# Amblypygids, anyone?



## Ambly (Aug 23, 2012)

Hello All,
    This is my first thread on the forum: I thought I'd show off my Amblypygids - I have a pair of Phrynus marginemaculatus and some offspring.  Neither are great pictures, but they show the offspring on the female and the other picture shows the size of the male.  Their behavior is very fascinating, I've really enjoyed keeping and observing them.  I will soon post better pictures and pictures of the vivaria in which they dwell.  I will soon be getting some Damon diadema and am really looking forward to them.  Any other Ambly keepers here?  





Hope you enjoy,

Sean

Reactions: Like 2


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## oldmanofthesea (Aug 23, 2012)

NICE!!!! Thanks for the pics. They are awesome animals. Ron


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## SamuraiSid (Aug 23, 2012)

Awesome pics, and welcome to AB.

Im hoping to make a purcahse of these beauties early next year. Im looking forward to seeing your viv set-up.


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## AbraxasComplex (Aug 23, 2012)

SamuraiSid said:


> Awesome pics, and welcome to AB.
> 
> Im hoping to make a purcahse of these beauties early next year. Im looking forward to seeing your viv set-up.


Let me get in on that source. I let them slip me by a few years back in an order I did. Regreted not getting them.


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## Deroplatys (Aug 23, 2012)

How long did you have them before you saw young?
Im sure my females got eggs, thats if she is a female, i can see small whitish cicles underneath her abdomen, not externally but internally, shes been like it for ages.


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## MrCrackerpants (Aug 23, 2012)

Very cool! Two of my female Damon diadema just popped and I have babies. Good luck.


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## Ambly (Aug 24, 2012)

Thanks for the compliments - they are indeed cool!  The offspring are pretty wild as well, I'm looking forward to watching them grow.  I am away for the weekend, but when I return I'll post pictures of my Ambly's enclosure.  Glad to see some others are keeping them... can't believe they're not more popular.

Sean


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## belljar77 (Aug 24, 2012)

I love these guys too! I lucked out on a group of juvenile D. diadema and ended up with a pair. I've since had once successful hatching (clutch? Not sure what to call it) of about fifteen young. They're at 4i now.

Reactions: Like 1


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## J Morningstar (Aug 24, 2012)

MrCrackerpants said:


> Very cool! Two of my female Damon diadema just popped and I have babies. Good luck.


I have had a pair together for over a year, there have been no less than 8 visual spermataphore appeared this spring and the female is triple the thickness of the male....can I be hopefull this time you think?

---------- Post added 08-24-2012 at 10:56 AM ----------

I am trying to get the same results, I would say you are doing betterthan I though.


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## Ambly (Sep 6, 2012)

I honestly do not know, I am a novice keeper of ambly's... though I have read ALL I can find and contacted some people who are involved in ambly research here and abroad to gain some knowledge.  They are incredibly fascinating.  I'm looking to pick up a pair of Damon diadema and other species!


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## Anonymity82 (Sep 6, 2012)

Beautiful! I've always wanted to get into this species but I'm just not confident in my ability to keep them.


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## web eviction (Sep 6, 2012)

They are definetly awesome! Very easy to keep IME... I really need to get more, as of yesterday it looks like my D. diadema is male.. Gonna have to locate a female.


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## Ambly (Sep 6, 2012)

thanks!  I have around 15 offspring from her.  I separated her form the male when I knew the eggs were close to hatching, though I might introduce them again.  They often hid close near each other.  The only conflicts I saw were occasional interactions when both were actively hunting.  These conflicts consisted of both individuals opening their pedipalps and flicking their whips...but they were very brief, and seemed more like they startled each other than a sign of aggression.

If anyone knows a good US source of different species of these guys please drop me a line.  I've enjoyed P. marginemaculatus so much, I'd like to try Damon diadema and others.

Feel free to post pictures of your own and observations and such here.  I love learning about these things haha ambly on,

Sean


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## Ambly (Oct 23, 2012)

So noone makes the same mistake:  I did reintroduce my P. marginemaculatus male to my female - they were fine for an hour before she consumed him...  It was sad, and my mistake.  I suggest, if REintroducing, introduce both individuals to a new enclosure with multiple hiding spaces at the *same time*.  However, the female is as healthy as can be and recently molted.  

I have since picked up some D. diadema, which I will post pictures of soon.  They are awesome... they seem to be much more active hunters, which I initially thought "wow, these are just...more interesting to keep than P. marginemaculatus..." as my P. marginemaculatus female seems to just sit around a lot - in hiding during the day, coming up to the top of her bark piece at night... but she's beautiful.  Very awesome, deep colors - dark clay grey and marooon - large, club like pedipalps.  Though less active, they are still really awesome to keep - they surprise me more each day.  The offspring are more active and really fun.  Pics soon to come: D. diadema and new enclosures for all my ambly's.  Here are some pics of the P. marginemaculatus:

Reactions: Like 1


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## MrCrackerpants (Oct 23, 2012)

J Morningstar said:


> I have had a pair together for over a year, there have been no less than 8 visual spermataphore appeared this spring and the female is triple the thickness of the male....can I be hopefull this time you think?
> 
> ---------- Post added 08-24-2012 at 10:56 AM ----------
> 
> I am trying to get the same results, I would say you are doing betterthan I though.


Yes, that sounds good. I hope you get some babies. I have about 50-60 babies now. It is a lot of work to take care of them but they are so worth it. One of my favs. You will always trump me...you bred A. gigas...: )

I have been trying for many a moon and no luck yet. Remember the A. gigas I asked you about that molted on the surface? Dead : ( bummer


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## zonbonzovi (Oct 24, 2012)

Ambly said:


> So noone makes the same mistake:  I did reintroduce my P. marginemaculatus male to my female - they were fine for an hour before she consumed him...  It was sad, and my mistake.  I suggest, if REintroducing, introduce both individuals to a new enclosure with multiple hiding spaces at the *same time*.  However, the female is as healthy as can be and recently molted.


That is surprising.  I did have a molting individual attacked after completing the molt recently(despite what I said about having no previous issues in a post a few weeks ago:sarcasm:...it's like they knew what I was typing and just wanted to throw me off my game).  Monitoring very closely these days.  

Curiosity: did you know your's was female because of carrying eggs or did you manage to sex via their tiny, tiny operculum(??).


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## Ambly (Oct 25, 2012)

@Zonbonzovi:  I knew she was a female because she was carrying eggs.  Is there known to be sexual dimorphism in other characteristics in P. marginemaculatus?  I cannot remember what the articles I've read said on that topic... though most were behavior related.  I thought I noticed some differences in the male and female, but I am not sure if they were just individual differences.  I assure you they did indeed know what you were typing... there is more to them than appears.

Apparently these guys have a very large mushroom body compared to other arachnids and more ability to "learn" to find refuge and such quicker.  Have you ever been holding one for a while, whether it is remaining still or moving about nervously, and introduced it to a surface from it's enclosure?  When I pick up a piece of cork, I can see them brush it with their antenniform legs and seemingly realize "oh, familiar surface," quickly inspect, then move onto it.  Very cool.


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## zonbonzovi (Oct 26, 2012)

Ambly said:


> @Zonbonzovi:  I knew she was a female because she was carrying eggs.  Is there known to be sexual dimorphism in other characteristics in P. marginemaculatus?  I cannot remember what the articles I've read said on that topic... though most were behavior related.  I thought I noticed some differences in the male and female, but I am not sure if they were just individual differences.  I assure you they did indeed know what you were typing... there is more to them than appears.
> 
> Apparently these guys have a very large mushroom body compared to other arachnids and more ability to "learn" to find refuge and such quicker.  Have you ever been holding one for a while, whether it is remaining still or moving about nervously, and introduced it to a surface from it's enclosure?  When I pick up a piece of cork, I can see them brush it with their antenniform legs and seemingly realize "oh, familiar surface," quickly inspect, then move onto it.  Very cool.


Their careful movement & interaction is one of the more fascinating behaviors.  It's amazing how quick they are when hunting!  I would love to read anything you come across, BTW.  I believe it was either Michiel or banshee08(?) that posted a link about sexual characteristics being present but it would require anesthesia + a good hand lens/macro cam.  I'll look around for that link at some point...

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Edit: here is the thread but no reference other than the Weygoldt book: 

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/sho...genimaculata-sexing&highlight=marginemaculata


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## Ambly (Nov 30, 2012)

Here's two pictures... one, a decent picture of one of my 3 D. diadema a few days after molting.  The second is an awful picture taken from outside of the enclosure.  The Damon are really interesting to watch hunt because they locate their prey, then very rapidly tap at it with their antenniform legs before striking.  At night, they will get on the ground and actively hunt when they know prey is in the area and they are hungry.  Interestingly, the Phrynus always finds it's prey before the Damon and does not do any of the rapid tapping.  It seems mostly to be going to 100% stealth and one accurate strike, while the Damon seem to be going for 100% kill, sometimes striking multiple times at one prey item.  Definite differences in hunting behavior.  Anyone else kept the two species?  Damon may get bigger, but I strongly suggest picking up some Phrynus. 

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/gallery/showimage.php?i=29235&catid=member&imageuser=65724
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/gallery/showimage.php?i=29234&catid=member&imageuser=65724

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## Ambly (Feb 7, 2013)

Two very short videos of my adult female P. marginemaculatus.  During the second, my brother yells to our roommate downstairs... nothing funny, just a headsup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4p4RP4-9WU&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8H4hmN3pm0&feature=youtu.be


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## fttwinmomma (Feb 9, 2013)

I was just wanting to ask a couple questions if I may. What humidity and temp are these best kept at? And also how big an enclosure? These guys are pretty cool. There is a vid that I saw on YouTube of one sitting there 'dancing'(moving pedipalps and antenna repeatedly for sec).


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## Ambly (Feb 19, 2013)

Varies from species to species.  There are some caresheets and helpful threads on here regarding care for both P. marginemaculatus and D. diadema (the species mentioned in this thread, thusfar) from folks more experienced than I!


Woke up to a silvery antenniform sweeping around a corner to notice one of my D. diadema had molted!


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## dactylus (Aug 17, 2014)

Ambly said:


> Thanks for the compliments - they are indeed cool!  The offspring are pretty wild as well, I'm looking forward to watching them grow.  I am away for the weekend, but when I return I'll post pictures of my Ambly's enclosure.  Glad to see some others are keeping them... can't believe they're not more popular.
> 
> Sean


Hello Sean,

Did you have any success in locating another male and reproducing Phrynus marginemaculatus again?  

David


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