# Ischnothele caudata



## Philth (Jan 31, 2014)

_Ischnothele caudata_ are a small spider in the Dipluridae family. They range from Mexico to Brazil, and groups live in close quarters of each other.  I recently hatched some and will try to raise them communally.  

Female


Ultimate male


A young female feeding.


Mating



Eggsac


Eggsac hatched


Spiderlings communally feeding on some crickets that the mother killed for them.




I'll use this thread to update how they do.

Later, Tom

Reactions: Like 18


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## AbraxasComplex (Feb 1, 2014)

I kept this species in a large group for a few generations. Sadly my last batch had no males reach maturity and I now have only 3 old females left. Great species and crazy webbers.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Tomek (Feb 1, 2014)

Nice spiders and this community is a great concept. Will surely keep my eye on this thread!


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## Oski121 (Feb 1, 2014)

*Awesome*

I keep these and had two what I thought adult pairs, one male died and the Female shed again so will probably wont be fertile,
But the other Female has got really swollen and the Male is now missing so hopefully she Mated,
Great pics
Could I ask how you are keeping yours?
thanks


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## dactylus (Feb 1, 2014)

Congratulations Tom!  Good luck with the communal project!  Thanks for the excellent photographs of a very attractive species.

David


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## MrCrackerpants (Feb 1, 2014)

Great job, Tom. Thanks for sharing.


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## UrbanTarantulas (Feb 6, 2014)

Thanks for the pics..... I recently got one of these... Awesome webbers, and very fast and active.  How long do they normally live?  How long to reach maturity?


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## Spepper (Feb 6, 2014)

How big are the adults?  You said they're small but how small?  They look really cool by the way.  Beautiful spiders.


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## Philth (Feb 6, 2014)

My adult females are no bigger than a U.S. quarter.  I raised slings to maturity in just over 6 months.  I don't know how long they live yet, but usually things that grow fast, breed fast, also die fast.

Later, Tom


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## josh_r (Feb 9, 2014)

Super cool TOM!!!!!!!!!!!!  Nice to see someone working with a diplurid for once


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## Philth (Feb 9, 2014)

josh_r said:


> Super cool TOM!!!!!!!!!!!!  Nice to see someone working with a diplurid for once


Thanks man, been doing tarantulas long enough, it is refreshing to experiment with something new.

Later, Tom

Reactions: Like 3


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## Spepper (Feb 9, 2014)

They are beautiful spiders.


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## Philth (Jul 10, 2014)

Another example of a female that collected food for her young.


Later, Tom

Reactions: Like 4


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## Curious jay (Jul 10, 2014)

Very curious to see how the communal goes, as currently have some available over here I'm considering picking a couple up, if any other UK users are interested in these drop me a PM I'll link you to the seller.

Reactions: Like 1


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## pannaking22 (Feb 17, 2015)

Any updates?


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## Philth (Feb 17, 2015)

I've been meaning to get back to this.  I've gathered many notes about these and hope to but a article together about them when I have time.  In short, despite hearing of success from some others keeping them communal, I found they do eventually eat each other.  Once the spiderlings reached about a half inch, they started to turn on each other. The mothers that hatched them and once took care of them, starting eating them too. ( females would eventually eat mature males if left in with them as well) Although some lived together for a few months with out a problem, I think it was more to do with extensive hiding places I provided for them.  They probably just never bummed into each other. So if anybody keeps them communally for a long enough, expect losses.   

I'm also finding that they are a short lived spider, 1-1.5 years, even for the females.  Although I've only raised a handful to adult females, it doesn't seem to be a coincidence that they are dying around the 1-1.5 year mark.  I'd like to hear from anyone if they have had them live longer though.  I always say, things that move fast, grow fast, breed fast, hatch fast, tend to die fast, and that seems to be the case.  

Here's one of the mothers eating her own offspring that was being raised communally with her.  They are great moms, until a certain point.  


Later, Tom

Reactions: Like 12


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## pannaking22 (Feb 18, 2015)

Thanks for the reply, Tom. What size container did you end up using for these when you tried keeping them communally? I have a 2 1/2 gallon sitting around collecting dust that I was thinking of using, provided I give them tons of hiding spots, though that would likely be after I breed them and get a second generation. How are you keeping these? Looks like you have (moist?) moss underneath the mass of webbing, but is there anything else for substrate? I've been wanting to get some of these, but haven't been able to find a ton of info on care. And since the adult females can sit on a quarter, I'm guessing their slings start off at about Cyriocosmus sling size?


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## wormwood____ (Mar 29, 2015)

hello everyone
recently (some time this month) an I. caudata I bought from Tom last year in like..August.
molted

It took me a few days to realize it but upon closer inspection I had a mature male...I decided I'd take some pics to show people how truly small these things are as adults


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## wormwood____ (Mar 29, 2015)

can only do 5 "attachments" per post, so.....


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## wormwood____ (Mar 29, 2015)

**drum roll**

and the photo we've all been waiting for....was work to get it because this speedy thing would not cooperate, but here it is
a Ischnothele caudata mature male sitting on a US quarter

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 1


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## pannaking22 (Mar 29, 2015)

Thanks for the shots, wormwood. Those guys are tiny! I'll have to start keeping a closer eye on my group then...wouldn't want someone to mature without me knowing! Did you notice any behavioral differences when it matured?

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## wormwood____ (Mar 30, 2015)

i bought 4 females and am waiting for the weather to get right so they can be shipped to me
so far i've noticed nothing different about this guy...since i tore his web down, he remade it in a night, and he's in a like 4" vial, he webs all the way to the top. Im sure he's made a sperm web but you can't really see it at this size especially when the sperm web is already in a mass of webbing itself..i thought he was going to tear down the webbing and start walking around the vial "searching" for a female, but he still sits at the top of the web all day long doing nothing

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## pannaking22 (Mar 30, 2015)

wormwood____ said:


> i bought 4 females and am waiting for the weather to get right so they can be shipped to me
> so far i've noticed nothing different about this guy...since i tore his web down, he remade it in a night, and he's in a like 4" vial, he webs all the way to the top. Im sure he's made a sperm web but you can't really see it at this size especially when the sperm web is already in a mass of webbing itself..i thought he was going to tear down the webbing and start walking around the vial "searching" for a female, but he still sits at the top of the web all day long doing nothing


Well, I guess that just gives me more excuse to keep watching these little guys then


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## High Lord Dee (Apr 6, 2015)

Philth said:


> I've been meaning to get back to this.  I've gathered many notes about these and hope to but a article together about them when I have time.  In short, despite hearing of success from some others keeping them communal, I found they do eventually eat each other.  Once the spiderlings reached about a half inch, they started to turn on each other. The mothers that hatched them and once took care of them, starting eating them too. ( females would eventually eat mature males if left in with them as well) Although some lived together for a few months with out a problem, I think it was more to do with extensive hiding places I provided for them.  They probably just never bummed into each other. So if anybody keeps them communally for a long enough, expect losses.
> 
> I'm also finding that they are a short lived spider, 1-1.5 years, even for the females.  Although I've only raised a handful to adult females, it doesn't seem to be a coincidence that they are dying around the 1-1.5 year mark.  I'd like to hear from anyone if they have had them live longer though.  I always say, things that move fast, grow fast, breed fast, hatch fast, tend to die fast, and that seems to be the case.
> 
> ...


Hi Tom,

I acquired my Ischnothele caudata on March 28, 2014 (from Ken the Bug Guy).  She was probably about 4-6 months old if I had take a guess?  I am over the one year mark but will be keeping an eye on her based on your findings of life expectancy.  She just ate yesterday and looks very healthy still.  I will keep you posted.

HLD

Reactions: Like 1


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## wormwood____ (May 10, 2015)

so i've paired 2 of my 4 females i recently bought form Michael Jacobi, and one laid a sac like 4 days after being paired. or maybe it was more than that, but she laid the actual sac a few days ago
well, all that is somewhat irrelevant for these first few pictures

this was the biggest female i got out of the 4. It was the "proven breeder" and it was a bit larger than the rest. I was actually quite surprised how large it was, it has atleast a 1.5" leg span when fully stretched. ....maybe
k, the more i look at the tape, 1.5 is quite a stretch..oops lol

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## wormwood____ (May 10, 2015)



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## wormwood____ (May 10, 2015)

mature male. putting the females in temporary vials really made the...retrieval process, if you will, alot easier








and then her laying the eggs. some of these pics are the same, im really sorry i couldn't figure out which ones to delete  sorry

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## wormwood____ (May 10, 2015)

once again really sorry for all these pics, i don't want to clutter up the thread or anything






eggsac with webs in the way, completely untouched

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## Biollantefan54 (May 10, 2015)

Awesome pics!!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Hisserdude (May 10, 2015)

Wow, that's a LOT of webbing for such a tiny spider! Love the long spinnerets on these guys, great pics!

Reactions: Like 1


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## wormwood____ (May 11, 2015)

getting videos of every pairing between my males and females....Interestingly, the females are completely unresponsive to the 2nd pairing which i thought was really weird. N E WAYS, Here is the 2nd pairing (it's good i promise)
Idk how to "properly" enter the video in here/link it whatever....sooo ya

https://youtu.be/BzacLQz4Gs8

Reactions: Like 1


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## z32upgrader (Jun 3, 2015)

wormwood____ said:


> getting videos of every pairing between my males and females....Interestingly, the females are completely unresponsive to the 2nd pairing which i thought was really weird. N E WAYS, Here is the 2nd pairing (it's good i promise)
> Idk how to "properly" enter the video in here/link it whatever....sooo ya
> 
> https://youtu.be/BzacLQz4Gs8


Need anymore mature males?  I have one that matured April 2nd.


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## TheHonestPirate (Jun 9, 2015)

Wow these are absolutely beautiful spiders


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## Martin H. (Aug 21, 2015)

BTW, here you can find some photos from webbings in their habitat:

http://www.dipluridae.de/wiki/index.php/Ischnothele_caudata

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## Philth (Aug 21, 2015)

Martin H. said:


> BTW, here you can find some photos from webbings in their habitat:
> 
> http://www.dipluridae.de/wiki/index.php/Ischnothele_caudata


Wow, I haven't seen that Batman and Robin avatar in awhile lol  Thanks for the link Martin.  Its always nice to see pics from the wild. 

Later, Tom

Reactions: Like 2


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## Hisserdude (Aug 22, 2015)

Just wondering, are these guys "hot"?


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## Martin H. (Aug 22, 2015)

Philth said:


> Wow, I haven't seen that Batman and Robin avatar in awhile lol


always expect the unexpected! =;-)


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## Pipa (Nov 29, 2016)

I'm going to resurrect an old thread by saying .... I got a colony of these .... I was curious what everyone's enclosure looks like ... what do ya'll use for air holes ? I would think they would get out air holes ?


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## Biollantefan54 (Nov 29, 2016)

I am not sure how accurate this is but I have heard numerous reports that these usually end up eating each other as they grow older


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## Philth (Nov 29, 2016)

Biollantefan54 said:


> I am not sure how accurate this is but I have heard numerous reports that these usually end up eating each other as they grow older


I'm pretty sure I started that rumor lol. See the previous page of this thread for a pic of cannibalism  They question should be, how did the rumor that they can be kept together start ?  

Later, Tom

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Biollantefan54 (Nov 30, 2016)

I remember reading a guy on FB who was keeping a mom and slings together and they just slowly started disappearing. If only there were a diplurid that were truely communal.


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## lovebugfarm (Mar 21, 2017)

Hi I was wondering what the most reliable way to tell the genders is apart from the females overall bulkier size compared to the narrower males.


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## wormwood____ (Sep 24, 2018)

The males mature at about 1.5 cm or 1cm legspan. The females get up to 1.25" legspan, so wait for a male to mature or if its larger then that its likely female.


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