Dolomedes triton

[WithCerberus]

possible cause of spiderling deaths

Found this article today, Growth, development, and survival of a generalist predator
fed single- and mixed-species diets of different quality. I thought it was strange that the D.triton spiderlings were eating the springtails but not growing or molting at all. I think that this may explain it.

"Worst were the collembolans Folsomia candida and Isotoma trispinata, and the aphid Aphis nerii: spiderlings fed solely one of these species did
not grow and died without molting."

however

"Spiderlings fed the collembolan, Tomocerus bidentatus, sustained the highest
overall rates of survival, growth, and development."

I am not sure what species of springtail that I have a culture of but I will certainly not be feeding them to any more spiderlings. This article was an eye opener. Sooooo... who wants to buy a culture of possibly toxic springtails? Bidding starts at $10.

peace,

Bobby

 

[WithCerberus]

gone fishing...

Well, I thought that I would give this a try yesterday. The fish are small rosey red feeders. It was very fascinating to watch her catch the fish. She walked out on top of it and then submerged all 8 legs to trap and catch it. Fun stuff. enjoy the pics and have a safe new years eve.

peace,

Bobby

 

[Crysta]

Wow, amazing spiders.
I have 3 Dolomedes tenebrossus... I've even had the chance of witnessing them mating, was pretty amazing: Female diden't eat the male..the male just died after copulation.. After a three to four week period the female layed her egg sack. Unfortunatly.. I diden't have a camera at that time that would let me take photos of that, now I do. I have kept 2 small females and let the rest go; they survived on spring tails.. i guess I diden't have the toxic ones..lol. Shortly after they moved up to small baby roaches and crickets..

Was pretty cool keeping them, I will prolly breed them next season too..

Crysta

 

[Stefan2209]

Whoa!

Hi Bobby,

great pics, thanks for sharing!

Guess i inspired you some, with the planned experiment of my buddy from switzerland, did i?

Have a nice 2006!

Stefan

 

[WithCerberus]

Stefan, Yeah you planted the bug. I can't wait to see some pictures of Ancylometes catching fish too. Maybe Koi would be the right size? .

Crysta, thank you for sharing about the D. tenebrossus. I have got 3 of those myself, one adult male and two juvies. I am hoping to try breeding those too. I guess I have to line up a better springtail colony first :wall: You should post some pics of the ones you still have.

peace,

Bobby

 

[Crysta]

Well my new camera isent up on the computer yet.., but, I still have pics from the old camera wich I will post insted of having you all wait...lol.

The mother..isent she adorable?

Mom and the eggs

These lilte girls where born in augest, and have been growing alote! These where taken recently.

One of the lil. girls I still have from her.

Same girl;

When the babies are hatched (couple hours after mom opens the sack) there usualy a nice green..its pretty..I wish I had a camera during that time.*sighs

Heres the other girl with her critter keeper..

I also just recently decided to move them into a larger area, but wanted to see how they would do befor I decide in putting more money into it.. and heres what came out;

Enjoy!

 

[Stefan2209]

Hi Crysta,

yummy pics, too! Thanks for sharing!

Those mother on your hand looks some bigger, as Bobby´s male does, is this just a normal size difference between the sexes or is one specimen unusual large or small?

I really wonder how calm those seem, when i think about those pics where the spiders sits at your hands or the pics taken with the lid of the spider-enclosure all open....

While the bigger Ancylometes is in no way aggressive to my experience, i wouldn´t dare to try to take some pics with the spider on my hands, though. They´re just too skittish for this kind of "setup". I´m really glad they lack the ability to run as fast on smooth surfaces as Phoneutria can, otherwise i´d already have a hard time taking the pics...:8o

By the way, the spider portraied last seems darker to me than the older specimen. Do they get the lighter colour when they get older or is it just some kind of colour-morph?

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[WithCerberus]

These guys are a little tricky to photograph sometimes. In nature they are aren't very skittish at all as they seem to rely more on their cyptic coloring. In captivity they will be calm and even climb on to your hand and then all of the sudden they take off like grease lightning. When they get going they are very fast and jumpy. The large D.tenebrossus female from the other thread decided to sprint up my arm and jump on to my face afterwards. Since that display of speed and agility I am much more careful with these guys (for their safety, not mine of course).

Crysta, very nice pictures! The mother looks like a very large one! I wish that some of the spiderlings from my D.triton would have made it. Hopefully in the next few months I'll be able to try my luck again. It is good to see someone else from the US on the boards with interest in keeping and breeding Dolomedes spiders!

peace,

Bobby

 

[Crysta]

I'm in Canada by the way.
Pictures one to five are of the same spider. Just the mother growing.
Pictures six and seven is the first baby i kept from the mom.
The 8 picture and the 9 picture is of the second baby I kept from mom.

And yes there colors can change as they grow older and go through there molts. I've kept diffrent spiders of this species over 4 years, and it varies much.

Bobby's male is about the size of what my male was, though mine was a little smaller.
My female had four egg sack, this took place every eight weeks; 4 weeks to grow the eggs inside her; then 4 weeks too incubate the eggs.. She did this four times; she's still living, though I don't think for long.. she's about two years and 2 months now, and I hope she keeps living!
I also hope to aquire diffrent species someday, i'm especialy instrested in Dolomedes Tritus, and Pisaurina mira..Though I can't find them in my province; New-Brunswick, or them for sale anywhere..

By the way bobby, what kind of moss do you use for your setup?..I'd like to get some..What kind of soil mix do you use as well?..sorry to bother you..

take care;
Crysta

 

[WithCerberus]

crysta, hey no bother at all . The moss that I have in my tanks was found out in the woods where the spiders were captured. I am not sure on the species . I have found though that almost every type of moss that I have put into a terrarium has thrived. In most of my containers I use potting soil. I have started using organic coco fiber for my spiderlings (it came with my springtail culture). I have also used soil from the woods but it scratched and clouded the plastic containers. Good luck on finding the other species you are interested in . I bet you can find Pisaurina mira there. It is found just south of you in maine. (Maine spider site). I have had really good luck finding these at night with a head lamp on mild nights in late winter. I don't know much about this website but check it out, they say that seasonally they have Pisaurina mira available.

peace,

Bobby

 

[Crysta]

Oh sorry for taking so long..was setting up a reptile tank and sorta forgot about this thread...thanks for the links!.. i don't know if our eco system varies like Maine.. But i've found similar spiders to Dolomedes tenebrossus down by the river here.. there just really light tan, with darker taned marks. don't think there tenebrossus though there too small.. anyways i must go..

Crysta

 

[WithCerberus]

new molt pics

Two molts in one night

a pic of my big lady chowing down on a wax worm.

peace,

Bobby

 

[Crysta]

Ah! very nice pictures, beautiful spiders. Someday I'l be keeping them aswell..lol, keep up the great pics!

-Crys

 

[WithCerberus]

All grown up 8)

Well, she is all grown up now. She has lost all the spots on her abdomen which I think looks great. Her band also seems to have gotten much yellower. There must be several color morphs of these because if you look at the mother at the begining of the thread she is almost black with a white band that is much thicker. Several of my other ones have the darker bodies with the white bands too.

peace,
Bobby

 

[Steven]

It's a Beauty !!!! :drool:

 

[Stefan2209]

Hi Bobby,

nice velvety-looking colours on that spider, nice!

I once again have to admit, i´m a little bit surprised about the size, they looked some bigger on the other pics.

On a rather funny side-note, your full-grown Dolomedes seems now nearly the same size, than my half-way grown Ancylometes, quite ridiculous....
On another side-note your pics inspired me in a rather strange way, as my fishers are now big enough i thought about trying to handle one, when i saw your last pics. Only their lightning speed convinced me to stay off that idea, nevertheless, temptating...:drool:

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[WithCerberus]

Now, now, Stefan size isn't everything 8)

 

[WithCerberus]

penultimate male....yay!

This guy decided to go ahead and molt this weekend. So now I have 2 females and one male. Lucky guy.
peace,
Bobby

 

[Stefan2209]

Hi Bobby,

once again, nice pics! :drool:

Guess that male already knows, what´s expected from him, quite massive palps in relation to the body....

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[loxoscelesfear]

Awesome

Those are textbook pics of fishing spiders