Stegodyphus mimosarum

[ForTW]

Hi guys

I recently haven't had lots of luck with spiders that seem to have a bad m/f ratio.

This is Stegodyphus mimosarum with a ratio around 10-15% and i just spotted two lovely adult males in my colony.


I keep them pretty hot and dry above a 40W lamp.

Lovely little guys going all in on prey.



Video of pinning down prey

Waiting for the first sac

Wish me luck!

 

[Wolfram1]

interesting, i hope you have success with them

 

[Jonathan6303]

These are naturally communal I believe. Must be real fun watching them grow and hunt

 

[ForTW]

They are sesional and therefor grow very fast! From early spring to early summer they mature!

The ants people blew my mind how they study and observe their colonies, so yes, it is fun to watch.
Some go hunting, others are supposed to be breeding machines, a few work in the net and the males live a life we all wish to have, dinner served and a whole bunch of ladies .

Regards

 

[Wolfram1]

Do you have any pictures of how you set them up?
What does it take to start a colony? A couple (male,female), an entire eggsack? Perhaps is a mother spider required for the spiderlings to succeed?

 

[ForTW]

Do you have any pictures of how you set them up?
What does it take to start a colony?

A cup with mesh opening and a whole lot of sticks, leafs, sand as substrate.

I startet with a wild caught nest (found some leftovers of an Egg sac and the preffered food).
Approx. 20-30 specimen, some almost adult and some very small. This probably was one sac. Did it cost a ....load of money, yes! Is it worth it? We're getting there.
Technically all you need is a female and male or a fertile female. (This will get tough to raise the offsprings since their adult size is 8-10mm. They do feed in the mothers inside but i can't tell to what stage. They have baby sitters in the colony aswell.
Chances of colonies surviving significantly increased above the Number of 10.

My plan is to observe the possible offsprings, if everything runs fine, i open the cup and set it in a semi arid terrarium.

Usually if something is off or the colony reaches it's max size, larger females seek out to make a new colony. Anyhow, my plan for tue future will be to offer sets of 10 i guess. Curious how much it will expand in one season.

This is one reason I love true spiders, there is so much about them .

Regards

 

[Wolfram1]

Thank you.

I have to be honest i don't find most true spiders to be very exciting to keep. Simply because of their smaller size and shorter life span. The currently popular Eresus sp. are cute but i dont think i will get into them anytime soon.

However i have been interested possibly keeping true social spiders like the ones you have here.

Especially if the young don't have to be seperated and painstakenly raised from teeny tine little nympths and more so if they are fairly stable long term.

Do keep us updateted how they progress.

edit: looks like you got some pests in your fruit fly culture.

 

[ForTW]

popular Eresus sp. are cute but i dont think i will get.

Liphistus is long living aswell. So is Gandanameno sp. (Some eben suceed with communal)

Eresus has a difficult m/f aging problem. A communal Gandanameno sp. could solve this.

edit: looks like you got some pests in your fruit fly culture.

You mean extra food?

 

[Wolfram1]

Liphistus is long living aswell.

absolutely and i have been coveting i am just waiting for the prices to go down

A communal Gandanameno sp. could solve this.

oh, thx something new to look into. though i prefer the look of Mygalomorphae and Mesothelae in general
still, social behaviour could make them more desirable

ah i see, so the males tend to die before the females mature? that makes them tricky to keep, you would have to have access to a second batch.
are they susceptible to incest? i imagine the social ones wouldn't be, but if this is true for Eresus sp it. speaks for a low tolerance

You mean extra food?

yup, hahaha

 

[ForTW]

still, social behaviour could make them more desirable

Communal = low agression level, tolerant
Social = Working together to achieve a Goal

ah i see, so the males tend to die before the females mature? that makes them tricky to keep, you would have to have access to a second batch.
are they susceptible to incest? i imagine the social ones wouldn't be, but if this is true for Eresus sp it. speaks for a low tolerance

They mature more than a year apart. Males look the same so it's almost impossible to mate siblings. Even if you reduce temperature and food. Unfortunatly, they look good.

Stegodyphus has many sp. that go communal. lineatus, tibialis, dufuori etc.
Social are mimosarum, dumicola and a third sp. i don't remember.

Anyways, communal velvets are easy to keep, nuts at webbing, often visible, offer cool setups and yeah, they are cute.

 

[Wolfram1]

Communal = low agression level, tolerant
Social = Working together to achieve a Goal

yea i know, mb, i should be more specific

Stegodyphus has many sp. that go communal. lineatus, tibialis, dufuori etc.
Social are mimosarum, dumicola and a third sp. i don't remember.

i just looked at the paper erlier, It is S. sarasinosum
the others are listed as subsocial, so as you put it, possibly tolerant or "communal"

keep us posted how yours are doing