- Joined
- Mar 25, 2005
- Messages
- 61
I just received 3 Solifugids, and I must say they are the coolest arachnids I have kept yet! I received 2 Featherlegs and 1 Egpytian "Giant" Camel Spider. I also ordered a Black SunDevil, but it didnt survive shipment 
.
Anyway, I have these guys set up on sand. As soon as they hit the sand, they started digging, tunneling, etc. It is very cool, they are like little bulldozers. They use their pedipalps and front legs to form a "bucket" in front of them and just start pushing the dirt around. I have some videos of them in action I am going to try and post online tommorow.
Now, they are tunneling, but the tunnels keep calapsing on them. I wet the sand beforehand and let it dry out, but its still not holding a tunnel. I was thinking, if I added salt to the sand and re-wet it, would that not allow for decent tunneling? If I am not mistaken, most desert sands have high salt content, which is what can make them appear solid and cracked on very hot days. But, if I try this, how much salt should I use for how much sand? Also, will the salt hurt them at all. I see they use their jaws alot while digging, they actually bite into the sand, so I wouldnt want them to wind up ingesting a ton of salt. Anyway, this is just an idea, and I was curious if anyone tried it.
Also, I have read they can climb glass, but so far not one of them has made it up the side of the cage. They tried, beleive me, but they got nowhere. They are actually in Pal Pens, the little plastic cages (accept the giant, he is getting a 10 gallon tank). But I figured if they could climb glass, they should be able to climb that as well. Everything I read says only the pedipalps are able to stick to glass though, so can they just climb it very slowly if they really wanted to? I guess they arent like a T who can just run right up the glass.
.Anyway, I have these guys set up on sand. As soon as they hit the sand, they started digging, tunneling, etc. It is very cool, they are like little bulldozers. They use their pedipalps and front legs to form a "bucket" in front of them and just start pushing the dirt around. I have some videos of them in action I am going to try and post online tommorow.
Now, they are tunneling, but the tunnels keep calapsing on them. I wet the sand beforehand and let it dry out, but its still not holding a tunnel. I was thinking, if I added salt to the sand and re-wet it, would that not allow for decent tunneling? If I am not mistaken, most desert sands have high salt content, which is what can make them appear solid and cracked on very hot days. But, if I try this, how much salt should I use for how much sand? Also, will the salt hurt them at all. I see they use their jaws alot while digging, they actually bite into the sand, so I wouldnt want them to wind up ingesting a ton of salt. Anyway, this is just an idea, and I was curious if anyone tried it.
Also, I have read they can climb glass, but so far not one of them has made it up the side of the cage. They tried, beleive me, but they got nowhere. They are actually in Pal Pens, the little plastic cages (accept the giant, he is getting a 10 gallon tank). But I figured if they could climb glass, they should be able to climb that as well. Everything I read says only the pedipalps are able to stick to glass though, so can they just climb it very slowly if they really wanted to? I guess they arent like a T who can just run right up the glass.
