# CB Liphistius ornatus - 2 year summary and videos



## Ambly (Jan 15, 2017)

Hello all,

Here are some pictures and videos of my Liphistius ornatus, all are captive bred spiderlings from the same brood besides the one adult shown in the video!  They are doing well so I hope to begin carefully distributing them when weather permits.  I have actively and passively been rehoming and distributing them into ten gallons (containing up to 10 individuals depending on size).  I will add a brief summary on keeping them soon.  I have learned a lot!  

I love these things... far from a pet hole.  The videos don't do them justice.  Some of these things, even the adult female at times, have lines up to 3 inches long and launch themselves a great distance for food.

Enjoy!

Adult female - 2Chainz - feeding on cricket





Spiderlings catching fruitflies





Spiderling catching fruitflies





Subadult catching a cricket

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## basin79 (Jan 15, 2017)

Thanks for sharing. Love these.

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## schmiggle (Jan 15, 2017)

I was wondering when we'd see more of these. They jump so far! I'm used to waiting for a cricket to practically walk over the top of a trapdoor spider's hole, but I guess these got impatient

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## Ranitomeya (Jan 15, 2017)

The tank full of babies is adorable. It's like a minefield for feeders.
I have two adult females I've raised from little spiderlings and I'm hoping to find males for them so I can breed them one day to set up colonies.

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## Ambly (Jan 16, 2017)

Ranitomeya said:


> The tank full of babies is adorable. It's like a minefield for feeders.
> I have two adult females I've raised from little spiderlings and I'm hoping to find males for them so I can breed them one day to set up colonies.


  nice name! I'm a frog man myself. I did have another mature into a male but I don't think it bred successfully.  I'd like to see others breeding these so happy to help where I can


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## pannaking22 (Jan 16, 2017)

Wow, such a cool project and thanks for updating us on how it has been going! Might have to pick a few of these up when you're able to ship, space permitting lol.

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## Ambly (Jan 17, 2017)

While I've got your attention, I could use your collective input:

When I begin selling them, I would like to ensure they're going to a good place.  Is it too much to ask to see a picture of their setup before selling?

I understand there are likely many good ways to keep these spiders and I would provide suggestions, with pictures, for creating a setup for them.  I do not want to discourage folks from being creative or trying their own methods of keeping, but I do want to ensure the approximate 50 to 75 that I might be letting go do not dry up and die within 1 year!  It can happen to the best of us.


Sean

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## pannaking22 (Jan 17, 2017)

Ambly said:


> While I've got your attention, I could use your collective input:
> 
> When I begin selling them, I would like to ensure they're going to a good place.  Is it too much to ask to see a picture of their setup before selling?
> 
> ...


I'd say that's well within your rights as the seller to see that sort of thing. Just put it in your ToS and you should be good. With such a rare species, and one with much different keeping requirements, it's definitely for the best interest of the hobby for them to keep going. And no one would want to buy a specimen that's just going to up and die on them anyway. I think as long as you're willing to be helpful when it comes to enclosure set up and understand that not everyone will provide that perfect enclosure, you can be a little picky with who you sell to.

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## Spiderbakesale (Jan 18, 2017)

This is so cool! I could never have one (they're so fast) but I love watching them. Thanks for the videos!

(And it's entirely acceptable to ask for a setup pic before sending, you've put tons of work into this! And they're living critters!)

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## basin79 (Jan 20, 2017)

Ambly said:


> While I've got your attention, I could use your collective input:
> 
> When I begin selling them, I would like to ensure they're going to a good place.  Is it too much to ask to see a picture of their setup before selling?
> 
> ...


It's definitely not too much to ask to see where they're going to. Definitely not. 

Well played for taking that attitude.

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## Tony (Jan 22, 2017)

been wanting to pick these up for years... Every time they come up, I am on AB tooo late...
PM me!!

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## Ambly (Jan 24, 2017)



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## Ambly (Jan 24, 2017)

top to bottom:  1 - 2Chainz, mother of brood.  2 - endoscope shot from a burrow left by a male that I expected to be uninhabited.  3-subadult, 4-spiderling**, 5-subadult

** Note the size disparity.  I think this is limited to food capture and that the smaller spiders are just as healthy, but not as rapidly growing.  For this reason, I have been actively and passively rehoming them into enclosures with only a few spiders so I can better monitor their growth. 

They're very beautiful and active spiders.  Babies are grey or brown with bands on the legs.  They retain this coloration until the size of picture 3 and the following molt or two will bring them deep reds and purples in the legs.  This is a hobby for me, just for fun, and many other things I love occupy my time - but I would like to create a spreadsheet and monitor several to see if there is any easily observed sexual dimorphism or traits (physical, behavioral, etc.) that might suggest male.  I had a hunch about both of my males prior to their maturity, but I can't put my finger on why.

Hope you enjoy.


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## Tony (Jan 25, 2017)

love em!


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## Ambly (Jan 31, 2017)

Thank you, Tony.  Working on a care sheet / notes on my experience with keeping that I hope will be useful for those keeping Liphistids in the future! When weather warms I'll begin shipping some out


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## Tony (Jan 31, 2017)

I'm in for some liphistiid pet holes!

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## Aphonopelma81 (Feb 25, 2017)

I know this thread is a little old but....I've sold CB Sphodros,Ummidia and Cyclocosmia slings and spent hours  communicating to the potential buyers about proper setup, step by step.  About half in a weeks would contact me complaint about the slings death. I always asked about their setup and it was always wrong, nothing like I discussed with them. And a lot of the time they would say " well I've kept the red African type before fir a while( awhile to slit of the buyers was a few months)" I really wish I thought of asking for setup pics before I sold them . I think it's a great idea! I will start to do that now 
James

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## Ambly (Mar 23, 2017)

Ranitomeya said:


> The tank full of babies is adorable. It's like a minefield for feeders.
> I have two adult females I've raised from little spiderlings and I'm hoping to find males for them so I can breed them one day to set up colonies.


Still looking for a pairing?


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## ReignofInvertebrates (Mar 24, 2017)

I've never seen these before!  Now I really want some!


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## Ambly (Mar 24, 2017)

They are certainly entertaining.  I'm selling some but even my non invert friends (musicians, rugby players and what not) love them and have taken some of my little 10gal colonies to watch when I am overseas!  They call it "carnage" when they feed them and sometimes even pick me up crickets... and they never ask me to overfeed just so they can watch.

I see these things flipping their lids, working on them, throwing dirt, etc. pretty constantly - even from my peripherals.  Had em 2 years and I am still constantly entertained.


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## Ratmosphere (Mar 24, 2017)

Beautiful spiders!


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## Ranitomeya (Mar 24, 2017)

Ambly said:


> Still looking for a pairing?


Yes! I have one mature female and the other is probably still a subadult since it's still smaller and not nearly as vibrantly colored. I just rehoused them after well over a year of being in the same substrate--it was starting to break down a little towards the bottom and smell slightly sour with the constant moisture. They were starting to create burrows, abandon them, and create new ones and I have a feeling the breakdown of the substrate was the reason for it.

I've been using a mixture of coconut fiber, sand, and peat. I used more coconut fiber this time around since peat breaks down faster when used as a component of substrate. I thought about using clay in their substrate, but it's more difficult to gauge the moisture level with clay and very easy to add too much water if there's no drainage in the enclosure.

Here's a picture of the larger female. I purchased her as a little spiderling nearly two and a half years ago.

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## Tony (Mar 24, 2017)

I'm still in


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## Ambly (Mar 25, 2017)

Ranitomeya said:


> Yes! I have one mature female and the other is probably still a subadult since it's still smaller and not nearly as vibrantly colored. I just rehoused them after well over a year of being in the same substrate--it was starting to break down a little towards the bottom and smell slightly sour with the constant moisture. They were starting to create burrows, abandon them, and create new ones and I have a feeling the breakdown of the substrate was the reason for it.
> 
> I've been using a mixture of coconut fiber, sand, and peat. I used more coconut fiber this time around since peat breaks down faster when used as a component of substrate. I thought about using clay in their substrate, but it's more difficult to gauge the moisture level with clay and very easy to add too much water if there's no drainage in the enclosure.
> Thanks for sharing!


She is beautiful.  Can you share with me her setup here or privately?  I'd like to see her trap. Your substrate looks good and you are right about the clay - hard to gauge moisture.  Mine have been to clay heavy and I am still working on my substrate.  How well does your substrate hold form?  Do they throw out balls of it?  Clay can be hard to get - if your alternative is working well that's great news.


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## Ranitomeya (Mar 25, 2017)

Ambly said:


> She is beautiful.  Can you share with me her setup here or privately?  I'd like to see her trap. Your substrate looks good and you are right about the clay - hard to gauge moisture.  Mine have been to clay heavy and I am still working on my substrate.  How well does your substrate hold form?  Do they throw out balls of it?  Clay can be hard to get - if your alternative is working well that's great news.


Her setup is nothing fancy, just a medium-sized Kritter Keeper filled up with substrate with a slope from one corner to the other. I don't heat their enclosures directly. I keep their enclosures in a larger bin that has a water reservoir and some eggcrate and heat from below with a heat pad so that they get warm, humid air and the substrate doesn't dry out from bottom or side heat.

Her new burrow in the fresh substrate is to the right of the bottom center. She's able to burrow without collapses and is able to toss balls of it around--you can see a couple large bundles of substrate as well as loose substrate from her excavation. The darker bits of substrate towards the top is some of her old substrate that got dropped in when I was coaxing her out of the old stuff--it was the same color as the fresh substrate a year ago.

Here's a closeup of the trap. There are no trip lines yet because she just started it recently.

The burrow and the trap is lined with a matrix of silk and fine bits of substrate. She always makes her trapdoors so that they open down-slope, do yours do the same thing?

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## Ambly (Apr 2, 2017)

They mostly do build that way, yes, but if there is anything like a wall or a root or log in the way they may build their lines tactically around or over it.  Does yours build trip wires? 

The substrate looks good and it's building a happy home, trip wires, etc. I'm sure it's good to go.  

I would still suggest some clay content and a steep, as these really live on steep clay banks (though please correct me if I am wrong; my information on L. ornatus comes from what little I can find and a friend who've seen them in the wild).  Yours has the advantage of likely being much lighter and probably more practical overall.  My substrate attempts have 100% of the time been either too high clay content or the clay has not been blended well enough with the lighter peat so I am certainly not saying mine is better.  It's certainly stupid-heavy.  The spiders do seem happy as can be though and I love the way the clay gets mosses and liverworts and things thriving.

I am going to be out of the country for a bit but when I return I am looking forward to setting one up right as I have always rushed it.  I have decent lights and the original enclosure where the babies hatched and set up camp is crazy with moss growth - looks like the habitat shots I can find - but I'd like to do one with a few plants, a piece of wood going through the substrate (as I've been told they appear to prefer building around things like roots), and bring the slop fairly close to the glass to maximize substrate depths.  My brother bought my an endoscope and I scoped one of the empty holes from where one had moved... these things really go HAM down there.

Your spider looks healthy and happy as a clam.  And beautiful too.  These things are amazing.

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## Ranitomeya (Apr 3, 2017)

Ambly said:


> They mostly do build that way, yes, but if there is anything like a wall or a root or log in the way they may build their lines tactically around or over it.  Does yours build trip wires?
> 
> The substrate looks good and it's building a happy home, trip wires, etc. I'm sure it's good to go.
> 
> ...


Yes, mine build trip wires, but I've noticed that they do not do so until they are comfortable with their current burrow. Sometimes they'll make a burrow and never place trip wires before they move and make a new burrow shortly after. If they don't move on to a new burrow, they usually make their trip wires a day or two after they've reached the bottom of the enclosure and have run their burrow along the bottom a bit. The few times they burrow up against the plastic, I've been able to see that the burrows end in a larger chamber that they reside in when they aren't right under the door, waiting for prey.

I'll move them into something taller and try to provide more of a slope the next time they need to be re-housed. If I can find a more permanent place to keep their enclosures, I'll try a substrate of clay and fine sand like what I've seen in the hills around here.


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## Ambly (Jul 12, 2017)

Exactly what Ive noticed!  Sorry guys, the work in France lasted weeks longer than expected.

My brother informs me that hes seen some male activity and expects one or two may emerge soon, so I will attempt breeding again even though I have FAR too many on my hands right now.  

I miss my babies but they have been in good hands so I expect many are developing color and quite larger.

I will be home in the states and advertise them for sale soon.

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## BeeNine (Jul 12, 2017)

Excellent job on these guys.  I was very excited to see this thread update today.  What's the best way to get on a "want to buy" list. 
B9

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## Ambly (Jul 13, 2017)

I have been pretty inactive since being in France but I will soon post an ad and an update thread as many of the slings are now larger and developping color.


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## Tony (May 12, 2018)

I wonder how this all turned out.  I almost bought some

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## 8legsloth (May 23, 2018)

I would still like to buy some

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## Ambly (Aug 1, 2018)

YOOOO so real update coming soon - I had been in France for a while.  

I still have a bunch and, in my absence, I suspect several have matured into males.  However, whether they have successfully mated or simply been consumed I do not know because I do not seem to have many very large female traps (comparable to my original female who was the brood mother, she has since passed it seems).  I do currently have one alive mature male which, like the first time, is in a little retreat with a kinda weak lid.  I am going to be closely monitoring him each night.  It is possible that he is waiting a long time to emerge like my original male.  He does appear freshly molted and healthy, so the primary concerns are whether he is indeed with a mature female and isn't consumed instead by an immature.  If he leaves the burrow I will watch and, if nothing after a few days, I may introduce him into another tank with a very large female in hopes he breeds.  He has built his little retreat near the largest female lid, againn similarly to my original male.  

I would love if everyone could update me on their Liphistids in the mean time.  Soon I will start a new thread summarizing my original breeding, what I've learned since, what I'd do differently, and how I hope to have breeding success again.  

Yours in spiders,

Ambly

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## Tony (Aug 1, 2018)

I am still interested, though your prolong absences give me pause


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## basin79 (Aug 1, 2018)

Ambly said:


> YOOOO so real update coming soon - I had been in France for a while.
> 
> I still have a bunch and, in my absence, I suspect several have matured into males.  However, whether they have successfully mated or simply been consumed I do not know because I do not seem to have many very large female traps (comparable to my original female who was the brood mother, she has since passed it seems).  I do currently have one alive mature male which, like the first time, is in a little retreat with a kinda weak lid.  I am going to be closely monitoring him each night.  It is possible that he is waiting a long time to emerge like my original male.  He does appear freshly molted and healthy, so the primary concerns are whether he is indeed with a mature female and isn't consumed instead by an immature.  If he leaves the burrow I will watch and, if nothing after a few days, I may introduce him into another tank with a very large female in hopes he breeds.  He has built his little retreat near the largest female lid, againn similarly to my original male.
> 
> ...


I was lucky enough to pick up a sling. Fantastic spiders.


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## Ambly (Aug 1, 2018)

Tony, I am not a spider breeder - I am GIS guy with a full time job who's lucky enough to have someone to care for my spiders when I am required to go internationally.  I have never been heavily involved in arachnoboard, just with these spiders and amblypygids.  Seeing the baseline care that most trapdoors received, I felt I'd chime in a bit and share my success.  The intention of selling them is to put some in better hands, allow them to receive more individual attention and observation, and because keeping them with adequate space when you have over 100 is simply impossible without a room dedicated to them.  They dig a lot and 2 to 3 per ten gallon can be pushing it if they're particularly active.  Real update coming soon and now I am finally home (at least until January) to properly keep an eye on them and see if I can get a second round going.  A lot I'd do differently.  Additionally I have a 55 gallon that would definitely receive a lottttt of slings until they got bigger... but even that for a whole brood isn't enough to prevent some cannibalism, which might be beneficial to those who eat.


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## Ambly (Aug 8, 2018)

UPDATTTTTE!  As I've been away, I have not had the ability to closely monitor my trappies as before.  Upon arrival back into the states I found a few open holes, lids back - some spiders changed location and it appears at least 2 are mature males.  One is in it's hole, apparently freshly molted which I can see from the glass.  The other, like my first mature male who I observed mating, is in a pretty shoddy hole with more of a cover than a lid.  His little shelter is also very close to the largest female - as was my first mature male.

However, I do not know if the females from that same brood are indeed sexually mature nor do I know the age at which they are sexually mature.  My first successful male took a long time to begin leaving his shelter each night and I believe there may have been some form of webbing constructed outside the female's trap.  Letting things go naturally was a success the first time so, as there are two males, I will let the first who exits do his thing for a while in hopes I observe breeding or he is not rapidly consumed.  I will then introduce him to another enclosure with a very large female* who I suspect is sexually mature and likely repeat the process - again, if both males are not rapidly consumed.

*Speaking of that big female.  She was in a tank with 2 subadults, one of which is either inactive (maybe molting maybe just well fed) and the other who is abandoned.  Additionally, there is either an attempted trap or temporary shelter for a previously matured male which is abandoned.  There is also a black bolus (refused or unedible food) and, given the coloration of what she is fed and of the other spiders, I am thinking this was a mature male that was consumed.  Additionally, she has not eaten but is expanding her burrow and ejecting lots of earth.  Given the behavior is similar to that of my first broodmother (ha) I think it's possible there was a successful mating there.

My friend, who is keeping several of my liphistids, reported to me he also had a mature male... so I do not think it is so uncommon to have males if you are raising the spiders (as it appears the males mature in 1.5 to 2 years).  If they are wild caught, they are likely adult females.  

I will keep posted and be watching them like a hawk.  If anyone has any suggestions, please share.  My first time breeding these was my first time breeding spiders, so any advice is welcome.  Stay tuned.


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## Ambly (Aug 28, 2018)

So I've got 3 mature males.  One of them is still in his shelter, the other two began wandering last week in search of a mate.  I observed no mating but it is very possible it has already occurred.  One male is missing his pedipalps, which suggests to me a mating possibly occurred especially as I have witnessed him enter the hole of smaller females and exit unharmed.  The other male I have put in with my largest female and he has since gone missing - hopefully after attempting breeding.  

In Ts or other spiders, has anyone witnessed a mature male missing pedipalps?  

Given that I have had 3 mature males recently and have previously observed black bolus or two, I think it is possible I have since had a successful breeding.  My only concern is that my females of the same generation are not mature.  I am fairly certain the one to whom I introduced one of my males (vs. letting him to continue wandering his current enclosure with smaller females) is indeed mature/potentially already preparing for a brood.

Wish me luck and any advice is welcome.  I am soon to have another mature male come to the surface - anyone on the east coast have a large female L. ornatus?

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## Susej (Dec 6, 2018)

I have a couole of them. Tradd them for other stuff. I do own lots of t's, but i can't find anything about these guys...they already made their trapdoors and had first meal.  lifespan? Max size? Temps?


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## ArlaFett (May 23, 2019)

Ambly said:


> Thank you, Tony.  Working on a care sheet / notes on my experience with keeping that I hope will be useful for those keeping Liphistids in the future! When weather warms I'll begin shipping some out


I was wondering if you can help me. I am picking one up and can’t find much info on it. What is the lifespan of this spider


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## NYAN (May 23, 2019)

ArlaFett said:


> I was wondering if you can help me. I am picking one up and can’t find much info on it. What is the lifespan of this spider



Probably similar to tarantulas would be my guess. Maybe that helps a bit.


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## Tony (Feb 27, 2020)

Ambly never came back...
I wonder where he is now or how these are doing?
I was so close to buying them too


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## Ranitomeya (Mar 20, 2020)

Ambly and I were in the middle of discussing a transaction a long while back, but he vanished and never responded again... I was really hoping to get a male or two for my two females or at least some juveniles.
They're both still doing pretty well and now I'm back to waiting and hoping that someone has males or juveniles to put up in the classifieds.


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## Tony (Mar 20, 2020)

I was as well... his large gaps in time on here made me leary


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