Portia Africana, thinking about breeding.

[wokjow]

A year or so ago I had the pleasure of finding my first Portia Africana at my parent's home in Zimbabwe. Having remembered seeing them on a documentary I was very excited to see her hunt. The fascination of keeping invertebrates and reptiles was always in part (a big part) about watching their behaviour and after a few years of watching tarantulas go about their business I have to say that keeping a Portia is very refreshing. While very cautious and methodical, Potias take to their new environments very well, adapting quickly especially if there is food. Being quite active spiders and I assume using a fair bit of energy strategising and stalking, they never refuse a prey item and make for brilliant tank TV. Due to their fantastic visual acuity and the fact that they aren't skittish makes them very interesting on a personal level, they always seem aware of your presence (except when there's a meal available) and the interaction between keeper and spider is rewarding as so many other species seem oblivious or are only concerned with running/hiding. Portia will always acknowledge your presence near her tank with a robotic turn of her head and jiggle her moustache-like pedipalps excitedly as if processing some complex command from her advanced little brain

I was wondering if anybody has endeavoured to breed and sell Portias as pets since they are so intriguing and while some might see issues with feeding or finding suitable prey items on a regular basis I have heard a prey spider can be easily bred alongside them. For the more extreme enthusiast the pleasure is in finding new species to feed Portia and watching how she has learned to approach and conquer new challenges and if she remembers the successful method. My friends who previously had no interest in spiders were amazed at her cat-like stalking and let out shrieks of excitement when she finally pounced and devoured a pholcid.

Any thoughts?

 

[brotony101]

Wow! Very cool little spider...they look like they are on short stilts! Will have to see if anyone has shot videos of these. Good luck with your question...you may be the one to answer it, yourself after experience.:biggrin:

 

[wokjow]

They have been researched quite a bit due to their unusual intelligence. I first saw one in a documentary called 'Spider Power' where they discuss the ingenuity and patience of these little spiders. They are cannibalistic, aggressive mimics and will always take a spider over insects or non-spider prey items, sometimes even using trapped insects as a lure for other spider species. They tend to take over the webs of web-building spiders and will use an astonishing array of tactics and endless patience in their pursuit. I have personally observed my Portia display a few of these tactics to catch spiders and a 100% success rate and no loss of limbs or damage even when she takes on spiders twice her size. I found this segment about portia from a documentary, dubbed in french but you get the picture