Phrynus whitei lost both whips in moult

[biggus dickus]

Am keeping it in a 32oz deli cup with bark on an angle from one corner to another. Its an inch and a half or so in legspan now whith no whips. I had a friend house sitting over christmas so idk if what humidity was. I can see there are too many mites in there. For some reason it decided to moult close to the substrate, so maybe it just didnt have enough room to work with.

I understand that it can regrow its limbs, and ill find a better enclosure for it. I used identical enclosure for a few true spiders and they all had no issues moulting. They have much better grips on surfaces than this guy does though.

It isnt eating the live prey I put in there, its hardly moving at all. Have you guys had luck feeding whip spiders who have lost their whips?

 

[that1ocelot]

Did it's legs come out malformed? Generally, they pull their whips from their molt with their pedipalps. Maybe they were damaged.


For future reference, I like styrofoam or corkboard. You won't have your mite problem in all likelihood and there is more vertical space due to the thinness of the material. This is great for small amblypygi in small enclosures.
The good news is that if it's small, you could load it up with food and it will molt fairly soon. Depending on feeding, I find my young ones molt every month or so.

The bad news is that if it discarded it's whips, I wouldn't be surprised if there was more going on. As for food - yes, they can and will still eat without whips. However their ability to find prey will be hampered. I'd suggest pre-killing or maiming prey.
When did it molt? Even young take around a week to harden before they'll even touch food again.

 

[biggus dickus]

Legs and claws are all fine, just the whips are gone. If they didnt come out in the moult or it threw them away after i dont know. I am a noob at whipspiders so if theres something else wrong Im not sure. I got it from an exotics store for cheap, so obviously its wild caught.

thats good news that they can eat prekilled stuff. ill offer split open mealworms and crushed head crickets and see what happens. It should be long enough now that its hardened up enough

I have an old half moon plastic fish tank with a flat back thats about foot tall, would be perfect for a flat piece of styrofoam. Just gotta find one now.

 

[biggus dickus]

Good news, I made a new enclosure, basically 1 inch of dirt substrate with foam(some guy down the street got a new tv) wall and roof. It loves the new foam wall. I could tell it could sense stuff moving nearby, cause it would retreat when i held crickets out to it with tweezers and they kicked their little legs. Left a small cricket in there and it caught it. Looks like it will be fine long term

 

[that1ocelot]

Great to hear! The whips will come back next molt