Greetings AC Family,

This is the epic story of how the most beautiful tarantula in the world, with her entrancing, innate arachnid beauty, took her crown as goddess of the Antiverse (the Ant Room). In a scramble against time to harvest her webbing to keep our fire ants (the Fire Nation) from escaping their paludarium set up (the Selva de Fuego), we are caught in the middle of a double crisis. Watch these two crises unfold and how they are resolved, in today’s epic Tarantula vs. Fire Ant story.

World’s Most Beautiful Tarantula in Peril

Alright, so now we move from the crisis we had in the waters to the crisis we have on land. As you know, Imelda, our bird-eater tarantula, has now passed and has transitioned back into the earth, but there’s just one problem with that. As you may recall from past videos, our goddess actually played an important role, particularly for the Fire Nation, and more specifically, an important role in containing them! I used her ant-proof webbing to keep our fire ants from climbing out of their setup. But, AC Family, now that Imelda, the bird-eater goddess, has died, the Fire Nation has rejoiced and taken full advantage of her passing. I usually harvest and install new webbing every time I notice the barrier weakening. And, well, AC Family, it looks like time’s up. New webbing is due for installation, as the Fire Nation has managed to tear up the barrier that has kept them captive inside the Selva de Fuego all this time. In fact, we are now in a grave state of emergency. And so, AC Family, we needed a new source of webbing, and it just so happens I’ve found the perfect source. A provider of silk many times stronger and more repellent than that of Imelda’s. She can also produce more of it in a single day than Imelda could in a week. AC Family, behold the new goddess of the Antiverse. Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel and hit the BELL icon. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy!

Our new goddess lays motionless on her back, protected within her silken lair, with her legs dangling in the air. Have no fear, though, for when she has completed this process, she will emerge with a brand-new splendor, color, size, and tenacity. Tarantulas, like most invertebrates, do not exfoliate like we humans do. Instead, they outgrow their skin in stages and must shed their old skin periodically as they grow. Tarantulas, like our goddess here, emerge from their old exoskeletons on their backs. Molting is quite a sensitive and delicate ceremony for our new goddess, where she is vulnerable to predators, which is why she does it within the depths of her protective silken temple, where she remains like this for several hours until the molting process is complete. We can’t rush her through this process, as it is important she is allowed all the time she needs to molt and harden, which can take a few days to weeks. But there was only one problem with this. The Fire Nation has been mobilizing at escaping their setup, taking full advantage of the fact that our former goddess’ web barrier was weakening. Word had spread throughout the colony that the time had finally come for their liberation from the Selva de Fuego, the great paludarium kingdom they’d called home for generations. The only thing we needed was our goddess’ impenetrable, sticky, and lethal hair-lined webbing to place on all four corners of the Selva de Fuego to keep the Fire Nation inside their setup, but we couldn’t do this until her molt was complete and she had completely hardened. But as I watched our new goddess with her claws now hooked onto the walls of her funnel web, I knew the molt was near. Only time would tell if it would be on time before a mass fire ant breakout, but little did I know, there was also going to be a much bigger problem on the horizon.

The molt was complete. Our goddess had emerged in one piece, soft and sensitive, moving her limbs from time to time as her exoskeleton strengthened and solidified in composition. This was her ultimate period of vulnerability now, but she had nothing to fear, as we would be here to guard her from any harm as she hardened. Wait until you see what she looks like later when she’s fully hardened. Her species is known as a green-bottle blue, and the colors of her new exoskeleton will truly astound you. That’s coming up in a bit. But guys, have a look at her fangs! They’re still white and soft. As they harden, they will turn black, and those red hairs will remain bright so that when she ever assumes a threat pose, the red will perfectly bring attention to her razor-sharp fangs, to anything stupid enough to get close and attempt to eat or attack her. Though our goddess isn’t deadly to us, she’s certainly dangerous to most of her natural predators. The next day, our goddess had righted herself and was sitting quietly in her den as she continued to harden. Some of you may be wondering where her old skin was. Well, she had cast it off somewhere nearby in her den, and the time was nearing for us to be able to go in and pull it out, and also harvest some webbing to keep our ants inside. One week later… It was a state of emergency! Members of the Fire Nation had already set up camp inside the LED lights situated above the Selva de Fuego! They were officially broken out and were in the process of conquering and filling up the first bit of territory space they’d never before frequented. The lights were the perfect nest and station to gather in numbers before the ultimate breakout in my condo! This was not only a dangerous security breach, but it was also, no pun intended, a great fire hazard!

We needed that webbing and we needed it now! Thankfully, however, our goddess was ready for us to move in and harvest. This was the space in which our goddess was living, the terrarium in which she was raised as a younger spiderling, and in which she came to us. It was a simple glass space, decorated with some driftwood vine, coco peat substrate, and a Dracaena fragrans plant. She had chosen to create her funnel web lair to the right side of this terrarium with the opening towards the top there. But how was I going to go in and harvest this seemingly complex web structure? Well, the majority of the front of this terrarium was a single glass pane that slides upward, and my plan was to go in and harvest one end of the webbing first. Alright, AC Family. Are you ready for this? We needed that web now! Here we go! Removing the glass pane. It slid out nicely and surprisingly did fairly little damage to the silken web retreat of our goddess. My heart was racing a million miles an hour as I scanned the situation to calculate where I would be making my first cut into her web. I hovered about with my tweezers and scissors. I was afraid that she would suddenly pop out to attack me as these tarantulas are extremely fast! I went in for the incision. Suddenly, oh, no! She brushed a cloud of urticating hairs at me! Although I wasn’t hurt by the microscopic defensive hairs, it was sad to see her kick it off because she had just molted, and I would have hated to see her bald so soon after molting. She could grow the abdomen hair back by her next molt, but of course, we’d love to see our goddess fully haired. I went in with my tweezers!

Now AC Family, before we go on to harvest her webbing, take a close look at this! It was her old exoskeleton, a shell of her old body. Check out that incredible, metallic blue color of her legs contrasting the fiery peach color of her mouth! It’s a bit flimsy and hard to handle, but flipping it over, you can see her metallic turquoise chelicerae which hosted her fangs, and the hollow combs from which each of her legs slipped out during the molt. I just love looking at tarantula shed exoskeleton! And actually, if you were to take the top of the carapace which is usually here by the abdomen skin… well, usually somewhere here, you can piece the entire structure together to make it look like a living tarantula. I also love examining the fangs! It’s probably the only time I’d ever come close to touching her razor-sharp fangs. I’ve done it on more docile species, but I’d never try on her. But enough playing now. I needed to harvest that webbing! I went in and snipped away as carefully as I could to extract a piece of webbing. I applied the patch of web to the most problematic corner of the Fire Nation escape. Done! But it wasn’t enough to cover the other corners of the Selva de Fuego. I needed more webbing, but I needed the web of her entire funnel to effectively contain the Fire Nation. See, I didn’t want to stress our goddess out and cause her to kick off more hair, so my plan was to go in and remove her entirely so she could feel secure while I went in for the web harvest. I was going to try to move her into this container, but I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

Here we go, AC Family! Wish me luck! With my tweezers, I tried to coax her out of her funnel and into the container. She took a short burst outward and with my tweezers, I tried to gently guide her into the container. My heart was in my throat the entire time! Here we go. Almost. Oh no! She’s moving to the other side. I blocked her from continuing that way using the lid. But with a little bit of careful maneuvering, I was able to get her into the container, but not without her attempting to blast me with a hurricane of urticating hair! No! More hair lost! But this was much better and less stressful for her while I went in to collect her much-needed webbing. What a gorgeous specimen! Now that she was isolated and safe from stress, I went in to collect the rest of her webbing. It was enough to secure two other problematic corners from Fire Nation escape. Thank goodness! Although the fourth corner was left unwebbed, that corner for some reason was less problematic, so it could wait until she produced more webbing. At last, it finally was the end of our Fire Nation escape crisis, but AC Family, little did I know, it was the revelation of a new one!

So here we had our goddess’ empty terrarium. It was nice, but if you’ve followed this channel for a while, you’ll understand it wasn’t AC Family nice. That Dracaena fragrans plant is a tropical plant from Africa, and our green-bottle blue goddess happens to be a desert species from northern Venezuela. We could provide our goddess with something much better than this. Its current design also made it quite difficult for us to continually open her terrarium to harvest webbing in the future. So, AC Family, I wanted to give our goddess’ palace a facelift before returning her in, and this renovation was surely going to get messy.

I had some epic plans for the reno. As a safety precaution, I had to put on some surgical gloves just in case she had kicked urticating hairs onto the surfaces of the decor or substrate of her terrarium. This would protect me as I worked around. I then went in and proceeded to gut out the terrarium of its contents. We needed to make this sacred space better suited to her species, more conducive to partial web collection, and of course, fit for a goddess! And AC Family, after some reworking, check out what the terrarium looked like a couple of hours later.

AC Family, behold! Arachno Sanctorium, the reconstructed shrine of our new Antiversal goddess. Isn’t it lovely? Arachno Sanctorium is a cozy oasis haven built specially for our goddess and made to fit our need to harvest silk in a less intrusive way. Let me show you around this gorgeous plot of land. I’ve used a variety of different desert succulent plants and aloe, as well as mosses and lichens, to adorn the arch of driftwood, which used to be part of the old setup. What’s great about these plants is that they need no water nor sunlight, not even soil. Why? Well, they’re fake, which is great because real plants need water to survive, and our goddess prefers it dry.

And I’ve always believed that as much as having real plants is beautiful and impressive, in cases like this, practicality wins, and I truly love the aesthetic feel and energy elicited by this sacred space into which our goddess shall be living. Now, in case you may be wondering why the Arachno Sanctorium seems a bit on the small side for space, no need to be concerned. Most tarantulas don’t move a lot and feel cozier in smaller enclosures. There is enough room for our goddess to set up her palace in this pocket of arid coziness.

Speaking of which, AC Family, let’s look at the Arachno Sanctorium from this side so I can show you why I love this new design so much for our goddess. My hope is that she’ll create her web bedroom all through here and run her funnel down so it opens up and spills out to carpet this open space here, where it can eventually reach the front glass. It’s this open area here, furthest from her funnel entrance, where I hope to harvest her webbing in a less intrusive manner in the future. This layout also makes it less likely for her to create her funnel up against the front glass like she did in the old design.

Despite the plants being fake and not needing light, I’ve secured a small LED light at the top to give her territories a beautiful, warm Venezuelan glow. Overall, the Arachno Sanctorium was ready to become the cradle of our new goddess. It was now time to introduce these grounds to her. Here she was, sitting still and patient in our container. Let’s move her in. I opened the cover.

Now, AC Family, here’s where I’m going to ask you to watch carefully and see if you can spot something unusual. I set the container down in hopes to allow her to crawl out on her own, but it was at that moment that my body and breath froze. Time stood still for me as, almost spellbound, I beheld the magical beauty of our goddess. I couldn’t blink as I was hypnotized by the gorgeousness of her royal blue legs, which met at turquoise coxae and carapace, a blackened velvet base with peach-colored tips, and a bright rusty red rump that sported the fuzz of dangerous urticating hairs. And look, light pink toe pads at the end of each foot. This goddess was easily the most gorgeous spider I had ever seen in my life. She stood still, unmoving in her spot, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to stare at her forever. Wow! I’ve got to snap out of this, guys! She has me under her spell. This goddess has got some powers!

What do you guys think of this green-bottle blue tarantula? Isn’t she amazing? Has she managed to get you under her spell? Now, I didn’t want to stress her out anymore, and I certainly didn’t want her to kick off any more urticating hair. We needed her to be as calm and relaxed as possible from here on in. So, with my tweezers, I gently prodded our goddess into the Arachno Sanctorium, and that, AC Family, was when I saw it! Did you? She clung onto the front ledge, hiding from us something that I am sure was causing her a great deal of stress. Had my eyes fooled me? I slowly tried to use a stick to see if what I’d seen was indeed real. She trembled as she held her pose. My heart was breaking.

I tried again, gently, to let her know I was here not to harm her. She reared up, then backed up a bit. AC Family, look. Just as I feared. It was no wonder I couldn’t find the carapace when we were examining her shed. Our goddess’ carapace was still stuck to her! I tried to move in carefully with my stick to attempt to gently remove the carapace. Suddenly, I found myself in an emergency situation, a surgeon attempting a delicate impromptu operation. With my stick, I tried in vain to at least flip it off and see if it was even removable. Perhaps it was just hanging by some attached hair or skin. I then decided I would go in with my tweezers.

I gently got under and tried to flip the carapace off. This did not look comfortable for our goddess. I tried again, but this time much more securely, and this caused our goddess to jump back and leap away. This told me that the carapace was indeed attached to a sensitive spot on her new exoskeleton. I felt so bad for her. She began to spin her immediate area with silk.

Now, I’ve kept tarantulas since I was a 13-year-old boy, and in all my 24 years of owning dozens of tarantulas, this was the very first time I’ve ever experienced a failed molt. According to online forums, some hobbyists attempt to remove the old skin, but others say not to touch it, and that it will fall off the next time she molts. I just didn’t want to risk causing a breach in her exoskeleton at the attachment, which would lead to lethal bleeding and death. I just felt so bad for our goddess. She continued to spin the territories with her thick fibers of silk webbing.

I couldn’t do nothing, however, so with a wet q-tip, I went in to apply some moisture at the spot where the carapace was attached to the pedicle in hopes that it might facilitate its removal. Would she let me? Yes, she stood perfectly still as I applied the water, and then again…

…Woops! I accidentally touched her leg. I suddenly felt like I was truly playing a real-life version of the board game Operation! More moisture… She stood perfectly still as I gently applied more and more water to the problematic spot. My heart sank as I could see her beautiful face beneath her old carapace, and it looked to me like she was truly sad and frightened for her life. Our poor goddess. Such a beautiful creature going through such a tough time.

I decided to leave her alone now. She eventually made her way to the back of the Arachno Sanctorium to spin more silk and rub off more protective urticating hair, probably to keep us away from her. But there was one last thing I wanted to do. I wanted to add a bit of moisture on this lower end just in case she was finding this enclosure too dry. I also added a small dish, which I filled with clean water for her to drink when needed. And now all was complete. I replaced the front glass to secure her inside and carried the Arachno Sanctorium to take its spot in the Antiverse.

Overnight, I hoped she would continue web-building. And sure enough, the next morning, she had. Have a look! This basic framework of webbing was the start of what would become a great web palace. Her old carapace had still not fallen off, but it seems to not have affected our goddess’ ability to do her thing much, which was good. I tried to appreciate this time of full visibility because a few days later, this is what the Arachno Sanctorium looked like as of 9 AM this morning. Whoa! Isn’t it amazing? This web fortress will continue to get thicker and take on a greater structure in the coming days.

From what I can see, the carapace is still stuck onto her. Tarantulas typically won’t eat several days or weeks after a shed, but when I do feed her and she does manage to eat, we’ll be certain her old carapace is merely an accessory, like a tiara sitting on the head of the new goddess of the Antiverse. Her webbing will be valuable at keeping the Fire Nation within their territories, establishing peace and balance within the Ant Room.

Alright, AC Family, I think you know what’s next! What should we name this green-bottle blue tarantula? Leave your name suggestions in the comments, and as always, I will choose my top five favorites for us to vote on in a future video. Our tarantula, reigning supreme with her carapace crown-like halo, is representative in my mind that the past does not have to hinder one’s bright future. To me, this tarantula of ours is not only the goddess of our Antiverse but also takes the throne as the most beautiful tarantula in the world.

Alright, AC Family, what did you think? Do you like our new goddess and her shrine? I sure hope she manages okay with that stuck carapace. It seems she really loves the Arachno Sanctorium, though, which is great news. But be sure to hit that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL icon now so you can keep updated on this tarantula and these epic stories of the Antiverse, and hit the LIKE button every single time, including now.

Also, a special announcement! It’s that time of the year again, guys! The holidays are upon us, AC Family, and as usual, we’ve got a great Holidays Promo for you ant keepers and ant lovers wanting to get into the hobby this year! Anyone ordering our new Ant Towers, which are already on sale, or any of our Hybrid Nests or Hybrid Nest Gear Packs will also get our newly revised 2019 version of the Ultimate Ant Keeping Handbook, with new and updated ant-keeping info, a huge new section on nuptial flight schedules and distribution info per species, and tons of gorgeous ant photography.

Just order an Ant Tower or Hybrid Nest or Hybrid Nest Gear Pack, add the new e-book to your cart, and use the coupon code “antlove2019” to get the e-book for free! If you’ve always wanted to start ant-keeping, don’t miss out on this opportunity and check out our ant-keeping gear at AntsCanada.com. Just a reminder that this Holidays Promo ends January 1st, 2019, but you need to order by December 17 if within the USA, or by December 10 if outside the USA, to ensure your package arrives before Christmas. Give your loved ones something meaningful and educational for the holidays. Ants will fill their hearts with wonder and fun.

I look forward to you all keeping ants with me! If you’re new to the channel and want to catch up on all your AntsCanada lore, feel free to binge-watch this complete storyline playlist here, which traces the origins of all the ant colonies of the ant room. This way, you can follow their stories and better appreciate how these ant kingdoms came to be and why we love them so much!

AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here. If you’d like to watch extended play footage of our new green-bottle blue tarantula, she’s gorgeous, and you will also be hypnotized by the footage of our goddess’ splendor and beauty. And before we proceed to the AC Question of the Week, I’d like to plug my daily vlogging channel—daily vlogs of my journey as a YouTuber with creatures like my baby African Grey parrot! If you love birds and animals, I’d love for you to meet my new cute little bird! I’m also giving away FREE round-trip tickets to beautiful Philippines from anywhere in the world you live, so be sure to visit the channel and subscribe to qualify for the contest.

And now it’s time for the AC Question of the Week! Last week, we asked:

Why were these smaller shrimp better suited to this river than the larger ones we initially chose?

Congratulations to Ghost, who correctly answered:

They did not need brackish water to breed.

Congratulations, Ghost! You just won a free e-book handbook from our shop!

In this week’s AC Question of the Week, we ask:

Why was the Arachno Sanctorium a better-suited home for our green-bottle blue tarantula?

Leave your answer in the comments section, and you could also win a free e-book handbook from our shop!

Hope you can subscribe to the channel, as we upload every Saturday at 8 AM EST. Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video to help us keep making more.

It’s ant love forever!