Kukulcania Juvenile Care?

[MSRT]

This little one wandered into my house the other day. I have asked around for an ID, and it seems to be a little Kukulcania.



Does anyone have experience sexing these at such a small size? I know when mature they are quite dimorphic. I've looked at spiderling pictures and it seems most start out with the tan color, though the adult females are dark and the adult males keep the tan. I'm hoping that maybe this is a little girl who is just starting to darken up? She's about .75" leg span.

I'd love to keep her because I love spiders and I've never kept a true spider before. I figure if she doesn't eat in my care I will release her. I want the best for her. So I have a few questions...

1. Is it possible to tell the gender and species this young?
2. What is the best enclosure 'furniture' for her? I have a chunk of local cholla wood in there. I thought she might like all the little crevices and the hollow center, but I can definitely switch it to something else she'd like more.
3. What would the best food be? I breed dubia, lesser mealworms, and mealworms. I've been thinking about getting a red runner colony so I might have those available as well. What would be best? I left a prekilled mealworm for her yesterday, but she didn't touch it. I only squished the head though, so maybe she'd like live or chopped pieces? I've never fed a spider this small.
4. Any other advice would be wonderful. I've read a lot of the threads on here and there's a lot of different information out there. But I'd love as much as I can get!

 

[chanda]

I've never tried one this small, but I did raise a male juvenile to adulthood. (I actually thought he was a "she" - right up until it became obvious that he wasn't.) I kept him in a Kritter Keeper with sand/dirt/coconut fiber mix for substrate, occasional misting, a small hide, and a few bits of dried native shrubs. I have also brought in mature males that I've found wandering around, so I could show them to my students, then released them after a few weeks. Because they were only temporary pets, they didn't get anything fancy - Kritter Keeper or similarly sized container, sand mix, and a makeshift hide (cork bark, dried leaves, egg crate, etc.) that was largely ignored. The mature males tended to stay out in the open and just sort of hunker down in the dirt in the daytime.

I currently have an adult female in a 2-gallon hex-aquarium with a tall chunk of cholla which is where she spends most of her time. Her substrate is also a mix of local sand/dirt with coconut fiber. She's doing well on live crickets, though I'm afraid I don't get to see her often unless I peek into her cholla with a flashlight.

 

[The wolf]

I have one at about the same as yours I just keep it on cocofibre with a little dark space as a hide if you have any very young mealworms only about a centimetre long try feeding her one of those mine loves them she also takes fruitfly and bean weevils I advise the latter as fruit flies are extremely messy

 

[pannaking22]

Nice find!

1. A little too early to tell which gender.

2. Not picky. If there's something it can attach web to you can bet it will do it. I think your décor choice is appropriate and it'll enjoy the hollow center. You'll also get to enjoy watching it slowly get swallowed by webbing

3. They enjoy live prey the best. I used to feed my K. hibernalis a couple roach species, crickets, and wax worms on occasion. If it's moving and touching the web they'll find it. They tend not to go for larger prey items, so I'd recommend only feeding it things up to the size of the body and once it gets larger you can up the prey size significantly. Adults will take large crickets.

4. I'm not sure which species you have (if you're east of west Texas it's K. hibernalis, if you're west it could be several species), but you'll still want to keep things on the drier side. Lightly mist once a week. I've never used substrate with mine, but you can throw a little in there if you want. Don't expect to see much more than the ends of the legs most of the time, but when you feed it it can be exciting to watch.

 

[Smokehound714]

I can help ID with locality info

 

[MSRT]

What awesome replies! Thanks all of you! I think I'm going to move her to a new enclosure (5.5oz deli cup, which sounds small but absolutely dwarfs her) with no substrate and a large piece of cholla. I was afraid of her food burrowing, so no substrate will make things easier, at least until I know she's eating. Maybe when I move her into something bigger down the road I will add substrate again. IDK.

I will try a small lesser mealworm or a young mealworm next for food. Maybe a dubia nymph. Should I wait a few days after rehousing to feed her? I've had her for a few days without seeing her eat. I have read that they fast well, but I don't want to starve the little one.

@Smokehound714 She was found in southern Utah. ^.^

 

[The wolf]

What awesome replies! Thanks all of you! I think I'm going to move her to a new enclosure (5.5oz deli cup, which sounds small but absolutely dwarfs her) with no substrate and a large piece of cholla. I was afraid of her food burrowing, so no substrate will make things easier, at least until I know she's eating. Maybe when I move her into something bigger down the road I will add substrate again. IDK.

I will try a small lesser mealworm or a young mealworm next for food. Maybe a dubia nymph. Should I wait a few days after rehousing to feed her? I've had her for a few days without seeing her eat. I have read that they fast well, but I don't want to starve the little one.

@Smokehound714 She was found in southern Utah. ^.^

You won't be able to starve her trust me they are basically indestructible I would wait a few days or even weeks for her web to build up although mine consistently tookprey with no real web

 

[Ungoliant]

I have raised them from slings to adults. Care for slings is similar to that of adults -- just on a smaller scale.

1. Is it possible to tell the gender and species this young?

Their molts are tiny and delicate, so I have never tried to sex them. When a male matures, that's obvious. Otherwise, I consider them unsexed unless they are obviously mature females (or have been maturing so slowly that I suspect they're females).

2. What is the best enclosure 'furniture' for her? I have a chunk of local cholla wood in there. I thought she might like all the little crevices and the hollow center, but I can definitely switch it to something else she'd like more.

They aren't picky. You can use almost anything as long as it's not toxic. They would probably like the crevices in that wood.

3. What would the best food be? I breed dubia, lesser mealworms, and mealworms. I've been thinking about getting a red runner colony so I might have those available as well. What would be best? I left a prekilled mealworm for her yesterday, but she didn't touch it. I only squished the head though, so maybe she'd like live or chopped pieces? I've never fed a spider this small.

They aren't picky. However, they most likely won't feed until they've built a web.

Ideally, the prey should be about the size of the spider's abdomen. (I have used crickets, mealworms, and dubia roach nymphs.)

They will take injured or freshly killed prey, but they often wait until it is quiet to come out and grab it. (Many of them are quite skittish.)

4. Any other advice would be wonderful. I've read a lot of the threads on here and there's a lot of different information out there. But I'd love as much as I can get!

These spiders are long-lived and extremely hardy. They tolerate a wide range of temperatures. (It gets down to freezing in the winter and in the upper 90s during the summer, and the local Kuks seem unfazed.)

They have slow metabolisms. (I have adult females that get fed a few times per year, and they are still fat.)

They also tolerate "droughts," as many live in places where you would not expect much water to reach. However, I give them supplemental water by dripping some water into their webs.

 

[Smokehound714]

IMO this is an adult female in the geophila-wawona species complex, which is all over the western USA with tons of unnamed species and lots of unsampled locales.

 

[MSRT]

IMO this is an adult female in the geophila-wawona species complex, which is all over the western USA with tons of unnamed species and lots of unsampled locales.

Do you think it is an adult even though it is small? Leg span is about .75", maybe a smidge over. I didn't think there were members of the genus that small as mature.

 

[MSRT]

Thanks again for all the replies, I really appreciate it. ^.^

A little update, I moved her to the new cup without substrate and with a nice long piece of cholla. I felt bad moving her because she had webbed up a bit of the wood she was with before, but after an hour out of eyesight she climbed up her new wood and wandered inside. She's got a good space to work with, so I hope she likes it!

I might update with some pictures when I get home.

 

[pannaking22]

Do you think it is an adult even though it is small? Leg span is about .75", maybe a smidge over. I didn't think there were members of the genus that small as mature.

Adults of the western species can be small. I have an adult K. arizonica who's leg span is about that size, maybe a bit smaller. I've had her for years. Only molted once lol. Everything is much slower with that genus.

 

[Ungoliant]

Adults of the western species can be small. I have an adult K. arizonica who's leg span is about that size, maybe a bit smaller. I've had her for years. Only molted once lol. Everything is much slower with that genus.

And like tarantulas (and other long-lived spiders that continue molting as adults), female Kuks may reach sexual maturity before they reach their maximum size.

 

[Smokehound714]

Do you think it is an adult even though it is small? Leg span is about .75", maybe a smidge over. I didn't think there were members of the genus that small as mature.

Kukulcania hurca is the smallest in the genus that I know of, 15mm max legspan

 

[MSRT]

I guess I shouldn't have assumed that she was a juvi just because of her size. ^.^

I forgot to take pictures of her new set-up, but I have an update anyway. She's webbed up her cholla wood a little bit. I wasn't planning on feeding her until she settled in a little longer, but I had a tiny little mealworm left over from feeding the rest of my zoo. So I figured, well, let's try it. So I gently placed it at the top entrance of her wood, where she had placed some webbing. The mealworm got stuck and struggled a bit. I was going to leave them then, but to my surprise I saw some movement in the darkness. Very slowly my little spider was creeping up to the mealworm! I watched entranced as she snuck up and very slowly, in little jerks, wrapped her legs around the worm.

And then she backed off. What? Haha. I'm so used to tarantulas I guess. Do you guys think she bit the worm and was letting it succumb to the venom? That is, I'm assuming she has venom. Haha. I very gently placed her back on my shelf and I am hoping to see, well, or to not see, the mealworm when I get home from work. Time will tell!

 

[Ungoliant]

Very slowly my little spider was creeping up to the mealworm! I watched entranced as she snuck up and very slowly, in little jerks, wrapped her legs around the worm.

And then she backed off. What? Haha. I'm so used to tarantulas I guess. Do you guys think she bit the worm and was letting it succumb to the venom? That is, I'm assuming she has venom.

Yes, Kuks are venomous.

They commonly bite, wrap to secure, and wait a bit; this strategy reduces the risk of being injured by struggling prey. (Bite, wrap, and drag into the retreat is also common, especially for smaller prey.)

If you sneak back into the room a bit later, you will likely see her feeding on it.

 

[MSRT]

Spider update! She's been enjoying her mealworms. She ate one last week and one the week before. I left another one for her this monday, but I'm thinking it might be time to slow down her feedings? I will see if she eats this one. I don't mind offering her one every week. Does anyone have suggestions on how often to feed her?

She's webbed up her home so much! Even strands from the top opening of her wood down to the ground. There are small bits of coco fiber from when I moved her from her old enclosure, but she doesn't seem to mind and has even been incorporating some of it in her webbing. Intentional or accidental, I can't quite tell. She must be very sensitive to vibration, because I can never catch her out even when I sneak up on her with a flashlight in the middle of the night. She's obviously ventured out with all her webbing. I will just have to be patient and respect her privacy.


First picture is from her first piece of cholla wood, when I had substrate with her. I moved her into a much longer piece of cholla with no sub.


Monday's mealworm offering and a good view of her current set up. Look at that webbing! And it's been... three weeks? A month? I'm impressed.


Last weeks mealworm. This was the day after I partially crushed its head and tangled it in her web. I happened to check on her and catch this sight. Super exciting!



Bonus, after learning what her webs look like, I've been seeing crevice weaver webs everywhere! Especially over our side door. Apparently corrugated roofing is crevice weaver heaven. I'd totally leave the light on at night to attract them some bugs, but my neighbor wouldn't like that.

 

[pannaking22]

It may be eating a lot now, but expect that to slow waaayyyy down eventually lol. I feed my K. arizonica once every 3 months or so if I remember. Probably been about 6 months since I last fed her and she's still huge.

 

[Ungoliant]

Does anyone have suggestions on how often to feed her?

Kuks have extremely slow metabolisms, and it's all too easy to overfeed them into obesity. I don't feed mine on a set schedule; I just gauge their abdomen size. In practice, this works out to a mealworm every 2-4 months for the mature females (and they are still fat), maybe every 3-5 weeks for the juveniles.

Bonus, after learning what her webs look like, I've been seeing crevice weaver webs everywhere! Especially over our side door. Apparently corrugated roofing is crevice weaver heaven.

Kuks love corrugated material, because each bend is like a separate apartment. I also see them under the eaves of buildings, in the gaps between siding (slings), in gaps in masonry, and crevices of every kind. Indoors they are much less common, but when I find their webs, they are generally behind or under shelving or furniture.

I'd totally leave the light on at night to attract them some bugs, but my neighbor wouldn't like that.

They aren't picky eaters and will find plenty of food whether you turn the lights on or not. (They live all over my porch, where the only light they get is when the motion-sensing light trips on, and in my shed, where they are in complete darkness all night.)