> Alexia enclosure upgrade!
date: 04/16/2025
went and got alexia a ton of goodies to rehaul her enclosure! her old setup was driving me nuts. the log that had come with her setup was just too big and didn't provide much in the way of a hide because of it's awkward shape. she couldn't really fit under it all that well and i realized i didn't have enough dirt in there for her, so i decided it was time. we went to...four different pet stores looking for cork bark LOL. still didn't really find any suitable pieces for her, most were too small or very strangely shaped. and two of the pet stores were sold out completely of the stuff. i ended up going with this fake piece of drift wood that was meant for an aquarium setup. it's light weight and could provide a decent sized burrow so i went with that and i'm really glad i did. it looks really natural and i am loving it. i also got our pug a little pompompurin dog toy that they had... it was super cute.
here it is rehauled, sans alexia. i LOVE how it looks now. she has so much room to do spider things and tons more dirt to burrow around in... i hope she's happy!! she was SO good about being put in her little catch cup she didn't kick hair once!
it looks so much better, i'm so happy. she was really good about being put into her new space too! i guided her toward her burrow and she went right down in. her little fuzzy butt is so cute.
i checked on her as i was writing this and found her sitting on the hill of her enclosure under one of the leaves cleaning her paws... IT WAS SOO CUTE!!! we also got to see her HUGE fangs which was super cool... i love her so much she's so cute. i really hope she enjoys her new home <33
i really hope this becomes a favorite spot of hers... she looks so cute sitting there ;__;
> Alexia!?!?!
date: 04/12/2025
my reaction when i was refilling alexia's water dish yesterday and as i'm saying "it's getting pretty warm out, girl. when are you coming out for the summer?" I see her sitting outside of her burrow chilling! she said, open ur eyes, i am OUT!
she looks so cute... ;-;! she also lost like... no weight. she almost looks fatter than when she sealed her burrow kgljdflkgjf like i have no idea how that works. I was really nervous about her being super hungry when she emerged so we ran to the petstore and grabbed some horn worms for her and came back home to feed her.
only for her to.... immediately refuse the food and threat pose the little worm i'd thrown in front of her. KJLFKLFDGJ:FLKGJf lIKE PLEASEEE EAT THE WORM!!!!! now i'm responsible for these horn worms... that she's probably not gonna eat... ugh.. oh well. she knows her body better than i do, even if it freaks me out that she hasn't eaten for like. 4 months. everything i've researched about her told me they do this a lot and a. chalchodes are notorious in the hobby for going on food strikes... which is... kinda annoying but she's got a nice fat abdomen and plenty of water which is what every experienced keeper is saying is all she needs.
i've never had a pet that can go so long without eating and i keep freaking out and feeling like i'm neglecting her somehow. but, she looks really good and she's got some serious attitude which is a good sign to me. if she has the energy to threat pose and slap the hell out of the water i was misting her enclosure with, it tells me she's in good(but very pissed off) spirits LOL! so i'm just gonna keep trying with the worms every time she's out and hopefully one day she will take one. it was really funny watching her threat pose the worm and the worm inching away so fast i almost felt sorry for the little guy gjdfkgjfdg
i got to watch her explore her enclosure which was really cute. she's so pretty i really love watching her take her time and mosy around her enclosure.
Alexia Arrives
date: 02/09/2025
Dutch bought me Alexia for my birthday! I already love her... We got her at a local speciality pet shop that had a lot of arizona blondes to choose from. Alexia was the biggest female they had. I've heard the bigger the T is, the hardier they are and I didn't want to take any chances. I also just wanted to get her out of there, something tells me she's been there the longest v_v... she's so beautiful! We also got her a nice sized enclosure but I'm fairly certain the guy oversold me lol. whatever, it just means I won't have to rehouse her for a very long time. She's named after Alexia Ashford from Resident Evil Code: Veronica. Alexia is a blonde bug lady... Alexia is a blonde spider... it just makes sense.
When we got home I immediately put her enclosure together. i think I'm gonna have to buy more substrate for her but she's dormant for the "winter" so, I'll worry about all that when she comes back out. She was very good about being rehoused! She didn't kick any hair at me or anything. I think that's a really good sign... part of the reason I picked this genus is because they're supposed to be quite docile and gentle. I left her be after the rehousing, I know she was stressed. She started exploring later in the day and eventually found the burrow I had started for her. She start excavating pretty quickly after that. It was cool to watch her move dirt around in her chelicerae!
She sealed her burrow later that evening, while we were asleep. At first I was stressed about it; she hasn't eaten once in my care and I had no idea when the pet store I'd bought her from fed her last. It didn't look like she was due for a molt, so I set to googling and watching a ton of videos and eventually discovered that younger A. Chalchodes went into a sort of dormant state during winter. I'd been researching this genus for a while and had somehow completely missed this fact. I was able to see her at the bottom of her enclosure and ensure she was alive and well. According to the sources I'd read, I can expect to see her sometime in mid to late April. I expect she will be hungry and I plan on getting her some horn worms to help her get some of her hydration back and from then on I plan to switch between crickets and super worms.
I plan on using this as a means to track Alexia's feeding, molting, rehousing, and everything I can think of!
