# keeping camel spiders?



## ghost_tomb (Aug 17, 2004)

*Camel spider diary*

Hi my pet store has an 1" 1/2 camel spider in thats reserved BUT the guy may not want it, if this is the case its ALL mine


so from people in the know with exsperience, whats it like to keep them and any advice info you have would be helpful

If i can't get it i'll get a 2" 1/2 greek pede.


cheers

update:

I'll got it reserved and i'm off in at 9 tommorow to collect it and since theirs no info on them here when i've done a search i'm gonig to do a camel spider diary to entertain and inform people about my new pet


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## Alex S. (Aug 20, 2004)

The Solifugae are fairly simple to keep in captivity. These are not long lived arachnids, large species live around one year to one and a half years at the most. Use a large (aprox. 10 gallon) enclosure with a mixture of peat moss or potting soil and sand. The substrate should be at least 4" to 5" deep. Several hides/retreats are important to enourage natural behavior. Feed the specimen one or two crickets a day. A water bowl is not necessary as solifugids get moisture from their prey.

Alex S.


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## Bob (Aug 21, 2004)

I bought this one yesterday. I am told it is a female from Eqypt. What's with the hairy arms!!!


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## Wade (Aug 21, 2004)

Wow, that is a different looking one! A teddy bear solifugid!

What's the size on that one?

Wade


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## Steven (Aug 21, 2004)

impressive Bob !  :}  :} cool looking solifu.

are those the ones who have a "green shine" on them ?  :?


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## Alex S. (Aug 21, 2004)

Beautiful specimen. The family Solpugidae (aprox. 250 sp.), contains several "hairy" species. This specimen could possibly be of the genus Metasolpuga.

Alex S.


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## ghost_tomb (Aug 21, 2004)

wow thats hariy.

mines a Egyptian Banded Solifugid, only 2" long at current and i've read that they hit 5-6"???


she (i think) is very active here are my pics













if you want to use any of these pics on your websites please e-mail me first at ghost_tomb@hotmail.com i have far higher quality ones (3.3mb) which i may allow use of

I haven't named her so surggestions would be nice


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## Bob (Aug 21, 2004)

Wade,
This one is only about 2 inches. The pet shop ordered 12 from Florida any only two made it alive. He said mine was a sub adult female. He had 4 adult males that died and they had very long legs. This one should be between 5-6 inches if it lives to adult. It is 85 degrees in my garage so it should be fine for a while. I think it is getting ready to molt, not eating. I will post photos after.......not even sure where they came from.

Bob


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## ghost_tomb (Aug 21, 2004)

i've read they burrow underground to molt, plus their aren't any pics of it on the web that i know of?

good luck mines just dug under its flat piece of bark and blocked up the entrance so it could be up to something.


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## Bob (Aug 21, 2004)

your's is probably getting ready to molt too. I think I will remove the crickets to be safe. I can not find any photos on the web like mine. 

Bob


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## ghost_tomb (Aug 21, 2004)

having done searching before i got mine i've never seen any like yours either, only the iraq kind and the Black egyptian banded sun spider (mines a yellow)

other than that nothing.

you been able to feed yours yet?

Its fantastic the way mine grabs crickets and shreds them

whats yours called? and jsut to be safe your only heating one end of your tank right?


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## Alex S. (Aug 21, 2004)

Hi ghost tomb, your solifugid belongs to the family Galeodidae (aprox. 180 sp.), genus Galeodes, which contains the largest known solifugids (most in northern Africa). Galeodes arabs and Galeodes granti are large species whos female specimens can reach 3" in  body length and nearly 7" in legspan.

Alex S.


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## ghost_tomb (Aug 21, 2004)

so information about them reaching 5-6" is wrong? i've seen some pretty big ones.

i've read loads of sites saying that mine may only reach 2" total yet they all have the same info surggesting its all been copyed from the same source.

and thus wrong, have u ever kept one yourself alex? or did u read/get told it?

i've seen one in the flesh that looked about 4" or massive compared to mine.

edit

link with 5-6" info

click


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## Horrido (Aug 21, 2004)

Solifugids are some of my favorite arachnids.  We get a fair number of the little ones out here along the Snake and Columbia Rivers.  One night at a friend's house, I saw her fluffy black cat chasing something along the floor, so thinking it was a moth, I switched on the lights to shew the feline away so I could catch it.   Then, when I saw it, I thought,"That's a pretty large wolf spider," but something looked wrong, so I started counting legs..."2, 4, 6, 8...10...  No, that can't be right,... 2, 4, 6, 8....10...  You find the NEATEST things near the Hanford nuclear site!"

I've read up on them quite a bit, but it never seems like enough or very informative.  I was curious, for those that have seen the GI pics of the two clinging to each other, hanging, what are the triangular, "pectine"-like appendages hanging from either side of the abdomen?


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## ghost_tomb (Aug 22, 2004)

all of those little things are used to detect vibration in the sand which helps it locate its prey which is why when it touches a cricket and it jumps away they tend to turn in the right direction.



edit

  my sun spiders been buried underground now for 15 hours now. its completely blocked off the entrance. should i be worried? is it molting?


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## Alex S. (Aug 22, 2004)

ghost_tomb said:
			
		

> so information about them reaching 5-6" is wrong? i've seen some pretty big ones.
> 
> i've read loads of sites saying that mine may only reach 2" total yet they all have the same info surggesting its all been copyed from the same source.
> 
> ...



I have kept several solifugids as well as observed them in the wild. The largest solifugid species known are Galeodes arabs of northern Africa and Galeodes caspius of the middle-east. Adult females may reach 2.75" to 3" in body length with a 6.5" to 7" legspan, which is a very large arachnid. Adult female body lengths may very rarely reach 3.5", that is a huge solifugid. The information you are reading probably pertains 5" to 6" being the legspan.

Alex S.


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## Alex S. (Aug 22, 2004)

Horrido said:
			
		

> Solifugids are some of my favorite arachnids.  We get a fair number of the little ones out here along the Snake and Columbia Rivers.  One night at a friend's house, I saw her fluffy black cat chasing something along the floor, so thinking it was a moth, I switched on the lights to shew the feline away so I could catch it.   Then, when I saw it, I thought,"That's a pretty large wolf spider," but something looked wrong, so I started counting legs..."2, 4, 6, 8...10...  No, that can't be right,... 2, 4, 6, 8....10...  You find the NEATEST things near the Hanford nuclear site!"
> 
> I've read up on them quite a bit, but it never seems like enough or very informative.  I was curious, for those that have seen the GI pics of the two clinging to each other, hanging, what are the triangular, "pectine"-like appendages hanging from either side of the abdomen?



Thats awesome you frequently come across some of the U.S.'s northern species. You are finding those of the family Eremobatidae, perhaps of the genus Eremochelis. The organs on the underside of Solifugae are commonly called racket organs, which are similar in funtion to the pectines of scorpions.

Alex S.


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## Horrido (Aug 22, 2004)

I appreciate the responses.  They frequently come to blacklights in sandy areas along the rivers.  If anybody's interested, I could probably send some, provided I received proper shipping instructions for their well-being and reimbursement for packaging/shipping costs.


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## 8leggedfriends (Aug 22, 2004)

I kept a couple of these but only for a few days. I set them free. I lived in Las Vegas.


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## Horrido (Aug 22, 2004)

Yeah, I haven't kept any since that first one, because it didn't fair too well.  One of the few arthropods that struck me as having a presence of thought, you could actually see it processing information and deciding what to do.  Kind of disturbing, really.

Thinking about catching some scorpions out at the shooting range next visit, to keep them for a few days/weeks so people can see and ID them, here.  We've got the little blonde ones and a larger, dark-purplish flavor, but that'll be for a different forum.


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## ghost_tomb (Aug 23, 2004)

yeah i've had an e-mail convo with another guy who's kept them and he said the same. when yours molted what did they do? mines been buried now for 32 hours


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## David_F (Aug 23, 2004)

That's a great looking sp. ghost tomb.  

I read an article in National Geographic (one of the recent ones....can't remember what month) on solifugids.  Wasn't that great.  Better than the usual stories you see about these beasts but nothing special.  

Horrido, if it's okay I may PM you about some of the scorps you find there. 

-David


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## ghost_tomb (Aug 23, 2004)

well i've just started to see some movment either she's digging more underground or she's going to come out


i'll keep you posted and post new pics of her if she's different.


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## MizM (Aug 23, 2004)

Oh for goodness sake!! I just posted a thread about these, I found one in the ladies room at my work!!

Looking through the web, it appears I have a E. durangonua. What a feisty little thing!! Strongest jaws of any animal on earth!! (Relative to size!) Whoa!


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## ghost_tomb (Aug 24, 2004)

how long do they tend to stay in their burrows for?
mine "Siren" was wondering around briefly when i got home  no change i don't think though she's not eatting and soon went back under her log and sealed it off again. how long do they normaly spend underneth things?

when i got her she was very active and slept for about 3 hours at atime before roaming around more.


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## Alex S. (Aug 24, 2004)

It is normal for solifugids to spend long periods of time in their burrows. Galeodids are nocturnal and many spend all day in a burrow. If solifugids are not out hunting or mating they are probably deep in their burrows or under stones and logs.

Alex S.


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