Colorado Ts
Arachnoangel
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2019
- Messages
- 831
I'm starting an open thread for those of us that keep this amazing little dwarf species, the Dolichothele diamantinensis. Join the thread and share your thoughts, experiences, and images of this very slick, interesting little dwarf species.
Please realize that my following description of my experiences with this species is somewhat tongue in cheek....I have really enjoyed keeping my group of slings and watching them grow and prosper under my care and husbandry. I will advise that the D. diatimantinensis is not a species for someone to select as a first species, but definitely a species that a careful & educated beginner could easily select and enjoy as a 3rd or 4th species to consider.
At this size of sling, it could hide hide behind a peppercorn. Scary tiny, due to their amazing speed.
My experience with this species began when I brought in a group of 8 tiny D.diamantinensis slings several months ago in mid February, 2020. This little group of slings arrived a bit smaller in size than expected, so I have been raising them in 3.5 oz soufflé cups, instead of the 4X4X4 AMAC Box enclosures that I had prepared for them.
Due to their small size, I began feeding them on the tiniest B.lateralis roaches, twice per week. On this diet and feeding routine the slings have grown steadily, moulting every 3 to 4 weeks with regularity. This growth rate was nice to see, and allowed me to feed roaches of the next sizes over a short period of time. Occasionally, I'd not find a tiny roach in the prey container and I'd have to drop in an oversized roach. The hungry D.diamantinensis sling would usually not falter and wrestle this larger prey item down and finish it off quickly. Very impressive to see firsthand.
Above sling moulted 2 days after this image was taken.
The feeding response of this species is...well quirky or rather hit & miss, in my opinion. Some days they are ravenous and active feeders capable of taking down surprisingly large prey items and other days they are uninterested, shrinking away from the prey item. It’s almost random and not predictable feeding behavior. I guess that one could also call it typical spider behavior.
Safely feeding the slings, without loss, can be an experience unto itself. I did not enjoy feeding the slings while they were in the 3.5 oz enclosures. The speed of these tiny spiders is simply impressive, they can be very bolty bolty. It could be that I just had too much substrate in the enclosures, coupled with their very prolific webbing, often filling the soufflé cup from substrate to lid. So taking off the lid, to feed the sling, had to be approached very carefully, so as not to send the sling into a high speed flight. Most times, my initial feeding attempts resulted in at least one escape, followed by a lot of time spent looking for a sling that would then rocket to another hiding place, once located. I never lost any of my 8 slings...and over time, experience taught me how to carefully open the enclosure, and to use a bamboo skewer, slipped under the lid, to carefully peal the webbing from the lid...while at the same time containing a sling that was poised to ignite the afterburners and bolt. The use of the skewer to carefully peal away the webbing, when opening the enclosure would greatly reduce bolting and looking for escaped slings....but not always. I also learned how to very carefully coax an unwilling 8-legged-rocket back into its enclosure, doesn't sound like much, but for this species that’s a huge skill to develop.
Premoult is very easy to spot (top 2 images are of slings in heavy premoult) as the slings quickly progress from their normal coloration to a very shiny glassy dark purple color just before moulting. Once a sling has reached the glassy purple color, they will refuse food, almost acting afraid of prey items and retreating quickly if the prey item advances and gets to close.
Personally, I've found the species to be clearly a level above any species that I've kept thus far, simply due to their unpredictable speed. While maneuvering in their webbing, movement is sort of jerky, as they creep along. Outside of their webbing, and free in the enclosure, they know only one speed, and it ain’t slow. If I'm lucky the sling would blast through 10 or 12 quick laps around the inside of the soufflé cup...followed by a sudden pause as the sling decided if it was safe or needed to put more distance between itself and the threat. If the “spider gods” frowned, it was 10 or 12 minutes trying to find a sling that, when I first got them, could hide behind a loose peppercorn on the table. (For those concerned about my housekeeping, my grandsons live with us. Finding a loose peppercorn on the dinner table is the least of my worries.)
Last night, I was checking over all my small tiny slings, and this group looked large enough now to be moved into 4X4X4 AMAC Box enclosures.
Now that they are in larger housing, I'm hoping that things will slow down...if you get my drift.
Please realize that my following description of my experiences with this species is somewhat tongue in cheek....I have really enjoyed keeping my group of slings and watching them grow and prosper under my care and husbandry. I will advise that the D. diatimantinensis is not a species for someone to select as a first species, but definitely a species that a careful & educated beginner could easily select and enjoy as a 3rd or 4th species to consider.
At this size of sling, it could hide hide behind a peppercorn. Scary tiny, due to their amazing speed.
My experience with this species began when I brought in a group of 8 tiny D.diamantinensis slings several months ago in mid February, 2020. This little group of slings arrived a bit smaller in size than expected, so I have been raising them in 3.5 oz soufflé cups, instead of the 4X4X4 AMAC Box enclosures that I had prepared for them.
Due to their small size, I began feeding them on the tiniest B.lateralis roaches, twice per week. On this diet and feeding routine the slings have grown steadily, moulting every 3 to 4 weeks with regularity. This growth rate was nice to see, and allowed me to feed roaches of the next sizes over a short period of time. Occasionally, I'd not find a tiny roach in the prey container and I'd have to drop in an oversized roach. The hungry D.diamantinensis sling would usually not falter and wrestle this larger prey item down and finish it off quickly. Very impressive to see firsthand.
Above sling moulted 2 days after this image was taken.
The feeding response of this species is...well quirky or rather hit & miss, in my opinion. Some days they are ravenous and active feeders capable of taking down surprisingly large prey items and other days they are uninterested, shrinking away from the prey item. It’s almost random and not predictable feeding behavior. I guess that one could also call it typical spider behavior.
Safely feeding the slings, without loss, can be an experience unto itself. I did not enjoy feeding the slings while they were in the 3.5 oz enclosures. The speed of these tiny spiders is simply impressive, they can be very bolty bolty. It could be that I just had too much substrate in the enclosures, coupled with their very prolific webbing, often filling the soufflé cup from substrate to lid. So taking off the lid, to feed the sling, had to be approached very carefully, so as not to send the sling into a high speed flight. Most times, my initial feeding attempts resulted in at least one escape, followed by a lot of time spent looking for a sling that would then rocket to another hiding place, once located. I never lost any of my 8 slings...and over time, experience taught me how to carefully open the enclosure, and to use a bamboo skewer, slipped under the lid, to carefully peal the webbing from the lid...while at the same time containing a sling that was poised to ignite the afterburners and bolt. The use of the skewer to carefully peal away the webbing, when opening the enclosure would greatly reduce bolting and looking for escaped slings....but not always. I also learned how to very carefully coax an unwilling 8-legged-rocket back into its enclosure, doesn't sound like much, but for this species that’s a huge skill to develop.
Premoult is very easy to spot (top 2 images are of slings in heavy premoult) as the slings quickly progress from their normal coloration to a very shiny glassy dark purple color just before moulting. Once a sling has reached the glassy purple color, they will refuse food, almost acting afraid of prey items and retreating quickly if the prey item advances and gets to close.
Personally, I've found the species to be clearly a level above any species that I've kept thus far, simply due to their unpredictable speed. While maneuvering in their webbing, movement is sort of jerky, as they creep along. Outside of their webbing, and free in the enclosure, they know only one speed, and it ain’t slow. If I'm lucky the sling would blast through 10 or 12 quick laps around the inside of the soufflé cup...followed by a sudden pause as the sling decided if it was safe or needed to put more distance between itself and the threat. If the “spider gods” frowned, it was 10 or 12 minutes trying to find a sling that, when I first got them, could hide behind a loose peppercorn on the table. (For those concerned about my housekeeping, my grandsons live with us. Finding a loose peppercorn on the dinner table is the least of my worries.)
Last night, I was checking over all my small tiny slings, and this group looked large enough now to be moved into 4X4X4 AMAC Box enclosures.
Now that they are in larger housing, I'm hoping that things will slow down...if you get my drift.
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