Hissing/Clicking solifugid

[NYbirdEater]

That's right. I tried to feed my solifugid a small anole and it started to tap the damn thing and make this wierd clicking hiss type of noise. Anyone know how they do this? :? I haven't read anything about it in my research. I am going to set up my microphone later and I will post the sound for those interested.

 

[Wade]

According to Punzo (The Biology of camel Spiders), many solifugids possess stridulatory ridges or hairs on the inner surface of the chelicerae that are rubbed together to make the sound.

Wade

 

[NYbirdEater]

According to Punzo (The Biology of camel Spiders), many solifugids possess stridulatory ridges or hairs on the inner surface of the chelicerae that are rubbed together to make the sound.

Wade

cool thanks wade. I actually found that book on amazon but it was listed for over $200. Do you know of any other books on solifugids that are a little more practical for the novice?

 

[Wade]

That's the only book I know of. Lucky for me, I work at a nature center and didn't have to buy it myself. The center paid $150.

Wade

 

[NYbirdEater]

That's the only book I know of. Lucky for me, I work at a nature center and didn't have to buy it myself. The center paid $150.

Wade

Well if it ever comes up "missing" let me know.

 

[Alex S.]

Solifugids do sometimes stridulate if they think they are in danger. They use ridges on the inside of the chelicerae, like Wade said. They can also use the small bumps at the base of the "hair" between the chelicerae. Did the solifugid end up consuming the lizard?

Alex S.

 

[MrDeranged]

Solifugids do sometimes stridulate if they think they are in danger. They use ridges on the inside of the chelicerae, like Wade said. They can also use the small bumps at the base of the "hair" between the chelicerae. Did the solifugid end up consuming the lizard?

Alex S.

Alex!!!!!!

Where have you been? How are you? Are you back now? Hope everything is well and sorry to hijack the thread

Scott

 

[NYbirdEater]

Solifugids do sometimes stridulate if they think they are in danger. They use ridges on the inside of the chelicerae, like Wade said. They can also use the small bumps at the base of the "hair" between the chelicerae. Did the solifugid end up consuming the lizard?

Alex S.

No he's a puss. Just kept clicking at it. I took it out and through in what appeared to be a pregnant cricket and he destroyed it right in front of me. FINALLY I got to witness it feeding, I was surprised that that it took a while to "saw" through the cricket (not even all the way), and even more amazed that after 1/2 hour of grinding the fat insect it was still moving! the front four legs of the criket were flailing like it was still trying to escape and it's head was moving around. Couldn't help but feel a little sorry for it (pain wise).

As for the anole, i dumped him in with my 3" T blondi tarantula who only feeds on crickets and roaches as a test, and he found his rightful place, in it's stomach. Actually caught 1 fang in the side of the head and another in the back, paralyzed within 15 seconds, 12 hours later it was reduced to a gravel sized piece of skin and bone.

On a brighter note, I did scrounge up some cash for a 10 gal tank for the little solifugid with 2 big pieces of bark and he seems happy. Unfortunately I only had about 3.5" inches of sand left so I mixed in bone dry peat to give him some more digging space. Al, do you know of any online sources for sexing these things?

 

[Alex S.]

Alex!!!!!!

Where have you been? How are you? Are you back now? Hope everything is well and sorry to hijack the thread

Scott

Hey Scott!!! Great to hear from you! I just havent posted for a while, which is stupid, as Arachnopets is one of my favorite places to be. Iv been doing great, keeping and constantly observing many predacious insects and various arachnids as usual. Im definetely back up to my normal posting schedule. As long as I have a computer I'll be posting here.

Alex S.

 

[Alex S.]

No he's a puss. Just kept clicking at it. I took it out and through in what appeared to be a pregnant cricket and he destroyed it right in front of me. FINALLY I got to witness it feeding, I was surprised that that it took a while to "saw" through the cricket (not even all the way), and even more amazed that after 1/2 hour of grinding the fat insect it was still moving! the front four legs of the criket were flailing like it was still trying to escape and it's head was moving around. Couldn't help but feel a little sorry for it (pain wise).

As for the anole, i dumped him in with my 3" T blondi tarantula who only feeds on crickets and roaches as a test, and he found his rightful place, in it's stomach. Actually caught 1 fang in the side of the head and another in the back, paralyzed within 15 seconds, 12 hours later it was reduced to a gravel sized piece of skin and bone.

On a brighter note, I did scrounge up some cash for a 10 gal tank for the little solifugid with 2 big pieces of bark and he seems happy. Unfortunately I only had about 3.5" inches of sand left so I mixed in bone dry peat to give him some more digging space. Al, do you know of any online sources for sexing these things?

Hey NY, yeah its probably best to feed vertebrates to solifugids with body lengths of 2" or more. At least your Theraphosa blondi showed the solifugid whos an equally efficient arachnid predator . Thats awesome you got a 10 gallon tank with a couple of nice hides for your solif. Sand mixed with dry peat or potting soil is a great substrate for solifugids. Male solifugids have a flagellum or spine-like structure on the chelicerae where as females do not. Sadley I have yet to see a male solifugid imported. Almost all solifs in the pet trade are female.

Alex S.

 

[NYbirdEater]

Alex, her body length is about 2-2.5". I was surprised when I removed it from the small tank that one corner had almost all the silicone chewed away from the bottom inch or 2. I hope in this bigger tank it will not gouge at the corners anymore because if it ever manages to get out, I will be forced to destroy it.

 

[Alex S.]

Wow, NY, you must have a very calm solifugid. Most specimens I see over 2" voraciously attack small reptiles. As long as she is still ripping those crickets apart though, then she should do just fine.

Alex S.

 

[NYbirdEater]

Wow, NY, you must have a very calm solifugid. Most specimens I see over 2" voraciously attack small reptiles. As long as she is still ripping those crickets apart though, then she should do just fine.

Alex S.

One thing I can say is that it does have somewhat of an attitude if it feels threatened. I nudged it's palps a few times trying to get it to move off the bark so I could trap it to put it in it's new tank, and it jumped up at the tweezers about 1" off the substrate. Have a little more respect for it now but it still is a bit dissapointing. I decided to take the risk and go for a more vicious animal and got mild.

 

[Wade]

The July issue of National Geographic features a short piece on solifugids, including some mating shots of a couple of different species. The males shown have a distictly more slender, long legged appearance than the females.

Punzo mentions that it is though that males die shortly after mating, which may account for why they are rarely imported.

Wade

 

[NYbirdEater]

The July issue of National Geographic features a short piece on solifugids, including some mating shots of a couple of different species. The males shown have a distictly more slender, long legged appearance than the females.

Punzo mentions that it is though that males die shortly after mating, which may account for why they are rarely imported.

Wade

Thanks wade, I actually stumbled upon that on the net last night so I'm pretty sure I have a female, the males look very slender. Thanx

 

[Alex S.]

Yeah, solifugids have a short lifespan in the first place and males live for an even less amount of time than females so comming across a male solifugid in the arthropod trade would be an extreme rarity. Breeding solifugids in captivity in the U.S. would probably be best done with Eremobatids as you could find both sexes in the wild much more commonly.

Alex S.