Stacey the golden-web spider (Nephila Pilipes)

Ah Lee

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
147
This is Stacey.

She is a Nephila Pilipes that I bumped into while on a jog 2 months ago. I've seen many before, but she is the youngest I have ever seen in the wild. She had just built a web when a lumbering fat man (me) crashed into it, and she ended up on my hair. So I decided to bring her home.

First thing I did was release her near one of my shelves, and gave her a gentle breeze. Within a few hours, she had her first (very flimsy) web up, and with that, her first mealworm. The mealworm destroyed half her web, but she still ate it happily, but I always fed her pre-killed ones after that.

P_20200531_133254.jpg P_20200630_135012.jpg

Stacey's 3rd molt

Stacey has since built 2 webs and molted twice, but the third one I managed to catch her in action. I just finished work one day, looked up at her and realised she was hanging off the web strangely with only 2 legs.

It was extremely exciting because this is the first time I have seen an orbweaver molt. She is secured to the web by a single thread, which looks thicker than normal, like the ones she uses to make her bridge.

Slowly, she popped open her carapace and slowly started pumping her legs out.

P_20200714_002657.jpg

It was a slow, but she finally got herself free. Surprisingly the molt remained on the web in her usual stance, it almost looked like she was there. Whether this is a defense mechanism to distract predators while she hardens or merely a coincidence, I do not know. Her new self was translucent, pale and rubbery-looking like an octopus.

P_20200714_003614.jpg P_20200714_003756.jpg

She hung like this for a while, letting fluids flow to her legs to stretch them out. You can actually see them growing!

P_20200714_003812.jpg

A night's rest later, and she looking good as new, but bigger!


P_20200715_000508.jpg

Stacey's new home

One more molt later, Stacey was getting much bigger. She was barely the size of her abdomen now when I brought her home.

P_20200726_022547.jpg

Also I am not sure if she was just too pampered or what, but she wouldn't repair her web. It slowly degenerated to the point where there weren't even enough webbing for her to place her legs. She held on with 4 legs, the rest were dangling in mid-air.

P_20200729_140058.jpg

It had already been a week since molt, she should have recovered, but she's still not very bothered about her web. I decided to take it down, and build a her a nice place to live out the rest of her life. I bought an old plant shelf and some fake plants to make a canopy.

P_20200730_171817.jpg P_20200730_180051.jpg

This is the canopy mounted. I am hoping this will make her feel a little more at home, with leaves she can retreat to if she feels threatened. I also have a UVA/UVB light pointed at her to replicate natural light. Being a diurnal species, I think this might be important to her. I also read in a research paper somewhere that their webs are strengthened by exposure to UV rays.

P_20200730_214650.jpg

I added some ropes for additional anchor points. Hopefully with the canopy and ropes, it will be enough for her to want to set up a web there.

P_20200730_221546.jpg

Finally, I released her into the area. Her first instinct was always to go up above the canopy into the ceiling. I can understand that she would do that as an arboreal species, so i kept bring her back down, and trying to help her lay guide lines across the ropes. Finally, she found a corner of the rope she seemed to lie and plonked her spidery butt down there. The area is not full of criss-cross lines of webs, which she hangs on, but none of them look like a bridge-line to begin a new web. For now I'm just going to let her be, and see what she does. For the past 2 days I ahve been chasing her down from the ceiling, and that may be stressing her out. So I have decided to just leave her be, and if she wants to make her web somewhere else, so be it. I jsut want her to be happy.

P_20200804_162143.jpg

I'll keep updating this thread with more Stacey updates, but for now, that's it!

P_20200804_161525.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Dr SkyTower

Arachnolord
Joined
Dec 21, 2019
Messages
660
wow, this is amazing. I've heard that species of Nephila grows very large and the web is gigantic... but have never seen it for myself of course. To have one in the house is just amazing. I look forward to more of your updates :D
 

Ah Lee

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
147
Thanks fellas!

As of now Stacey is still sitting sulking in the corner not building her web. At this stage my first priority is to just let her build wherever she wants, so I'm not gonna bring her back from her wandering expeditions anymore. Hopefully tomorrow she will web somewhere and I can feed her, but if she doesn't, I will attach the plant canopy right onto the ceiling and lengthen the ropes. This will give her another 20% more height, and she physically cannot climb any higher than that, so maybe she'll settle for that.

Luckily she was a ravenous eater, so still has a fair amount of food reserves in her, and she's still drinking when I mist her. (In fact, I suspect her reluctance to build a new web or even repair her old one was because there is no urgency to forage.)
 

Ah Lee

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
147
P_20200807_154229.jpg

So its been 2 days and Stacey has not done anything new. She just hangs around the ceiling panels of my room, so I took the chance to revamp her area.

I made 2 major design changes. First i moved the canopy all the way up so it's right on the ceiling. This gives her much more vertical height to build, since I feel that's what she likes so much. The 2 anchor ropes at the sides i changed them to be poles. While the ropes were sturdy, they vibrated at a very weird resonance because they were so taut. It's even worse once i raised the canopy, because I had to make them longer (think guitar strings).

So i fitted 2 poles and wrapped them with rope and leaves for grip. Whatdaya know, she came back. She spends the last 2 days now hiding amongst the canopy, and has a single line laid across the poles.

I am getting worried because this is the longest she has gone without making a web. In fact she did not seem to bother about web making ever since her last moult. When she was young, i had her eat without a proper web before. I just killed a mealworm and entangled it in the bunch of random web lines she has all over the place. That might be something I'll try soon because she is getting skinny, but now i just wake up everyday hoping to see a completed web. Hopefully she'll make one once she starts feeling the need to forage.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
5,893
View attachment 355632

So its been 2 days and Stacey has not done anything new. She just hangs around the ceiling panels of my room, so I took the chance to revamp her area.

I made 2 major design changes. First i moved the canopy all the way up so it's right on the ceiling. This gives her much more vertical height to build, since I feel that's what she likes so much. The 2 anchor ropes at the sides i changed them to be poles. While the ropes were sturdy, they vibrated at a very weird resonance because they were so taut. It's even worse once i raised the canopy, because I had to make them longer (think guitar strings).

So i fitted 2 poles and wrapped them with rope and leaves for grip. Whatdaya know, she came back. She spends the last 2 days now hiding amongst the canopy, and has a single line laid across the poles.

I am getting worried because this is the longest she has gone without making a web. In fact she did not seem to bother about web making ever since her last moult. When she was young, i had her eat without a proper web before. I just killed a mealworm and entangled it in the bunch of random web lines she has all over the place. That might be something I'll try soon because she is getting skinny, but now i just wake up everyday hoping to see a completed web. Hopefully she'll make one once she starts feeling the need to forage.
Tong feed her a prekilled cricket. Offer it up to her directly.
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
Old Timer
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
11,046
Also I am not sure if she was just too pampered or what, but she wouldn't repair her web. It slowly degenerated to the point where there weren't even enough webbing for her to place her legs
I'm afraid she's near the end of her road. She's past mating season, is supposedly getting ready to lay eggs and will soon drop out of her web to go bury them, whether mated or not. A sad time of year as I wander the countryside and see the beautiful Nephs now in trashy webs, soon to be gone until next year.
 

Ah Lee

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
147
Tong feed her a prekilled cricket. Offer it up to her directly.
@basin79 Thank you so much! I tried it before but she didn't take it, but that was when she was just climbing around. I read your comment and decided to try again, since she was hanging on some strands of silk and might be hungry enough anyways. And she took it! She's happily munching on it now, and that at least means I have no urgency for her to make a web anytime soon.

I'm afraid she's near the end of her road. She's past mating season, is supposedly getting ready to lay eggs and will soon drop out of her web to go bury them, whether mated or not. A sad time of year as I wander the countryside and see the beautiful Nephs now in trashy webs, soon to be gone until next year.
I thought that too, but as I live in a tropical climate, I think they do not have that natural clock where they start preparing to lay eggs and die towards the end of the season.

I went on a hiking trip yesterday to try and learn more about the them, and found about 5 sub-adults, and 3 huge adults, all of which have huge, proud webs, so I guess that confirms it. Hopefully she still has a good few months left in her!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
5,893
@basin79 Thank you so much! I tried it before but she didn't take it, but that was when she was just climbing around. I read your comment and decided to try again, since she was hanging on some strands of silk and might be hungry enough anyways. And she took it! She's happily munching on it now, and that at least means I have no urgency for her to make a web anytime soon.
Sometimes after a moult they do this. Even when not fully grown. Just seem to not be fussed. Yet tong feed them directly and they'll take and then make a web and start behaving normally again.
 

Ah Lee

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
147
Factory reset failed

Sorry for not updating for such a long time, work has been terribly busy.

As per @basin79 's advice, I have tried factory resetting my Stacey by tong feeding her a cricket, which she happily took. One cricket became two, and now I have fed her 3 crickets over 5 days. Far from making a new web, now she doesn't even wander from her canopy anymore. She built herself some kind of crappy platform and just sits there the entire day doing absolutely nothing.

Untitled-1.jpg

She must have realized that web-building is unnecessary, since Daddy would nicely kill the crickets and bring them to her anyways. I think I have been conned by her hunger strike!

But in all seriousness, I know spiders are probably not capable of such a complex train of thought. They probably have a built-in instinct to decide whether or not to make a web, and and which location. She has built her web thrice in my room, so at the very least I know the conditions in my room is still decent enough.

I have tried:
-UV light on and off. Doesn't seem to affect her at all.
The reason why I find this important is because she is a diurnal species, and most of the wild Nephila I see have their webs proudly in sunlight. Research also has shown webs of the Nephila Clavipes stregthening under UVB lighting, so it's probably something I will keep running even after she webs.

-Slight/strong breeze in her direction, slight/strong breeze all around the room, natural breeze with windows and door open, stuffy room with everything closed.
Another factor I feel is absolutely important. Many times when she was younger, I realised that pointing a fan at her immediately puts her into web-building mode, and she will start releasing drift-lines which is the beginning of her web. (you have no idea how many times she landed one on me and tried to make me part of her megastructure).

-Natural humidty(average of 90% where I live), extra high humidity (with a humidifier in my room, windows all fogged up), heavy misting, no misting
Humidity is one of the factors affecting their web stickiness, so I felt it might be important.

-Food

I guess this is one of the most important, since food supply is what a web is all about. When her web was all old and tattery, I kept feeding her by twining dead crickets in her web to hopefully make her feel that the area is still rich in prey. She didn't rebuild her web. Then I tried not feeding her for a week. The thought is that in the wild, if the web was as crap as it was, it wouldn't be catching anything, so it might trigger a rebuild. Didn't work as well. So I did the whole renovation thing, and for almost 2 weeks didn't feed her. Nope, no web. Finally I tong-fed her over the course of 5 days. What seems different after feeding is that she seems to not want to move from her feeding spot anymore, so hopefully that's a good sign that she likes the area and might consider webbing there.

In any case, she is not dying of hunger or thirst anytime soon, so I'm just going to let her be. If I learnt anything from keeping T's for so long, is that the more you leave them alone, the better they tend to thrive. Also, you can't force nature. I always build perfectly nice hides for my T's to have them decide under the water dish is a good place for a burrow.

Spiders, tsk.
 

basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
5,893
Factory reset failed

Sorry for not updating for such a long time, work has been terribly busy.

As per @basin79 's advice, I have tried factory resetting my Stacey by tong feeding her a cricket, which she happily took. One cricket became two, and now I have fed her 3 crickets over 5 days. Far from making a new web, now she doesn't even wander from her canopy anymore. She built herself some kind of crappy platform and just sits there the entire day doing absolutely nothing.

View attachment 356328

She must have realized that web-building is unnecessary, since Daddy would nicely kill the crickets and bring them to her anyways. I think I have been conned by her hunger strike!

But in all seriousness, I know spiders are probably not capable of such a complex train of thought. They probably have a built-in instinct to decide whether or not to make a web, and and which location. She has built her web thrice in my room, so at the very least I know the conditions in my room is still decent enough.

I have tried:
-UV light on and off. Doesn't seem to affect her at all.
The reason why I find this important is because she is a diurnal species, and most of the wild Nephila I see have their webs proudly in sunlight. Research also has shown webs of the Nephila Clavipes stregthening under UVB lighting, so it's probably something I will keep running even after she webs.

-Slight/strong breeze in her direction, slight/strong breeze all around the room, natural breeze with windows and door open, stuffy room with everything closed.
Another factor I feel is absolutely important. Many times when she was younger, I realised that pointing a fan at her immediately puts her into web-building mode, and she will start releasing drift-lines which is the beginning of her web. (you have no idea how many times she landed one on me and tried to make me part of her megastructure).

-Natural humidty(average of 90% where I live), extra high humidity (with a humidifier in my room, windows all fogged up), heavy misting, no misting
Humidity is one of the factors affecting their web stickiness, so I felt it might be important.

-Food
I guess this is one of the most important, since food supply is what a web is all about. When her web was all old and tattery, I kept feeding her by twining dead crickets in her web to hopefully make her feel that the area is still rich in prey. She didn't rebuild her web. Then I tried not feeding her for a week. The thought is that in the wild, if the web was as crap as it was, it wouldn't be catching anything, so it might trigger a rebuild. Didn't work as well. So I did the whole renovation thing, and for almost 2 weeks didn't feed her. Nope, no web. Finally I tong-fed her over the course of 5 days. What seems different after feeding is that she seems to not want to move from her feeding spot anymore, so hopefully that's a good sign that she likes the area and might consider webbing there.

In any case, she is not dying of hunger or thirst anytime soon, so I'm just going to let her be. If I learnt anything from keeping T's for so long, is that the more you leave them alone, the better they tend to thrive. Also, you can't force nature. I always build perfectly nice hides for my T's to have them decide under the water dish is a good place for a burrow.

Spiders, tsk.
Well at least you know she's not starving.
 

BenLeeKing

Arachnoknight
Joined
Nov 23, 2017
Messages
239
I noticed the same thing when I tried to keep Nephila pilipes.
I interned in a lab one summer and caught one and tried to keep it in a massive wooden frame. She built stand of silk across the frame and I thought it's gonna go from there, but then when I left over night the wlk strand broke and she just started wandering the lab. She settled in different weird places but never built a web. I always hear people say Nephila sp. are pretty easy as long as you give them space like a corner in the room, but I feel something is up with Nephila pilipes that they are just way pickier.
 

Ah Lee

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
147
Well at least you know she's not starving.
That actually is my biggest relief! As long as she isn't starving, dying of thirst or stressed, I'm ok with whatever my spiders do.

I noticed the same thing when I tried to keep Nephila pilipes.
I interned in a lab one summer and caught one and tried to keep it in a massive wooden frame. She built stand of silk across the frame and I thought it's gonna go from there, but then when I left over night the wlk strand broke and she just started wandering the lab. She settled in different weird places but never built a web. I always hear people say Nephila sp. are pretty easy as long as you give them space like a corner in the room, but I feel something is up with Nephila pilipes that they are just way pickier.
Yea i do notice that a strand is not enough, when they do want to make a web, it's usually a thicker, stronger bridge line. At least to me, it's visibly...more visible.

I used to keep Nephila Kuhlii's on top of my bunk cupboard when I was in the army, and most of them quite quickly took up residence and made a web within 24 hrs. Even Stacey made her web pretty quickly when I took her home, which makes me think if not building a web could be an adaptation due to a lack of prey stimulus.

I say that because the N. Pilipes, unlike many other orbweavers, rarely take their webs down once built. This leads me to think that they probably have some form of consideration before laying a web down, as opposed to leaving it down to sheer luck. Could it be the prescence of flying prey? Nephilas do seem extremely sensitive to wind (Stacey is anyways), and it wouldn't be far-fetched to think they can detect tiny eddies in the air caused by the fluttering of wings, and decide that this might be a nice spot to web.

Of course that's purely theoretical, i plan to test it out with some wild caught moths and turning on her lights so they flutter near her :p
 
Last edited by a moderator:

mmcguffi

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 30, 2019
Messages
28
This is amazing! I am very jealous Im currently keeping a Trichonephila clavipes, but this is my dream spider to keep. Great job! I have mine in an enclosed wooden/plexiglass frame, and it maintains a perfect web unless it is either A) very satiated or B) about to molt
 

Ah Lee

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
147
Stacey the (obese) Golden Web spider

Stacey has been getting fat lately. I've been feeding her plenty, hopefully just to let her feel that this area is rich in prey.

The lazy lil thing is taking full advantage of it. She built a couple of barrier web-looking webs and just hangs around on that all day, waiting for a cricket to magically appear in her mouth.

She's feeding well, drinking well, so oh well, there's that. Hopefully she'll molt soon and then maybe she'll build a web, who knows. But I decided to whip out my camera today and snap a photo of this chonky thing on her pitiful web. Also my black wall is full of white poop.

Oh well, still love this girl to bits.

DSC_0663.jpg

This is amazing! I am very jealous Im currently keeping a Trichonephila clavipes, but this is my dream spider to keep. Great job! I have mine in an enclosed wooden/plexiglass frame, and it maintains a perfect web unless it is either A) very satiated or B) about to molt
Thanks! Do you have some photos of her and her frame? I would love to see more golden orb-weavers!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Ah Lee

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
147
Chonky no more.

Stacey has just shed all her chonkiness in the way all spiders do: With a molt.

Unfortunately I was out at work while that happened, so I didn't get any pics this time. Which is a shame because it happened in the day. When collecting the molt I realised how much she grew in the last 2 molts (basically that was also when she stopped building a proper web, which makes no sense in nature I know).

Her first molt disappeared, it was so tiny it probably disappeared with the wind. The 2nd was so tiny I stepped on it. So this is Stacey's 3rd, 4th and 5th molt. Her growth during the last 2 have been explosive.

mmexport1598525552638.jpg

Here she is just hanging out on her barrier web, stretching out those long beautiful legs. I'm gonna hold for a while before feeding her, both to let her recover and also to see if her lazy ass will actually do some web-building.


mmexport1598525548472.jpg
 
Last edited:

basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2013
Messages
5,893
Chonky no more.

Stacey has just shed all her chonkiness in the way all spiders do: With a molt.

Unfortunately I was out at work while that happened, so I didn't get any pics this time. Which is a shame because it happened in the day. When collecting the molt I realised how much she grew in the last 2 molts (basically that was also when she stopped building a proper web, which makes no sense in nature I know).

Her first molt disappeared, it was so tiny it probably disappeared with the wind. The 2nd was so tiny I stepped on it. So this is Stacey's 3rd, 4th and 5th molt. Her growth during the last 2 have been explosive.

View attachment 358002

Here she is just hanging out on her barrier web, stretching out those long beautiful legs. I'm gonna hold for a while before feeding her, both to let her recover and also to see if her lazy ass will actually do some web-building.


View attachment 358004
Phenomenal to read and see.
 

Ah Lee

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
147
[Creepy music intensifies]

So recently Stacey packed up her barrier web and left on a journey. She went up on the ceiling, across the air conditioner, amongst the leaf canopy....and then sat her butt down right back where she started.

This girl is an expert at giving me false hope I swear. Anyways, she has built a new, even crappier barrier web in almost the same location. I say almost because it is just about 10 cm to the left and a bit closer to her UV light.

The results are hilarious though. You know how in horror movies they like to show the shadow of the killer coming down the hallway? Yep that is Stacey now. And also her shadow makes it look like she is 2 feet long. Watching her just move around is like a real life arachnophobic movie, hence the title of the post.

Anyways, not much has changed. Stacey is bigger, but still lazy af, i am beginning to think my spider is faulty, is there a warranty center for these things?

mmexport1599238572163.jpg
 

Ah Lee

Arachnosquire
Joined
May 30, 2020
Messages
147
The field trip

Nothing new is going on in Stacey's life. She just hangs out on her pitiful barrier web all day, occasionally adding a thread or 2. It now looks like a tent-web more then an orbweb. Occasionally a cricket still flies magically into her mouth. Water falls from the sky, in a mist enough to drink, not enough to cause damage. Poop gets cleared weekly. Life is good!

I took a short hiking trip with the wife yesterday, partly to take a break from business, and also to observe more Nephila Pilipes in the wild so I can find out why mine is so damn lazy.

Goldenweb.jpg

We came across this absolute unit of a spider. Huge, proud web spanning a metre across, with anchor lines probably twice as long. The sunlight caught the web and exposed a brilliant gold. I stood mesmerized for a good 15 mins, till my neck hurt because it was at least 2 metres above us. My plan is to print this picture out on an A2 sheet of paper and paste it on Stacey's wall. I will then proceed to cough violently and point at the photo everytime she looks hungry.

IMG-20200916-WA0020.jpg

The next one was even bigger, but skinnier and much lower. It was at eye level. Its web was much smaller too, it looked like it would fit comfortably in Stacey's room.

IMG-20200916-WA0017.jpg

I tried to feed my wife to it by pretending to ask her to lift a hand for size comparison. That did not work, but at least we got a photo. :vamp:

StaceyMom.jpg

The Nephila pilipes has a beautiful golden sheen on its carapace, these spiders are really pretty!

IMG_20200916_162205_FB04.jpg P_20200916_155345_1.jpg

We came across a couple more, from tiny babies to teenagers. Babies have a really nice tuft of hair on their tibiae, which they lose as they grow older. I always wondered if that could be an adaptation to help ballooning when they are younger?

Conclusion of this very un-scientific field research

- Babies tend to build their webs down low, amongst the undergrowth and sheltered by the forest canopy.
- Adults build their webs ranging from eye-level to way up high, but one thing I noticed from all my trips is that all of them loved wide, open, sunlit areas. I have only found 1 Nephila under the shade, the rest were usually found in open areas between tree lines, across paths, in clearings in full sunlight.

- You will hardly ever walk into their webs. Many of them build their webs across paths, near treelines, where there is lots of human and bike traffic, but they are always just clear of being walked into. This possibly means they might be aware of not building their webs where it would be walked into, which means I should stop wandering into Stacey's territory that much.

I think the sunlight part is my biggest chance of having Stacey build a web. It makes sense because my room is pretty dark, which is perfect for when she was younger, but at one point she decided she wanted to build a web out in sunlight, which I am not providing. It's just a theory, but I'm going to get a proper reptile lamp just to test out that theory. Also I brought home a moth, which she attacked with much more gusto then a cricket. Also another train of thought, that a lack of suitable prey might be a cause of reluctance. I am going to test releasing a moth or 2 into the room, this time it failed because the moth died almost instantly upon release :(

Like I said, there is no hurry for me now because she's still feeding, but personally I always try to provide as proper an environment for my pets as possible. I owe them at least that much for bringing them into my care.
 
Top