Spiderday - Arizona Finds

Here are some Arizona finds for this #spiderday.

Here is a common find in everyone's house in Arizona. A giant desert hairy scorpion with a Latin name of Hadrurus arizonensis. Most of them are quite small for their common name having the word giant in it.

But if you catch one and keep it long enough they can get quite large and beefy. Their sting is poisonous but not deadly it will just cause pain similar to that of a wasp or bee.

The giant desert hairy scorpion is a shrimp compared to the emperor scorpions sold in pet stores. These emperor scorpions (Pandinus imperator) are about 8 inches in length when most giant desert hairy scorpions usually only get around 5 inches in length. I've always wanted to get one of these emperors as a pet. Their toxin is even less painful than the desert hairy scorpion since they are large enough to overpower their prey with their claws.

Here is another common sight in Southern Arizona, my nephew caught a giant crab spider (Olios giganteus). These spiders look quite scary with their black fangs but if you generally know how spiders act they can be handled easily (but carefully).

Another common Arizona spider is Hogna carolinensis aka wolf spider. They are fairly large and can be handled and kept as pets. Some spider collectors even give the wolf spiders found in Arizona the name Hogna arizona, I'm not sure if this is an accepted name but I suspect there are subtle differences of this species across the country.

I spotted this one in a bathroom. These are nicknamed flatties since they are pretty flat overall. They are also called wall crab spiders and belong to the family Selenopidae. I'm not sure if this one has an exact Latin name as it seems there are a few variations of these spiders.

Now for a quick visit to Ken the Bug Guy's shop in Tucson Arizona. He had a Mexican red knee tarantula (Brachypelma smithi) for sale. This one isn't quite full grown yet but when it is finished the knees will develop more color.

Look at this fluffy gal. She is a Mexican fire leg tarantula (Brachypelma boehmei), very similar to the red knee tarantula but with more color.

I'm not sure what type of skeleton knee tarantula this is, but this is one of the darkest color morph I've seen. Most have more white patterning on them.

Here is a huge Brazilian black tarantula (Grammostola pulchra). This one is as large as some of the bird eater tarantulas but it is all black compared to the more reddish brown bird eaters. They are quite docile and easily handled.

If you ever want to see all sorts of interesting spiders head over to Ken the Bug Guy's shop in Tucson. He also has quite a few reptiles as well.

That's all for now, thanks for looking :-)