Don't kill me!

[dragontears]

Ok, I just did something I promised myself I'd never do...I bought a critter without having a clue how to care for it. He was just too cool, so yesterday I got a little sun spider. He is wild caught (I'm assuming) and the guy at the expo said that coconut fiber would be a good substrate. I'm having difficulty finding husbandry sites for this guy and I'm not even sure what species he is. The closest I can come to is Metasolpuga picta. The guy said he came from Egypt. Right now he's in a 2 1/2 gallon tank with 2 inches of coco fiber substrate and a rock that has a nick in the bottom for him to burrow under. I also have a water dish in there, but I'm not sure if I should take it out...will that cause too much humidity for it? Any advice will be appreciated!

Here are a few pics of him, the black sand was from the dealer...he had him on sand for contrast.

 

[dragontears]

Oh and he isn't very big...maybe an inch and a half give or take.

 

[Jaygnar]

http://www.tarantulaspiders.com/pages/solifugid.htm
This may help you out. There's a lot of good info there,but the bad news is the lifespan of those guys. Anyway, enjoy it while you got it.

 

[darkeye]

OK... first of all, nice bug.

If I were keeping solifugids, which I will not despite thier coolness, I would do it like this:
-10 gallon tank with some open running space and a few different hides, including some vertical climbing space 3-4" tall.
-Some dried grass along the edges and in the center, creating a mock race-track.
-I would place some larger and smaller pebbles in the race track to break up the continuous area.

I'd keep it damn hot, really hot, like mid-day sun on Mercury hot, and very little humidity. I would only place water on a paper towel in a cap once a month or so, leaving it in there for a very short period (3-4 hours tops) during evening hours.

Here's why:
I caught a beautiful little solifugid my first day in Arizona in the Sonoran Desert near Powder Butte. It was running at top speed in the middle of a gravel road in the middle of the day. Upon capture, I spoke to several ATS members about keeping them, and they all said the same thing: They either do very well or run themselves down like a clock... never stopping motion.
And that's what it did.
It never even made it the 3 days of the conference.

So, feed it well,
Feed it often.

Best of luck with your cool little guy!

 

[BaronFel181]

I've kept three of these funny little buggers, but sadly none of them did very well. From what I've heard, they need a lot of running space, a lot of hiding places, a lot of substrate to burrow in (at least 3 inches probably), a lot of warmth, and a lot of food. These things can eat their body weight in food a day and will eat themselves to death if given the chance, so be very careful with the amount of food you give it. For yours, i would probably feed it a cricket or two every day or every other day at the least. As for heat, during the day you could probably keep the enclosure in the high 80s or low 90s. Any higher of a temp could be detrimental. At night, a temperature in the low 80s or high 70s would probably be sufficient. The worst thing about these ravenous little monsters is that their life span from birth to death is no more than 18 months. solifugids are very difficult to keep well and generally do not do well in captivity from my experience, but good luck, they are very interesting little bugs and won't bore you.

 

[Farom]

Mist the sand every couple of days and keep it at 89 - 95F, with as much burrowing space as possible.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[darkeye]

Mist the sand every couple of days and keep it at 89 - 95F, with as much burrowing space as possible.

Thanks,
Andrew

Just curious... Why?

Have you kept these successfully under these conditions?

 

[dragontears]

Thanks for all the replies. I've moved his enclosure around a bit, made his water bowl smaller (now a gatorade bottle lid) and added some more rocks. He ran around like crazy for a bit and then started digging like a mad man. He now has a burrow under one of the rocks that doesn't even have a door since he pushed all the dirt into the entrance. I have a light on him and he burrowed under the rock that was directly under the light. The temp on the rock is 94 and on the surrounding dirt it ranges from 87 to 90. The side away from the light ranges from 80-84. Is that ok? He is in the computer room with my other spiders and the 3 computers and 2 monitors usually keeps that room fairly warm most of the time. Can you think of anything else I can do for him or should I just cross my fingers and hope he lives? He hasn't eaten yet, but I've only had him for a day so we'll see what he does tomorrow.

Thanks!

Here's a few more pics we took of him:

and the first pic zoomed in:

 

[CedrikG]

certainly a very nice spider :clap:

 

[WidowMaker]

I agree with Andrew P. They can burrow quite 'deep' (comparative to their size). Temperature is quite important to them, and the range he gave is good. Misting is very good too, they're so active when they're out they need alot of it. They eat like crazy when they do eat, but once in awhile go on a 'diet' for a day or two at most. I've never had one eat theirselves to death but it could be possible I guess. I've never given one that much to eat. In the wild, they will hunt at night for their food. I thought the rocks you put in there was a nice touch, and obviously he did too, since that's what he went for. Keep us posted on how he's doing. Best wishes.

 

[WidowMaker]

Me again, there's a little article about them in the May 2005 issue of Arachnoculture (a great mag btw). One thing I should bring up is that Spider Bob said that in captivity they live from 4 to 6 weeks. Keep that in mind, you might not have yours very long. Best of luck with yours and keep us posted on how he does.

 

[Farom]

Just curious... Why?

Have you kept these successfully under these conditions?

I purchased a "giant camel spider" from krazy8sinvertebrates on Saturday, and they gave me this information. They have had success with them for a while now, so I trust it to be correct.

For misting, it makes sense when you think about it. In the wild, they spend a lot of time in their burrows. Underground, there is a lot more moisture, therefore upping the humidity in the burrow.

As for temperature...they seem to be comfortable at that range. I would be worried about cooking the poor thing if the temp in the cage was higher than 95F.

How much experience do you have in keeping solifugids?

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[dragontears]

OK, now another question. He has made a burrow under one of the rocks and completely blocked the entrance with dirt. He didn't come out and hunt last night as far as I know so should I remove some of the dirt from his entrance so he is better able to come out and hunt or should I just let him be? This is going on day 2 of owning him and he still hasn't eaten. If he should eat as much as you say he does then he isnt' doing so well. Should I let him adjust another day and see what happens or remove some dirt and see if he eats?

 

[Wade]

Most species are nocturnal, but some are diurnal. Knowing which lifestyle that one prefers would help. Diurnal species from desert regions likley prefer higher temps, but I doubt high temps are really necessary for nocturnal ones. I've kept large North American Eremobatides sp. alive for at least what I suspect is the duration of their normal lifespan at room temperature.

When field collecting them, I kept them in containers that were barely large enough to hold them. Last time, I used 40 dram vials for the larger ones. They lived in these for several days, kept them from running themselves to death until I got them home. Then, I set them, in cage with sandy soil with lots and of hides.

Wade

 

[psionix]

certainly a very nice spider :clap:

it's not a spider. it's a solifugid, it's its own thing. they sure are cool, i'd like to have one it's just too bad that even the longest living ones don't live for more than a year.

fun fact:

Relative to body size, solifuges have one of the strongest jaw pressures in the animal kingdom.

 

[AfterTheAsylum]

I don't know if I should add now. All I can do is stress. You need a hell lot of cool hiding places. And I have to agree with the general consensus they are totally nuts and fast. Psionix is right - they do have one of the strongest jaw pressures in relation to body mass. These things have been known to chew through the wire tops on cages. That is just a forewarning. Don't be surprised if it doesn't last more than two weeks. I also have to stress the enclosure size. They do need a lot of space. They are very tweaky creatures. If you keep it in a 2.5 gallon - claustrophobia will set in, and the thing will literally run itself to death. They have extremely high metabolisms and therefore should eat it's own body mass everyday (I think that is right. Someone may have to double check this.) High temperatures was covered... blah, blah, blah... Okay, I think you are good to go. Keep updating regularly here for the next week and a half. These are important days.

Cheers
The Sickness

 

[cacoseraph]

i kept a feather leg like that for about 4-5 months. i gave it a tiny opaque walled cage that was jammed full of hiding places. it actually stayed under cover about 99% of the time.

mine was small, about the size of yours or a little smaller.

it ate small crix, but never really seemed to be all that energetic.

of course, it lasted about twice as long as the larege hyper black fellows i got along with it...

 

[dragontears]

i kept a feather leg like that for about 4-5 months. i gave it a tiny opaque walled cage that was jammed full of hiding places. it actually stayed under cover about 99% of the time.
mine was small, about the size of yours or a little smaller.

it ate small crix, but never really seemed to be all that energetic.

of course, it lasted about twice as long as the larege hyper black fellows i got along with it...

by under cover do you mean completely walled in or just hiding in his burrow? Should I open a hole in his borrow or just leave him alone?

I don't think I have enough hiding places in there so I'll update his tank tonight when I get home. Would fake plants help for cover too or should I just add more bark and rocks?

 

[darkeye]

I purchased a "giant camel spider" from krazy8sinvertebrates on Saturday, and they gave me this information. They have had success with them for a while now, so I trust it to be correct.

For misting, it makes sense when you think about it. In the wild, they spend a lot of time in their burrows. Underground, there is a lot more moisture, therefore upping the humidity in the burrow.

As for temperature...they seem to be comfortable at that range. I would be worried about cooking the poor thing if the temp in the cage was higher than 95F.

How much experience do you have in keeping solifugids?

Thanks,
Andrew

Seems that what I said came out as a smart-a$$ comment, for that I apologize.

The real problem with the boards is that you cannot convey emotion...

So, no. I do not have a whole lot of experience keeping them, but I do have a tiny bit of 1st hand information on the single species I was able to observe in the wild. I was crushed when it ran itself to death, and I pretty much swore off Solifugids at that point. Kind of like Pill millipedes...

If Chris Young says that's how you keep 'em, then that's how you do it.

Regards,
Martin

 

[Farom]

Hey Martin,

I know what you mean about conveying emotion on forums. Im bet that my last comment came across the same way, and I apologize for that.

Anyways, good luck with the little guy dragontears.

Thanks,
Andrew