In the evening I decided to rehouse the Orange Bitey Thing; a female
Pterinochilus murinus Red Color Form. I drilled holes in the lid of
a 19 litre plastic container, to which I added coconut coir, and some plastic
plants.
Next, I took the tarantula, still inside her small enclosure, up to
the bathroom. This species can be quite skittish and moves fast, so I
wanted a place where an escape wouldn't cause too much of a
problem. After quite some time I managed to finally move the spider in
a plastic cup using a paint brush. No threat posing by the spider, and
no running around; it was actually resisting to move at all.
Pterinochilus murinus in a catch cup.
I cleaned up some of the decoration in the original enclosure: some
cork and some plastic plants, and moved it to the new enclosure as
well. Then I tried to move the spider in her new home. But it refused
to move from her position near the bottom. There was no hole in the
bottom of the catch cup (recommended) hence I couldn't push her carefully
out that way. So I decided to let the catch cup with spider inside the
large enclosure so she could get out in her own time.
Pterinochilus murinus in a catch cup inside the new enclosure.
Notice in the above photo how the plastic plants provide plenty of
anchor points for webbing. In my experience Pterinochilus murinus
webs a lot. Because this species uses some height of its enclosure,
when available, it's now and then called semi-arboreal.
The last time I rehoused this tarantula
was way back in 2020, when it managed to escape the catch cup I used.
A woman takes a job as a housekeeper in a NYC high-rise, unaware of
the building's history of disappearances. She soon realizes the
community is shrouded in mystery.
In the evening Esme and I watched They Will Kill
You. The movie was both weird
and funny. It was nice to see Angus Sampson in a (short) role
similar to his one in The Lincoln
Lawyer: a private
investigator. Anyway, I liked the movie, and rate it a 7 out of 10.
Yesterday I noticed a small green dot in one the 10 sections of a seed
starting tray; a Carolina reaper chocolate chili pepper plant had
breached the soil. And today, in the early afternoon, a tiny seedling
could be seen.
I planted the 10 seeds Sunday the 26th of April. I got the
seeds earlier this year from my brother. According to him this pepper
grows slowly. It is my first attempt at growing chili peppers.
In the afternoon I finished The Integral
Trees,
The Smoke Ring series book 1 by Larry Niven. I really liked the
setting of the story and how one learns more and more about the smoke
ring environment. A good read; recommended.
In the free-fall environment of the Smoke Ring (an immense gaseous
envelope and neutron star circling a habitable cluster of plants,
trees and animals), descendants of the starship Discipline’s crew no
longer remember their Earth roots or the existence of Sharls Davis
Kendy, the computer AI controlling the ship — until Kendy initiated
contact once more, 500 years after the crew whom the half-mad AI
calls “mutineers” were abandoned on this strange world (see The
Integral Trees).
Fourteen years later only Jeffer, the Citizens Tree “Scientist”,
knew that Kendy was watching and advising. When Citizens Tree
rescues a family of loggers, they learn of the Admiralty, a military
organization in a town unknown to Citizens Tree. Jeffer is among
those who want to visit the town and the Admiralty, which may have
maintained intact Discipline's original computer library. The events
following the visit to the town and the subsequent flight from the
Admiralty form part of this exciting tale of adventure, danger and
courage.
In the evening I started in The Smoke
Ring, The
Smoke Ring series book 2 by Larry Niven.
