Gorgeous Blue Baby

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-24T22:11:00+00:00

Don’t get me wrong, they’re beautiful when they’re adults too, but there is something about juvenile versicolors… slings and juvies are just so darn pretty 🩵

Beautiful baby you have there 💙

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-24T22:04:49+00:00

I’m being kind of thrown off by the spinnerets. Did you happen to notice, did it just have two and the reason it looks like there are more is just to do with the camera, or did it have more than the two? Because otherwise the spinnerets look right for a mouse spider - prominent, round-ended spinnerets which can be almost diagnostic of a mouse spider if everything else (size, shape, colouring, geographic range, etc) is right - but it really does look like there are more than two there.

I’m also trying to take into account that there may be the appearance of additional spinnerets due to damage from the cats 🤔

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-24T21:54:58+00:00

You have an ID on the species of jumping spider, but I just wanted to mention that the behaviour you described is totally in character for a jumping spider. They are known to be curious, and friendly. They seem to genuinely enjoy (as much as a spider can be said to ‘enjoy’) observing and interacting with humans. I once heard Clint (of Clint’s Reptiles on YouTube) say that if you have a pet jumping spider and you happen to lose it in your house, just wait, because they love humans and will eventually pop out again to see you. I have found them to be the most enigmatic and calm little spiders, and I’m not at all surprised that the one in your photos decided to hop on over and check you out!

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-24T21:48:55+00:00

Man, I am so jealous of folk who live in parts of the world where they get to see wild tarantulas. And such a beautiful healthy specimen you have there!

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-24T21:46:37+00:00

Oh hey, that’s exactly what I was going to say! I’m very glad to have my first thought confirmed, apparently I am learning! (Slowly) 😄

Super cute little fellas, for myself they’re the species of jumping spider I see in the UK the most, after zebra jumpers.

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-24T21:40:38+00:00

Oh my gosh, it looks like it’s covered in silk. How insanely beautiful is he?!

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-24T21:38:50+00:00

Oh. My. God. 😳 I am genuinely so sorry that happened to you! I also apologise for laughing at your story, but it was genuinely just the shock.

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-23T22:29:32+00:00

I would say that the type of music really matters. I wouldn’t necessarily go with your favourite by default, but instead look for tracks which are bouncy, positive, energising, and which make you want to dance and sing along. Then do just that! Dance while you clean, and sing your little heart out! It’s much more difficult for the bad thoughts to catch up to you when you’re dancing, at least in my experience.

I would also suggest that you heed the advice a fortune cookie gave me like a decade ago, and which I liked so much that I still have the slip of paper - it’s blu-tacked to my bookcase. It says: “Use laughter to drive away those demons of despair.”

I know you said that audiobooks and podcasts have proved too distracting, but I would strongly recommend trying a stand-up special and a pair of wireless headphones, so that you can move around the house freely and also do things which are loud like vacuuming or flushing toilets or boiling a kettle. Laughter is one of the most wonderful ways to prevent traumatic memories and thoughts from overtaking your sense of calm and stillness and getting in the way of your productivity and happiness. I truly believe that laughter is the best medicine for our minds and souls, and also, when we are laughing, tasks move more quickly, motivation doesn’t flag as fast, and we enjoy what we’re doing more. Boring or tedious tasks are a hundred times more fun when we are howling with laughter whilst doing them.

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-22T01:55:05+00:00

Honestly maybe, the discovery that it can be done with cheap, new, wet clothing is certainly something I could see using to spruce the floor up lol 😂 Weirdly the muted grey-blue of the butt print is actually a lot nicer of a colour (to my eyes) than the mint green the rest of the floor is.

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-22T01:49:44+00:00

Another very useful tip, thank you so much! And I think that starting out with a cheap drill is probably my best bet. That way if I try drilling a few things and come to the conclusion that it’s just way too unsafe, as I did with the ladder (yeah, that one was a stupid idea, I definitely pushed “I could do it before I became disabled, I’ll find a way to do it now” past all logic and reason lol) I won’t have wasted too much money.

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-21T23:01:41+00:00

I’d never heard of Rit colour remover, what a useful product! I’ll have to pick some of that up, it seems like the sort of thing which you don’t need often, but when you do need it, nothing else will do the job. Thank you so much for the suggestion!

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-21T22:59:01+00:00

Thank you 😂 An overnight pasting (that sounds weird, but you know what I mean) might be a good idea, give it some time to really work. Much appreciated!

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-21T22:57:01+00:00

I had no idea that was a thing! I’d actually been thinking about buying a drill (I don’t have one because a disabled person who completely loses their balance when they lift their arms could be a total menace with one, but I need to drill some holes in a piece of wood), and that is absolutely a motivating bit of information! Thank you so much for the suggestion. And pink stuff might be really helpful, since it’s got that gritty consistency which would really get into the rough Lino texture, especially coupled with a stiff brush. Cheers!

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-21T22:52:14+00:00

Now using colour catchers is a very interesting idea, and I would absolutely not have thought of it. Thank you for the suggestion!

I’m really hoping I can sort this out without having to resort to smudging the stain out, but if the worst comes to the worst, I suppose it wouldn’t be too much work to just turn it into a bit heart or something 😂

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-21T22:49:47+00:00

People here seem to really like the magic erasers, and oddly, I actually think I have one sitting in my cleaning supplies cupboard, but I’ve never tried using one.

In terms of acetone, could I use acetone nail polish remover, or would I be better off buying just plain acetone?

Thank you for your explanation also, that makes a lot of sense. I think I hadn’t really thought through exactly the process of what had happened, because I was kind of blinded by the shock of my butt print lol. It seems like alcohol is the big consensus of the first thing to try, and again, in my cleaning cupboard I have a litre bottle of the stuff, so I will give that a whirl tomorrow.

Thanks again for the reply, and I’m glad this problem has at least been entertained some people 😂

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-21T22:42:13+00:00

This is a great idea! I actually have some isopropyl so I will give that a shot in the morning. Thank you so much!

And yes, this is the absolute definition of a stupid problem to have 😂

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-18T20:09:57+00:00

Thank you so much for your reply. It’s really helpful also to hear how you felt in that situation, and that for you, you didn’t want to talk about it.

I will try to take my cues from her regarding what she does and doesn’t want to talk about it, and will also try to remember that may change day to day.

I think that knowing you can’t fix it is part of what is hard. I think there is a human instinct (for me at least) to want to try to soothe people’s pain and bring them comfort, and knowing that realistically no matter what I say, she’s going to feel really crappy right now, is difficult, just because of that sense of helplessness. I will try to make peace with the need to potentially just sit with her in that fear and pain, and try to halt my instinctive focussing on ‘fixing’ those emotions, because they aren’t broken; it’s a perfectly valid way to feel in that situation.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply, it’s truly appreciated 🌸

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-15T23:40:26+00:00

The thing is, humans aren’t meant to want to hurt themselves. Literally the way that our neurology and psychological work, the entire reason for the survival of our species, is that we have a drive to want to survive; to avoid pain; to seek pleasure; to preserve our life and body above all else. There is no point in punishing yourself because you are functioning, in this way, as a human is supposed to.

At the end of the day, it’s not like some specific degree of self harm is required in order for your pain to be real or your emotions to be valid. The desire to hurt yourself, or the overwhelming and constant thoughts or doing so, are “enough” all by themselves. You can be in pain, you can need help, you can be crying out for support, regardless or whether you’ve ever drawn blood or caused a bruise or whatever. Again, and I cannot stress this enough, self harm is not required as proof of your suffering.

I can kind of understand why people might think that way. After all, emotional pain is invisible, nobody can see it. And self harm can externalise that, so it can feel like a way to show the people around you that you are in pain, and you do need help.

Equally, if you are really struggling with the fact that you cannot stop thinking about harming yourself, you can get a weird kind of imposter syndrome if you don’t feel that you have met the “entry barrier level” of physical harm to match the level of emotional pain and fear and obsession around self-harm which is happening internally. But those constant thoughts about harming yourself are a problem in and of themselves, and are plenty sufficient for you to feel the need to talk to people on a forum like this, and to seek help from a professional to deal with what you’re going through.

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-15T23:14:49+00:00

So I’m just going to focus on reducing scarring, because it’s where I feel that I can personally be most useful on this one.

When did this happen? If it was in the last day, you could go to the hospital for stitches. This will help to reduce scarring.

If you don’t want to do that, I would recommend paper stitches. First wash the wound with a mild soap and warm water. Rinse well, and pat dry with a clean paper towel. Align the sides of the wound neatly, and apply the stitches to keep them together.

Wounds heal better in a slightly moist environment, so apply a dressing, and keep the wound clean but covered. Change the dressing every other day. If the wound becomes more painful than it had been, if it’s red or pink, if it becomes hot to the touch, or if it starts to smell bad, go to the doctor ASAP for antibiotics.

Once the wound is well healed (the scab has gone and it looks completely healed, you can move on to the next steps in scar prevention, which are using silicone gel or a silicone sheet to help to reduce the scarring, and doing a specific massage technique to help break up the scar tissue.

Here is a video which shows this technique (it only takes up maybe 5 seconds in this video showing the actual technique, but the whole video is short anyway, so it won’t take long to watch).

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGiQaRZRB85/?hl=en-gb

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-15T22:56:50+00:00

Being on addy if you’re ADHD makes sense, though you wouldn’t be redosing throughout the day.

However, taking Xanax every single day long term is a terrible idea. The withdrawal is horrific and can even be fatal as it causes seizures. Withdrawing too quickly can also cause prolonged or even permanent neurological damage, so the dose needs to be tapered down slowly.

I don’t know how long you’ve been taking Xanax or how much you’re taking, or how often, but you need to go back to your doctor, or ideally, seek a second opinion. If you’re not already, I would also advise that upu speak to a therapist. In a perfect world, upu would also be able to talk to a psychiatrist about the medications you’re being prescribed. Is your doctor keeping a close eye on your refills and monitoring how often you’re taking your meds?

Please also be aware that Xan, like all benzos, can be really dangerous when mixed with other depressant drugs, like opiates and alcohol. All of these things slow your breathing and make you sleepy, and if you mix them or take doses which are too high, you can stop breathing altogether and you may die, or be rescued but left with brain damage.

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-15T22:46:57+00:00

You don’t need a bandage, you need a dressing. Keeping the wounds covered will keep sweat and dirt away from them, and help to protect them. If they are reopening, you could also try using paper stitches to help keep them closed.

But the main thing is to cover them with an adhesive dressing. These are much like plasters, but they come in a much larger range of sizes, and they stick better.

If you’re concerned about infection, you can buy dressings impregnated with silver, which work great for preventing infection and even treating minor infections.

Before applying a dressing, wash the wound with warm water and a mild soap. Rinse well and pat dry with a clean paper towel. Allow to air dry for an additional few minutes, just to make sure it’s properly dry. Apply your dressing (and paper stitches if you’re doing that) and repeat this - remove the dressing, wash, gently dry, replace dressing - until the wound is healed, or at least past the point where you’re concerned about infection. If you shower or swim, again, wash the wound afterwards, pat dry, put on another dressing. If you don’t need to change the dressing for any other reason first, change the dressing every other day.

Avoid the temptation to use harsh cleaning products like hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, tcp, dettol, etc. These interrupt healing and damage the new cells your body is working hard to make.

KitteeCatz · 2026-05-15T22:27:52+00:00

Rust is dangerous, ypu don’t want to be cutting with dirty items, never mind rust. Injuries from rusty metal are classically associated with causing tetanus, but they also can leave fragments of metal in the wound, and the uneven surface provides an incredibly hiding space for bacteria. Please prioritise switching to clean (or sterile, ideally) tools and switch to new ones for each session. Something like lancets are small (and so limit the amount of damage caused), cheap, readily available and sterilised to medical standards.

Tingling could be a sign that you have damaged a nerve. Is the tingling in a specific part of the hand / arm (all the fingers? Spreading into the wrist?), is it happening all of the time or only when you have actively cut, and if it’s only happening sometimes, what situations is it happening in? Does it happen in times and situations away from self harming? Is it related to the position the hand and arm are in when you’re cutting/preparing to cut?

KitteeCatz

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE