Juvenile, CB Phrynus Whitei vs Captive Bred Damon Medius Feeding

[that1ocelot]

Just a couple of observations I've found keeping a CB juvenile Whitei vs a significantly more mature WC Medius.

- The Whitei is not nearly as sensitive to light or attempted handling.

- The Whitei will readily take food, and frequently "stalks", which is how I know when to feed it. Whitei molted sometime last weekend and has eaten 4 crickets since then, pursuing prey vs waiting for it to cross paths.

- Medius is not nearly as food motivated, and eats every 1.5 - 2 weeks. While Whitei will eat under observation, I have never seen the Medius actively hunt.

- This might be obvious to some, but it seems like being WC heavily affects the temperaments and preferences of these animals.

Is being more food motivated an age thing, a post molt thing, or a species thing? I'd be interested to know if some species will eat more readily than others or if it's just whipspider specific.

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

Just a couple of observations I've found keeping a CB juvenile Whitei vs a significantly more mature WC Medius.

- The Whitei is not nearly as sensitive to light or attempted handling.

- The Whitei will readily take food, and frequently "stalks", which is how I know when to feed it. Whitei molted sometime last weekend and has eaten 4 crickets since then, pursuing prey vs waiting for it to cross paths.

- Medius is not nearly as food motivated, and eats every 1.5 - 2 weeks. While Whitei will eat under observation, I have never seen the Medius actively hunt.

- This might be obvious to some, but it seems like being WC heavily affects the temperaments and preferences of these animals.

Is being more food motivated an age thing, a post molt thing, or a species thing? I'd be interested to know if some species will eat more readily than others or if it's just whipspider specific.

Age definitely has a huge impact. Younger amblypygi tend to eat more frequently. Their metabolism is faster - they're growing rapidly and moulting frequently. All of the species I've kept eat voraciously as babies and juveniles - once or even twice a week - but as adults they eat far less frequently. My Phrynus whitei eats about every 2 weeks, while my Phrynus barbadensis will only take prey about every 3 weeks. My Damon diadema is still a subadult, but has slowed down considerably since its ravenous juvenile stage, and eats about once every 10 days on average. My Acanthophrynus coronatus (which unfortunately died in a catastrophic self-impaling accident during a moult) ate every two weeks or so in adulthood.

All of mine have been CB, so I can't speak to personality changes triggered by being WC, but I can say that even within a given species, there are distinct personality differences. My previous A. coronatus and the one I have now are wildly different in their personalities (the old one was amazingly chill, even as a baby, while the one I have now has much more "typical" behaviour).

Moulting also definitely affects prey response. When they have recently moulted and are ready to take prey again, even the adults become very aggressive hunters for a short time. Then they go back to their regular schedule.

 

[Edan bandoot]

Out of all the variables involved how did you settle on cb vs wc

 

[wizentrop]

You are, quite literally, comparing apples to oranges here.
Not only are these two different species, but they also belong to two completely different families, distributed in different parts of the world in different habitats. There's also a life history difference and an age difference.
In one word, they are - different.
Yes there are differences in appetite and behavior between species, but there are so many other factors at play here that I don't know where to begin.