Ogre-faced babies (Deinopis spec.)

[Stefan2209]

Hi all,

many thanks go out to german hobbyist Chris, who has done a masterpiece of work (at least in my opinion) with getting a wc female of this species to build a sac and figuring out all the necessessary values that are needed to successfully hatch.

Here we go, for the first time slings of an ogre-faced spider (or net-casting spider, if that suits you better), Deinopis spec. from Kenya. The slings are still tiny, they have some 7mm legspan (that´s incredible 0,28") and are, to my opinion, just plain strange.

They just look like some piece of debris, as they hang on their next to invisible silk lines. They hang in there all day and just don´t do anything, as they´re strictly nocturnal. Given their inactivity and their over all just strange appearance, i was more than concerned about feeding. After introducing a micro-cricket, my concerns became even worse, when i could observe the spiders just escaping of the crix....

However, coming dusk, yielded a surprise: the first specimen was snacking on those crickets....
I don´t know how the spider captured the cricket, but apparently all of them have not the slightest problems with taking down crix, the next morning clearly showed two things: no crix anymore, but fat and happy baby-ogre-faces.

I really hope, we´ll be able to get this to adulthood, to get into breeding. Fingers crossed!

Here they are:

That´s just what they do all day, hanging around....

A very rare occurence during the daylight hours: activity

Yeah, they apparently really like this pose....

Now, fellow-hobbyists from the US, it´s your turn to show off you´re very own US-endemic species of Deinopis.

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Steven]

interesting spiders Stefan,
but i was suspecting some more "action" pictures,...
can't ya shoot in "night-vision ?" :razz:

and what's the adult legspan by the way ?

 

[sammyp]

Wow, they really are tiddly. Very strange looking species, Stefan but well done to yur friend for breeding them:clap:

 

[Stefan2209]

Hi there,

guess "action pics" will be just very hard to get hold of, as the small creepies are really chicken-shits, with the slightest vibration on their enclosure they just "play dead", no action anymore....

Guess, you´ll just have to be patient, perhaps when (and if!) they´re more grown....

Greetings,

Stefan

P.S: That night vision pic is of course a different story, just think of a completely black square and you´ll know what i could come up with.

 

[Jonathan]

Howdy,
You guys get the coolest animals out there!!! Maybe its time to think about moving across the big pond! I think my girlfriend would be fine moving across the globe so I could have access to more spiders!!
Jon

 

[syndicate]

very nice!any shots of the mother?

 

[NewGriot]

Deinopis

Whoooooow!

That`s what I`m looking for since years.

Hope for many babies soon :-D

Congrats for your new spider!

 

[LHP]

Now, fellow-hobbyists from the US, it´s your turn to show off you´re very own US-endemic species of Deinopis.

Ugh. Wish I could! I in an area where Dinopidae spinosa should occur, but have never seen one. One of the days maybe...

Lindsey

 

[Stefan2209]

Ugh. Wish I could! I in an area where Dinopidae spinosa should occur, but have never seen one. One of the days maybe...

Lindsey

Hey Lindsey,

glad to see you once more back here!

Damn, you´re really lucky, i already envied you cause of the presence of those D. albineus....

... and now you´re gonna tell me, D. spinosa lives there, too??? Really not fair...

However, i guess they are indeed quite a challenge to locate. I had done some background research about those and got in touch with some FL residents last year, to inquire if they had ever seen such spiders. The answers were quite surprising: even with guys who lived since years in confirmed distribution areas, sightings had been rare to none. I remember one guy telling me, he´d been living for something like 11 years in FL and had seen this species exactly one, single time...

One other guy told me, though, that they were quite common around his home and garden, if one just knew what, where and when to look out for.

Fingers crossed for your search, as you were able to find that oh-so-well camouflaged D. albineus on that tree (yeah, i still remember those pics.. ), i´m quite sure you´ll sooner or later stumble across one.

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[LHP]

We also have purse webs around, but I've never found one. That is one I'd reallly like to see. I've even had dreams about finding them! I wake up all happy for a moment before I realize it didn't happen

Fingers crossed for your search, as you were able to find that oh-so-well camouflaged D. albineus on that tree (yeah, i still remember those pics.. ), i´m quite sure you´ll sooner or later stumble across one.

It has been a pretty good year for spiders thus far. A couple of weeks ago, I was in a canoe and found a D. triton on a partially submerged branch feeding on a newly emerged amber-wing dragonfly...right beside its' larval casing! Took too many pics and haven't had the time to go through them yet. Lots and lots of good jumpers too (finally found an ant mimic!).

I also finally got a hold of some white lady spiders recently! Been looking for those since Steven posted pics a while back.

Congrats on your ogre-faced guys (and your spitters I might add:drool: )!

Lindsey

 

[Wade]

One other guy told me, though, that they were quite common around his home and garden, if one just knew what, where and when to look out for.

That's the key, really. I don't *THINK* I've ever seen one either, but it's
entirely posssible I've looked right at one and dismissed it as Tetragnatha, which are so common I rarely give them a second glance.

If they're feeding on crickets already, I'd say you're well on your way, since feeding is always tricky with the tiny critters.

Wade

 

[Stefan2209]

Hi there,

i have to freely admit, that i just have my troubles with just how freaky these things are!

They have apparently no problems with overpowering big prey items and are, unti now, much easier to keep alive than i had dreamed of. Just one loss so far, which i take for very ok.

The other four are doing fine, they just molted for the first time, since i got them and are now in the 2. instar. Did quite some growing, not gigantic, but at least "enough".

Some more molts and one will be able to clearly see the name-giving "ogre-face"...

Now, that´s just too weird, lil chicken-shits as they are, but already know how to construct their very own and specialised web:

Wouldn´t have expected to see this such soon, but it´s of course well appreciated...

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Steven]

Wouldn´t have expected to see this such soon, but it´s of course well appreciated...

And appreciated you want to share it with us

looking good :drool:

 

[Sadistik]

Nice pictures Stefan Im getting some from Chris as well how are you keeping these at the moment?
I didnt expect them to take crickets and thought about feeding ants.

 

[Sheri]

They're really adorable. Worth staying up late for.

 

[Stefan2209]

Nice pictures Stefan Im getting some from Chris as well how are you keeping these at the moment?
I didnt expect them to take crickets and thought about feeding ants.

Hi there,

i´m keeping my specimen in tall deli-cups (0,4L), peat-moss as substrate, some twigs to climb on, that´s it.
Humidity is around some 70%, temperatures around 25° C, however, they can easily tolerate temps in the 30° C, too, as i found out over the last weeks...

Really easy to care for so far. Just since yesterday first specimen started to molt to 3. instar...

Expecting to get some more specimen over the next weeks...

Why feeding ants, they take down micro-crix with ease, guess soon enough they´ll be able to take down a variety of even bigger prey items, too.

More pics soon...

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Goliath]

Hey Stefan,

How are the little guys doing? They such cool spiders.

Thanks,
mike

 

[Stefan2209]

Hey Stefan,

How are the little guys doing? They such cool spiders.

Thanks,
mike

Hi Mike,

they´re doing just great! Just yesterday they started to molt into 4. instar for my older specimen (have to admit that im as fascinated with these, that i ordered some more specimen 10 days ago....).

I´m very surprised about how easy they are to raise and to keep, there´s not much needed to make them happy. Growth is another thing, they just grow like crazy, 4. instar already make them have 1,5".

So far, i take these for really excellent pet spiders: easy to care for, fast growing and quite interesting looks and hunting-behaviour, what more could one ask for?

New pics and general updates soon...

Greetings,

Stefan

 

[Goliath]

Thanks for the update Stefan. That does sound like pretty good growth, and I don't blame you for buying some more. Hopefully we can get some in the hobby over here. There are some natives, unfortunately none where I am.

Thanks,
mike

 

[Snakefox]

they are really amazing What kinda of encloser do you keep them in?? Do they require a lot of ventalation?