Spiders put on a high-wire show
Two Garden Orb-weavers put on a high-wire courtship display adjacent to our rainforest balcony here at Minibeast Wildlife. A large male appeared at the edge of the web and tried to lure the female out of her web in order to mate. He needed to be careful, as despite his large size, she was much […]
Rainbow Stags aplenty
We are in the the middle of a Rainbow Stag bonanza. We have just had a large number of captive bred Rainbow Stag Beetles (Phalacrognathus muelleri) arrive from our breeder for sale in our online Bugshop and for use in our education programs. It also seems to be the year for these amazing beetles in […]
There’s a Zoo in my Backyard!
It has arrived! Let me introduce Minibeast Wildlife’s first published book, “There’s a Zoo in my Backyard!”. It is a children’s picture book aimed at getting kids into their gardens looking at bugs. The advance copies have just arrived and the rest should arrive prior to Christmas. Thanks to Annie Henderson – Illustrations for the […]
Baby Australian Tarantulas
Our first batch of baby tarantulas for this season have emerged. These are Phlogius species (Kuranda). These little ones are 1st instar and are being kept in batches of around ten spiders until they moult again. At which time they will need to be separated into individual housing to prevent them eating each other – […]
On reflection…
Here’s a Wolf spider we recently found on a trip to Karma Waters Station in far north QLD. I usually photograph animals in either their habitat or on a white background for use on our site or in publications. In this instance though I decided to have a play with some glass to see what […]
Car insurance huntsman style
We recently provided some of our huge Holconia immanis as stars in an upcoming car insurance TV commercial. The commercial was shot in Sydney over two days with our spiders featuring throughout. Minibeast Wildlife’s Natasha Shadie was on hand to wrangle and control the spiders so that the did exactly as required…and provide reassurance for […]
Crazy internet
In 2011 we posted an April Fools joke on our blog site Minibeast Wildlife – Rainforest Encounters. The joke was a huge over-sized huntsman with a leg-span greater than any living spider species. The accompanying story was full of hints that it was a joke – including the scientific name we gave it (aperirefollis) meaning April […]
Spiders and art
Just recently we and our Redbacks had the enormous honour of working with the inspiring and incredibly talented Del Kathryn Barton. Del is a dual Archibald Prize Winner for paintings in 2008 and 2013. She approached us to do some video work for a dynamic piece she is creating (RED) – with Redback spiders being […]