# Banana spiders?



## Venom (Nov 20, 2004)

My mom was handling a bunch of bananas yesterday, and discovered an eggsac attached to one of the fruits. She accidentally smeared it open, and after showing it to me, I found that many of the slings were still alive! i have them now in a film canister covered with a gauze lid, and a piece of moist tissue paper for water. Anyway, I wanted to ask how likely it is that these may have been imported from the country of the banana's origin, and how would I raise them from such a tiny size? They are specks.


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## Adnan (Nov 20, 2004)

If you post a picture of the eggsac, I can tell you if it is from a Banana spider...


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## misfitsfiend (Nov 20, 2004)

It's possible, but not likely. If they are, then you are one lucky man.


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## Heartfang (Nov 21, 2004)

Oh my god!!!!  Kill them!!!  They could be the eggs of the Brazillian Wandering Spider, the most venomous spider in the world.  They are commonly found in bananas impoted from brazil( of course) and there have been a few cases of banana pickers being bitten and dying from the bites!!!  I say you Kill them immediatly!!


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## Adnan (Nov 21, 2004)

Here is one pic of the eggsac of my Banana Spider (Phoneutria nigriventer). It´s quite large, close to 1,6 inch of diameter.


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## Adnan (Nov 21, 2004)

Heartfang said:
			
		

> Oh my god!!!!  Kill them!!!  They could be the eggs of the Brazillian Wandering Spider, the most venomous spider in the world.  They are commonly found in bananas impoted from brazil( of course) and there have been a few cases of banana pickers being bitten and dying from the bites!!!  I say you Kill them immediatly!!


Hummm, not so powerfull... Typically, they can kill only childreen or old people.


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## El Johano (Nov 21, 2004)

Don't kill them, if you have second thoughts about keeping them (if they are Phoneutria sp. that is...), sell them or give them to someone with experience.


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## Crotalus (Nov 21, 2004)

El Johano said:
			
		

> Don't kill them, if you have second thoughts about keeping them (if they are Phoneutria sp. that is...), sell them or give them to someone with experience.


If they hatch the slings are not dangerous for you. And most likely they will die before reaching a size when they can do harm.

Picture: a P. nigriventer with eggsack.

/Lelle


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## Venom (Nov 23, 2004)

I appreciate the replies! I will try to get a picture of the spiderlings soon, and email it to ya if that's ok. But does anyone know how to rear these things? They're quite small, but if they are Phoneutria I'd like to be able to keep them alive.


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## Scylla (Nov 23, 2004)

Maybe day old crickets??


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## Crotalus (Nov 23, 2004)

Venom said:
			
		

> I appreciate the replies! I will try to get a picture of the spiderlings soon, and email it to ya if that's ok. But does anyone know how to rear these things? They're quite small, but if they are Phoneutria I'd like to be able to keep them alive.


Search for Phoneutria here on AB and you will find some info.

/Lelle


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## WhyTeDraGon (Nov 23, 2004)

unfort. I can't offer you any info on this...but I would love to see the pic. 

Could someone post it for him once he's emailed it so we can all see? Perhaps?


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## Angelo (Nov 23, 2004)

i find those little buggers in my bananas all the time, but since im so tough i just eat them along with the banana. if your into banana fritters, the eggsacks give the fried finished product a marvelous texture. 

...yah just kidding. if you live in the states, i doubt they'll ever make it to the age of being possibley dangerous. but hey, if your careful, you might as well keep it. BTW those are awesome pics. looks beastly!


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## Venom (Nov 29, 2004)

Here's what they looked like straight from the eggsac. Some of the slings have molted since these pics were taken, and have developed into longer-legged, slimmer bodied versions, and are active, and good climbers. I will try to get an updated pic later, but do these look like post-embryonic phoneutria to you?

Reactions: Like 1


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## spidersrainbow (Apr 23, 2010)

Venom said:


> My mom was handling a bunch of bananas yesterday, and discovered an eggsac attached to one of the fruits. She accidentally smeared it open, and after showing it to me, I found that many of the slings were still alive! i have them now in a film canister covered with a gauze lid, and a piece of moist tissue paper for water. Anyway, I wanted to ask how likely it is that these may have been imported from the country of the banana's origin, and how would I raise them from such a tiny size? They are specks.


Aren't they also refferred to as Brazillian Wandereing spider's? Fully grown they r yellow in color an aggressive nature but truely a beautiful specimen indeed. wanting to learn all I can.


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## Widowman10 (Apr 23, 2010)

since this was brought up, i am kinda interested.

so venom, whatever happened to those? did you end up rearing any, or did you start a follow-up thread?


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## Venom (Apr 23, 2010)

Unfortunately, none of them lived to see the next molt. They wouldn't eat the pinheads I provided, and I may have been keeping them too moist. I'm not totally sure why they died. If I ever find another egg-sac on my bananas, I'll do things differently.


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## cacoseraph (Apr 23, 2010)

Venom said:


> If I ever find another egg-sac on my bananas, I'll do things differently.


GL!

i can't imagine it is a hobbyist who gets to a banana sac (that sounds... bad!) first, too often


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## Widowman10 (Apr 23, 2010)

dang, that sucks.


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## Protectyaaaneck (Apr 23, 2010)

Did you ever find out if they were indeed phoneutria?


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## Louise E. Rothstein (Apr 12, 2012)

Larval springtails are smaller than pinheads.
Mites are smaller than larval springtails.
Had you found out in time they might have survived.

Wonder what they would have been...?


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## tmcv (Apr 12, 2012)

Sorry man those are note Phoneutria sp....
They born entire black...

And the venom is not that powerfull!!! Yes can kill a children, but not regular adults with no pre-existent disease...


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## Ciphor (Apr 12, 2012)

EDIT: Totally did not notice this was an old thread lol


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## Venom (Apr 12, 2012)

Yeah, it's pretty old! I still wish I knew what species they were though...


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## Ciphor (Apr 12, 2012)

Venom said:


> Yeah, it's pretty old! I still wish I knew what species they were though...


They remind me of spitting spiders in the family Scytodidae. Carapace definitely has some noticeable elevation matching this family, also the leg banding, coloration, and eye arrangement seem consistent with this family.

If I was a gambling man, I'd bet chips on it 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/janine-white/34544176/in/photostream/

Compare with the photos on page 1. Egg sac description sounds consistent as well.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Venom (Apr 17, 2012)

Wow, I would never have thought... Thanks for that!

Those do look very similar! Question is...were they Brazilian Scytodids, or was the sac laid in the US?


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## Tarantula_Hawk (Apr 17, 2012)

I'm sure those spiderlings aren't young _Scytodes_. Eggsac description is completely inconsistent with this family. Scytodidae lay several eggs which are then covered by a few strands of silk (spherical eggsac) and carried at all times by the mothers chelicerae (similiarly to what happens with Pholcidae).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23660854@N07/4563171885/lightbox/
Additionally at that postembryonic stage legs are a lot more slimmer. Prosoma is not so elevated as it should be and eye arrangement doesn't correspond in my opinion (i believe those are 8 eyes). The prosomal pattern is also not typical of scytodids. 

Those spiderlings definitely look like postembryonic ctenids to me, considering your eggsac description. Anyways it's hard to tell. Too bad all of them died. 

PS: Ciphor the picture you linked is actually an _Oecobius _sp. (Oecobiidae).


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## Ciphor (Apr 17, 2012)

Tarantula_Hawk said:


> I'm sure those spiderlings aren't young _Scytodes_. Eggsac description is completely inconsistent with this family. Scytodidae lay several eggs which are then covered by a few strands of silk (spherical eggsac) and carried at all times by the mothers chelicerae (similiarly to what happens with Pholcidae).
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/23660854@N07/4563171885/lightbox/
> Additionally at that postembryonic stage legs are a lot more slimmer. Prosoma is not so elevated as it should be and eye arrangement doesn't correspond in my opinion (i believe those are 8 eyes). The prosomal pattern is also not typical of scytodids.
> 
> ...


Thats crazy you can determine genre at such an early stage, I'd only be able to guess.


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## John Apple (Apr 18, 2012)

looked very similiar to the boliviensis I raised...got three from a very reputable dealer  {ken] and raised them up...allturned out to be males and are frozen iaway for posterity....
raising them from slings was as a matter of fact rather easy, no real secret I just fed them baby steatoda and parasteatoda till they got a lil bigger


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## Tarantula_Hawk (Apr 18, 2012)

Ciphor said:


> Thats crazy you can determine genre at such an early stage, I'd only be able to guess.


Where you referring to the _Oecobius_?


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## Ciphor (Apr 18, 2012)

Tarantula_Hawk said:


> Where you referring to the _Oecobius_?


Well, kinda in general. You sound very confident in your choice, I just dont see that often with true spider slings. A friend told me, "_fun to guess, funny to see them mature and how wrong you are_"

Different people have different experiences tho, and I think its cool if you are pretty knowledgeable on sling IDing, because I might just use your knowledge for a couple sacs Im waiting on right now


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## cacoseraph (Apr 19, 2012)

looks like an Oecobiidae to me, too. they don't really change all that much, relatively, from sling to adult, imo/ime


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