Kukulkania hibernalis (Souther crevice Spider)

[krtrman]

Hi there all,

I have a lot of these guys running around my apartment and have managed to keep several for quite some time. However, I caught a female who turned out to be gravid and now has a rather large eggsac. I need some help from anyone with info on this species as my searches have turned up very little. anything you guys can tell me will be appreciated. (Yes I tried the search function).

thanks.

 

[pitbulllady]

One of my females produced an eggsac, too. I let her keep it, until the 'slings had hatched and were of fairly good size, before releasing her and the babies behind a shutter outside the on the house. The babies of this species will remain with the mother for quite some time, until they look like mini adults, and will actually share in her prey items. I have actually seen a large female carry a large prey item, such as an American Cockroach(which we have aplenty here in SC, where folks politely refer to them as "Palmetto Bugs"), back to the nest hole where the babies were, and all the youngun's will come scrambling out like wild dog puppies to partake of the feast! Some offspring will sometimes share the nest hole with the female until she produces her next eggsac, at which time she will drive them out and become intolerable of any other spiders. Ordinarily, provided enough space, K. hibernalis is quite sociable and seem to have a sort of "pecking order". Males will move from hole to hole, mating with different females, and I have only seen a female attack a male once, and that was because she had an eggsac and he was being very insistent on mating with her anyway. I keep a big female on my desk at school, since my Principal won't let me keep a tarantula. A K. hibernalis is the next best thing, and since I found her in the building, that doesn't seem to bother him as much as a non-native spider would.

pitbulllady

 

[krtrman]

thanks for all the info. my searches, as i mentioned earlier, netted me next to nothing online. i am glad someone had some info to give. so thank you again.

 

[pitbulllady]

Here's a pic of the female I released, eating a fly, with her babies coming a-runnin' to the dinner bell!

She is a pretty chocolate-colored female, with a really nice thick coat. Some females are brown, while others are blue-black, and no, I'm not confusing the light tan males with a brown-phase female.
And for your enjoyment, a mating pair, with an exceptionally nice black-phase female-

pitbulllady

 

[jarrell]

WoW I actually have saw this spider, I want to catch it the next time I gs o there, there so huge it was a female so hopefully it would have mated.

 

[pitbulllady]

WoW I actually have saw this spider, I want to catch it the next time I gs o there, there so huge it was a female so hopefully it would have mated.

Yeah, these spiders do get big; a large female can easily span the palm of my hand. They remind me a lot of tarantulas, in their behavior, as well as appearance, and are probably the next best thing for someone who cannot have a tarantula. They are quite docile, too. The only time I've seen any aggressive behavior is from a female with an eggsac, and she will defend it by rearing up and slapping at the offending thing/person/object with her front legs. Usually, though, if they feel threatened, and cannot run away, they'll just "play possum", going into a very convincing "death curl" and remaining that way until they feel the threat has passed. Fresh-caught captives will do this for a few days every time something moves, but like a Hognose snake, they will "outgrow" this behavior and settle down.

pitbulllady

 

[jarrell]

wow k. hibernalis is very intresting thanks for all the info pitbullady the only problem is I cant get there too thursday. I saw it dining on a very large american roach. Are they hard to catch? I only have two chances to get it.

 

[pitbulllady]

wow k. hibernalis is very intresting thanks for all the info pitbullady the only problem is I cant get there too thursday. I saw it dining on a very large american roach. Are they hard to catch? I only have two chances to get it.

They are VERY fast and wary, so yeah, they are sorta hard to catch. Your best bet is to use a plastic deli cup, and go ahead and secure a hide in the bottom of it. You can take a piece of paper, roll it up into a small tube that's big enough for the spider to get inside, and secure it down to the bottom with a piece of clear tape. Just make sure that no part of the tape is uncovered so that the spider could stick to it. When the spider has moved away from her web opening, place the lid to the cup behind the spider, between her and her "den", and the open cup edge in front, and gently push her inside the cup with the lid, closing the lid behind her. Be careful not to be too rough or close a leg in the lid, since these spiders drop legs easily and won't regrow it until the next moult. Usually it won't take too long before the spider finds the paper tube and goes inside, and starts webbing up. I feed these adult crickets, which they can take down with no problems. It's best to catch these at night, since they are nocturnal, and a flashlight beam will not bother them, and will actually "blind" them temporarily. It's a good idea to have a second person to hold the flashlight, though, while you man the deli/capture cup. The important thing with these spiders is to be QUIET, since they seem much more bothered by sudden noises than by light or even things touching them.

pitbulllady

 

[jarrell]

Thank you again for the advice pitbulllady. I cant wait to find this beautiful spider.