The intense colors are aposematic as these grasshoppers eat Baccharis wrightii.
B. wrightii is quite toxic, containing macrolytic trichothecenes and cardiotoxic saponins and sequester these chemicals- most animals that actually eat one of these grasshoppers will go into cardiac arrest.
Even ruminants like cattle and goats cant handle these toxins and tend to avoid browsing on Baccharis, as these chemicals are known to interfere with the rumen, causing whatever they eat to spoil inside them rather than be digested, as well as causing paralysis and other nasty effects.
Cattle from baccharis-free regions often poison themselves- having no exposure to these plants, they see a lush green bush and assume it’s good eating.
I had a female H. Lividum (Cobalt Blue) in a 8"x8"x12" tall enclosure. She was brownish with just a hint of blue when I put her in it. She burrowed to the bottom and I only caught glimpses of her over the next year.
One day when cleaning , I moved her enclosure to see she had made a window in one of the back corners. I could see 4 spiders through the window. 3 molts and her in all her color.
I actually miss raising T’s .
My beautiful funnel web spider. . Im glad that i finally got my dream mygalomorph. I love funnel web spiders. She isn’t afraid of anything. All of my scorpions and spiders run away. I need a name for my little terror. She is like “I’ll fight you!”
Well its been 10 days since someone posted on this one. So I will post a couple of pictures of my T. rasti. I hardly ever get to see this tarantula. It likes to hang out down in the bottom of the webbing or burrow. But it surprised me tonight at feeding time.
It is, and it’s kind of funny how things worked out, actually. I had this donated to me somewhat locally by someone who was originally hoping for a female, but I have a MF P. pulcher that I’ve been raising for a while, that I didn’t have a mate for. The same day I brought him in, I found this in with her, and at first didn’t realize it was a molt, I wasn’t expecting one! But, it’s like she got herself ready JUST in time for him, and they’ll be paired up in the next couple of weeks, after she’s eaten, some time after this molt.
