Green Lynx as a Pet?

[Ohok]

Hi,
I’ve been wanting to start keeping spiders as pets but don’t really want to spend money on it. I’ve done research on how to keep them but the only spider I’ve had luck finding so far is a Green Lynx spider. I can’t find much online about whether they can be kept as pets or not. Does that mean they’re bad pets or does that just mean they’re uncommon pets?
Thanks

 

[chanda]

Yes, they can be kept as pets. They aren't long-lived like tarantulas and trapdoor spiders, but you should be able to keep them at least short-term. (I've kept them for up to a few months before releasing them again.) At this time of year, you may still be able to get a few more months out of one, though I believe they mostly die off in the winter. Most of them should have already laid their eggs by now, but you might find a late bloomer in which case you might end up with an egg sac.

They're pretty easy to care for. They don't need a lot of room, just something to hang out on and ambush their prey. I just put in some bits of the plants I find them in - usually a few stalks of California buckwheat, since it dries well - and they hang out on that, waiting for flies, crickets, or whatever prey you offer. They don't make webs unless they're making an egg sac, and they don't require supplemental water. (I'll sometimes give them a spritz - but have yet to see one drink. They get the majority- if not all - of their water from their prey.)

 

[The Snark]

@chanda Do you have any information as to the average areas that Lynx ranges in, size wise?

 

[Ohok]

Yes, they can be kept as pets.

Thank you!

 

[chanda]

@chanda Do you have any information as to the average areas that Lynx ranges in, size wise?

Including leg span, I'd say females can get up to maybe an inch and a half to two inches? I've never actually measured, but they're very leggy spiders.

 

[The Snark]

Including leg span, I'd say females can get up to maybe an inch and a half to two inches? I've never actually measured, but they're very leggy spiders.

My apologies. I was very unclear. I mean habitat wise. But that is of interest, what you mentioned. I've never encounted a Lynx with a leg span much over 1 inch but nearly all my knowledge of them is in observation in southern California and here in N. Thailand. Are there known and established locales where they normally grow to a larger size?

 

[chanda]

My apologies. I was very unclear. I mean habitat wise. But that is of interest, what you mentioned. I've never encounted a Lynx with a leg span much over 1 inch but nearly all my knowledge of them is in observation in southern California and here in N. Thailand. Are there known and established locales where they normally grow to a larger size?

It really depends on how far they've got their legs stretched out. When resting normally, the legs are typically at least partly bent, making them look smaller.

I'd say the body length gets to around 1/2 inch, with females slightly longer (and much plumper) than males, but both males and females can have long legs. I never really appreciated the long legs of the male until I witnessed a pair courting - and saw him very cautiously trying to woo her from a safe distance, underneath the leaf she was sitting on. He kept reaching up and very gently probing and tapping and stroking, trying to assess whether she was receptive or not - and presumably also trying to get her "in the mood" - before coming out in the open and putting himself at risk. It finally got too dark to see them anymore and I had to leave him to pursue his courtship in private, but it seemed to be going well.

As for habitat, I've found them in Washington state, in California, and in Arizona (at least that I can recall off-hand) and they seem to do well pretty much anywhere with plants for them to hang out on. I've found them in the vegetable garden, on rose bushes, on assorted trees and shrubs, and of course, on the ubiquitous California buckwheat and other wildflowers. They seem to be attracted to whatever is currently blooming - either in the yard and garden or out in the canyons - because those are the plants that will attract more prey for them, when flies, bees, wasps, and moths come in to feed. (I also frequently find other predators - like assassin bugs - on the same plants.) I don't know that there are necessarily any localities where they get bigger so much as just areas with more abundant food. In dryer parts of the canyons - where the buckwheat and other flowers are pretty well dried out and dead by midsummer and no longer attracting other bugs, the spiders tend to be smaller - but in proximity to water (or in a watered yard or garden) where the plants can support more prey insects, they tend to be larger.

 

[mmcguffi]

My apologies. I was very unclear. I mean habitat wise. But that is of interest, what you mentioned. I've never encounted a Lynx with a leg span much over 1 inch but nearly all my knowledge of them is in observation in southern California and here in N. Thailand. Are there known and established locales where they normally grow to a larger size?

In addition to those other locales that @chanda mentioned, I frequently find large females living on cacti (Opuntia sp.) in central Texas

 

[CritterFriendly]

I just found a Green Lynx with her egg sac on one of my fig trees the other day. Northwest Louisiana