Unorthodox arthropods

[CladeArthropoda]

We all know tarantulas, scorpions, mantids, large beetles, centipedes, hissing roaches, hermit crabs, freshwater shrimp, etc. These are among the most common pet arthropods. But here's some arthropods you may never have heard of, or ones you have heard of but never though about them being pets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesothelae
Mesothelae are a suborder of tarantula-like spiders that live in eastern asia. They contain a single family, 8 genera, and 100 species (not including extinct taxa). They are the basal most group of spiders, predating the divergence between mygalomorphs and araneamorphs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opilioacariformes
Opilioacariformes are an order of rare, harvestman like mites that are neither parasitiformes (ticks and friends) nor acariformes(mitey mites). They exhibit features otherwise unheard of in mites, such as abdominal segmentation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talitridae
Talitridae are a family of amphipod crustaceans. They are unique, in that they inhabit terrestrial and coastal areas. They are often called sandhoppers or lawn shrimp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remipedia
Remipedes are a group of cave dwelling, centipede like crustaceans that inhabit aquifers. They are unique, in that they are the only venemous crustaceans. Except for insects. Recent genetic and neurological studies are suggesting that insects are actually within crustaceans. Remipedes are among the crustaceans most closely related to insects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoraptera
Zorotypus is a genus of termite like insects with 39 extant species. They are unique from other insects, so they (and some extinct taxa) where placed in their own order.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpigradi
Palpigrades, also called micro whip scorpions, are small arachnids that live cryptic lifestyles. They are related to actual whip scorpions, but not much else is known about them.

I could go on and on and on, but you get the point. That's not even mentioning things like ticks, barnacles,water striders, wetas, etc. Things that are relatively well known but never thought of as pets.

So, have you seen any of these animals kept as pets? How do you think we should care for them? How far can we push the limits of arthropod husbandry?

 

[Hisserdude]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talitridae
Talitridae are a family of amphipod crustaceans. They are unique, in that they inhabit terrestrial and coastal areas. They are often called sandhoppers or lawn shrimp.

People have been breeding the common
Arcitalitrus sylvaticus lately, Roachcrossing even has them for sale as cleanup crews.

 

[schmiggle]

One occasionally sees mesothelae like Liphistius offered for sale, and I know at least one person on here has them. I also wouldn't be surprised if someone has palpigrades.

Water striders would probably be pretty easy, and barnacles definitely are (speaking from experience), and I wouldn't want to keep a tick, but wetas would be fun if they weren't endangered. Sometime I'd like to try my hand at dobsonflies.

Some of the more obscure groups you brought up sound like they would be almost impossible (e.g. remipedia) but others seem like they would be fun if you could find them.

 

[CladeArthropoda]

One occasionally sees mesothelae like Liphistius offered for sale, and I know at least one person on here has them. I also wouldn't be surprised if someone has palpigrades.

Water striders would probably be pretty easy, and barnacles definitely are (speaking from experience), and I wouldn't want to keep a tick, but wetas would be fun if they weren't endangered. Sometime I'd like to try my hand at dobsonflies.

Some of the more obscure groups you brought up sound like they would be almost impossible (e.g. remipedia) but others seem like they would be fun if you could find them.

How would remipedes be almost impossible? If you somehow obtained one, I think they would be pretty easy. Water striders need a lot of space, so they're actually pretty hard. Can you buy blood? If so, ticks should be easy. But I ask you to favors.

1. Show me the person that has mesothelae.

2. Please elaborate your experience with barnacles.

 

[Stugy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesothelae
Mesothelae are a suborder of tarantula-like spiders that live in eastern asia. They contain a single family, 8 genera, and 100 species (not including extinct taxa). They are the basal most group of spiders, predating the divergence between mygalomorphs and araneamorphs.

Sounds very hard to even collect. Due to that, the prices would probably be really high. Probably won't be worth buying one when you can get a mygalomorph or araneamorph unless you really want one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opilioacariformes
Opilioacariformes are an order of rare, harvestman like mites that are neither parasitiformes (ticks and friends) nor acariformes(mitey mites). They exhibit features otherwise unheard of in mites, such as abdominal segmentation.

As the wikipedia page says, they are rare. Will be hard to collect. Plus something like that would probably be super fragile and die easy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talitridae
Talitridae are a family of amphipod crustaceans. They are unique, in that they inhabit terrestrial and coastal areas. They are often called sandhoppers or lawn shrimp.

Some people do keep them but I wouldn't. Some people might want to but you just gotta go outside and flip over a few rocks and you'll probably find a few. I've found a lot in the middle of nowhere every time I was in New Mexico. I've found them in Japan too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remipedia
Remipedes are a group of cave dwelling, centipede like crustaceans that inhabit aquifers. They are unique, in that they are the only venemous crustaceans. Except for insects. Recent genetic and neurological studies are suggesting that insects are actually within crustaceans. Remipedes are among the crustaceans most closely related to insects.

Most cave dwellers are rather hard to keep since they need specific temperatures and humidity levels and blah blah. They'll probably be hard to collect too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoraptera
Zorotypus is a genus of termite like insects with 39 extant species. They are unique from other insects, so they (and some extinct taxa) where placed in their own order.

From the description on the page you linked, they sound pretty much like termites. Not much of a thing that people would want as a pet. But people do keep ants so I wouldn't be surprised if people would want these.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palpigradi
Palpigrades, also called micro whip scorpions, are small arachnids that live cryptic lifestyles. They are related to actual whip scorpions, but not much else is known about them.

Super tiny. Will be super fragile. You'll probably need very specific resources to keep them alive.

Overall I think that it is nice to consider other kinds of arthropods but there is probably a reason for most of this stuff. It's not impossible but I doubt these would become very popular at all.

 

[schmiggle]

Ken the bug guy sometimes offers liphistius, and I think @Ambly has some, though I may be misremembering. They're really fun, because they're far more active than normal trapdoor spiders. Mostly not too difficult, but you need clay soil or they won't be able to build burrows and they'll die.

Barnacles would probably be challenging in the long term, you would need to have some source of algae (I think) for them to eat. However, in the short term I collected them with ocean water and they just sort of sat and ate. You need to keep salinity and temps ok, but since some are intertidal it's not a huge deal. They're really boring, though.

 

[schmiggle]

With regard to ticks: you probably could keep them with blood, sausage casings, and a microwave, but I still wouldn't want to.

 

[Hisserdude]

Water striders need a lot of space, so they're actually pretty hard.

@Elytra and Antenna has kept and bred water striders before, and has written about his experiences in a couple of his books, they don't seem all that hard.

 

[spotropaicsav]

Talitridae I have seen on the beaches in Northern California, I like thembut have never kept them.

 

[spotropaicsav]

Deleted

 

[CladeArthropoda]

I did keep these for awhile about 10 years ago. Enjoyed them immensely, not sure the rules on collecting these guys anymore.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_slug

That's nice, but this thread is about arthropods

 

[Biollantefan54]

I've got a Liphistius right now. Palpigradi wouldn't be hard in my opinion, just keep the same way as psuedoscorpions. Moist and dark m, and feed springtails or other tiny prey items.

 

[CladeArthropoda]

I've got a Liphistius right now. Palpigradi wouldn't be hard in my opinion, just keep the same way as psuedoscorpions. Moist and dark m, and feed springtails or other tiny prey items.

Can you post pics of your Liphistius?

 

[Biollantefan54]

 

[CladeArthropoda]

Nice

 

[schmiggle]

That is a beautiful spider @Biollantefan54. What are your conditions? Particularly with regard to substrate.

 

[Biollantefan54]

Jus regular coco fiber, very simple spider, pretty tolerant of humidity too. It can dry out and then be quite damp, the spider had done fine on either end. I've had it for over a year now and it's molted 3 times I believe

 

[spotropaicsav]

That's nice, but this thread is about arthropods

Noted, deleted

 

[RTTB]

Keeping ticks sounds like a huge challenge but who would want to? To each their own I guess.

 

[CladeArthropoda]

Keeping ticks sounds like a huge challenge but who would want to? To each their own I guess.

There are people with pet leeches, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch.