Tiny Shale Spider

[Quintessence]

The Tiny Shale Spider is a companion pet that drops off of Jadefang, a rare spawn located in the Crumbling Depths area of Deepholm (level 82 - 83 zone). Expect some competition for this companion as there will not only be other pet collectors, but also hunters and rare spawn seekers who will be after the creature that drops the pet.

Prerequisite
Much like Mr. Grubbs, you will need to complete a prerequisite, the entire Therazane quest chain in the Deepholm zone. The goal is to unlock the Therazane faction dailies. You will need an item from one of the dailies in order to reach the rare spawn and ultimately the tiny shale spider.

The daily is called 'Underground Economy' and it is handed out by Ricket, an NPC that's located within the Crumbling Depths. She's a goblin standing on the left side, near some mushrooms, as you enter and reach the first room. She may not always be there since the daily quest she offers is on a rotation with other Therazane dailies.

With this quest comes an item, Ricket's Tickers, that's needed to reach Jadefang's tunnel. If you read through the quest description you'll note that she says, "I've got a nasty habit of packin' the explosives a bit thick. Mind the kick." If you've guessed that you'll need to use a bomb to hurl yourself to Jadefang's tunnel, you've guessed right!

Finding Jadefang
Navigating through the tunnels can be somewhat tricky, and you can get lost quite easily the first few times you are in there. Here's a basic run down of where to go after picking up the quest:

-- Continue going straight, deeper into the crumbling depths.

-- Once you see the colossal gyreworm (level 85 elite, non-attackable) going in what looks like a round-about, hang a right and follow in the same direction that the gyreworm is heading. (NOTE: the colossal gyreworm will "eat" you if you get too close and you will suffer heavy damage from it if eaten. so watch the way it paths and try to follow its tail.)

-- You will pass by one dead end tunnel before finding yourself in a large cavernous room with many tunnel pathways to choose from. See image below.



-- As you can see in the image, there are three objectives; tunnel 1, tunnel 2, and your final destination, tunnel 3.

-- Head into tunnel 1 (far right tunnel).

-- At the first chance you have to make a left into another tunnel, do so. This should be tunnel 2. If at the end of the tunnel you see a green rock formation below you, you're at the right place.

Once at the end of tunnel 2 you should be able to clearly see Jadefang's tunnel, the opening of tunnel 3. Notice the sheer drop. This is what makes reaching the rare spawn from directly below a challenge.

Side note: these directions can also be used to navigate and complete the Pebble escort daily since Pebble also spawns at the opening of tunnel 2.

As you may have already guessed, you are going to need to use Ricket's Tickers to fling yourself into Jadefang's area. In order to be tossed far enough to actually make it up and into the opening, you will need to jump onto the green rock formation just below the opening of tunnel 2.

Note: You cannot make the jump from tunnel 2 to the green block without a mount or some sort of boost to run speed (I haven't tested out the latter, sprint or rocket boots). Thankfully, you can mount within the Crumbling Depths! You cannot fly, though. So mount up and jump onto the green rock formation that's located just underneath tunnel 2.

Once you've made it to the green block, use Ricket's Tickers and place one down. Stand in the direction/angle that you wish to be hurled, and watch yourself soar through the air to land (hopefully) safe and sound within the rare spawn's tunnel.

You may need a couple attempts to get the direction and angle correct, but don't worry. The tickers don't have charges so you can keep placing them until you've got it just right.

Finally, Jadefang the rare, green shale spider should be located at the very back of the tunnel. She (I call her a "she" because 'Jade' seems like it would be a very pretty girl's name ) is a level 85, non-hostile beast. I believe she has an 8 - 12 hour respawn timer, but I could be wrong.

The companion pet that drops off of Jadefang is a 100% drop rate, and is bind on pick up. This kind of makes the respawn timer useless information unless you're a hunter who's going after both the non-combat companion and Jadefang herself.

Some final notes, you can hold onto Ricket's daily for more than one day. In the event that this specific daily is offered to you but Jadefang is not present, you can save the daily for when she respawns.

So that's it! There may be other (and/or better) ways to reach Jadefang, and to each player their own. It may take some effort and patience, but in the end the Tiny Shale Spider is worth it.

Feel free to provide additional information or note of any corrections that need to be made.
(last update: December 14, 2011)

[GormanGhaste]

I've always just used the Tickers at the edge of tunnel 2 and have been able to make it to Jadefang's tunnel just fine. I'm not even sure where this green rock formation is!

Now that I've done Pebble's daily ten times and have that mini-pet, I always keep Ricket's quest and the Tickers on me, so I can help other people get to Jadefang.

For hunters using Track Beasts or anyone using Tracker Snacks, you can see whether or not Jadefang has spawned from flying above her spawn point, outside the cave.

[Domie]

A little trick, on my druid with engineering, i was able to get in there by having my rocket boost misfire under cave 3, and then feral charge a mob that was standing near the edge in there.

I dont know if its possible to do it with any other skills than feral charge (cat), but i assume that atleast hunters can disengage, and rogues can probaly shadowstep too.

[Aislinge]

If you're camping this baby, make sure you have Silver Dragon, NPC Scan or another such elite tracking addon. It will give you a heads up.

*but*

I did notice (on my computer at least), that the addons can be a little slow (maybe because she's neutral??) and so staring at the back of the tunnel becomes vital!

Happy hunting!

[Moritach]

I always made the jump with the tickers from the floor of the big room, I never climbed ontop of anything to get there... though I'll give I haven't really tried it much since the first couple of days of cata. (Server first tiny shale spider, yay!) Did they change it since then? Would be good to know since I'm going to try for that pet on an alt soon!

[Lysi]

Thanks for the tips! After a million tries, my hunter made it to the cave. I'm planning to just keep her there, log in and out once and a while, until she has both Jadefang and the Tiny Shale Spider. I just hope it doesn't take more than 30 days so I don't have to leave to keep my mail from expiring. See how it goes!

I know this is the right cave because it has no other entrance, and it's the right coordinates (61, 22). A few pretty Deep Spiders are keeping me company. I tried to get here a couple different ways. What ended up working was starting on the ground floor, mounted on my venomhide raptor. I just made it up to the lip of the cave. (I was so close to the edge, I was afraid I'd move wrong and fall off, but luckily I didn't!) It's hard to tell because my aim was off, but I don't think my blood elf was getting high enough up when she wasn't mounted. So I tried the using the explosive while on the tallest ridable animal she has!

[Lysi]

Well, that didn't take long! I suppose not many people in Deepholm these days.. She named the big guy Kryptonite.

[Dakender]

I still check for the Pebbles daily, daily so I also drop in here and check to see if Jadefang is up... when he is I kill him for the pet, I have a couple extra I'm pretty sure... Let me know if anyone still needs one, i'll either already have it or put you on the list of next to get

[Greenwinkle]

Nicely done.

[Helfila]

Actually farming it is easy, if you can disconnect from the network by unplugging and plugging an ethernet connector. Simply get in your flying mount, and before you get dismounted, unplug your ethernet cable, you'll be flying for a bit. Aim to his tunnel, and plug the network back in. It will take a bit of practice, but after a while you'll be able to land right in his tunnel.

[Guest]

100% agree with @Helfila. You do need practice for this. If you get it right the first time, than consider yourself the 'one'.

[Aeghtpen]

Several years back I had read a post that you take off all your gear and pull a train and die just under the opening ledge where the spider spawns. As a Nightelf Rogue I was able to fly up to the ledge in wisp form and rez.

[Selae]

100% agree with @Helfila. You do need practice for this. If you get it right the first time, than consider yourself the 'one'.

I wish I got it in one try >.< I kept trying to fly in, then ended up hitting the edge right before making it there. So frustrating!