Herpyllus ecclesiasticus = Eastern Parson Spider

ArborealLotus

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
73
Found another spood. This one happened to scuttle with intense velocity across my bed as I was getting into it yesterday. No joke.

Startled at the presence of other life forms in my sleeping quarters, I rapidly enacted a capture of the gorgeous animal.

Here is: the Eastern Parson Spider, known to frequent the indoors.

From what I read: Is a delightful ambush predator and ground dweller, feeding not by web but by sheer hunt / takedowns - not so unlike tarantulas! (24hrs in, I actually have yet to observe the the spider lay silk). Safe enough to simply allow to wander the home, or if desired, can gently move it back to the outdoors.

Or, for enthusiasts like myself, can be homed in an enclosure to get to know the wee beast.

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Moves VERY quickly compared to others I’ve kept. Once in the catch cup, it hunched down JUST like the tarantula behavior I’m familiar with where they crimp with knees drawn in, seemingly to protect their carapace. It was aware there wasn’t a way out and froze.

Once upon some dirt, relaxed in the temporary enclosure as I plan a more suitable environment. I honestly haven’t seen it move around the enclosure myself, but have merely blinked then saw it on the opposite corner from where it was.

If YOU have ever kept a Herpyllus ecclesiasticus, please insert your experience!! I’d love to know what you have observed!

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This was the immediately available shelter. I will update once in a larger home.

I find that true spiders are more active than tarantulas, and while a T sling of this size (~3/4” / ~1.5cm DLS) would delight in such small quarters, true spoods are quite different. (Indeed, the comparison of a baby 3/4” spider to an adult 3/4” spider is not perfectly fair lol.)

To be continued...
 

Charliemum

Arachnocompulsive
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Mar 5, 2021
Messages
753
What a little cutie . I don't know these spiders but very cool looking.
I do the same thing and also have a collection of random spiders I found in my house 😁 or in crickets hahaha.
 

Doodlebird

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 29, 2021
Messages
224
Hey! I currently have two of these little guys. I feed my adult 3-4 fruit flies a week, and my juv gets a fruit fly every three or four days. I am always careful not to overfeed, since they are pretty active and like to climb, and I don't want them to get injured falling. Your enclosure looks pretty good, although I recommend having a lot of vertical surfaces and overhangs, since they enjoy hanging out on walls or the sides of rocks. My juv spider has a rabbit skull in his enclosure, which provides a lot of good areas to hide. I also like to put a cotton ball and saturate it with water so they can't drown, although I rarely see them use it. Hope that helps!
 

ArborealLotus

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
73
Hey! I currently have two of these little guys. I feed my adult 3-4 fruit flies a week, and my juv gets a fruit fly every three or four days. I am always careful not to overfeed, since they are pretty active and like to climb, and I don't want them to get injured falling. Your enclosure looks pretty good, although I recommend having a lot of vertical surfaces and overhangs, since they enjoy hanging out on walls or the sides of rocks. My juv spider has a rabbit skull in his enclosure, which provides a lot of good areas to hide. I also like to put a cotton ball and saturate it with water so they can't drown, although I rarely see them use it. Hope that helps!
Nice one! I did notice that for a “ground dweller” it’s spending a lotta time on the walls lol! I will indeed contribute items to this behavior in the enclosure upgrade. While in the similarly acrylic catch “cup” it was not clinging to the walls very well as I rotated it, so will indeed provide good grippy surfaces and overhangs (good idea!)

This water dish I’ve got in there is a mere 15mm across and 8mm deep lol. (3D printed it). I delight in its minuteness and will watch out for how it interacts with it.

I’ll update once I get a new space put together, is a busy weekend but will have one ready soon!

Thanks for sharing 🕷🤗
 

Doodlebird

Arachnoknight
Joined
Apr 29, 2021
Messages
224
Nice one! I did notice that for a “ground dweller” it’s spending a lotta time on the walls lol! I will indeed contribute items to this behavior in the enclosure upgrade. While in the similarly acrylic catch “cup” it was not clinging to the walls very well as I rotated it, so will indeed provide good grippy surfaces and overhangs (good idea!)

This water dish I’ve got in there is a mere 15mm across and 8mm deep lol. (3D printed it). I delight in its minuteness and will watch out for how it interacts with it.

I’ll update once I get a new space put together, is a busy weekend but will have one ready soon!

Thanks for sharing 🕷🤗
Sounds good! I'm always happy when I see other people keeping these, since they are my favorite species :)
 

MrGhostMantis

Arachnoprince
Joined
Jun 26, 2019
Messages
1,007
Hey! I currently have two of these little guys. I feed my adult 3-4 fruit flies a week, and my juv gets a fruit fly every three or four days. I am always careful not to overfeed, since they are pretty active and like to climb, and I don't want them to get injured falling. Your enclosure looks pretty good, although I recommend having a lot of vertical surfaces and overhangs, since they enjoy hanging out on walls or the sides of rocks. My juv spider has a rabbit skull in his enclosure, which provides a lot of good areas to hide. I also like to put a cotton ball and saturate it with water so they can't drown, although I rarely see them use it. Hope that helps!
Take out the cotton ball, bacteria congregates in them. Just use a bottle cap.
 

ArborealLotus

Arachnosquire
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
73
The parson seemed content in that 2x2x2 those couple weeks, spending its time split evenly on the either the walls or ground.

Moving it to the new 3x3x4 space, it hid on that leaf so was able to just move the leaf into the new home. When I gently brushed it to leave the leaf, it just went to the underside, which we repeated a few times, thus took a bit of coaxing to leave the leaf.

Anywho, it can do pretty much whatever it wants to do in here, and made sure to give it plenty of cover and already is hard to find : ). Took shelter between some moss and the underside of the bark behind the mini water dish!

Very neat spooder.


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ArborealLotus

Arachnosquire
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Mar 12, 2021
Messages
73
While I’ve poorly documented the rest of my time with the Herpyllus ecclesiasticus; it has come to an eventful end.
-
The Parson turned out, very clearly weeks ago, to be a female as she dropped a massive perfectly circular egg sac on the wall of the enclosure just above the ground and beneath a sprig of plant.
-
She stood guard upon the sac for roughly 3 weeks and barely moved. Just today I finally observed roughly 20 tiny tiny spiderlings actively scattered throughout the enclosure. There were likely more, but these were the ones in plain sight. I am sad to report, that the mother Parson had died beneath the bark seemingly the same day the slings emerged.
-
Seeing as this spood is native to my property from where I took her in (she was running over my bed); I have placed the enclosure opened and outdoors for the wee ones to be in the woods.
-
My best wishes to the new generation, I am honored to have provided a safe space for mother H. ecclesiasticus to have guarded her sac.
-
Thus ends the Eastern Parson project. A strongly admirable little spider. I did not take any further pictures to share, so will leave the story here.
-
until the next…
 

Charliemum

Arachnocompulsive
Arachnosupporter
Joined
Mar 5, 2021
Messages
753
While I’ve poorly documented the rest of my time with the Herpyllus ecclesiasticus; it has come to an eventful end.
-
The Parson turned out, very clearly weeks ago, to be a female as she dropped a massive perfectly circular egg sac on the wall of the enclosure just above the ground and beneath a sprig of plant.
-
She stood guard upon the sac for roughly 3 weeks and barely moved. Just today I finally observed roughly 20 tiny tiny spiderlings actively scattered throughout the enclosure. There were likely more, but these were the ones in plain sight. I am sad to report, that the mother Parson had died beneath the bark seemingly the same day the slings emerged.
-
Seeing as this spood is native to my property from where I took her in (she was running over my bed); I have placed the enclosure opened and outdoors for the wee ones to be in the woods.
-
My best wishes to the new generation, I am honored to have provided a safe space for mother H. ecclesiasticus to have guarded her sac.
-
Thus ends the Eastern Parson project. A strongly admirable little spider. I did not take any further pictures to share, so will leave the story here.
-
until the next…
Grats on the baby's but sorry for your loss . Looking forward to your next find 😊
 
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