Mutualism between frogs and spiders

Mojo288

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Jun 18, 2017
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So I've seen articles about symbiotic behaviors between mygalomorph spider species for the last few years (probably about 5 years ago now), and now I've found this relatively recent study documenting a surprisingly large number of Tarantula/Amphibian relationships.


My question is, has anyone see this or attempted to replicated in captivity? This seems like a very interesting behavior to try and replicate in a large paludarium setup.
 

viper69

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I’m sure if someone replicates it, the frog dies, stupid idea
 

Chris LXXIX

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I doubt that someone tried, honestly. Anyway, my opinion is that such a thing would be impossible in captivity. Such things happens only in the wild, due to 'eons' of adaptation, particular conditions not replicable at home no matter how the set up and parameters are perfects etc
 

BoyFromLA

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In captivity, people often try replicating mutualism between frogs and spiders by substituting frogs with themselves.

Which also is impossible.
 

Edan bandoot

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I think its been attempted before but i don't recall the outcome.

If you're alright with the chance of losing the frog, then i don't see the harm in trying
 

me and my Ts

Arachnoknight
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Check out 5:03, it’s probably a bad idea to keep them together but it seems that it has been done with some success
 

Kalis

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Jun 18, 2022
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This is something I’ve been thinking about and researching. Ramanella nagaoi is the frog species that gets along with the P. ornata. In the wild, they are often found in the trees with the tarantula and it’s young. They protect the young from ants and in turn are protected from other tree frog species. My thoughts would be that in order to successfully replicate that relationship in captivity you must create the need for it. Hence a female with an egg sack/young and the threat of ants. Scientists have actually tried using the skin of a mutualism species on a different frog to recreate the mutualism and it did work. It’s believed that it’s a distinct chemical smell that these frog species have that signal to the tarantulas what they are. The study initially referenced is what initially identified this with hummingbird frogs.

A good read:
 
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Timc

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Feb 13, 2017
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84
Animals actually change in captivity, especially with successive generations in captivity. Look at poison dart frogs. They’re not poisonous in captivity. The why is still trying to be figured out (unless I’ve missed a paper, in which case someone please correct me) but as many plants and springtails people put in their plastic spider boxes, nature can’t truly be replicated.
 

me and my Ts

Arachnoknight
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Mar 20, 2021
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They’re not poisonous in captivity. The why is still trying to be figured out (unless I’ve missed a paper, in which case someone please correct me)
It’s because their diet is different in captivity
 
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