Nephila adult, eggsack and slings pics

[ArachnoJoost]

This is my Nephila clavipes guarding her eggsack. I fear the end is nigh for her, as she has fallen out of her web 3 times now and seems weak. But she has left me with 2 eggsacks to remember her by (one eggsack hatched)

 

[ArachnoJoost]

This is the hatched eggsack, all very tiny little slings (or are they still nymphs??)

 

[genious_gr]

What do you feed those?

 

[ArachnoJoost]

The adult feeds on crickets and locusts (which I throw in her web), and I'll let the babies feed on each other a bit untill they can handle fruitflies (and until I have a managable number of the little ones)

 

[deifiler]

nice! is that caged or free to live in your house?

i thought about getting some nephila species but i dont have enough housing room..

 

[ArachnoJoost]

Yep, the adult is free in my bedroom (I live with my parents). You can see the Nephila hanging in my miniature 'rainforest' in the pic below. I was once planning to get some fish, but somehow the plants took over . On the left you can see the cage of my chameleon.
greetz,
Joost

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Hi Joost,

Awesome! Very nice!

Do you plan on selling/trading the young spiders?

Take care,

Paul

 

[ArachnoJoost]

Hey Paul,
I will sell them when they are a bit larger, but since I'm all the way in Europe, I highly doubt they'll go to the US (if that is even possible). Especially because I've never even shipped a spider before...
greetz,
Joost

 

[Steven]

Hey, Joost

Verkoop en verstuur je ze misschien wel naar België????
Of op de beurs in Harmelen deze zomer?

greetz
Steven

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Originally posted by ArachnoJoost
Hey Paul,
I will sell them when they are a bit larger, but since I'm all the way in Europe, I highly doubt they'll go to the US (if that is even possible). Especially because I've never even shipped a spider before...
greetz,
Joost

Hi Joost,

Awesome! What legspan does this species reach? I've been trying to get my hands on some. There are some huge Nephila around here out in fields and woods, but I'm unsure as to the species, though they're large, yellow, black and maybe some white to them.

Nephila species need more exposure IMHO. Awesome spider!

Thanks for posting your pics!

Take care,

Paul

 

[Wade]

Paul-

If you're seeing Nephila where you live, it's Nephila clavipes, as it is the only member of this genus in the US. It occurs as far north as extreme south east VA.

Just to be sure though, are you familliar with Argiope aurantia, the black and yellow garden spider? It's annother large black, yellow and white orb weaving spider. Nephila will tend to have an elongate abdomen while Argiope's will be more rounded. Annother way to tell is Argiope's web will usually have a zig-zag design incorporated in it (called a stabilimentum) while Nephila's will lack this. Nephila's web also has a golden tint in the sunlight.

Wade

 

[That Guy]

Nice pictures.....And nice looking spiders you got there.......Man im bored....

 

[genious_gr]

Originally posted by ArachnoJoost
Hey Paul,
I will sell them when they are a bit larger, but since I'm all the way in Europe, I highly doubt they'll go to the US (if that is even possible). Especially because I've never even shipped a spider before...
greetz,
Joost

Hi,
ehmmmmm, would you......... you know hmmmm emmm, would you send them to hmmmmmm eeee would you send them to Greece???? How much will you sell them?? In Euros please!!!!

 

[phoenixxavierre]

Wade,

Thankyou for the fabulous info!!

Actually, I have not seen these myself here, but I was asking some people who live out in Otway and on Harker's Island (here in NC) what types of spiders they see. My friends' daughter told me that she sees tons of large yellow and black orbweavers with huge webs all over the fields and woods out in that area, so I'm going to be out there this spring and summer for sure (and fall for males if that is their season) to acquire some. If they turn out to be Argiopes, I'll probably pass on collecting them unless someone expresses some interest in keeping them. But if they are Nephila, (isn't golden orbweaver they're common name?) I'll probably collect over half a dozen to keep and attempt to breed. Being they need such large space for their webs, I'm unsure as to how to keep them, other than just collecting them and replacing them around the place I live, inside and out, and hoping they'll stick around!

Should I be concerned at all about the bite? Are they highly defensive?

Thankyou, Wade, for that GREAT info!! I'll most certainly post here some pictures of them in the wild as soon as I'm able!

Take care,

Paul

 

[Wade]

Paul-

I don't think the bites anything to be concerned about, assuming you could get one to bite at all. If you find them, they're gonna be small until later in the season. As with Ariope, they don't reach full size until the late summer. I'm pretty sure they live less than a year total in the wild (at least in our temp zone), but indoors they might go on a bit longer. Seems like Joost has had his for awhile. I've kept them in open frames I've made and hung in front of windows. I don't think caging is really practical, Joost has the right idea! They don't wander much once they've constructed a web.

Wade

 

[Valael]

When I lived in the Azores (The same place the President has his meeting today...I'm a military brat) we had Argiopes EVERYWHERE. They were thick. My brothers would actually go out and catch them and put them in our yard, they were packed full of them.



I wouldn't worry about the bite, it's always possible, but they seem even more docile than a G. Rosea.



They'd actually RIP them out of their webbing (Just basically grab it) and keep it enclosed in their hand. Not the brightest thing, but they never got bit, either. It wasn't the nicest thing to do, but when you're young, you do dumb things.


We kept them well fed, though. It's fun watching them destroy the stuff you put in there.

 

[ArachnoJoost]

Originally posted by Wade
Seems like Joost has had his for awhile. I've kept them in open frames I've made and hung in front of windows. I don't think caging is really practical, Joost has the right idea! They don't wander much once they've constructed a web.

Actually, I bought it in November, it was already full grown and gravid (didn't know that at the time). As stated in the beginning of the thread, I think she is now well on her way to the spider heaven, she has not been falling out of her web recently, but she doesn't make 'catching' webs anymore, only single strands of silk and sits under her 2nd eggsack 24/7.
Indeed, once they have a web they don't wander much, mine has built webs against pieces of old web, and travelling about 1 feet in the process. I think that if you give them sufficient food they will not move very much. I just put mine in the aquarium (not in use as aquarium...) and it built a web just above the aquarium. I figured it would do that since there are lots of plants to make a nice web against.
greetz,
Joost

 

[genious_gr]

Originally posted by genious_gr
Hi,
ehmmmmm, would you......... you know hmmmm emmm, would you send them to hmmmmmm eeee would you send them to Greece???? How much will you sell them?? In Euros please!!!!

Well