New species of giant-fishing spider, Ancylometes spec.

[Stefan2209]

Gorgeous spider (wow they grow fast)!! How much did you pay for the babies?

Hi,

i have to admit, i can´t tell you for sure, what I paid for the slings, as it was a mixed trade-deal.

If you opt to buy them for cash only the price had been 5,- € for a single sling or 5 Slings for 20,- €.

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Stefan2209]

11. molt

Hi all,

i have to admit i was quite surprised this morning when i had to learn that just my smallest female was first to start the molting-cycle with this one. She had always been the last of the fishers to molt, now she changed place to be the first...

However, to me the most important point is that everything went as smooth as could be!

Now i hope the other specimen will come through their molts just as good as this little girl.

Enjoy...

I really hope i´ll soon have some healthy, freshly-molted males of this species to show off to you...

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Gigas]

She's grown quickly.. they are seriously gorgeous, what are you feeding them on?

 

[CopperInMyVeins]

These spiders look amazing, it was great to follow them through all those molts with this thread, I would love to try keeping them myself, but I doubt their available in the US yet. Funny enough, the first hunting spider I ever kept was a local (New York State) species of fishing spider that I caught while on a camping trip about 10 years ago, probably Dolomedes, based on what I know now. I kept it for a few weeks and fed it crickets, then released it again. In some ways these kinds of spiders interest me even more than tarantulas, a lot of that has to do with their well developed eyes. Does anyone know of a dealer in the US that sells either Ancylometes, or similar spiders?

 

[Scolopendra55]

Is she full grown now?

 

[Stefan2209]

Hi all,

got some rather dis-satisfying news regarding this species, they´re apparently already adult!

Why i dislike that is, that they were supposed to grow way bigger, so i take this for some kind of let down!

However, there´s rarely ever a let down, that won´t hold any chances in the very same moment, on a more positive aspect means this, that i can start breeding of this species anytime i want. I got two adult couples + one additional male...

Started to feed them as much as they want to already a few days ago, guess i´ll try to mate them on following thursday....

@ Scolopendra55:

Guess your Q is answered already.

@ CopperInMyVeins

Thanks for the appreciation!
Donno, if they´re available in the US already. If not, it´ll just be a matter of time, till this changes, as they are quite common available in europe. Sooner or later there´s gonna be a trade of some kind, that will introduce this genus to the US.

@ Gigus

I fed them on a variety of prey items: starting with fruit flies, over micro-crix, a great variety of different cricket species and finally some roaches.

For the last time, some pics of the adult female:

and the adult male:

Gonna keep you updated how the mating goes....

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Gigas]

bit of a dissapointment for you there stefan but still they are beautiful ad the male has some interesting colouring, did th person you bought them from not have any adults?

 

[Stefan2209]

bit of a dissapointment for you there stefan but still they are beautiful ad the male has some interesting colouring, did th person you bought them from not have any adults?

Hi,

that´s exactly the question, which answer i´m right now major-interested in!

I had seen adults of an Ancylometes spec., that were displayed when i bought the slings, now i´m guessing if that were the "parents" of my species or if it had been specimen of another species.

If it was another species, it´s fine with me.

If it´s the same species, why had my and even the specimen of some other keepers turned out way smaller? It´s a known fact, that wild-caughts often outgrow cb´s, but this size-difference is just too much.

What´s further more irritating: if it had been another species, that had been portrayed as adults, why did the male exactly look like my males, just much bigger?

How likely would it be for two species living in the same habitat, looking exactly the same, but to have some major-size differences as only clue to keep them apart? Can´t be ruled out so far, but not all too likely to my taste.

Should still be an interesting topic over the next months. If i have indeed done something wrong with my method of raising them, i´ll have the opportunitiy to find a better working way, as soon as i have slings again...

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[spinnekop]

Hi Stefan,

I experienced the same thing with my male. He died one week ago and he was definitely already adult (dispite your prediction it would still have 2 molts to go). The bodylenght is 2cm so I was a bit disappointed too but the color of the spider made everything OK for me since they are very beautifull anyway.
I know the size difference of adult specimen can vary a lot.
I am sure you know about following report...
www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v30_n1/arac-030-01-0146.pdf
The prosoma lenght of adult A. rufus varied between 9mm to 22mm and body weight difference of a factor 10 ! As main reason for this variation, the food supply during their development was pointed.
Maybe they need a specific diet ?
On the other hand, you might be right, since everybody who bought the slings of this specie around the same time experience small adult size.... It also made me wondering.
Personaly I think this story is fascinating. Maybe they truly need a food they didn't got in captivity ????

Don't give up on these! I think the final word has not been spoken yet.:?

 

[Gigas]

Maybe they need a specific diet

Did any one even try feeding them fish?

 

[Stefan2209]

Hi Gert,

thanks for your kind words!

Sorry to hear about the death of your male, seems they don´t live too long as adults.

I´m definitely not going to give up so easy, i just invested to much time, emotions and efforts in this species. Nevertheless it was a big let down to me, when i had to learn they were adult already.

Since last week i´m following different traces about this strange "dwarf-growth" and came to a very similar conclusion so far: there had to be some factors, that we (i refer to all keepers of this species, i´ve talked to so far) just didn´t know.

Personally, i´m mainly opting in one direction: perhaps it might be worth a try to keep them around 30 - 35° C. I´ve kept mine around 20 - 25°, which worked, but they´re small.
Talked to some other keepers, that had around 28°, worked,too. Nevertheless the spiders were quite small.

Prey items: i can´t rule this so out so far, but i just don´t take it for too likely, that it´s prey-depending. I have never given any other species such a great variety of prey items, but it just didn´t work.
I´d follow the idea of feeding fish, but in the JOA archives (by the way, thanks for the PDF, you were right, i know it already, but haven´t checked in some time) i found a file stating, that the feeding of a Dolomedes species with fishes resultated in smaller specimen...
Don´t know, if this is true for Ancylometes, too, but i ´d keep this as a "last chance"-attempt.

You´re most def right in my opinion: the last word isn´t spoken on this subject. I learned a lot over the last years, i´ll learn how to bring them up to bigger sizes in the future, i´ve no doubt.

First step to accomplish this, will be the "production" of offsprings, which i´m gonna start at the weekend.
Should this be successfull i´ll have enough "material to experiment" how to make it better.

Even if the growth-period is unfortunately over for now, i´ll definitely keep you updated about this creepies.

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Gigas]

If they were fed fish, i would suggest ones that had been raised in rain water, less chlorine and other chemicals (depending where you live this may not be the case) than tap water which i can imagine could stunt growth.
has a large specimen ever been raised in captivity? could water quality be affecting this species in captivity?

 

[Stefan2209]

If they were fed fish, i would suggest ones that had been raised in rain water, less chlorine and other chemicals (depending where you live this may not be the case) than tap water which i can imagine could stunt growth.
has a large specimen ever been raised in captivity? could water quality be affecting this species in captivity?

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....

This species had been re-introduced last year to europe. Through background research i found some hints that make me think, that this spiders are indeed Ancylometes rufus.
However, as no dead specimen have been analysed yet, to my knowledge, this is just a personal opinion.

If this should proof to be true, the answer to your question is: yes, they have been raised in captivity in europe at the end of the 90´s.

Take a look at this page:

Francesco´s HP

The shown spiders resembles this species to 100%, so apparently they´ve not only been raised, but bred also. However, the mentioned sizes of those spiders are still less compared top the wc i´ve seen.
I´m not interested in getting them "a tad" bigger, i want this creepies to reach their full potential. Talk about 7-8" legspan, as the adults that were displayed.

Guess this will be a hard piece of work, but if nature can manage this, i see no reason why this task should be impossible to accomplish in captivity.

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Gigas]

So im guessing fish is the way to go, and small water body for them to chill in, maybe large size is an enviromental dimorphism in this species? much like gouramis grow bigger in deeper water or something( i know its a fish but you get the jist)

 

[Stefan2209]

So im guessing fish is the way to go, and small water body for them to chill in, maybe large size is an enviromental dimorphism in this species? much like gouramis grow bigger in deeper water or something( i know its a fish but you get the jist)

Hi again,

"guessing" is exact THE word for now.

You´re most def right, might be that this are the crucial factors. Might well be, there are even some other factors taking their toll at the size, who knows for sure...

Will start with the pdf spinnekop posted, i have it since years, but apparently have concentrated more on the data´s about Phoneutria than Ancylometes.
So i will read it again and see, if i can find any loose ends to start working with. If i shouldn´t come up with new ideas after i read it again, i´ll give my very own idea a try and just keep them at higher temperatures.

Guess there will be some more hobbyists,that will try other methods, so one can concentrate on just one method at a time.

Right now i´m in contact with some other guys regarding the raising of P. nigriventer slings. Works well, should work with the Ancylometes, too....

At least there´s one person here in europe who had been known for raising spiders to just "impossible" sizes. If nothing should work, i´d reside to get in touch with him and ask for help.

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Stefan2209]

Hi,

i´ll have to apologize in advance, for the extreme bad picture quality, but i guess, you get the point...

Now it´s sit and wait, fingers crossed!

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Gigas]

Lol bondage spider time, hope the mating is succesful

 

[Stefan2209]

Lol bondage spider time, hope the mating is succesful

Hi Gigus,

LOL, perhaps i should have them supplied with some spanking tools, too...

Fingers crossed! Gonna keep you updated how they´ll do.

Still have another couple ready to mate!

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Stefan2209]

Hi there,

this is NOT the end.

Clues get dense and even more dense that the pictured species may indeed be Ancylometes rufus.

Apparently most, if not all attempts of breeding with the captive raised specimen from last year have failed.

However, just now i started a new attempt, with two wc specimen from Peru. Everything went as smooth as one just can wish.

Fingers crossed!

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Blaster]

Gosh, good luck! And I keep my fingers crossed all the time. Keep us informed!