one was vacant.
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A considerably greater amount of faith is required to believe that the complexity of this world happened by chance alone, rather than to believe there is a God.

T_Stew · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:18 am Post subject:

Very very cool! Thanks for sharing.
Seeing this makes me want to try Henry Coe State Park one day. They've got a T day event so there's definitely T's there.

http://www.coepark.org/tfest.html
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CodeWilster · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:26 am Post subject:

Cool! Actually I think they have something similar on Mt. Diablo every year. It might even be in a couple weeks. They have "guided tarantula hikes" I believe, that you can sign up for (don't forget I would charge you all less though

)
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A considerably greater amount of faith is required to believe that the complexity of this world happened by chance alone, rather than to believe there is a God.

UglyKid2 · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 9:30 am Post subject:

I would much rather go with you guys than on a ranger led hike with a bunch of rowdy kids and airhead parents, lol.

Hozaye · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:13 am Post subject:

I didnt think such huuuuuuge T's lived up there... i only live 30 mins away and should totally check it out... awesome pictures man!

BayLee · Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2009 6:42 pm Post subject:

Nice pictures Cody. I need to get up there, have not been for about 2 years.
It is a great time of year for sure.
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CodeWilster · Last edited by CodeWilster on Sun Nov 29, 2009 9:39 pm; edited 2 times in total

Here are some pictures of my recent trip to Mt. Diablo. This trip was organized for the Aphonopelma revision project that Dr. Brent Hendrixson and Dr. Jason Bond are currently working on. The specimens are being sent to East Carolina University for Bond's student Chris Hamilton, also working on the project. Can't wait to find out exactly what species is up on Mt. Diablo! (to Ricky/Josh-we'll have to let that ranger know, too! lol)

I went up there with Ricky and Josh (Darth Skippy). We had a really good time despite being chewed out by a ranger that was *extremely* unhappy about my vehicle missing the front license plate. Thank God he was kind enough to only give us a warning. He also treated us like a bunch of little kids and before leaving said "You can't find any bugs right now anyway, it's too cold; you should know that"...well, pictures are worth a thousand words...

Just some random habitat/views:

Trapdoor habitat:

Ricky found a nice Alligator Lizard:

Josh found a nice Rattler right out in the open:

Safely moving it away from the trail :)

The crew (Ricky decided to go last minute and did not have any hiking attire, just his '"Stockton" clothes lol)

I was there, too:

Josh lookin' cool:

Before I post pics of the tarantulas, Ricky and I found some trapdoors (Aptostichus, and I also found a Promyrmekiaphila colony):

An abandoned burrow w/lid. (The spider likely moved on as the walls eroded that were holding up its home):

Habitat:

Probably a Calisoga burrow:

Ok and now for the tarantulas...

We spent close to 3 hours hiking in a known area with colonies of Aphonopelma. Our only problem was we knew that because of things beginning to cool down that the T's burrows would likely be plugged in some way. After probably 2.5 of those hours, Josh came to the rescue and found the first plugged burrow and from then on we knew what to look for:

Josh found something:

Here's what we had to find:

Very obvious, right?

The circled area sort of reveals the plug composed of silk and substrate. It was about an inch or two deep into the burrow, and it was amazing how well insulated the burrow was!

And the first beautiful little find (male):

Some bigger and better pictures of the specimens (female followed by male):

Skippy trying to photograph a massive squirrel:

An old Aphonopelma/rodent burrow taken over by a Black Widow:

More pics to come in a sec, can't forget the time spent at Ken's!
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A considerably greater amount of faith is required to believe that the complexity of this world happened by chance alone, rather than to believe there is a God.

BCathcart · Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 9:31 pm Post subject:

Is the last male pictured, hooked out yet? I don't have much exp, but I always thought that the females of the species were a lot bulkier than males. All MM I have seen have been very dark in color and very lanky.....

CodeWilster · Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2009 9:42 pm Post subject:

No he's at least another molt or two away. And yeah the mature males are very dark and leggy, I have a mature male pictured in the previous page if you wanted to see it.

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A considerably greater amount of faith is required to believe that the complexity of this world happened by chance alone, rather than to believe there is a God.