Sparassidae Photos - Huntsman of All Species

[UrbanJungles]

Sure enough, last night one of my orange huntsman molted and the other laid a very cool sac!

Oddly enough, both my Green Huntsman and Orange laid sacs on the same night.

 

[Dr. John]

I brought my Malaysian Orange Huntsman Spider ( female ) back from my last trip to Malaysia , about six weeks ago , and had been feeding her on small geckos all the time . Three nights ago , she produced a beautiful and large pink eggsac . That coincided with my daughter's Heteropoda venatoria doing the same thing . I was very much concerned about breeding fruitflies and things to feed the coming spiderlings with . Yesterday though , she just ate the eggsac up and there was not one egg left . Better luck next time .

Dr. John

 

[UrbanJungles]

Oh no...how disappointing!

Does anyone have experience with successfully hatching sacs with these species? I imagine that some have done it as I've seen a few slings offered around here and there.

Any advice for keeping females with sacs would be great!
Danny

 

[Arachnoporium]

Awesome that they both spun sacks on the same night - perhaps it was the lunar eclipse:}

You've got two options, the first is better in my experience.

Put her in a very quite undisturbed place and don't feed or bother her at all. Use a syringe or the like to be sure the water dish is nice and full - but no feeding or disturbance or she will eat the sack. Gently cover the air holes with poly fabric or panty hose in case you miss the hatching. WIthin about 30 days it will expand like jiffy pop, quite evident. Not its time for action, use a spoon and tongue to take it from her as quickly and gently as possible - yet she will sink her teeth into it. The mother will usually open her own egg sack to get all of her young out of it at this time - well not thats your job.

If you decide to pull it right away, incubate it just like a Theraphosidae sack, or else you will have a dud.

Oh no...how disappointing!

Does anyone have experience with successfully hatching sacs with these species? I imagine that some have done it as I've seen a few slings offered around here and there.

Any advice for keeping females with sacs would be great!
Danny

 

[sidguppy]

I got a Heteropoda venatoria female at home; she killed her mate after a few matings, unfortunately.
but she's small...... maybe 2" legspread, body about 0.5" or something. I was hoping she'd get bigger, but alas.....


but since we're speaking about Huntsman-species; does anybody on this forum keep the Avondale Spider Delena cancerides?
this species is famous for it's role in the movie Arachnophobia.

 

[UrbanJungles]

Put her in a very quite undisturbed place and don't feed or bother her at all. Use a syringe or the like to be sure the water dish is nice and full - but no feeding or disturbance or she will eat the sack. Gently cover the air holes with poly fabric or panty hose in case you miss the hatching. WIthin about 30 days it will expand like jiffy pop, quite evident. Not its time for action, use a spoon and tongue to take it from her as quickly and gently as possible - yet she will sink her teeth into it. The mother will usually open her own egg sack to get all of her young out of it at this time - well not thats your job.

If you decide to pull it right away, incubate it just like a Theraphosidae sack, or else you will have a dud.

So am I asking for trouble if I left them with mom until they hatch?

 

[Veith]

hi,

Holconia cf insignis

 

[UrbanJungles]

Okay, I'll stop asking questions on this thread and post pics like I should be...

Green Huntsman (Heteropoda boiei) covering up her newly deposited eggs...

Here's my Orange Huntsman (Thelcticopis modesta) guarding her eggsac.

Both of these girls are carrying the eggsacs with them.

 

[Veith]

hi,

my orange malaysian huntsman (i thought it was an Heteropoda spec. )

1.0 H. venatoria lookalike^^

and Cerbalus spec.
0.1 adult

juvenile

mating

she buildet an eggsack and destroyed it a few days later:evil:

karsten

 

[Pulk]

nice, you have some beautiful huntsmans

 

[Arachnoporium]

Awesome Photos

Thanks for the eye candy Karsten! Great photos!

I had the same problem with the Cerbalus sp? White/Black huntsman collected from the Sinai Peninsula. I had some spiderlings that hatched out during the long journey ... but the sacks would either dessicate or be eaten when I left them with the mother.

In a book called 'Spiders of South East Asia' I read that the mother tears the sack open when it begins to blow up (as you have probably seen in the Asian species) so I have always left sacks with the mother and pulled them when they blew up.

My assumption is that due to the difficulty in replicating the habitat of the Sinai desert and native areas - perhaps the mother can tell the sack has dessicated (as I have witnessed a few carrying them) and either this; or a disturbance causes them to eat it.

I successfully hatched them out by taking a small Lee's Faunarium with water at the bottom and a cheese cloth hammock suspended at the top flipping the sack as often as possible. I placed a small heat pad underneath and a small clamp fan was providing air circulation to keep it from being too moist. When it started to blow up, then I opened it. Sweet succuess. If you get any more egg sacks and are able to attempt this or any variation and have success - keep us posted.

Also - do you find yours handleable?

hi,

my orange malaysian huntsman (i thought it was an Heteropoda spec. )
1.0 H. venatoria lookalike^^
and Cerbalus spec.
0.1 adult
juvenile
mating
she buildet an eggsack and destroyed it a few days later:evil:

karsten

 

[Apophis]

Hello Karsten.

Why H. venatoria lookalike? He looks exactly like my male, and I always assumed it was H. venatoria. :?
Any more info would be greatly appreciated

 

[Veith]

hi,

nice, you have some beautiful huntsmans

They have ceased to be

atm i´ve got only H. cf insignis.

but the sacks would either dessicate or be eaten when I left them with the mother.

my females ripped it open and spread the eggs all over the sand.
the eggsack was built in the higher regions of the box and not at the trapdoor where the female lived before she built the sack.

btw i've got the Cerbalus sp. from egypt.

they were the slowest Sparassidae i've seen.
maybe it was to cold.

Why H. venatoria lookalike?

they where never identified.
but i think it was H. venatoria

karsten

 

[beetleman]

Okay, I'll stop asking questions on this thread and post pics like I should be...

Green Huntsman (Heteropoda boiei) covering up her newly deposited eggs...

Here's my Orange Huntsman (Thelcticopis modesta) guarding her eggsac.

Both of these girls are carrying the eggsacs with them.

awesome! the green hunstman is next on my list:drool:

 

[dtknow]

What do you guys feed baby huntsman? I'm assuming drosophila...but I've also heard they are not a good sole diet.

 

[Arachnoporium]

D. Melanogaster and pinheads here.

What do you guys feed baby huntsman? I'm assuming drosophila...but I've also heard they are not a good sole diet.

 

[dtknow]

thats what I was thinking...or perhaps substitute pinheads with baby lateralis or other ittybitty roach nymphs.

Do huntsman take large prey for their size? They seem built more to chase down small stuff.

 

[Arachnoporium]

as the southeast Asian sparassids tend to not touch the substrate (adults more often than juves) - roach nymphs which climb plastic/glass are great. i don't use them simply because the fruit flies will die off quicker. i know of many who have established colonies of climbing roaches and love them as feeders - when i have experimented with them it was not fun - I like my 'strictly terrestrial' roaches.

thats what I was thinking...or perhaps substitute pinheads with baby lateralis or other ittybitty roach nymphs.

Do huntsman take large prey for their size? They seem built more to chase down small stuff.

 

[buthus]

Latrodectus get a sticky thread but Sparassidae dont get one?
Looks to me like a pro start ...perfect candidate. Someone oughta sticky this sucker. :? ...

 

[Blaster]

Latrodectus get a sticky thread but Sparassidae dont get one?
Looks to me like a pro start ...perfect candidate. Someone oughta sticky this sucker. :? ...

Yeah, very true!

Sparrasus species from me - any help on closer ID?

Best regards, Matthew.