# New species of giant-fishing spider, Ancylometes spec.



## Stefan2209 (Oct 3, 2005)

Hey all and specially Steven   

at the show i attended at the weekend, í had the opportunity to take a look at a new introduced Ancylometes spec.

I´m doing "with spiders" for 8 years now, since 5 years i do hunting spiders exclusively. Over the years i came acrosss some really huge specimen, even bigger than most people have seen them, Phoneutria fera, the former P. keyserlingi and back in the late 90´s i got hold of another Ancylometes spec WC, that was much bigger than the A. bogotensis.

So when i read that there was a "new" species available i thought about the spider i had back then. I hadn´t really been prepared to what was displayed there, i haven´t ever seen such a huge "true" spider! The dealer had a sub-adult male for display purposes with him, that freak had a body-size of 2 inches (5cm) and a legspan of 6 inches (15cm) and still a molt to go....

Slings of this species were for sell and i got some. The buggers are still tiny, but given their genus, growth should be lightning-quick. I really hope some will make it.

Anyway, look for yourself, the setup:


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## Stefan2209 (Oct 3, 2005)

*Part 2*

For some reason, i had to split the post...

However, now to the slings:

























As this species is "new", mortality- and growth-rate are still to be experienced. Will keep you updated on how the lil fellas will develop.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Steven (Oct 3, 2005)

OK thanx for showing,...   
cute little fishingspiders


very curious on how they look after 8moths orso 
:drool:  :drool:  :drool:



PS: Stefan any idea how big Ancylometes rufus get ?


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## Stefan2209 (Oct 3, 2005)

*A. rufus*



			
				Steven said:
			
		

> OK thanx for showing,...
> cute little fishingspiders
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you, i like it, when my pics get appreciated!

Quite funny, you mention A. rufus, i had the same thought yesterday....

To answer your question, i don´t have any "hard" data on A. rufus, but heard some rumble that A. rufus shall be the biggest species within this genus.

There´s a museum in the german town of Karlsruhe (if i remember this right) where they did some research on this genus. I think i´ll get in contact with them and ask if they´d be able (and willing) to do an ID on a molt... That´d give us all some proof. Will post it here, when i got in touch with them.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Steven (Oct 3, 2005)

Just asking about A.rufus as some Belgian collegue-spiderfreaks were discussing if this "new" specie couldn't be the "old" rufus   


PDF-file from museum Karlsruhe


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## Stefan2209 (Oct 3, 2005)

Steven said:
			
		

> Just asking about A.rufus as some Belgian collegue-spiderfreaks were discussing if this "new" specie couldn't be the "old" rufus
> 
> 
> PDF-file from museum Karlsruhe


 Yeah, i thought exactly the same.

I really don´t know if the term "new" means a new encountered species, or just "new" to the european market.

If it´s really A. rufus i guess the guys in Karlsruhe could tell, that´s why i thought about sendimg them a skin. By the way, the pdf you posted, is the study i referred to.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Crysta (Oct 3, 2005)

Hm..where the adults orange?...or am i mistakin?.. 

My Fishing spider(Dolomedes Tenebrosus) had her last egg sack her 3rd one, and the babies where bright green, or gold. ..this batch was anyways with lesser babies, prolly 50..the others had 200-300 babies in each egg sack and where brown..i guess these guys had dinner in there..lol.. I diden't notice they hatched till I seen they built themselves a nersery web on my desk door...*signs.. the mother starts a web for the egg sack so she can tear it open..they stay with mom for a few days then move out find a sturdy place for there own web and build..they usualy mesure 2-4f depending on the place... I diden't expect them that big till i met this clutch..

Great thing is shes still living, I though she was going to die right away like the last girl.. Should be a thread with her picks somewhere..
lol..i should stop rambling on your thread..

Crysta


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## Stefan2209 (Oct 4, 2005)

*Ancylometes*

Hi,

no the adult male i´ve seen at the show had been a very dark-brown (nearly black) colour. I know slings of Anylometes spec to be of orange colour, for that matter...

No rambling noticed from my side, feel free to post about Dolomedes spec as much as you like. While more than one Ancylometes spec is regularly available over here, i haven´t ever seen a Dolomedes spec. So i´m always hungry to learn about the differences of these two genus.

I´m especially in love with D. albineus since i once found pics of this beautiful species. You´re really glad to live in a country where these run free...

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (Oct 9, 2005)

*Next molt*

Hi all,

regarding the Ancylometes it was a quite nervous week to me. I apparently designed their boxes so well, that i came to realize i´m not able to control the slings on a regularly basis. They´re so tiny it´s pure luck to find them inside the boxes.

I once thought, i had a box where the sling died and started to look for the carcass. When i lifted the piece of moss, i realized the tiny sling had crawled beneath the moss! They´re so damn small, they fit in the smallest crevices.   After that event i didn´t try to find the other ones, as i was afraid to crush them whithout even noticing it.

From what i could observe when i got one to see was, they got quite fat. So i assumed at least they were eating. At the middle of the week i thought i could see some very dark legs on single spiders, but i wasn´t too sure about this, cause of the small size.

Todays checking of their enclosures had some nice surprise for me:







They have now something like 0,5cm legspan, still tiny, but you can see the white dots on the abdomen allready...







More of ém after the next molt...

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Sobrino (Oct 10, 2005)

It's very cool to meet a person that spider hunts, I still do. Well first of all I'll say the truth and those spiders look beautiful, I wish I had one.  I'm looking foward to seeing how they develop over the months. I bet they'll look as amazing as they look now. Oh yeah Where did you get them? Did you purchase it or was it caught? See Ya and that's all for now!


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## Anthony (Oct 11, 2005)

Those should look great in the future. Thanks for posting.


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## Stefan2209 (Oct 11, 2005)

Hey all,

thanks for the comments!

I didn´t catch the spiders myself, i bought them from a german dealer, who introduced the parents of my slings to europe.

As this species is "new" at least to the european market, i´m myself quite curious how they will develop. I´m quite concerned about mortality, but time will tell....

For the looks, they´re still very tiny, in your measurement-system they´re something like 0,2 inches legspan by now. Still a lot of growing to do...

The adult male i´ve seen looked quite boring by colouration, but the size of the spider really made up for the brown colour. This species is just brute big.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (Oct 19, 2005)

*Here we go again*

Hello,

today i found the first of the slings had done the next molt.

I´m especially happy whith this particular slings, as this had been one of the few which i was feeding "blind" since more than 10 days. I tried to make the slings as comfortable as can be in their boxes, with the drawback, that i don´t see some of them regurlarly. I numbered all boxes and over the time i came to recognize that there are some slings that i see nearly always when i´m misting and feeding them. On the other hand there are also some boxes where i haven´t seen the inhabitant for more than a week. As long as the fruitflies keep disappearing i guess they do ok however.

So today was a really good day in this matter. Not only that the first of them started to molt again, today i´ve seen each and every sling i have of this species! All are alive and seem to feed well, more than one changed colour to dark-grey which i take for an indicator for a near molt.

So far i´ve got only one loss, which was to no apparent reason and in the very first days. From 13 i got, 12 do well   

So, here we go:







The outer appearance seems unchanged but the little fella did quite some growing. Now it´s clearly visible with the naked eye that this is gonna be a spider some day...   







Now they´re 1cm legspan, 0,5cm bodysize, guess the growing will speed up from now on.

Update after the next molt.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (Oct 22, 2005)

Hey,

sorry, no new molt yet. Just thought, i´d post some better pics.



















That´s it, see you soon.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (Nov 5, 2005)

*3. Molt*

Hi again,

the first of the fishers started to molt again. There seems to be some kind of change with body-leg proportions, they look more than hunting-spiders now. Unfortunately, this means they are considerably faster than they had been before....

Enjoy:































More pics soon...

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (Nov 19, 2005)

*4. Molt*

Hi,

yepp, they´re growing fast, next molt already started...

They´re definately ot of the "baby-stage" now. They look and behave like their bigger selfes, damn are they fast   Furthermore they don´t seem to care too much about me, i really have to watch out when doing maintenance duties at their enclosures. They don´t try to attack or even to run away, but some specimen like to climb up my hands and arms as soon as they see an opportunity  

























Next update after the next molt, shouldn´t be too long...

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Anthony (Nov 19, 2005)

They are doing just great, your methods of keeping them obviously work. Please keep us updated


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## spinnekop (Nov 30, 2005)

Hi Stefan,

What temperature do you keep your Ancylo slings?
About 1,5 months ago I got 15 specimen. I keep them in a plastic container with Sphagnum moss. Humididty is about 95% and temperature 24-26°C. They measure now about 1.5 -2cm legspan.
They did well untill about 2 weeks ago. They seemed pretty healthy, active and eat very well untill they have to molt. Either they die during molt or immediately after. Even when molting went perfectly, they lay down on the moss like paralysed and ..... DIE  
I now have only 2 specimen left. I can't see any mildew and humidity must be allright since the whole enclore is wet and dampy. (humidity measured 95%). So I don't know what's happening. I have no parasites either. Could it be a bacteria infection? I am desperate ! I am wondering if you encountered strange sudden deads after molting as well? Do you have any idea what might be going wrong?
Can you show me a picture of the enclosure set-up of your slings?
Please help me.  
Vinmann has new slings available but I don't want to buy any new ones of this semi-aquatic specie untill I know what is going wrong.


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## Boris Striffler (Nov 30, 2005)

Hallo Jungs,

for a thorough ID of _Anyclometes_ you need a bit more than a shed skin. Normally you need a dead female and male, as you have to remove the hair around epigyne region and the embolic region of the bulb.

@spinnekop: I guess humidty is too high for your spiders, I keep mine in "normal" Drosophila tube with soil and do not have any problems. 
I experienced some problems with too moist kept spiderlings I was sent this summer. They were dead without any sign except very moist tissue.

Cheers,
Boris


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## Stefan2209 (Nov 30, 2005)

Hey you two,

@Spinnekop:

I had 5 Slings dead so far, got them 2 months ago. 3 of the deaths were due to bad molt, the other 2 were to no apparent reason. The 3 losses due to bad molt were to my idea caused by malnutrition. Cause of the very tiny size the slings had when i got them, i fed them fruit-flies. For 2 molts everything worked out fine, then the trouble started. I was fortune to stumble across a paper dealing with the effects of mono-type diets on the growth and survival of Lycosids. The author stated, that his findings may be equal applied to most other families as well.

The exclusive feeding of fruit-flies seems to be a bad idea, some substances needed by spiders for growing are not built in Drosophilas. The experiment he carried out brought some devastating results, the group fed only with Drosos and later with crickets had a 75% higher mortality-rate than the group fed with a bigger variety of prey items... Perhaps it might be worth a try to switch food. For me, this solution works out so far, i switched food items to different sorts of crickets and therelike, which i feed with fresh vegetables and fruits before giving it to the spiders. Since i changed prey, i had no further losses so far.

To my enclosures, you can see them on page 1 of this thread, i still keep them in the little boxes. Temperature is something around 20 to 22° Celsius, a little lower at night. 
As the boxes have no ventilation holes, i keep them at a humidity of 100%. The latest molt started yesterday evening, 3 out of 8 molted without any problems. 

@ Boris:

Good to see you on this board, too!

You´re not the only one i hear of keeping his Ancylometes way drier than i do, quite interesting to me. I have quite the opposite experience with this kind of spiders, slings can tolerate a very high humidity, but will die very soon, if it´s too low just a little bit.
With adults it´s quite a different matter, they tolerate a lower humidity way better than the youngsters do.

Damn, quite a pitty, regarding the ID íng. Would be too nice, if something in life could be simple...
Guess sooner or later there will be some dead adults, but i´d definately like them to be ID éd while still alive....

@ Everybody:

New Pics soon, the little buggers did it again....  

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Boris Striffler (Nov 30, 2005)

Hi Stefan,

see this thread I opened on Nutrition of spiders, might explain your experiences with Drosophila-diet.

If you have adult dead specimens available, just send them over, so I have a look to determine them.

Cheers,
Boris

P.S.: Do you collect molt and dates of the molting? Would be interesting to get these information.


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## spinnekop (Dec 1, 2005)

Thank you very much Stefan and Boris.

The diet might indeed be the problem. I only fed them drosophila since I got them as baby of 2mm. Drosophila was at the start the only thing they captured. Since they eat so well, I fed them drosophila untill now. 
Yesterday night my best specimen molted and was laying dead on the moss right under its molted skin. I am afraid the knowledge I have now will be too late for the one live specimen I have left. 
Nevertheless, thank you so much for your answers. I didn't know about this journal of Arachnology. Thank you for the link Boris.

Greetings,
Geert


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 1, 2005)

Hi again,

@ Boris:

Thanks for pointing out that further infos about diet-influence in spiders. While i didn´t care to much about this topic and rarely encountered any problems, the story with the Ancylometes really woke me up. (Same went with my Scytodes spiders   )

Yeah, i collect all the cast skins of my spiders, regardless the species. I only throw them away if they are severe damaged. With the dates of the molts i keep a record of the periods, that means, i write down the dates of the first specimens to molt and the last to molt. I don´t keep track with the detailed dates of every molt of every single specimen. While i used to do this in the past, the time when i got the fishers was an unfortunate one, as i had a whole bunch of tiny slings to take care for. So i had nearly every day some spider molt and got tired of it. Now, as the periods between the molts are getting bigger, i keep a closer log of it.

In this case i noticed something very interesting to me: since i switched prey not only the deaths by bad molt stopped, furthermore the periods between the molts got shorter. When i fed them Drosophilas they took something like 14-15 days. Nowadays the period is 12 days and that´s with even bigger specimen. Quite fascinating.

When i have some dead adults i´ll gladly send them towards your direction. Thanks again for the offer. I took a night of sleep over your statement about your experiences with high humidity in keeping Ancylometes, the only idea i came up with, is that this findings are species-related. As most Ancylometes in germany are sold as "A. bogotensis", which i take for wrong in many cases, i wouldn´t be too surprised to learn, there are several species which may have different tolerances to environmental settings.
To prove this theory it´d be necessary to do an ID of any specimen in germany, quite some bunch of (rather unrealistic) work. Some time ago i started collecting pics of Ancylometes specimen from different people and countries in Europe. All specimen were sold either as "A. bogotensis" or as "A. spec". I don´t know anything about colour-morphs in Ancylometes but i take it for rather unlikely that all specimens i possess pictures of are indeed all the same species....

@ Spinnekop:

I´m very sorry to hear about your losses!

As mentioned above, i had the same problem with my Scytodes specs. Everything went ok for one or two molts, than the trouble started and the spiders died during molting. I switched prey and the problems are gone, so i take this for the trigger.

The Ancylometes are to my opinion relatively easy to raise, if you give them some variety in their diet. If you have the opportunity to grab some more, give them a try and see if this works out for you.

Nevertheless i have to stress, that to my best knowledge this species hasn´t been offered before (or at least during the last years), so problems should be expected to be encountered. My spiders are apparently doing fine, but i won´t relax till they are adult, you can never know...

@ Everybody:

Pics are made and came out well, but are still to be uploaded. I will take care about this over the weekend. Watch out, they are getting bigger and turning to some strange orange-red colouration.  

Greetings,

Stefan


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## spinnekop (Dec 2, 2005)

@ Stefan,

Thanks for your comments. In fact, I had 10 scytodes slings too (purchased at the same time of the Ancylo slings). They ALL died within 3 weeks. I fed them only Drosophila as well. However, I didn't link these deads with my Ancylo slings because there's a difference. My scystodes slings died just like that. Some molted fine and did well afterwards but they just drop dead. Quite different from my Ancylo slings. They did well for more then a month and then ALL of them started to die right after molt.
The one remaining live specimen I am keeping now at room temperature to slow down its metabolism and give it more time for feeding different prey. Yesterday I gave it a Heteropoda venatoria sling (which I have abundantly for the moment). The Ancylo sling captured it immediately and eat it. I intend to feed it baby mealworm as well. Let's see if she will survive her molt....

However, I also have to say that I cultivated with success Holconia immanis and fed the slings only with drosophila and never encountered a problem.
I have my second generation and they are adult now.
Apparently, Ancylometes must be more sensitive to prey variation then Heteropodids.

Like you I am convinced that a lot of Ancylo species are sold as bogotensis although they are a different specie. 
The specie which Vinmann is offering now is definitely not bogotensis but I suspect it's a subspecie of A. rufus. One need an adult specimen to find out for sure.
I still feel disapointed because of my bad experience. The prey variation matter with my Ancylo slings is just a theorie (it make sense). But it could be something else too.
So for now, I don't buy more species. I only want to keep my remaining sling alive and share my experience.
Stefan, please keep us informed of the status with your Ancylo slings.

Greetings,
Geert


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## ilovebugs (Dec 2, 2005)

cool. I'm supprised to see your moss is doing so well. I've tried to keep most, but I always do something wrong.


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 3, 2005)

*Molt 5*

Hi again,

@ spinnekop:

I witnessed the same, some species seem to be more sensitive to nutrition as others. I raised different Cupiennius specs on Drosophila and crickets and Heteropodids and Holconias and never ever encountered problems like this.

@ Ilovebugs:

Thanks, but i really don´t earn any respect for keeping that moss alive. I just keep it very moist, not necessary for the moss itself, but for the spiders... Seems that´s all that´s needed to be done to keep this stuff going.

@ all:

Damn, they´re growing very fast now and are incredibly speedy. Had the first escapee this week. As i´m concerned about something like this happening, i use to put the box where the spider is in in a big glas-bowl, before i open it up. Well, this week this proofed to be a wise security measure. As soon as i had opened up the lid of the spider-box, the sling was out and away, luckily Anylometes can´t climb to well on very smooth surfaces, so it was an easy pickup. Would have been a different story with a Phoneutria sling...

Seems they´re turning a little bit red, note the joints:



















So much for now, really shouldn´t take too long till the next update.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## spinnekop (Dec 7, 2005)

EUREKA ! My Ancylo sling molted yesterday and she is in perfect health (active and very fast) which proves she is allright. She grew a lot (at least dubbel in size).
She eat 2 slings Heteropoda venatoria before molting but she refused to eat the mealworms I offered. Anyway, apparently food diversity is indeed the 'key'.
She is now big enough to feed on big flies and medium crickets. I will offer her anything from now on.

Thanks again Stefan and Boris ! :worship:


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## Ythier (Dec 7, 2005)

Wonderful pics Stefan :clap:


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 7, 2005)

Hey you two,

@ Spinnekop:

Glad i could help out, hope it stays this way. Yesterday my last remaining Scytodes sling molted again,too. Thankfully without any problems...
Seems indeed, that some variety in the diet is the solution to this problem.

@ Ythier

Thanks for the appreciation, Eric! I´m especially glad you like the pics, cause i enjoyed your pics of the several species from french-guyane a lot. 

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Steven (Dec 7, 2005)

yep, very nice pictures again Stefan ! :clap: 




i think i'm gonna give Thomas V. an e-mail


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 15, 2005)

*6. Molt*

Hi again,

seems growth is still speeding up. Now they´re big enough to take down medium sized prey... Guess with the next molt i´ll have to rehouse them.

This time pics of two different slings, note the slightly different colouration...

























See you next molt  

Greetings,

Stefan


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## WithCerberus (Dec 15, 2005)

great pics and great spiders. I wish that I could get my hands on a few of those. What is the body length of the ones in the pics?

peace,
Bobby


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 16, 2005)

Hi Bobby,

thanks for your kind words.

I´m pretty sure someday this genus will be offered in the US, too. 

The pictured specimen are now something like 0,6 inch bodylenght and 1,3 inch legspan. While they did some very good grwoing over the last two months, there´s still a lot of growing to do.

After their next molt, it´ll be time for some bigger setups, i´ll try to take some pics of the enclosures with the spiders in it. Should give a better idea of the size. While macro-shots are nice to look at (well, at least in my opinion), it´s really hard to estimate the size of an object.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 17, 2005)

*Feeding Time*

Hi there,

no new molt (yet ) but a brief look at the dining table :} 

Snacking on one of the remaining micro-crickets







Now, that´s some real food:







Just because there´s some bigger prey available doesn´t mean to this spiders that they have to drop what they already got...







Greetings,

Stefan


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## WithCerberus (Dec 17, 2005)

the last pic is amazing. :clap: :clap: :clap: 

peace,

Bobby


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 18, 2005)

WithCerberus said:
			
		

> the last pic is amazing. :clap: :clap: :clap:
> 
> peace,
> 
> Bobby


Thanks Bobby!

I´m having a friend in switzerland who´s keeping another Ancylometes spec. His specimen are already way bigger than my are. He´s planning to do an interesting lil experiment, feeding them fish (Guppies) soon....

I really hope, he´s gonna take pics of the outcome of this experiment, should be a sight to behold, watch out...

Greetings,

Stefan


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## galeogirl (Dec 18, 2005)

Wow, they're looking great!  Congratulations.


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## WithCerberus (Dec 18, 2005)

*can't wait to see*

That would be great to hear about that experiment and see some of those pics! I have been toying with the idea of trying feeder guppies for my mature fishing spiders recently too. I would love to get a shot like this one
www.isopoda.net/.../ Ancylometes/Dolomedes.html
Let us know how your friends experiment goes.
peace,
Bobby


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 20, 2005)

*Jlo*

Hey everybody,

reminds me on JLO, watch that ****!

Now it´s time for molting again, if they don´t change their cycle first specimen should start around friday, so watch out...













See ya soon  

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 27, 2005)

*Old homes - new homes*

Hi,

just in time for the second christmas day the first of the Ancylometes molted again. Now it´s molt no. 7 and time for some new, bigger enclosure.

To give an impression of the growing till now, today some pics of the old home and the new one...

Old one, not even 3 months in use and already too small:







New one, let´s see how fast they will outgrow from this box:







When they´re too big for the new boxes i´ll start to say goddbye to the first specimen, i´m not gonna keep all of my babies, but some breeding couples. Macros of the spiders will follow in a few days, want them to be totally coloured for comparison.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Steven (Dec 27, 2005)

looking excellent !!! :clap: :clap: :clap: 


PS:
what kind of enclosure is that new one ?


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 27, 2005)

Steven said:
			
		

> looking excellent !!! :clap: :clap: :clap:
> 
> 
> PS:
> what kind of enclosure is that new one ?


Thanks, Steven!

The new enclosures are so-called "Fauna-boxes". I bought them via the internet @ Reptilica.de. It´s the smallest size they hold, only 3,- € the box.

By the way: what about that carolina wolfies, are they doing ok?

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Steven (Dec 27, 2005)

Stefan2209 said:
			
		

> By the way: what about that carolina wolfies, are they doing ok?


they are doing OK  still all alive and well,... only not grown that much :? 
guess i need to powerfeed them some more  

if ya ever accomplish to breed these fishing spiders,... let me know when you got to much slings   
(PS: i'm still waiting for my A.bogotensis to drop an eggsac,...   )


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 27, 2005)

Hmm,

could it be, your carolina´s won´t grow too much cause they lack light? I know it sounds strange but i experienced this with my L. tarantula. I keep some of them without any artificial lighting, they eat ok but not too much and haven´t done a molt since nearly 2 months.

Two other spiders of this species i keep with artificial lighting, they don´t get any heat from the lamp but the light. They eat much more than their brothers and sisters and molt regularly. As Lycosids rely strongly to their visiual perception for hunting i wouldn´t be too surprised to learn that light may play a significant role.

I plan to keep 2 females and 2 males of this species, just waiting for them to be big enough to tell for sure.

Yeah, i´ll not only think of you if i´ll ever happen to have some offsprings, might well be i´m gonna get in touch with you when i´m looking for someone to take away my 4 "surplus" Ancylometes.  

Before you think i´m a nice guy, i´m not too thrilled about your A. bogotensis sac, but with your C. getazi and those Geolycosas that´s a different story... 

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Steven (Dec 27, 2005)

Stefan2209 said:
			
		

> Before you think i´m a nice guy,


That never crossed my mind,... don't worry


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 29, 2005)

*7. molt*

Hey again,

time for some macros. As seen in the "6. molt" post, there´s some colour difference between some specimen. This increased with the last molt, guess it´s sex-depending. As the sub-adult male which i´ve seen at the spider show had a deep-brown colouration, i guess the brown-ones will turn male and the reddish-orange ones will turn out female. Time will make sure.

I´ll start with some pics of a "supposed" male:


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 29, 2005)

*Still 7. molt*

Now some pics of a "supposed" female. By now 4 of 8 specimen have done the 7. molt, as it turned out i have exactly 2 males & 2 females, suits me right.  

From now on, all others are "surplus". ;P 

Enjoy....

























That´s it, see ya next year....  

Greetings,

Stefan


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## WithCerberus (Dec 29, 2005)

The color on the "supposed" females is beautiful. Any updates on your friend's experiment with the fish?

peace,
Bobby


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## Stefan2209 (Dec 30, 2005)

WithCerberus said:
			
		

> The color on the "supposed" females is beautiful. Any updates on your friend's experiment with the fish?
> 
> peace,
> Bobby



Hi,

no news on the "fish-experiment",yet. My buddy read this thread some days ago and told me via mail he now really needed to go get some fishes.... 

Greetings,

Stefan


----------



## Stefan2209 (Jan 21, 2006)

*8. molt*

Hi everybody,

8. molt already done on 4 out of 8 specimen. This molt was a real size-booster, the development speeded up considerably!

If they keep on growing like this, i will run out of space way sooner than i thought, so i´m not too sure, if i´m all too happy about this, but anyway it won´t change the the hard truth. This guys definately gonna to grow big...

Red colour form:













Brown colour form:







Size reference:







Sidenote: my friend in switzerland finally executed his "Guppy-experiment", the Ancylometes took down the fish with ease.   Unfortunately he wasn´t able to take pics of "the act", but before and after.

Guess when wil be the next update.... ;P 

Greetings,

Stefan

P.S. If you like this, watch out for some new species to be displayed, won´t take long....


----------



## Scolopeon (Jan 24, 2006)

they look amazing..
WOW, I spider hunt somtimes, but the spiders here arent amazing, and max out around 3-4'' on the biggest ones..


----------



## WithCerberus (Jan 25, 2006)

Very nice looking Stefan! Poor you, having to find room for all those spiders 8). Any chance of getting a shot with a ruler or some other size reference next to one of the beast? Can't wait to see the other species you will be teasing us with 8)

peace,

Bobby


----------



## Stefan2209 (Jan 26, 2006)

Hey you two,

thanks for the appreciation!  

@Ryan: Unfortunately i haven´t ever been spider-catching myself so far. Hopefully this will change later this year....
The spiders native here, aren´t as big as the Ancylometes get, the biggest native species i´ve seen around here had a little more than 3" legspan. 

@Bobby: No problem, will take some pics with a ruler inside the tank after their next molt, should start around the 6. of February...
I have to admit i´m a lil bit worried about two of my specimens, they should have molted by now, but somehow it seems, they just don´t do it. They changed colour nearly a week ago, which is a quite certain indicator for a nearing molt. They also didn´t take any prey anymore. Strangewise i´ve seen each specimen of the two on several ocassions at the "molting-bark" i put in their enclosure, but nothing happened. Both of them now have such a dark colour, i´ve never seen with any of the other specimens. I have no real clue what´s causing that, but as longer they don´t molt, the more worried i get. What´s further complicating the situation is that i have not even the slightest idea what to do to improve the situation. Guess it´s time for some improvisation so i raised the temperature in the enclosures about 2° C. Time will show, if this helps, will keep you updated on this one.

Read you soon.

Greetings,

Stefan


----------



## Stefan2209 (Feb 11, 2006)

*Molt 9*

Hey guys (and gals, of course),

before i go to the news, i´ll stick to my word and gonna give you one info: raising of the temperature had indeed been the key to my above mentioned problem. Already 4 hours after i raised the temperature the first specimen started to molt. One day later the second specimen molted,too, both with out any problems.

Ok, guess you already know what´s coming now, the buggers have molted once again. Time between molts is slowly increasing, the size-gain however is still massively increasing. They have something more than 2cm bodylength (roughly an inch) now and a something like 7-8cm legspan (3 inches more or less). 

I´ll start off with a freshly molted male for today. The molting began yesterday evening, so far only 2 specimen have molted, both males. Will turn up a second post with pics of a female, as soon as i happen to have one molted.

Now, enjoy :drool: 



















@ Bobby, this one´s for you personally:  

Sorry, couln´t find a ruler that´d fit into the enclosure, so i used a pen instead, hope this will give you the right impression,too:







That´s it for now, folks. As 3 of my 4 females are already clinging to their "molting-bark", it won´t take long till we meet again.

Greetings,

Stefan


----------



## JesseD (Feb 12, 2006)

Man,

I've only just started looking at these pics. AWESOME! I haven't taken the time to read all the thread. Around Montreal (here) I find a big species of fishing spider or someone told me it was a nursery web spider. Maybe I'll try and catch some again this year.


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## WithCerberus (Feb 12, 2006)

Great shots Stefan. Thanks for the shot with the pen. They are getting pretty massive. How many more molts do you think these buggers have to go? Good call on increasing the temps too. I'm glad that worked for you. 
peace.
Bobby


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## spinnekop (Feb 13, 2006)

Hi Stefan,
Fantastic pictures !
Your spiders seem to mature very fast. Do you think your males are adult by now or still one molt to go?
How old are they now?
I ask this question since I read somewhere that the time to mature is 8 months for Ancylometes but it seems to go faster than that.

Greetings,
Geert


----------



## Stefan2209 (Feb 13, 2006)

*Molt 9 - Female*

Hey guys,

thanks for the appreciation!  

@ Jesse: the spiders you referred to should be of the Dolomedes genus, which is quite similar to the Ancylometes by behaviour. Should be some very interesting pets,too. Also there are many threads about the keeping, breeding and raising of this species available.

@ Bobby: Thanks, man. I´m quite satisfied with their development. They have really bulked up with the last molt. That´s a very good question, you´re asking there, i´d like to know myself how many molts are still left, but unfortunately i don´t know. If their development is similar to other ctenid species it should be something like 12-15 molts all together, but that´s just a guess. Anyway, there´s still much growing to do, this species really gets big.

@ Spinnekop: No, the males are by no way adult. Since this molt i can see slightly thicker palps with the males, so i guess they´ll have at least 2 more molts to go, if not even more.
Yeah, they mature real fast, for me, warm temperatures, high humidity and qualitiy prey with as much variety as can be done is the key. I´m quite careful to believe such sayings as "species xy matures in yx months". While such statements can be true, it depends a lot of how the spiders are kept and fed.
I got my specimen at the beginning of octobre last year, they were fresh hatched at the time. So i guess they´re something between 5 and 6 months of age. Guess they´ll be mature sometime from may to july, we´ll see...

Nough said, i still owe you all some pics of a fresh-molted female. Here we go... 

























Greetings,

Stefan


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## Steven (Feb 13, 2006)

nice development Stefan ! :clap:

really :drool: pictures !


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## WithCerberus (Feb 13, 2006)

I love the orange color on the females. Great stuff. :clap: :clap: 
peace,
Bobby


----------



## Blackrose (Feb 13, 2006)

Hi guys

Here is a picture of one of my Ancylometes spec. oyapok!
I think this one is a female, or what do you think?

Greets
         Andi


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## Stefan2209 (Feb 14, 2006)

Hi Andreas,

nice to see you here,too.

Yeah, i second your opinion about the gender of the pictured spider, most def female.

But, take it with a grain of salt and give her 1-2 molts more to be sure, as i had a rather strange happening with one of my Ancylometes: had a supposed female, clearly evident by colour. From one skin to the next, she changed colours completely and now i have a definite male!

This happened with 1 specimen out of 8, so with nearly all specimen the colouration had been a quite reliable indicator, but no perfect one...

Greetings,

Stefan


----------



## Blackrose (Feb 16, 2006)

Hi

The female above molted again tonight!
Why do some of my Ancylometes have yellow stripes on the sides of their body and this one not?
Is this a female and all the others male?

Greetings
             Andi


----------



## Banshee05 (Feb 16, 2006)

Blackrose said:
			
		

> Hi
> 
> The female above molted again tonight!
> Why do some of my Ancylometes have yellow stripes on the sides of their body and this one not?
> ...


Hello!
all my ancylometes with yellow strips on the adbomen are males 
how big is he/she?!? many after some molts the colour changes.


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## Stefan2209 (Feb 16, 2006)

Hi,

Michael is right, Ancylometes specimen that show bright coloured stripes at the sides of the carapace are males. This is true for all species, but one (don´t ask me which one, as i don´t know it).

However, as i stated above you should give "supposed" females some time to grow, till you can be sure. May happen that a "supposed" female shows clearly evident "male colours" after a molt. Vice versa, i´ve never seen happen. If a specimen shows stripes, you can be to 99% sure that it´s gonna be a male.

Greetings,

Stefan


----------



## Blackrose (Feb 17, 2006)

Hi

The supposed males all have about 2cm bodylength and the supposed females all have about 2,5cm bl.
They all are A. spec. oyapok!
Does somebody of you guys have some A. spec. manaus?

Greetings
            Andi


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## Banshee05 (Feb 18, 2006)

Blackrose said:
			
		

> Hi
> 
> The supposed males all have about 2cm bodylength and the supposed females all have about 2,5cm bl.
> They all are A. spec. oyapok!
> ...


hello!
yep, i have 4 of this species, all about 1cm body now  but i have 3,1 so i must trade one male for an female.


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## Blackrose (Feb 18, 2006)

Hi

Does the water in an aquarium for an ancylometes have to be silent so that they can walk on the water or can I have a airpump in it?
Or do the bubbles of the pump cause problems for the spider?
And if the water has to be silent, than what about a filter?

Greetings
             Andi


----------



## Banshee05 (Feb 18, 2006)

Blackrose said:
			
		

> Hi
> 
> Does the water in an aquarium for an ancylometes have to be silent so that they can walk on the water or can I have a airpump in it?
> Or do the bubbles of the pump cause problems for the spider?
> ...


Hello!
interesting question. i don't have any pump/filter in ti, cause i have a lot of "springschwänze" (sorry i don't know the english name), and i change the water every 2 weeks, and i ahven't got any problem with this method till some years. but i only have small boxes at the moment. so 20x15cm. when they will be adult, i will put this box into a bigger terri. and just filled this one with water. now the whole tank is flood. i can often watch the spiders sitting in the water, completly covered with a shiny,limpid air coat, very interesting 
but i don't think that the pump will be a problem for the spiders, you can put the sluice die to the ground, so there aren't so much vibration in the tank, you understand?


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## Stefan2209 (Mar 4, 2006)

*Feeding time...*

Hi,

thought i might post some pics of my most voracious female:

Interested in eating a lil paint brush:







That´s some more acceptable prey, snacking on a roach:







Just seconds later, desperately trying to snack on 3 roaches at once:







Won´t take long till the next molt, watch out.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (Mar 25, 2006)

*10. molt*

Hi all,

i´m quite busy with some project on my job, so forgive the delays with updates :8o 

The last molts hold some very bad surprises for me, i lost one couple, the male due to bad molt, the female due to an accident prior to her molt. Even with the males that survived their molts i got some trouble, they got out with deformed legs.... 
I´m not exactly sure at the moment what´s causing this problems so there´s once more some experimentation needed.

On a more positive aspect, the females came out fine, they´re getting some serious size:

female












male












Update as always....  

Greetings,

Stefan


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## WithCerberus (Mar 25, 2006)

Sorry to hear about your losses Stefan. On the upside though the females look beautiful and very massive. I just lost my only male d.triton the other day. SO my breeding project has gone down the tubes. Hopefully your boys can finish the race. 

peace,
Bobby


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## Stefan2209 (Mar 25, 2006)

WithCerberus said:
			
		

> Sorry to hear about your losses Stefan. On the upside though the females look beautiful and very massive. I just lost my only male d.triton the other day. SO my breeding project has gone down the tubes. Hopefully your boys can finish the race.
> 
> peace,
> Bobby


Hi Bobby,

thanks for your kind words.

I have to admit i´m quite concerned if the males will make it. With one of them i´m a bit optimistic, as he´s at least eating at a normal cycle.
That´s a different story with the more severe deformed male.... While he´s still able to catch his prey, he just doesn´t seem too interested in eating... He took down 2 crickets in something like 10 days, which is of course better than nothing, but which is still far less than he should have eaten...

Your definitely right about the females, they´re pretty massive and they really compensate the unfortunate happenings with the males. They eat like no tomorrow and start to look really pretty. I´m quite confident those will make it.

I really hope at least one male will make it to adulthood, as i´d really like to start breeding this species...

Sorry to hear about your lost D. triton male. Don´t you think you´ll be able to get another one for your breeding project?

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Raqua (Mar 25, 2006)

To me it seems like it might be the time to rehousing. Are you sure they have enough room to stretch their legs ? Do not mean to offend.


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## Stefan2209 (Mar 25, 2006)

Hi,

don´t worry, i don´t feel offended, as this was my first idea,too.

However, as i started to observe them closer, i had to learn that they can indeed stretch their legs completely, just a matter of positioning. Furthermore, the one certain male that died during it´s molt tried to molt in tarantula-style: laying on it´s belly. I had inserted some piece of branch for the spiders to molt on. They´re accustomed to this since several molts. Furthermore, via the bark they can also reach the ceiling of the enclosures, more than enough space, but they just didn´t use it.  

Also one of the females did a molt in tarantula-style, she just was more lucky and got out ok.

I´m quite unsure what to make out of this, time will tell.

Nevertheless, you ´re definitely right on the enclosures, next weekend they´ll all have to move into new homes...  

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Raqua (Mar 25, 2006)

Well I experienced such bad molts with Mantids quite often. They had a lot of space but they just didn't realize it and started to molt on the worst place in their tank ... 
Good luck anyway.

How are your Lycosa tarentula doing ? I have male here, that i expect to be adult with next molt and no female for him. I would send him to breed somewhere. It's WC,  so good genes.


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## spinnekop (Apr 20, 2006)

Hi Stefan,

My Ancylo sp. Oyapok-type became an adult male 3 weeks ago (or subadult - i am not 100% sure - anyway he looks just like your pictures show) but the molt went prefectly. I use a high enclosure. When molting he hangs upside down at the cover of the enclosure so he can stretch his legs without obstactles.
If you are in need of a good male for breeding, I am willing to send you mine for free (just let me know if you have any breeding results then)

Regards
Geert


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## Scolopendra55 (Apr 21, 2006)

Gorgeous spider (wow they grow fast)!! How much did you pay for the babies?


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## Stefan2209 (Apr 29, 2006)

Raqua said:
			
		

> Well I experienced such bad molts with Mantids quite often. They had a lot of space but they just didn't realize it and started to molt on the worst place in their tank ...
> Good luck anyway.
> 
> How are your Lycosa tarentula doing ? I have male here, that i expect to be adult with next molt and no female for him. I would send him to breed somewhere. It's WC,  so good genes.


Hi,

sorry for the late reply, i´m quite busy with my job over the last weeks. :8o 

Yeah, that´s why i´m so worried about the bad moltings, they had enough space, nevertheless, they got out deformed... I transfered them to bigger enclosures by now, but have to admit, i´m quite concerned regarding the next molt.

Thanks for the offer of the L. tarantula male! Unfortunately my specimen are still way too small for mating. My biggest specimen has just some 1,5 cm body-lenght and some 3cm legspan, so there´s still much growing to be done.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (Apr 29, 2006)

spinnekop said:
			
		

> Hi Stefan,
> 
> My Ancylo sp. Oyapok-type became an adult male 3 weeks ago (or subadult - i am not 100% sure - anyway he looks just like your pictures show) but the molt went prefectly. I use a high enclosure. When molting he hangs upside down at the cover of the enclosure so he can stretch his legs without obstactles.
> If you are in need of a good male for breeding, I am willing to send you mine for free (just let me know if you have any breeding results then)
> ...


Hi Geert,

good news on your male, nice to hear that he made it so far!

If he´s anywhere similar in growth to my specimen, i´d guess he has still two molts to go. The palps have bulked up quite some with the last male, but that hasn´t to mean to much with spiders that grow to that big sizes.

I really hope that i´ll have some healthy males with the next molt, but i really can´t be too sure about that, so thanks in advance for your offer! Guess in one or two weeks i´ll be able to tell if my males will make it or not, they´re more than due for molting. I´m more and more sure that this kind of troubles is related to the giant-size this spiders reach, i heard reports of similar problems with another "Oyapok-species", the P. fera´s....

The problems with the P. fera´s apparently start at just the same size my Ancylometes males have now. Needless to say that the P. fera´s are said to grow at least just as big as the Ancylometes.

However, i´ve invested just too much time and work to give up now, there has to be a way, there´s always a way...

Take care and thanks again!

Greetings,

Stefan


----------



## Stefan2209 (Apr 29, 2006)

Scolopendra55 said:
			
		

> Gorgeous spider (wow they grow fast)!! How much did you pay for the babies?


Hi,

i have to admit, i can´t tell you for sure, what *I* paid for the slings, as it was a mixed trade-deal.

If you opt to buy them for cash only the price had been 5,- € for a single sling or 5 Slings for 20,- €.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (Apr 30, 2006)

*11. molt*

Hi all,

i have to admit i was quite surprised this morning when i had to learn that just my smallest female was first to start the molting-cycle with this one. She had always been the last of the fishers to molt, now she changed place to be the first...

However, to me the most important point is that everything went as smooth as could be!  

Now i hope the other specimen will come through their molts just as good as this little girl.

Enjoy...



















I really hope i´ll soon have some healthy, freshly-molted males of this species to show off to you...

Greetings,

Stefan


----------



## Gigas (Apr 30, 2006)

She's grown quickly.. they are seriously gorgeous, what are you feeding them on?


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## CopperInMyVeins (May 17, 2006)

These spiders look amazing, it was great to follow them through all those molts with this thread, I would love to try keeping them myself, but I doubt their available in the US yet.  Funny enough, the first hunting spider I ever kept was a local (New York State) species of fishing spider that I caught while on a camping trip about 10 years ago, probably Dolomedes, based on what I know now.  I kept it for a few weeks and fed it crickets, then released it again.  In some ways these kinds of spiders interest me even more than tarantulas, a lot of that has to do with their well developed eyes.  Does anyone know of a dealer in the US that sells either Ancylometes, or similar spiders?


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## Scolopendra55 (May 19, 2006)

Is she full grown now?


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## Stefan2209 (May 21, 2006)

Hi all,

got some rather dis-satisfying news regarding this species, they´re apparently already adult!  

Why i dislike that is, that they were supposed to grow way bigger, so i take this for some kind of let down! 

However, there´s rarely ever a let down, that won´t hold any chances in the very same moment, on a more positive aspect means this, that i can start breeding of this species anytime i want. I got two adult couples + one additional male...

Started to feed them as much as they want to already a few days ago, guess i´ll try to mate them on following thursday....

@ Scolopendra55:

Guess your Q is answered already.  

@ CopperInMyVeins

Thanks for the appreciation!
Donno, if they´re available in the US already. If not, it´ll just be a matter of time, till this changes, as they are quite common available in europe. Sooner or later there´s gonna be a trade of some kind, that will introduce this genus to the US.

@ Gigus

I fed them on a variety of prey items: starting with fruit flies, over micro-crix, a great variety of different cricket species and finally some roaches.

For the last time, some pics of the adult female:

















and the adult male:

















Gonna keep you updated how the mating goes....

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Gigas (May 21, 2006)

bit of a dissapointment for you there stefan but still they are beautiful ad the male has some interesting colouring, did th person you bought them from not have any adults?


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## Stefan2209 (May 21, 2006)

Gigus said:
			
		

> bit of a dissapointment for you there stefan but still they are beautiful ad the male has some interesting colouring, did th person you bought them from not have any adults?


Hi,

that´s exactly the question, which answer i´m right now major-interested in!

I had seen adults of an Ancylometes spec., that were displayed when i bought the slings, now i´m guessing if that were the "parents" of my species or if it had been specimen of another species.

If it was another species, it´s fine with me.

If it´s the same species, why had my and even the specimen of some other keepers turned out way smaller? It´s a known fact, that wild-caughts often outgrow cb´s, but this size-difference is just too much.

What´s further more irritating: if it had been another species, that had been portrayed as adults, why did the male exactly look like my males, just much bigger?

How likely would it be for two species living in the same habitat, looking exactly the same, but to have some major-size differences as only clue to keep them apart? Can´t be ruled out so far, but not all too likely to my taste.

Should still be an interesting topic over the next months. If i have indeed done something wrong with my method of raising them, i´ll have the opportunitiy to find a better working way, as soon as i have slings again...

Greetings,

Stefan


----------



## spinnekop (May 23, 2006)

Hi Stefan,

I experienced the same thing with my male. He died one week ago and he was definitely already adult (dispite your prediction it would still have 2 molts to go). The bodylenght is 2cm so I was a bit disappointed too but the color of the spider made everything OK for me since they are very beautifull anyway. 
I know the size difference of adult specimen can vary a lot.
I am sure you know about following report...
www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v30_n1/arac-030-01-0146.pdf
The prosoma lenght of adult A. rufus varied between 9mm to 22mm and body weight difference of a factor 10 ! As main reason for this variation, the food supply during their development was pointed.
Maybe they need a specific diet ?
On the other hand, you might be right, since everybody who bought the slings of this specie around the same time experience small adult size.... It also made me wondering. 
Personaly I think this story is fascinating. Maybe they truly need a food they didn't got in captivity ????

Don't give up on these! I think the final word has not been spoken yet.:?


----------



## Gigas (May 23, 2006)

spinnekop said:
			
		

> Maybe they need a specific diet


Did any one even try feeding them fish?


----------



## Stefan2209 (May 23, 2006)

Hi Gert,

thanks for your kind words!

Sorry to hear about the death of your male, seems they don´t live too long as adults. 

I´m definitely not going to give up so easy, i just invested to much time, emotions and efforts in this species. Nevertheless it was a big let down to me, when i had to learn they were adult already.

Since last week i´m following different traces about this strange "dwarf-growth" and came to a very similar conclusion so far: there had to be some factors, that we (i refer to all keepers of this species, i´ve talked to so far) just didn´t know.

Personally, i´m mainly opting in one direction: perhaps it might be worth a try to keep them around 30 - 35° C. I´ve kept mine around 20 - 25°, which worked, but they´re small.
Talked to some other keepers, that had around 28°, worked,too. Nevertheless the spiders were quite small.

Prey items: i can´t rule this so out so far, but i just don´t take it for too likely, that it´s prey-depending. I have never given any other species such a great variety of prey items, but it just didn´t work.
I´d follow the idea of feeding fish, but in the JOA archives (by the way, thanks for the PDF, you were right, i know it already, but haven´t checked in some time) i found a file stating, that the feeding of a Dolomedes species with fishes resultated in smaller specimen...
Don´t know, if this is true for Ancylometes, too, but i ´d keep this as a "last chance"-attempt.

You´re most def right in my opinion: the last word isn´t spoken on this subject. I learned a lot over the last years, i´ll learn how to bring them up to bigger sizes in the future, i´ve no doubt.

First step to accomplish this, will be the "production" of offsprings, which i´m gonna start at the weekend.
Should this be successfull i´ll have enough "material to experiment" how to make it better.

Even if the growth-period is unfortunately over for now, i´ll definitely keep you updated about this creepies.  

Greetings,

Stefan


----------



## Gigas (May 23, 2006)

If they were fed fish, i would suggest ones that had been raised in rain water, less chlorine and other chemicals (depending where  you live this may not be the case) than tap water which i can imagine could stunt growth.
has a large specimen ever been raised in captivity? could water quality be affecting this species in captivity?


----------



## Stefan2209 (May 24, 2006)

Gigus said:
			
		

> If they were fed fish, i would suggest ones that had been raised in rain water, less chlorine and other chemicals (depending where  you live this may not be the case) than tap water which i can imagine could stunt growth.
> has a large specimen ever been raised in captivity? could water quality be affecting this species in captivity?


Hi,

feeding fish can´t be the only solution, in my opinion, as the spiders can take down fishes just from a certain size on. So what to feed them while they are still smaller....

This species had been re-introduced last year to europe. Through background research i found some hints that make me think, that this spiders are indeed Ancylometes rufus.
However, as no dead specimen have been analysed yet, to my knowledge, this is just a personal opinion.

If this should proof to be true, the answer to your question is: yes, they have been raised in captivity in europe at the end of the 90´s.

Take a look at this page:

Francesco´s HP

The shown spiders resembles this species to 100%, so apparently they´ve not only been raised, but bred also. However, the mentioned sizes of those spiders are still less compared top the wc i´ve seen.
I´m not interested in getting them "a tad" bigger, i want this creepies to reach their full potential. Talk about 7-8" legspan, as the adults that were displayed.

Guess this will be a hard piece of work, but if nature can manage this, i see no reason why this task should be impossible to accomplish in captivity.

Greetings,

Stefan


----------



## Gigas (May 24, 2006)

So im guessing fish is the way to go, and small water body for them to chill in, maybe large size is an enviromental dimorphism in this species? much like gouramis grow bigger in deeper water or something( i know its a fish but you get the jist)


----------



## Stefan2209 (May 24, 2006)

Gigus said:
			
		

> So im guessing fish is the way to go, and small water body for them to chill in, maybe large size is an enviromental dimorphism in this species? much like gouramis grow bigger in deeper water or something( i know its a fish but you get the jist)


Hi again,

"guessing" is exact THE word for now.

You´re most def right, might be that this are the crucial factors. Might well be, there are even some other factors taking their toll at the size, who knows for sure...

Will start with the pdf spinnekop posted, i have it since years, but apparently have concentrated more on the data´s about Phoneutria than Ancylometes.
So i will read it again and see, if i can find any loose ends to start working with. If i shouldn´t come up with new ideas after i read it again, i´ll give my very own idea a try and just keep them at higher temperatures.

Guess there will be some more hobbyists,that will try other methods, so one can concentrate on just one method at a time.

Right now i´m in contact with some other guys regarding the raising of P. nigriventer slings. Works well, should work with the Ancylometes, too....

At least there´s one person here in europe who had been known for raising spiders to just "impossible" sizes. If nothing should work, i´d reside to get in touch with him and ask for help.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (May 26, 2006)

Hi,

i´ll have to apologize in advance, for the extreme bad picture quality, but i guess, you get the point...  







Now it´s sit and wait, fingers crossed!

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Gigas (May 26, 2006)

Lol bondage spider time, hope the mating is succesful


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## Stefan2209 (May 26, 2006)

Gigus said:
			
		

> Lol bondage spider time, hope the mating is succesful


Hi Gigus,

LOL, perhaps i should have them supplied with some spanking tools, too... 

Fingers crossed! Gonna keep you updated how they´ll do.

Still have another couple ready to mate!

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (May 17, 2007)

Hi there,

this is NOT the end.

Clues get dense and even more dense that the pictured species may indeed be Ancylometes rufus.

Apparently most, if not all attempts of breeding with the captive raised specimen from last year have failed.

However, just now i started a new attempt, with two wc specimen from Peru. Everything went as smooth as one just can wish.

Fingers crossed!

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Blaster (May 17, 2007)

Gosh, good luck! And I keep my fingers crossed all the time. Keep us informed!


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## sammyp (May 17, 2007)

Stefan2209 said:


> Hi,
> 
> feeding fish can´t be the only solution, in my opinion, as the spiders can take down fishes just from a certain size on. So what to feed them while they are still smaller....


Depending on the spiders natural breeding cycle and what species of fish they normally prey on, they might be able to start with the fry of small fish (some of these are really tiny) and work their way up? 

It does seem a bit of a fussy way for nature to take it's course though. Maybe try them on some guppy fry?

Good luck with them. I'll be interested to hear how the slings progress.


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## Stefan2209 (May 18, 2007)

Hi there,

thanks for the comments, especially for the ideas regarding feeding.

I have to admit, i´m not concerned abou that anymore, as i have now plenty of experience with the raising of fresh hatched ctnids, in some species even with way smaller specimen than those Ancylometes.

If you take a peek into the other Ancylometes thread, you´ll find a much smaller species of course this is true for their offsprings, too.
Nevertheless that offsprings are capable to take down micro - cricktes from the very first day on. No need to deal with drosos or something like this.

Just wait until they get hungry...  

The mating of the shown Ancylometes was next to ideal and both spiders shared one tank for the night, without any problems, i could just catch out the male again.
The female, however, killed three adult crickets during the night, even though she has just eaten some three more cricktes just two days ago and had been fat even before that. Guess she´s up to something...

Gonna try to snap some pics of the female later in the day.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## lychas (May 18, 2007)

are these the spiders you see wading across the water? in aust there are some loacal ones and wanna know how to keep them


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## Stefan2209 (May 18, 2007)

lychas said:


> are these the spiders you see wading across the water? in aust there are some loacal ones and wanna know how to keep them


Hi,

you´re locals are not of the genus that is portrayed here, as Ancylometes is only known to occur in Central- and South-America.

Maybe you´re dealing with Dolomedes or even another Pisaurid, some Lycosids are also known to be very adapted to water, so you´ll have to check about what you are dealing with in detail.

Keeping of adult specimen, regardless if Ancylometes or Dolomedes, shouldn´t be that difficult. The raising of young specimen however can be a different story if you haven´t got experience with this.

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (May 19, 2007)

Hi there,

here we go with the announced pics:

Adult, WC female of Ancylometes spec. "Iquitos 1, Peru"
(Possibly A. rufus, not confirmed, yet, though)







Size comparison, massive, yes, but not as big as this species can get







Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (May 30, 2007)

Hi,

well, no offsprings yet.

But at least i now have a big fat sac from my Peruvian lady...  

Fingers crossed!

Greetings,

Stefan


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## Stefan2209 (Jul 15, 2007)

Stefan2209 said:


> Hi,
> 
> well, no offsprings yet.
> 
> ...


Hi there,

.... by now there have more than 200 offspring hatched, already two weeks ago.    

The small ones are already spread across Europe and are doing fine, taking down micro - crickets fresh from the start.

Still not too much to see, though...







(Just if you´re asking yourself: yeah, they can indeed take down cricktes that size shown in the pic.)

Have a nice sunday!

Greetings,

Stefan


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## dtknow (Jul 28, 2007)

I bet in the wild they probably eat a lot of small frogs/lizards.


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## emperor (Apr 17, 2008)

hi, 
I've been reading this thread with alot of interest!!! so much to learn and from all your experiences, and i'm very grateful
the pictures are beautiful too.
i've just obtained a number of A bogotensis (i know there is some doubt about that) slings...they are maybe a cm or less in some, and a few are bigger.

i am going to attempt my first feeding tonight on the tiny crickets i currently have, and keep them warm and moist.

i have a couple of questions, pardon them if they are stupid ones lol:

one, has anyone tried bloodworms? i don't know anything about them, only that my newts love them. they appear to be good nutritional value, my main concern is how attracted the spiders would be to them.

two, since they are tiny, is it safe to provide a "pool" for them, with moss to climb out? i ask because i'm not sure at what age they should be given a swimming area and also the bloodworm (if it's not a bad idea to try them) are obviously better dissolved in water. i don't know at what age this spider is able to trap air around it.

if no one has tried, is there any reason this would be a bad idea?

thanks in advance, i'm hoping to raise as many as i can to maturity. of the 20 i bought, i am keeping 10, i think...giving the other 10 away to some friends i have.


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