New species of giant-fishing spider, Ancylometes spec.

sammyp

Arachnosquire
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Apr 17, 2006
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146
Hi,

feeding fish can´t be the only solution, in my opinion, as the spiders can take down fishes just from a certain size on. So what to feed them while they are still smaller....
Depending on the spiders natural breeding cycle and what species of fish they normally prey on, they might be able to start with the fry of small fish (some of these are really tiny) and work their way up?

It does seem a bit of a fussy way for nature to take it's course though. Maybe try them on some guppy fry?

Good luck with them. I'll be interested to hear how the slings progress.
 

Stefan2209

Arachnodemon
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May 7, 2005
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729
Hi there,

thanks for the comments, especially for the ideas regarding feeding.

I have to admit, i´m not concerned abou that anymore, as i have now plenty of experience with the raising of fresh hatched ctnids, in some species even with way smaller specimen than those Ancylometes.

If you take a peek into the other Ancylometes thread, you´ll find a much smaller species of course this is true for their offsprings, too.
Nevertheless that offsprings are capable to take down micro - cricktes from the very first day on. No need to deal with drosos or something like this.

Just wait until they get hungry... ;)

The mating of the shown Ancylometes was next to ideal and both spiders shared one tank for the night, without any problems, i could just catch out the male again.
The female, however, killed three adult crickets during the night, even though she has just eaten some three more cricktes just two days ago and had been fat even before that. Guess she´s up to something...

Gonna try to snap some pics of the female later in the day.

Greetings,

Stefan
 

lychas

Arachnolord
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Sep 2, 2005
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645
are these the spiders you see wading across the water? in aust there are some loacal ones and wanna know how to keep them
 

Stefan2209

Arachnodemon
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are these the spiders you see wading across the water? in aust there are some loacal ones and wanna know how to keep them
Hi,

you´re locals are not of the genus that is portrayed here, as Ancylometes is only known to occur in Central- and South-America.

Maybe you´re dealing with Dolomedes or even another Pisaurid, some Lycosids are also known to be very adapted to water, so you´ll have to check about what you are dealing with in detail.

Keeping of adult specimen, regardless if Ancylometes or Dolomedes, shouldn´t be that difficult. The raising of young specimen however can be a different story if you haven´t got experience with this.

Greetings,

Stefan
 

Stefan2209

Arachnodemon
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May 7, 2005
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729
Hi there,

here we go with the announced pics:

Adult, WC female of Ancylometes spec. "Iquitos 1, Peru"
(Possibly A. rufus, not confirmed, yet, though)



Size comparison, massive, yes, but not as big as this species can get



Greetings,

Stefan
 

Stefan2209

Arachnodemon
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May 7, 2005
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729
Hi,

well, no offsprings yet.

But at least i now have a big fat sac from my Peruvian lady... :D

Fingers crossed!

Greetings,

Stefan
 

Stefan2209

Arachnodemon
Old Timer
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May 7, 2005
Messages
729
Hi,

well, no offsprings yet.

But at least i now have a big fat sac from my Peruvian lady... :D

Fingers crossed!

Greetings,

Stefan
Hi there,

.... by now there have more than 200 offspring hatched, already two weeks ago. :D

The small ones are already spread across Europe and are doing fine, taking down micro - crickets fresh from the start.

Still not too much to see, though...



(Just if you´re asking yourself: yeah, they can indeed take down cricktes that size shown in the pic.)

Have a nice sunday!

Greetings,

Stefan
 

dtknow

Arachnoking
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Aug 18, 2004
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I bet in the wild they probably eat a lot of small frogs/lizards.
 

emperor

Arachnopeon
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Jan 6, 2006
Messages
24
hi,
I've been reading this thread with alot of interest!!! so much to learn and from all your experiences, and i'm very grateful:)
the pictures are beautiful too.
i've just obtained a number of A bogotensis (i know there is some doubt about that) slings...they are maybe a cm or less in some, and a few are bigger.

i am going to attempt my first feeding tonight on the tiny crickets i currently have, and keep them warm and moist.

i have a couple of questions, pardon them if they are stupid ones lol:

one, has anyone tried bloodworms? i don't know anything about them, only that my newts love them. they appear to be good nutritional value, my main concern is how attracted the spiders would be to them.

two, since they are tiny, is it safe to provide a "pool" for them, with moss to climb out? i ask because i'm not sure at what age they should be given a swimming area and also the bloodworm (if it's not a bad idea to try them) are obviously better dissolved in water. i don't know at what age this spider is able to trap air around it.

if no one has tried, is there any reason this would be a bad idea?

thanks in advance, i'm hoping to raise as many as i can to maturity. of the 20 i bought, i am keeping 10, i think...giving the other 10 away to some friends i have.
 
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