Orange Faced Demon Spider (again)

[Arachnophilist]

Hey everyone I am trying to gather as much information as possible on the husbandry of these wonderful little things. I would like to try and get a good stock matured and hopefully breed them in the future. any info or personal experience on keeping this species would be greatly appreciated. just to be clear we are talking about Eresus sp. more specifically Eresus niger ignicomis. Thanks everyone!

 

[Emanuele]

Hi! I'm keeping this species as well and I also raised a lot of youngs in the past years.
This is a really strong species, with a few needs:
- a few water sometimes (once a month)
- a deep layer of silt/sand soil (but you can safely use peato moss as well) where it can dig a retreat
- a stone under which begin to dig (they prefer stones, but also use bark)
- some dry shrubs outside the hole to attach the net, but it's not necessary

I'm keeping now a female, she's overwintering.
I normally use wax months and Blatta lateralis (formerly Shelfordella tartara) as preys, but I can say with no remorse that they will eat almost everything you'll put inside the tank.
Unfortunately it's a very shy and secretive species and it normally doesn't come out of it's burrow.

Hope it helps!
Ema

 

[Arachnophilist]

thank you Emmanuelle.. now how do you keep your slings? cause that is what I am starting with.. I hear they do alright in small groups as young.. any thoughts on this? and would cocoa fibre be suitable or do you suggest a mixed sub of sand and dirt etc.

 

[Emanuele]

I kept my slings altogether until the end of the first winter, then I left them together a bit more and in May-June I divided them cause they were dispersing out of the mother's retreat (the mother was already dead and eaten by her youngs).
With the youngs you could simply keep each one in little and simply boxes with no substrate and only a small piece of dried lead under which they build a net retreat.
If you want to keep them in small groups, they thrive well with no cannibalism, even if I preferred to divide some of them in single containers.

Ah, you've fallen in a little error, my name is Emanuele (and I'm a male, it's like Emanuel). A lot of non-italian friends called me "Emanuelle" or Emmanuelle" thinking I was a girl, it's a kind of malediction!... ;-)

Cheers
Ema

 

[Ephebopus.M]

how big do they grow?

 

[Emanuele]

The female I'm keeping at the moment is something like 3-4 cm body length.
The male is smaller and it normally reaches the size of a Phidippus audax, around 15-20 mm maximum. It also depends on the populations and on the various subspecies.
Cheers
Ema

 

[Arachnophilist]

haha no actually I figured you were a guy I just spelt it wrong thank you for the info! I really appreciate it.

 

[Arachnophilist]

They Arrived!

Well the E.niger ignicomis have arrived. and here are the pics.

first off the bad news.

there are about 20+ dead slings

but on a lighter note.. we have survivors!

the remains of the eggsac in a communal setup for the moment.
some pics of the spiders in the setup

and now the individually housed spiders.

there are the 13 containers.
and this is how they are set up.

and here is a size reference

there ya go! all comments and suggestions are welcome!

 

[Emanuele]

They're quite well grown spiderling. You shouldn't have any problem. The substrate seems moss... keep attention not to overwater it, they don't love too much humidity at all.
the guy who sent you the spiders doesn't know them well (I suppose...), cause I see the paper totally wet and placed into the container like a big "ball" to squeeze the spiders.
When sending spiders the best thing to do (in my opinion at least) is to place the spiders inside little containers with only a small piece of paper that runs around the walls and it's clipped between the container and the top, so it can't roll around during expeditions. This method has been good even when the paper was wet, cause it doesn't collapse, being very light.

Ah, if you can, try giving them ants...
Cheers
Ema

 

[Lorgakor]

Oh my God! They are so adorable! Oh I am going to cross my fingers that they do okay. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these! Good luck with raising and breeding them!

 

[Arachnophilist]

Thank you Emanuele. I just finished writing you a PM to see what you thought haha anyways I will see if I can find some ants though I dont know what I will be able to get this time of year.. are they able to take crickets larger than them selves? and I will let the substrate dry out. I just moistened it so that I could make a mixture and pack all the containers. thanks again for you help. it is greatly appreciated.

 

[Arachnophilist]

Oh my God! They are so adorable! Oh I am going to cross my fingers that they do okay. I can't wait to get my hands on one of these! Good luck with raising and breeding them!

well as soon as I am sure I know they will survive and I kow what to feed and how to care for them I will hand one over to ya!

 

[Selenops]

Sorry about your losses but that is one really neat spider. Good luck!

Thanks for the info, Emanuele, hope to get my hands on them too.

 

[Galapoheros]

Yea looks like you have enough survivors to get some more babies from some day:drool: . I've wanted a couple of those since I saw one on the AB a year or two ago. But I would like to trim down right now instead of getting more stuff.... maybe someday I'll get a couple. Interesting looking spider. Thanks for the pics.

 

[Emanuele]

You're all welcome
About spraying the containers... Now let them dry out, then you can schedule a weekly spraying but just for drinking purposes.
And about preys, no problem, they'll eat almost everything that smaller or similar to their size.
I'd also try with drosofila and small newly born Shelfordella tartara (now called Blatta lateralis).
You can even put them as "dying" preys" near their retreat, they probably catch them and you'll be sure they eat something.
Regards
Ema

 

[Emanuele]

A little advice about the substrate, you can even keep them without any substrate, by only putting a small dried leaf as a retreat. They'll do very well in this manner and you'll be sure they eat and where they are. ùI say this because when the moss will dry out they'll can burrow themselves and you'll can have trouble finding and feeding them.
Cheers

 

[Arachnophilist]

Thanks Emanuele, Perhaps I will re house the 24 I now have in individual setups. they seem to be webbing to the lid anyways. I now have a count of roughly 43 more in the communal stup. I need more containers!

 

[Emanuele]

Don't worry about containers!
I used with big results cilindrical boxes large 2,5 X 6 cm (1 X 2,5 inches)

 

[Arachnophilist]

yes I am using dip containers with lids from a bar my friend works at they work fine. and I have decided to remove the substrate and keep them with dried leaf bits in the bottom. I will use the substrate as a base in my new cricket egg-laying cage! so I can have lots of micro crickets for them. thought they are communally eating large prekilled crickets I placed in there right now.. that method will not work for the individuals.

 

[KyuZo]

questions

i am curious to know if they can climb smooth surfaces. are they like jumping spiders? or more like tarantulas? do they sit and wait for something to walk by?
thanks,
Jason