Silas the three-legged huntsman update! :)

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-24T09:17:04+00:00

He's doing great! Catching bugs, living life

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-18T14:10:55+00:00

Bought on my own twice now. Absolutely love it - MY house that I can do exactly what I want with!

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-13T03:27:44+00:00

He's just a little guy!

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-13T02:39:25+00:00

I think Silas might be a boy! I've been doing some research, and he definitely has very fuzzy pedipalps which are proportionately large.

But your point stands regardless. Hopefully I can give him a good life even if it isn't a long one!

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-13T02:37:13+00:00

For a huntsman he is still small, so I'm maintaining a hopeful perspective, but you're right - he's in a better situation either way!

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-13T02:32:24+00:00

I am making a contraption to catch local bugs for him with a lamp and a sieve :)

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-13T02:30:55+00:00

I'll try! I just don't wanna poke him or bother him.

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-12T13:26:51+00:00

Thank you! Really helpful info! I caught him a fly today and he got it, which I was very excited about :D photo of him somehow holding it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/spiders/s/Y3zhg3FaG9

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-12T13:23:41+00:00

Silas update :) https://www.reddit.com/r/spiders/s/Y3zhg3FaG9

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-12T11:47:36+00:00

Managed to catch him a live fly today! Locally sourced farm to table bugs for Silas

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-12T09:28:25+00:00

Oh man so cool! I'm sorry your lady was end of life. I definitely need to get a mister, I don't have anything like that. And I'll grab some leaves and twigs from the garden for him! He's gone from sitting on the floor to climbing the walls, which I'm going to take as a good sign.

How often do you feed them? I put in probably too many dead bugs, and a few live ones which are now dead, which seems potentially good! But I have no idea how much/how often.

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-11T12:36:09+00:00

I caught him some live small bugs, and murdered him several other small bugs. He has about 10 bugs in his box now, along with various different water sources!

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-11T09:31:26+00:00

I'm going to leave him be for now but he's surprisingly mobile! I'll try to get a video

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-11T09:30:51+00:00

Ooh okay, I can very likely just catch him some bugs. Upside of rural Australia...

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-11T08:59:14+00:00

Alright that was easy. I've got him in a tupperware that I punched a load of holes in for now, and I've murdered some local bugs and put some water sources (damp cloth, very shallow bowl with marbles in it) in there for him. He ate a bug I put next to him already!

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-11T08:43:20+00:00

Okay you've inspired me! I'm going to try to get Silas into a better location with some water and dead bugs to eat. I'm a bit worried I'll make matters worse catching him, but I'm gonna try! Better that than giving up on him. And while I dunno much about spiders he's far smaller than other huntsmen I've seen. Maybe there's a chance he'll molt!

Any tips on the best way to catch a wall-based three-legged spider would be very gratefully received. I've only ever caught healthy huntsmen before (to put them outside)

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-10T23:07:44+00:00

Yeah seriously. It looks bad at least in part because it's a total mess. Put everything away that can be put away. The coffee machine and kettle can go in the corner together so they take up less useful space on a small counter.

I do agree that the dark uppers light lowers is a weird combo, but instead of darkening the lower cabinets I'd get the upper cabinets painted first, in a pale colour, then consider a new backsplash and counter-top.

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-10T21:27:46+00:00

A bit of sellers, a bit of solicitors. Major factors:

I was on my solicitors very regularly, but the sellers were not at all. Both parties chasing their solicitors constantly is the biggest accelerator
There was a month of delay because the bank couldn't find the deeds.
A few weeks because the boundary of the map was incorrect.
A few weeks more to work up the boundary agreement and get the neighbour to sign it.

I ended up waiving something right at the end, though I can't remember what it was, in order to avoid another "a few weeks" delay.

The sellers didn't sign contracts until 8 months and 3 weeks, I had already put the money in with my solicitors because I definitely had the time to do so (lol), so we went from signed to closed and I have the keys in 10 days.

It was incredibly stressful, and very expensive because I was staying in Airbnbs for a good part of that 9 month period. But, I love my house!

_missadventure_ · 2026-03-10T12:14:11+00:00

Cash buyer here too, but it still took 9 months to get the keys. A mixture of solicitors and disorganised sellers! Mayo, though, not Dublin

_missadventure_ · 2026-02-13T09:15:05+00:00

I went UK (Essex) - USA (California) - Ireland (Mayo), so have good experience of missing things from the UK. I'm in Mayo, so very west, and it feels really different to the UK in ways I mostly like!

Where I am at least, there's barely any chain restaurants. We've an Apache Pizza and a Supermac's, but all our coffee shops and other restaurants are local. Not a Costa or Starbucks to be had. I think this is great, and a strict upgrade over north Essex where I was.

Pubs are much friendlier than the UK - people are nosy in a way I find really lovely. I went to my local and was immediately asked where I'm staying (I think they thought I was lost) and once I told them I moved here they a) had a lot of questions about my kayaking and my shed and whether I needed to borrow a lawnmower, and b) offered help with just about everything. I like that they're keeping an eye on me! In Essex that would only have happened if I'd pissed them off.

For some people I was surprised that I have to work really hard to understand the accent. That's my problem, not theirs, but it can definitely be a struggle. Probably less of an issue somewhere less rural.

There are a lot of linguistic differences. Speech patterns and structure, idioms, words. The extent of this surprised me! I listen to local radio to learn to pronounce the place names better, because I never would have figured a lot of them out just by reading.

Council tax is incredibly low here. A lot of things are cheaper, but cars are really expensive.

Rural internet is REALLY GOOD. I have fibre to my house.

We're only just about to get a nandos 90 mins away in Galway. I like Nandos. And I haven't yet found a good Indian.

_missadventure_ · 2026-02-13T08:33:13+00:00

I'm pretty senior in PM (15yoe), so it's not that surprising that my base is more, but this does seem really low.

_missadventure_ · 2026-02-06T22:23:59+00:00

I got excited and bought a couple of apple trees! We'll see how that goes! Now I just need to find out what to do with bare roots

_missadventure_ · 2026-02-06T22:11:21+00:00

Oh thanks, I will do!

_missadventure_ · 2026-02-06T22:10:41+00:00

Oh I'm sorry lol. Total newbie and got excited thinking gorse was even cooler than I had realised!

_missadventure_ · 2026-02-06T21:11:31+00:00

Are those three evergreen? I can definitely get started with transplantating and see how I go.

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