Nephila Sp.

[Advocatus]

I was thinking of getting myself some Golden Orb Weavers (Nephila sp.) and I was wondering if anyone of you could tell me how to care for them, or are they as I've heard very "hardy" and can survive both low temperatures and dry enviroment?

Thanks,
Jorgen

 

[Wade]

Those I've worked with seem to do best at higher temperatures and higher humidity. You also need a large,well ventilated cage (or area) for them to build a web. The webs of some species can exceed 2 meters!

Wade

 

[Advocatus]

Okay, great! Thanks!

 

[Alex S.]

Nephila enclosure

Here is a topic I made about a certain method for housing orb-web spiders. Of course, the Nephila are going to need very large containers...

http://www.arachnopets.com/arachnoboards/showthread.php?threadid=343

Alex S.

 

[ArachnoJoost]

I have mine loose in my bedroom, people that visit think I'm totally nuts having such a large spider loose but then I always tell them that it always sits in its web, never ventures far.
Here's the 'habitat' of my Nephila (clavipes), the spider is in the left upper part of the pic:

 

[ArachnoJoost]

And here's the spider itself eating a tasty cricket:

 

[Kaissos5]

How hard is it to keep him from going somewhere else?

 

[ArachnoJoost]

Not hard at all. When I first bought it I put it in the place I wanted it to build its web, luckily it did, and it hasn't moved since. I think that when you throw in enough crickets the spider will not move from that place, when you wouldn't feed it for a while I think it would move to another place.
The Nephila is very agile in its web, but when it is not in its web it's kinda clumsy moving.
Greetz,
Joost

 

[Wade]

They seem to only want to move away when it's close to the time when they're going to die...I've noticed this with Argiope as well.

Wade

 

[Valael]

So how noticable is the gold colored web?

 

[Wade]

Originally posted by Valael
So how noticable is the gold colored web?

IME, it's only noticeable in very bright light.

Wade