# Orange Faced Demon Spider (again)



## Arachnophilist (Jan 11, 2007)

Hey everyone I am trying to gather as much information as possible on the husbandry of these wonderful little things. I would like to try and get a good stock matured and hopefully breed them in the future. any info or personal experience on keeping this species would be greatly appreciated. just to be clear we are talking about Eresus sp. more specifically Eresus niger ignicomis. Thanks everyone!


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## Emanuele (Jan 11, 2007)

Hi! I'm keeping this species as well and I also raised a lot of youngs in the past years.
This is a really strong species, with a few needs: 
- a few water sometimes (once a month)
- a deep layer of silt/sand soil (but you can safely use peato moss as well) where it can dig a retreat
- a stone under which begin to dig (they prefer stones, but also use bark)
- some dry shrubs outside the hole to attach the net, but it's not necessary

I'm keeping now a female, she's overwintering.
I normally use wax months and Blatta lateralis (formerly Shelfordella tartara) as preys, but I can say with no remorse that they will eat almost everything you'll put inside the tank.
Unfortunately it's a very shy and secretive species and it normally doesn't come out of it's burrow.

Hope it helps!
Ema


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## Arachnophilist (Jan 12, 2007)

thank you Emmanuelle.. now how do you keep your slings? cause that is what I am starting with.. I hear they do alright in small groups as young.. any thoughts on this? and would cocoa fibre be suitable or do you suggest a mixed sub of sand and dirt etc.


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## Emanuele (Jan 13, 2007)

I kept my slings altogether until the end of the first winter, then I left them together a bit more and in May-June I divided them cause they were dispersing out of the mother's retreat (the mother was already dead and eaten by her youngs).
With the youngs you could simply keep each one in little and simply boxes with no substrate and only a small piece of dried lead under which they build a net retreat.
If you want to keep them in small groups, they thrive well with no cannibalism, even if I preferred to divide some of them in single containers.

Ah, you've fallen in a little error, my name is Emanuele (and I'm a male, it's like Emanuel). A lot of non-italian friends called me "Emanuelle" or Emmanuelle" thinking I was a girl, it's a kind of malediction!... ;-)

Cheers
Ema


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## Ephebopus.M (Jan 13, 2007)

how big do they grow?


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## Emanuele (Jan 13, 2007)

The female I'm keeping at the moment is something like 3-4 cm body length.
The male is smaller and it normally reaches the size of a _Phidippus audax_, around 15-20 mm maximum. It also depends on the populations and on the various subspecies.
Cheers
Ema


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## Arachnophilist (Jan 13, 2007)

haha no actually I figured you were a guy I just spelt it wrong  thank you for the info! I really appreciate it.


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## Arachnophilist (Jan 15, 2007)

*They Arrived!*

Well the E.niger ignicomis have arrived. and here are the pics.

first off the bad news.




















there are about 20+ dead slings  

but on a lighter note.. we have survivors!





the remains of the eggsac in a communal setup for the moment.
some pics of the spiders in the setup
















and now the individually housed spiders.





there are the 13 containers.
and this is how they are set up.










and here is a size reference






there ya go! all comments and suggestions are welcome!


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## Emanuele (Jan 15, 2007)

They're quite well grown spiderling. You shouldn't have any problem. The substrate seems moss... keep attention not to overwater it, they don't love too much humidity at all.
the guy who sent you the spiders doesn't know them well (I suppose...), cause I see the paper totally wet and placed into the container like a big "ball" to squeeze the spiders.
When sending spiders the best thing to do (in my opinion at least) is to place the spiders inside little containers with only a small piece of paper that runs around the walls and it's clipped between the container and the top, so it can't roll around during expeditions. This method has been good even when the paper was wet, cause it doesn't collapse, being very light.

Ah, if you can, try giving them ants...
Cheers
Ema


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## Lorgakor (Jan 15, 2007)

Oh my God! They are so adorable!  Oh I am going to cross my fingers that they do okay. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these! Good luck with raising and breeding them!


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## Arachnophilist (Jan 15, 2007)

Thank you Emanuele. I just finished writing you a PM to see what you thought  haha anyways I will see if I can find some ants though I dont know what I will be able to get this time of year.. are they able to take crickets larger than them selves? and I will let the substrate dry out. I just moistened it so that I could make a mixture and pack all the containers. thanks again for you help. it is greatly appreciated.


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## Arachnophilist (Jan 15, 2007)

Lorgakor said:


> Oh my God! They are so adorable!  Oh I am going to cross my fingers that they do okay. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these! Good luck with raising and breeding them!


well as soon as I am sure I know they will survive and I kow what to feed and how to care for them I will hand one over to ya!


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## Selenops (Jan 15, 2007)

Sorry about your losses but that is one really neat spider. Good luck! 

Thanks for the info, Emanuele, hope to get my hands on them too.


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## Galapoheros (Jan 16, 2007)

Yea looks like you have enough survivors to get some more babies from some day:drool: .  I've wanted a couple of those since I saw one on the AB a year or two ago.  But I would like to trim down right now instead of getting more stuff.... maybe someday I'll get a couple.  Interesting looking spider.  Thanks for the pics.


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## Emanuele (Jan 16, 2007)

You're all welcome 
About spraying the containers... Now let them dry out, then you can schedule a weekly spraying but just for drinking purposes.
And about preys, no problem, they'll eat almost everything that smaller or similar to their size.
I'd also try with drosofila and small newly born _Shelfordella tartara_ (now called _Blatta lateralis_).
You can even put them as "dying" preys" near their retreat, they probably catch them and you'll be sure they eat something.
Regards
Ema


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## Emanuele (Jan 16, 2007)

A little advice about the substrate, you can even keep them without any substrate, by only putting a small dried leaf as a retreat. They'll do very well in this manner and you'll be sure they eat and where they are. ùI say this because when the moss will dry out they'll can burrow themselves and you'll can have trouble finding and feeding them.
Cheers


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## Arachnophilist (Jan 16, 2007)

Thanks Emanuele, Perhaps I will re house the 24 I now have in individual setups. they seem to be webbing to the lid anyways. I now have a count of roughly 43 more in the communal stup. I need more containers!


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## Emanuele (Jan 16, 2007)

Don't worry about containers!
I used with big results cilindrical boxes large 2,5 X 6 cm (1 X 2,5 inches)


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## Arachnophilist (Jan 16, 2007)

yes I am using dip containers with lids from a bar my friend works at  they work fine. and I have decided to remove the substrate and keep them with dried leaf bits in the bottom. I will use the substrate as a base in my new cricket egg-laying cage! so I can have lots of micro crickets for them. thought they are communally eating large prekilled crickets I placed in there right now.. that method will not work for the individuals.


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## KyuZo (Jan 16, 2007)

*questions*

i am curious to know if they can climb smooth surfaces. are they like jumping spiders? or more like tarantulas? do they sit and wait for something to walk by?
thanks,
Jason


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## Arachnophilist (Jan 16, 2007)

they cant climb smooth surfaces.. but they can slowly web their way up a corner. they make burrows and wait for food to happen upon the web they lay outside the burrow itself I think.


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## Arachnophilist (Jan 17, 2007)

This is how I am housing them now. some pieces of dry ficus leaf and some sphagnum moss bits to hold a little moisture so they get to drink when I spray. what do you think Emanuele? and how long have you found it to take for them to mature? 












I ordered 500 mini crickets for them to feed on


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## Emanuele (Jan 17, 2007)

I think it should work!
I never took them to adulthood because after some months I had to leave home for some time and I gave them away. But I know that females can take up to 2 years to become adult.
Cheers


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## Lorgakor (Jan 17, 2007)

So how many do you have in total now? Are they really fast like most true spiders?


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## Arachnophilist (Jan 17, 2007)

I would say I have between 40 and 50 of them. and they are very clumsy little things  but I have noticed they like to stay in groups and make an extending web up the corners of the communal tank and then dirt coated sheets of web along the ground in which they all snuggle up at night to "sleep". quite cool actually.. and there are web lines that run the sides of the tank and join all the corner communities. the spiders go from one spot to another and seem to interact and have some interesting behavior. so when u gonna come pick up a spider Lorgakor? lol


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## KyuZo (Jan 17, 2007)

i know that this species comes from an area where the temperature can get very cold.  do you overwinter them at all? or do you keep them warm all year long?


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## Arachnophilist (Jan 17, 2007)

well seeing as it is winter and I just got them I am just keeping them warm.. I will try wintering them when they have grown and are stable and healthy.. perhaps for next year.. but for this one I am gonna keep em warm and simply try to help them grow for now.

Edit- I just looked into the communal cage to see where they all were (only saw a handfu) so I looked into the "sheets" they have made to hide in.. and there are little holes in the bottom of it.. and they are all clustered in groups of a dozen or so in the same little holes.. its like they are all snuggled up together its funny! they seem to really like to stay together.


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## KyuZo (Feb 1, 2007)

Arachnophilist said:


> well seeing as it is winter and I just got them I am just keeping them warm.. I will try wintering them when they have grown and are stable and healthy.. perhaps for next year.. but for this one I am gonna keep em warm and simply try to help them grow for now.
> 
> Edit- I just looked into the communal cage to see where they all were (only saw a handfu) so I looked into the "sheets" they have made to hide in.. and there are little holes in the bottom of it.. and they are all clustered in groups of a dozen or so in the same little holes.. its like they are all snuggled up together its funny! they seem to really like to stay together.


arachnophilist, how are things going with your eresus spiderlings? keep us updated.  have they grown much?


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## Arachnophilist (Feb 2, 2007)

they are doing wonderfully! a couple unexplained deaths but what can you do.. the communal set up seems to be working well.. there are two separate "camps" and the spiders seem to move freely from one to another and have a group burrow under the soil.. I am going to work on a series of photos to show the range in size from 1.32" up to nearly 1/4" for some of them now. I will also tru to photoshop some labels in to show where they are living and how their little community seems to work.. they are really much more interesting than I had imagined and seem to do better in a group than on their own.


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## KyuZo (Feb 2, 2007)

yes, interesting.  i m definitely looking forward to see some pictures.  So you said that some of them have already reach a length of 1.25"  and those are living with some of your 1/4"?  i guess they are growing pretty fast then, huh?
kuyzo


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## Arachnophilist (Feb 4, 2007)

KyuZo said:


> yes, interesting.  i m definitely looking forward to see some pictures.  So you said that some of them have already reach a length of 1.25"  and those are living with some of your 1/4"?  i guess they are growing pretty fast then, huh?
> kuyzo


sorry no that was a typo.. 1/32" to 1/4" it will be a long time before they are over an inch Im sure lol


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## Arachnophilist (Feb 21, 2007)

alright I managed to get a couple shots that are almost acceptable.. the spider shown is about 1/4" in length. it is one of the largest.. there seem to be several at this size and many many others in varying smaller sizes all the way down to about 1/32" very small still.. all seem healthy and are molting well. 






















sorry for the poor quality these are extrememly hard to photograph.


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## KyuZo (Feb 28, 2007)

are they still in a communal set up? how many do you have now?


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## Arachnophilist (Feb 28, 2007)

some communal some not. coudlnt tell you how many they stay hidden away and come out on the webs when they feel like it.


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## Lorgakor (Apr 4, 2007)

Any new pics of these little guys? How are they doing?


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## Steven Gielis (Apr 4, 2007)

Does anyone has these available for sale?


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## Arachnophilist (May 2, 2007)

Alright well after all this time and only knowing of a few that I managed to save.. I found something wonderful in the supposed "dead" tank.. (which I couldnt empty out and stop keeping an eye on) and well now I am glad I did so!!

















pretty cool huh? I feel like i just won the spider lotto.. what a wonderful unextpected treat  now I just hope one of the others turn out female so I can have one that will get big and last me a while


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## edesign (May 2, 2007)

WOW...awesome! I'll take three!


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## P. Novak (May 2, 2007)

It's alive! It's alive! Sweet philist. How big are they all now?


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## Arachnophilist (May 3, 2007)

this one is about 3/8" so quite small.. we will see if anything comes up female..


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## Lorgakor (May 3, 2007)

That is one cool looking little spider! And still so small for him to mature, those colours does mean he's mature doesn't it?


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## dbozic (Jul 14, 2007)

*Hrvatska*

Hi Emanuel, i just wanted to ask you if there is a possibility that you can send me some of those jumping spiders , i am from Croatia so maybe that wouldnt be a big problem i would really apreciate it please, sorry bout the bad english thanks, Dario


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