Peucetia

[kermitdsk]

Hi,

are here keepers of Peucetia?
I already keep some from Tanga (Tanzania) but I'm searching for more specially Peucetia madagascariensis but so far it's impossible to find someone who keep this species. Maybe here is someone who keeps them or knows where to get them.

Best regards

 

[Toff202]

I will get some P. lucasi (very similar to madagascariensis) in spring. I'll try to breed them, shipping to Germany is no problem.

 

[kermitdsk]

Ok I will remember you . Do you have some informations about P. lucasi?
Maybe here are some more Peucetia keepers or interessted people!? I really like Peucetia always wondering why it's so rare in the hobby.

 

[chanda]

I've kept Peucetia viridans several times. Beautiful spiders, and really easy to care for, plus they live out here anyway so I can easily catch my own. They don't need a great deal of space or require special care as far as temperature or humidity are concerned.

Because of their small size, pretty colors and the way the mothers guard their eggs/young, they are great for introducing spiders to some of my more arachnophobic students. The kids don't perceive them as threatening, and the baby spiders, in particular, are just too cute to be afraid of.

The only drawback to keeping them is the short life span. I suspect that's why they aren't more popular in the hobby. If I had to buy them and pay shipping, I wouldn't keep them either.

 

[kermitdsk]

Yes same like Salticidae or Mantodea but a lot people keep them.

 

[Socfroggy]

The only drawback to keeping them is the short life span. I suspect that's why they aren't more popular in the hobby. If I had to buy them and pay shipping, I wouldn't keep them either.

How long do they live??

 

[Ungoliant]

How long do they live??

Peucetia viridans lives for about a year.

This is an annual species (lives roughly one year). They reach maturity and mate in late spring to mid summer, and egg sacs are produced soon after (21 to 28 days later, according to Whitcomb et al. 1966). Interestingly, Green Lynx Spiders actually mate in mid-air while suspended on a silken tether line. Their courtship and copulation is described in great detail in Whitcomb & Eason 1965 (see references section). The males sometimes break off part of their pedipalp inside the female, creating a plug that prevents other males from mating with her. However, this doesn't always happen, and it was found that this species can and does mate more than once, and that the resulting offspring have multiple paternity (Ramirez 2009). Most individual females only create one egg sac but, in warmer (more southerly) conditions, they may create 2-3 egg sacs total. Specimens kept in the laboratory have been known to create up to 6 sacs, however there are successively fewer and fewer eggs in each one (Whitcomb et al. 1966). The silken sacs are a light yellow or greenish color to begin with, and darken to gray or brown over time. The egg sac usually has some small spiky projections and is fairly large (~2cm in diameter), comparable to the size of the female who made it. It is firmly anchored to twigs and leaves and the mother spider vigorously guards it, sometimes even physically hugging the sac. If she gets bothered by predators (e.g. ants), she will attack them and then move the sac to a new location. There can be anywhere from 25-600 bright orange eggs in each sac, though the average amount is around 200 (Whitcomb et al. 1966). The eggs hatch within two weeks or less, depending on temperature, but the spiderlings don't exit the safety of the egg sac until about two weeks later, after they have molted once. The mother Green Lynx Spider uses her jaws to tear open the egg sac to help her young emerge, however, unlike "wolf spiders," the babies do actually have the ability to free themselves by tearing their own tiny holes in the sac to escape. The spiderlings emerge as tiny, bright orange replicas of their parents, and eventually use a strand of silk to "balloon" away to their future home. They will overwinter as babies and then reach maturity the following spring or summer, and the cycle then repeats.

 

[Socfroggy]

How big would the enclosures need to be as it grows from the itty bitty sling I see at the store?

 

[chanda]

How big would the enclosures need to be as it grows from the itty bitty sling I see at the store?

I've kept them in large (32 oz.) deli cups and they've done fine. What I'll do with these is cut a small (1/2" diameter) hole in the lid, then insert a piece of sponge in the hole. That way, when I want to feed them, I don't have to take off the whole lid - I can just pull the sponge and drop in a cricket or two. (At least until the female decides that the underside of the sponge is the perfect place to make her egg sac.) They aren't too particular about decorations. I usually have a shallow bit of substrate (eco earth, regular dirt, or even a folded paper towel) at the bottom of the cage to soak up excess water when I mist the enclosure, plus a few twigs or bits of fake plant for climbing/hiding.

 

[Socfroggy]

Thank you! I imagine an amac box with that capacity works as well?

 

[kermitdsk]

Peucetia spec. madagascar

 

[Smokehound714]

lynx spiders can actually live long enough to see a second year, I had a female live just long enough for a second birthday a few years ago