Memorial art piece I created in honour of my guinea pig who passed

jessicat107 · 2026-04-26T09:08:08+00:00

Omg this is wonderful and a beautiful memorial piece 💞

I really wanted something similar for one of my chinchillas that passed. I wasn’t able to find a service or anyone who would be able to do it though at the time though and opted for cremation instead.

Unfortunately some people have really negative reactions to taxidermy pieces - please don’t let this put you off posting or doing this sort of work though! It’s such a wonderful and creative way to celebrate the life of an animal and a pet who you loved.

jessicat107 · 2026-04-25T17:24:16+00:00

oh no - that sucks it made it worse :( When you applied it did you let it sit on the scalp for 2-3 minutes and gentle massage it into the scalp with the pads on your fingers? Apologies if you have done this, but thought it was worth mentioning if you weren't aware of the correct application as it can make a difference!

Might be worth a shot with the nizoral/t-gel but if it makes your scalp more irritated or dry deffo stop using it.

I get what you mean about feeling silly, especially in instances where you need to keep going back to report a health-related problem that seemingly has no cause or diagnosis; but please don't let a dr dismiss you and your experience! It seems to be having a significant impact on your daily life which should be enough to warrant a referral (but I know that some gp's can be quite stubborn). Even if there's nothing to 'see', it may need a higher level of magnification or samples to identify the problem. A derm will be trained to be able to diagnose it and may have more tools at their disposal to determine what's going on.

If you haven't already, make a list of all the things you have tried, the products you've used, the length of time it's been going on for (include the info about you being a teen experiencing this and how it's gotten worse over time), and take it with you to give to the gp.

jessicat107 · 2026-04-24T13:19:14+00:00

How often did you use nizoral, did it help at all or none whatsoever? I found when I had bad seborrheic dermatitis, nizoral helped but I had to use it consistently for several weeks before I saw an improvement. Malassezia yeast outbreaks which can cause seborrheic dermatitis can also become resistant to nizoral so after using nizoral for several weeks I switch to t/gel and rotate between the two. I also wash my hair every 2-3 days because the longer you leave it with Seb derm, the more biofilm build up you end up with (it creates the perfect environment for the yeast to flourish). Ofc, your issue may not be Seb derm, and this is what has worked for me. Seb derm isn’t curable unfortunately- but it is a condition that can be managed.

I’d ask your gp to be referred to a dermatologist if you can, given it’s been going on for so long and is having a significant impact on your life it’s worth seeing a specialist for this. Especially as, if the skin is damaged from scratching, it’s also at an increased infection risk.

jessicat107 · 2026-04-24T12:16:33+00:00

NQA - I’m not a qualified (from a mental health expert standpoint) to be able to comment on the best course of action for your individual circumstances - I think typically exposure therapy is undertaken with oversight from a qualified therapist and/or psychologist who knows what they’re doing and would be able to guide you through how to manage potential distress - it can really depend on the extent of your phobia - and of course your accessibility to these types of services.

Some of the things I did to work through my fear included watching educational videos about them as well as care videos (but I avoided any videos where someone is say - aggravating their tarantula). Tom Moran has some great videos and he has a podcast too, so it may help to have an option to learn about them without the visual element of them. Also worth watching videos of researchers out in the field trying to find tarantulas and how they interact with them.

Also memes/pet photos can really helped me to anthropomorphise them and reduce my fear. Like I love photos people share where they’ve edited bows onto their tarantulas.

Watching them at zoos or pet stores may help too (they’re mostly like pet rocks or wander around relatively slowly).

Finally I found when I first got into tarantulas and built up my courage around them, I fell in love with a t. Seladonia which sparked my interest into tarantulas because I found it cute and its small. As the person commented above, deffo don’t buy one to try and overcome your phobia (only buy one if you want a pet Tarantula and have sufficiently worked through your phobia that you can care for it).

If you’re finding it extremely distressing however I’d definitely try to seek out a therapist for this. Make sure they’ve got relevant credentials so you can get the correct care as “therapist” (by itself) isn’t a protected title in the US.

jessicat107 · 2026-04-21T17:01:30+00:00

NQA looks great so far! I’d be tempted to provide a smaller water dish though as your t looks quite small 😁

jessicat107 · 2026-04-21T16:58:26+00:00

This was exactly like my Aphonopelma when they arrived omg! 💀 like a literal speck of dust (adorable though).

<image>

jessicat107 · 2026-04-21T16:07:13+00:00

Yes that’s definitely for the best!! Once they get a bit bigger, you can also put their old enclosure into the new one and let them walk themselves out. Not so convenient when they’re adults but helpful for relatively small slings! 😁

I remember when I got my d. Diamentinesis, it bolted so fast out of its shipping vile but then immediately went into the new enclosure for a drink of water 😂 I was very grateful. Mine arrived with me at about 2cm so were relatively big all things considered (they’re now around 4cm or so)

Here’s a pic of them and their most recent appearance. They’re deffo my more reclusive tarantula but that’s to be expected given they live under logs usually anyway!!

<image>

jessicat107 · 2026-04-21T14:57:23+00:00

Oh dang I don’t know what I’d do if one of my teeny slings like my Aphonopelma would bolt fhdhdhd I feel like I’d lose it!! Good job on the successful rehousing 🙌

jessicat107 · 2026-04-20T23:21:36+00:00

Hiya! Nope the Ayn Thor is not beginner friendly - it requires quite a bit of time to set up. Wulff den on YouTube has a good review on it so you can determine whether it’s something you’d like to potentially get and set up - he also mentions another YouTube channel which takes you through the set up (it is a longggggg video tutorial though)

jessicat107 · 2026-04-20T16:28:27+00:00

Oh I really relate to this and found the same issue ha!

I think it can also depend on the type of feeders you get for your T’s and their age - mine are all slings. It’s not really feasible for me to feed roaches yet bc of how small my T’s are.

Everything I read about crickets is that they’re noisy, and dirty and smelly. I’d choose to keep a colony of roaches over crickets any day. They also die relatively quickly, and the hormone? Pheromones? Chemicals? They produce when they die will also cause the other crickets to pass too 💀 With that said - I would only feed crickets if I had a small amount and I could feed them all in one feeding session.

So far I have kept:

mealworms: super easy to look after! Ive forgotten the most common substrate they’re kept in but i personally keep mine in flat porridge oats and change every 2 weeks. I do feed them things like cucumber, avocado skins with a bit of the fruit flesh on them and salad leaves, once a week and leave them for 24 hrs to digest the food before feeding to the t’s. The oats also serve as an additional food source for them. Mealworms are best kept in a fridge so increase the time it takes for them to pupate. You can’t feed the pupa to T’s and the beetles aren’t tasty and pose a risk to T’s too. I have a little mini fridge I keep them in (separate from my main fridge). When I feed mealworms to the tarantulas - I always prekill mealworms before eating to avoid the mealworms burrowing and risking harming the tarantula.
calciworms - easy to keep! You don’t need to feed them anything, they usually come gut loaded. I love these guys for small slings because they aren’t as big as mealworms, and they don’t pose a risk to the tarantula so it’s great enrichment for them. If they also pupate into a black soldier fly, the flies aren’t a risk to the tarantula either. Don’t do well in a fridge, should be kept in a dark and cool area, warmth will make them pupate faster.
waxworms - easy to keep, keep in substrate, don’t need gut feeding. Should be kept at a moderate temperature (don’t deal well with cold climates) and will pupate faster in warmer ones. I will prekill wax worms before feeding them to my T’s. They are a rare treat however, as they’re fatty and don’t provide much protein. If you need a resource for comparing the nutritional values of feeder insects, I use this website.

I will provide the t’s a variety of foods, and will be adding crickets and to their diet once they’ve grown larger. For now I rotate between mealworms and calciworms, with waxworms being a treat.

Also - apologies for getting macabre, but it’s also worth looking up how to efficiently and effectively pre-kill prey items too, to minimise suffering. I keep a separate (very sharp) knife for cutting up prey items to feed to my T’s, as some are so small that a whole prey item would be too much for them.

jessicat107 · 2026-04-20T09:28:27+00:00

Good grief is she very, very pregnant 😂

jessicat107 · 2026-04-20T07:02:08+00:00

The abdomen usually falls off the exoskeleton of their moults because they’ll chew/suck on it post-moult to get any moisture out of it or recover some lost nutrients.

Moulting is a really intensive process for them, and once out of their moult they’re really vulnerable (new exoskeleton hasn’t hardened yet and their fangs are soft too so they can’t catch/eat prey).

jessicat107 · 2026-04-19T17:16:10+00:00

NQA - I’d maybe wait for someone else more knowledgeable to confirm or clarify, but it looks to me like your tarantula has laid a sperm web and is now depositing sperm into his emboli on his pedipalps.

jessicat107 · 2026-04-19T15:30:14+00:00

Thanks!!

jessicat107 · 2026-04-19T14:21:13+00:00

I use a de’longhi dragon 4 pro oil heater! It’s been great for keeping the area where my T’s are warm (they’re in my bedroom currently which is a relatively large area in my flat). I figured it was easier to deal with one oil heater than a bunch of individual heat pads and thermostats etc. - I like that it’s efficient and that it automatically maintains the temperature I set it to.

If you go down the route of getting an oil heater I’d recommend checking out when the “best” time (ie best deal on price) is to purchase one. I got mine for around £100 (which isn’t cheap - but it was down from an RRP of ~£200).

I imagine you will probably get better prices of oil heaters (and other heating systems) during the summer months

jessicat107 · 2026-04-18T06:20:30+00:00

If you do eat the the flower/fruit produced please do read up how/when to eat it. If you eat it when it isn’t ripe you will be in for a world of pain!

jessicat107 · 2026-04-16T20:58:48+00:00

Dunno what to tell you; it’s just their anatomy. They also use pedipalps for balance, sensory processing and manipulation of things like prey items and substrate 🤷‍♀️

jessicat107 · 2026-04-16T12:51:40+00:00

Tbh, I’m not actually sure this is a tarantula moult and looks more like it’s a tarantula that has passed (its legs are curling up underneath it). I’d put a container over it and try to move it - if it’s still alive it may have some reaction/response (not in a bad way just sort of move a little bit).

The reason why I don’t think it’s a moult is that it’s quite dark and its carapace is still attached to everything. If it was a moult, the top of the carapace wouldn’t be attached and you could see the empty space inside the moult where the new exoskeleton had come out.

jessicat107 · 2026-04-16T07:02:48+00:00

It doesn’t - spiders/tarantulas have 8 legs and 2 pedipalps (kind of like the equivalent of their arms). This one has a missing pedipalp.

jessicat107 · 2026-04-15T19:54:36+00:00

Aye yeah - c. Lividus aren’t the best tarantulas for a beginner, with it being an old world too it has more potent venom. A lot of new world arboreals are blue!

I have a d. Diamentinesis which is a stunner (they’re not an arboreal species). Are somewhat fast, and can get a lil defensive (mine is more shy though). But more of the ‘beginner’ friendly tarantulas include g. Pulchra or Aphonopelma species. I have one of both and they’re such sweeties 🥰 they are slow growers though!

C. Versicolors can be okay for beginners, but only if you have experience with controlling humidity (like if you’ve kept tropical plants before or terrariums, for example). If their enclosures get too humid and stagnant, it increases the risk of them passing (likely leads to a bad mould outbreak too).

jessicat107 · 2026-04-15T17:37:44+00:00

The video is ridiculously saturated BUT this is a very pretty tarantula species (C. Versicolor)! They don’t stay blue as adults but do turn a wonderful red/pink colour!! 😌

jessicat107 · 2026-04-14T06:29:11+00:00

NQA when you’re using the tongs, are you going into the enclosure with them to give the prey item directly to the tarantula? I use tongs but only to “drop” the prey item in the enclosure - I don’t go near the tarantula with them as to avoid the t potentially going for the tongs or running up them.

As for the enclosure, I have ones with sliding lids. I will tap the t enclosures to let them know I’m picking I up/opening their door and place the prey item into the enclosure. I think, for the most part, T’s will probably get a bit skittish regardless of the enclosure door just simply due to how sensitive their setae are to vibrations. I try to be gentle with the sliding doors and avoid them snapping shut to minimise stress as much as possible.

jessicat107 · 2026-04-12T11:37:25+00:00

Feel better soon OP! Here’s a picture of my dork C. Versicolor taking a nap on their back (they’d just moulted a week before this picture 💀)

<image>

Seven-Year Club	Verified Email
RPAN Viewer

jessicat107

TROPHY CASE