Courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger
In case you missed the segment a few weeks ago on the Colbert Report, according to an Associated Press article, it looks like Stephen is going to officially get a spider named after him fairly soon. And you know it’s important news when it makes Perez Hilton! I love spiders (I actually have a collection of 9 tarantulas right now), and would love to see the actual spider that gets named after him. Trapdoor spiders rock!
EDIT:
Here’s some video of the spider selected to carry on the legacy of Stephen Colbert’s name.
Yay! I hope Stephen chose the spider with the long mating clasper! lol
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Wow, DB! Who knew you were into spiders? How cool is that? I bet you *are* thrilled that Stephen is getting a spider named after him.
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OMG!! almost a dozen tarantulas!! I’ve heard of the ‘cat lady’, but who cares now!
Do these guys, like, play together? What kind of names did you give them?
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They all have their own cages, actually. The largest one I have currently is about 4″, but I’ve got three babies that when full grown should be 10″+ (T. Blondi, 2 L. Parahybanas).
And actually, among people who have tarantulas, I have a very small collection. Most people who start collecting tarantulas, as opposed to having one G. Rosea which they got from Petco, have collections in the dozens, often hundreds, of specimens. My collection was as large as 14, but I got a bad batch of mealworms for food, and lost three within a period of two weeks. And not my cheap ones, my super expensive and favorite ones. :(
They don’t really have “names”, I just call them by their scientific names, which can get to be a mouthful with spiders like the Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens (Greenbottle blue) or the Lasiodora parahybana (Brazilian Pink Birdeater).
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Oh baby tarantulas, little sweet tarantulas…that grow up to be monsters! Those foot long spiders would just scare the bejeezes out of me. Having hundreds of them…wow, would you need a permit for that? And can you have a full time job and care for hundreds of tarantulas at the same time?
I’m sorry you lost some of your favorites. There’s probably no way to test for bad food before using it.
I can just imagine Stephen saying those scientific names and how cute that would be.
You’re so multifaceted, Tarantula lady.
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Nope, no permits needed as far as I know. I’m a member of a Dallas-area tarantulas owner group (Sad and demented, but social), and the guy who is the president has probably close to 400 spiders, not counting the babies. He’s got an entire room of his home, floor to ceiling with spiders, scorpions, centipedes and millipedes, and feeder bugs (b. dubias, crickets, etc.). Then he’s got his breeder stock (pregnant females), all his males and his super expensive spiders, in his bedroom, 4 bookshelves full.
It’s the coolest place EVER! As for maintaining them, they only need to be fed once a week, and it takes me about 15-20 minutes to feed and water all my guys, which I do on Saturdays. Also, they only need a tank cleaning once a year or so. And mine are still small, so they just get a tank cleaning when I move them up into larger containers.
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A certified entomophobic here…this post is officially creeping me out. Just the mere thought of any insect being 10 inches in diameter scares the bejesus out of me. I think I will go hide under my bed now.
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Haha. I’m with you. Except that I do respect daddy-long-legs.
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Ditto. *shudder*
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Oh yeah, ya’ll are sick, naming a feeder bug after Pres. Bush…b.dubia, all you did was change the y to an i. Spider food!
And the guy sleeping with spiders, crazy out of his mind! How many eyes are on him as he’s sleeping in bed?
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I’m excited that Stephen is getting a trapdoor spider named after him. And the “T” in the spider’s name is going to silent. How cool is that?
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Perhaps in a few years Aptostichus stephencolberti will be featured in science textbooks everywhere?
Meanwhile, some of them Perez Hilton commenters have GOT to stop with their “He looks like Bob Saget”s. How dare they! ;P
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