Doc Ebola
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2017
- Messages
- 106
Hi there
New user - my first post. I am thinking of buying some Nephila madagascariensis. These would be my first spiders. I have a lot of experience with mantids, but I realise that these would be a completely different kettle of ... um, spiders. So I want to get it right. I've been researching as much as I can, but there isn't a lot of info out there. So I thought I would go straight to the experts!
I have plenty of cups, spider tubs, net cages etc. for the slings, and I believe I'll be ok feeding them FF / pinheads etc. depending on their size. I am missing some information on adults, however. I've read a lot that people often keep the adults living free as they form a very large web. That just wouldn't work for me. I've also seen a number of videos where people seem to have them in flexarium type enclosures. So, my questions are:
1. Does this particular species need a lot of ventilation, and is a large flexarium suitable for an adult female?
2. Does this species only build its web once? (so moving them when adult isn't advisable).
3. Do they require any cleaning in their enclosure?
4. I've read they don't really need a substrate, but isn't this helpful with maintaining humidity?
5. Do they happily repair their web, if, for instance, it was damaged a little when cleaning? I'm guessing so.
6. How often do they need fed, and what do you guys recommend for feeding?
Apologies for the long post and all the questions ... I don't want to rush into this and want to make sure they're well looked after if I go ahead. Thanks in advance.
New user - my first post. I am thinking of buying some Nephila madagascariensis. These would be my first spiders. I have a lot of experience with mantids, but I realise that these would be a completely different kettle of ... um, spiders. So I want to get it right. I've been researching as much as I can, but there isn't a lot of info out there. So I thought I would go straight to the experts!
I have plenty of cups, spider tubs, net cages etc. for the slings, and I believe I'll be ok feeding them FF / pinheads etc. depending on their size. I am missing some information on adults, however. I've read a lot that people often keep the adults living free as they form a very large web. That just wouldn't work for me. I've also seen a number of videos where people seem to have them in flexarium type enclosures. So, my questions are:
1. Does this particular species need a lot of ventilation, and is a large flexarium suitable for an adult female?
2. Does this species only build its web once? (so moving them when adult isn't advisable).
3. Do they require any cleaning in their enclosure?
4. I've read they don't really need a substrate, but isn't this helpful with maintaining humidity?
5. Do they happily repair their web, if, for instance, it was damaged a little when cleaning? I'm guessing so.
6. How often do they need fed, and what do you guys recommend for feeding?
Apologies for the long post and all the questions ... I don't want to rush into this and want to make sure they're well looked after if I go ahead. Thanks in advance.