# Callobius-? The Hacklemesh Weaver



## TheTyro (Jan 10, 2010)

My brothers girlfriend caught this girl crawling from under their couch after they had moved it. I've seen one of these hacklemesh spiders when I was younger, so I was very happy to have this one gifted to me out of the blue. She's really big too.

I am rummaging through bugguide.net and several other places and I'm trying to decide which species it is...or even if its possibly the introduced Amaurobius ferox (though the markings seem more like callobius to me.) Theres just very little detailed information on these guys that is easily found on the web. I have a cricket in there with her but she seems petrified of it. For a spider her size i'm surprised she's not munching on it already. I'm worried that she's decided she's dying and has given up eating. She also hasn't started making a sheet web of any sort...I'm used to the spiders going to work as soon as they have been left alone for a few hours. She does clean her legs a lot though.

I'm also going to send the pictures to Rod Crawford, but I'll probably need to take better photos for him to work with. I held this spider, but she's so robust and relatively speedy, it was somewhat intimidating.


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## jsloan (Jan 10, 2010)

Nice spider!  Be sure and let us know what Rod says about it.

Has it had water recently?  As far as keeping it, a lot of these spiders like to have a place to hide.  When I found _Callobius nomeus_ here in Alberta last summer, they had made their retreats under the loose bark of decaying spruce stumps in a damp forest, from which they spread out some webbing on the outer surface of the bark.

I don't know if yours is the same species, but I posted some pictures on BG:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/321283


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## Avicularia Man (Jan 10, 2010)

Pretty spider. I love the blood red color it has.


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## TheTyro (Jan 10, 2010)

I've given her water twice, but I haven't seen her drink any, which is another reason I suspect she's on her way out. I hope not though. 

I was just looking at that page too, nomeus sure does have some broad, bold markings on the abdomen! I wish my spiders belly looked as full as hers.

I've only got a jar and some toilet paper for her to hide in, so hopefully when I get her in a better situation she'll behave "normally".


and yeah she's got a lovely red coloring, though some of my pictures are oversaturated from poor lighting and auto contrast from photoshop.

I've always loved these spiders since the first time I saw one about 6 years ago.


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## TheTyro (Jan 10, 2010)

Rod Crawford says Callobius severus is likely, but I'd have to bring her to him to be sure since there are many they resemble. Either that or C. pictus, and the other types aren't common within the urban areas. And now I know why they call them hacklemesh weavers! I've never seen a spider do what she does for web making, it's very cool. She put one of her legs on the opposite legs tibia and uses the comb thingy on it to fluff up the silk. Ive seen one other spider do that, but not with the legs like that. So they are cribellate. It also explained why her spineretts were so different looking when compared to other spiders.


The cool part about doing some research about that aspect of them is that just looking at these hacklemesh spiders from above...their hair arrangement and "face" and chelicerae build reminded me a ton of those velvet spiders...and it turns out they are also cribellate. I know other cribellate spiders dont look so much alike, but it was a neat connection.


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## zonbonzovi (Jan 11, 2010)

That one looks a 'lil skinny.  They are one of my favorite locals as well.  They are legion in around my wood & well shed, fast, angry & bitey.  Didn't have much luck keeping them until I gave moist substrate(duh).  They will eat & eat & ...and can get very large in just a couple of days of feeding.


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## TheTyro (Jan 11, 2010)

Yeah she was pretty skinny. She had been in a cup for a few days before she was given to me, but she's pleasantly plump right now. She shredded a cricket to bits and seemed to enjoy it.  I also moved her into a cage with moss and bark to hide under, which she is currently doing. It's not quite a perfect setup for her, but better than the jar with toilet paper, temporary one. haha.

When she was walking around the enclosure, she just looked so beautiful...her rich red and dark black head coloration against the green and orangey browns. I would love to breed these spiders, so i'm definitely going to be scouring my brothers house for more of em.

It needs a lot more substrate and im going to add some more bark, but this is what I have so far:












She's currently hiding in the moss under the "bridge"


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## TheTyro (Jan 12, 2010)

Another picture..since I can't edit the first post :[


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