Peucetia Viridans care

[Duriana]

I found this girl on a bush and was wondering about care for them?

 

[Duriana]

Anyone?

 

[chanda]

Lynx spiders are really easy to take care of. They don't require a great deal of space - I've kept them in 32 oz deli cups with ventilated bug lids. I usually put a little sphagnum moss or coco fiber in the bottom, just to hold humidity. They also need a few plants to climb on. Silk or plastic would probably work, but I just use a few cut bits of plants with leaves and/or flowers and let them dry out. I feed them crickets about once a week and mist lightly a couple of times a week.

 

[Duriana]

Lynx spiders are really easy to take care of. They don't require a great deal of space - I've kept them in 32 oz deli cups with ventilated bug lids. I usually put a little sphagnum moss or coco fiber in the bottom, just to hold humidity. They also need a few plants to climb on. Silk or plastic would probably work, but I just use a few cut bits of plants with leaves and/or flowers and let them dry out. I feed them crickets about once a week and mist lightly a couple of times a week.

Okay thank you very much. Im excited to have her They seem very interesting

 

[chanda]

Okay thank you very much. Im excited to have her They seem very interesting

Yeah, they are! I usually catch a few early in the summer to show my students, keep them for a few weeks (or months) then release them in my rose garden. If you catch a gravid female (which most of mine have been) you can also watch the mother guard the egg sac/babies and even watch the babies grow. You'll need to separate the babies if you want to keep them - otherwise they'll end up eating each other. I usually release most of the babies and just keep a few. They're fun to raise and grow pretty quickly. It's also interesting to observe the color change - at least in the wild ones - as the season progresses. In the spring they're all bright green, but by late summer or fall, when the plants they're living on have dried out, they turn more pink to blend in better. I haven't noticed the ones in captivity turning color, so I think it must be temperature related or some other seasonal cue that is missing in the more constant environment of my bug room.

 

[Duriana]

Yeah, they are! I usually catch a few early in the summer to show my students, keep them for a few weeks (or months) then release them in my rose garden. If you catch a gravid female (which most of mine have been) you can also watch the mother guard the egg sac/babies and even watch the babies grow. You'll need to separate the babies if you want to keep them - otherwise they'll end up eating each other. I usually release most of the babies and just keep a few. They're fun to raise and grow pretty quickly. It's also interesting to observe the color change - at least in the wild ones - as the season progresses. In the spring they're all bright green, but by late summer or fall, when the plants they're living on have dried out, they turn more pink to blend in better. I haven't noticed the ones in captivity turning color, so I think it must be temperature related or some other seasonal cue that is missing in the more constant environment of my bug room.

Ahh I hope mine is a female! I'm pretty sure mine is a juvenile, do you have any info on molting care? I wonder if the reason they don't change color in captivity is because they don't feel threatened enough to have be camouflaged. I also read somewhere that they can spit their venom up to eight inches, have you seen this happen? One thing I noticed first thing is how fast they are! When I first saw her she darted under a leaf so fast I thought she had just disappeared

 

[chanda]

Ahh I hope mine is a female! I'm pretty sure mine is a juvenile, do you have any info on molting care? I wonder if the reason they don't change color in captivity is because they don't feel threatened enough to have be camouflaged. I also read somewhere that they can spit their venom up to eight inches, have you seen this happen? One thing I noticed first thing is how fast they are! When I first saw her she darted under a leaf so fast I thought she had just disappeared

If yours is juvenile, then she won't give you babies unless you have a mate for her - but she will still lay eggs and guard the egg sac, whether the eggs are fertilized or not. If you do have a mate for her, it's fun to watch them courting. The males are very cautious (no doubt because they don't wish to become dinner) but will approach her and attempt to tap or stroke her with their front legs to see if she is receptive (or try to get her in the mood). It's a very slow process that involves a lot of approaching and retreating.

I really doubt the color change has anything to do with whether they feel threatened or not - they're still wild spiders, even if I am keeping them in captivity, so they don't feel "safe." As far as they're concerned, there's an absolutely enormous potential predator (me) disturbing them on a regular basis. It has to be some sort of environmental cue, possibly related to the outside temperature or to the degree of temperature change from daytime highs to nighttime lows, or maybe the humidity or the length of the daytime. Whatever the cues are, they're missing from my climate-controlled house where they don't get the daytime/nighttime or seasonal variations.

As far as spitting venom is concerned, I've never seen it. Perhaps they didn't feel sufficiently threatened?