Eremobates (solifugae) BABIES!

[Smokehound714]

Captive-born Eremobates sp 'Phelan' babies have emerged and are all eating without hesitation!

(probably E vicinus, considering a few other coastal species, like Aphonopelma eutylenum, and bothriocyrtum californicum occur there as well)

The 'nymphs' are highly gregarious, clustering together, and remaining in contact with each other at all times. Any that become separated will frantically search for one of their siblings, not relaxing or stopping until they find one. this behavior is likely short lived, and will stop after they molt into i3- they will likely have to be isolated after that.

perhaps the most interesting thing about them at this stage is they will cooperate to take down prey, and will actually bring their prey back to the rest of their siblings so everyone can eat together. Very interesting behavior, reminiscent of semi-social spiders. Perhaps the behavior will last for another molt or two, I cannot be sure until I document this!

 

[pannaking22]

Very cool man, congrats! It's great to see some new born solifugids and have some documented behaviors.

 

[le-thomas]

I don't think it would be too much of a stretch to call this another important milestone of American arachnoculture :clap:

 

[Hisserdude]

Awesome! I hope you can rear them to adulthood, this has given me courage to try to breed some of the solifugids near me.

 

[Tenodera]

How exciting!! I have some Eremobates eggs incubating as well, I'd love to experience this success!
Please take many photos and videos of the babies (so long as you don't keep a ream of them in your wallet to show people at the grocery store). That "intentional" food-sharing is incredibly interesting!

 

[Smokehound714]

I should clarify that i didnt breed her. She was already gravid when i received her.

Breeding solifugae is extremely difficult. You cant just toss a male in and hope for the best, you must give them a large sandy arena.

When receptive, the female will use her racquets (sensory organs similar to pectines) to leave a chemo trail for males to follow.

The female must have room to run around uninterrupted, and the male will chase her. When she's ready she'll simply stop running and allow the male to get busy. It looks quite alarming, almost as if the male is eating her, they use the fixed fingers on their chelicerae to inseminate females.

The chase is very important, mating likely wont be successful if they arent able to do this and the female will kill him if she's cornered.

 

[REvan342]

Wow I e never heard of babiy camel spiders in captivity...... Very cool. Keep us updated.

 

[MrCrackerpants]

Captive-born Eremobates sp 'Phelan' babies have emerged and are all eating without hesitation!

(probably E vicinus, considering a few other coastal species, like Aphonopelma eutylenum, and bothriocyrtum californicum occur there as well)

The 'nymphs' are highly gregarious, clustering together, and remaining in contact with each other at all times. Any that become separated will frantically search for one of their siblings, not relaxing or stopping until they find one. this behavior is likely short lived, and will stop after they molt into i3- they will likely have to be isolated after that.

perhaps the most interesting thing about them at this stage is they will cooperate to take down prey, and will actually bring their prey back to the rest of their siblings so everyone can eat together. Very interesting behavior, reminiscent of semi-social spiders. Perhaps the behavior will last for another molt or two, I cannot be sure until I document this!

That is awesome but are you sure they are solifugae babies? They do not look like babies that I have seen. They appear to be larvae of another arthropod but I could be wrong.

 

[Hisserdude]

I think you are seeing the mealworms he is feeding them, the solfugids are very pale and blend in with the sand, they are on the left side of the left mealworm.

 

[Smokehound714]

Hahahah. Yeah i had to lower the gamma, before that they were even harder to notice

 

[jugler68]

Captive-born Eremobates sp 'Phelan' babies have emerged and are all eating without hesitation!

(probably E vicinus, considering a few other coastal species, like Aphonopelma eutylenum, and bothriocyrtum californicum occur there as well)

The 'nymphs' are highly gregarious, clustering together, and remaining in contact with each other at all times. Any that become separated will frantically search for one of their siblings, not relaxing or stopping until they find one. this behavior is likely short lived, and will stop after they molt into i3- they will likely have to be isolated after that.

perhaps the most interesting thing about them at this stage is they will cooperate to take down prey, and will actually bring their prey back to the rest of their siblings so everyone can eat together. Very interesting behavior, reminiscent of semi-social spiders. Perhaps the behavior will last for another molt or two, I cannot be sure until I document this![/QUOTE
How did this turn out with the young spiders?

 

[jugler68]

Sorry...new to board and posted wrong. How did this turn out with the young spiders?

 

[BobBarley]

Sorry...new to board and posted wrong. How did this turn out with the young spiders?

They're actually not spiders, lol. Also interested, @Smokehound714 how'd they turn out?

 

[chanda]

I would also dearly love to know how these turned out! Have you had luck keeping solifugae in captivity long-term? How do you house them? What conditions do they require to keep them alive? I have tried a number of times but with no success. I did have one that survived for several months and even molted once while in captivity. (She may have died of old age - I don't know how old she was when she was given to me, but I know she was wild caught.) Other than that, though, they've all died within a few weeks to a month - so I've given up trying to keep them.

 

[Ratmosphere]

Awesome!