True Spider life spans?

[Nivek]

Hey, I've been thinking about getting into the true spiders, but their (assumed) short life spans have deterred me. What's the average life span on some of the things like trap doors and huntsman? Or any suggestions for a long lived species would be awesome.

 

[thedude]

trap doors live about 10-12 years ive heard and the chilean tiger rumps are the same

 

[cacoseraph]

*technically* trapdoors and that A. francki spider are not true spiders, per se

typically there are sort of two (or threeish) great divides in spiderdom

(mesothelae)
mygalomorphae
araneomorphae

mesothelae are the segmented trapdoors and lack venom glands

mygalomorphae are something like 15 families of spiders that are considered primative. tarantulas, trapdoors, pursewebs, foldingdoor, funnelwebs (like the Aussie kind) are all mygs

araneomorphae is like 90 familes and includes widows, jumpers, hunstmen, cobweb spiders, orb weavers


mygs tend to be long lived.

araneo tend to be shorter lived. some live only a year. some live longer. typically the closer, genetically, to the primatives the longer the spider lives. Filistidae and Sicaridae have spiders that can live up to 7 years, i think. i wouldn't suggest Sic's as first true spider pets, however

 

[Nivek]

Thanks a ton Caco! That was a wicked informative post, and I'll definitely look into the sics. I'm getting a huntsman as a freebie pretty much in a trade, he doesn't know what species it is, so the sics will be my second true spider hehehe. Thanks again!

Edit: So Sicaridae are the recluses? I've had tons of those here and there as wild caught little guys. I am pretty sure I have one here, but I haven't been able to get a good picture of it yet. It looks like a Loxosceles sp to me, but not so much reclusa...

 

[cacoseraph]

Thanks a ton Caco! That was a wicked informative post, and I'll definitely look into the sics. I'm getting a huntsman as a freebie pretty much in a trade, he doesn't know what species it is, so the sics will be my second true spider hehehe. Thanks again!

Edit: So Sicaridae are the recluses? I've had tons of those here and there as wild caught little guys. I am pretty sure I have one here, but I haven't been able to get a good picture of it yet. It looks like a Loxosceles sp to me, but not so much reclusa...

there are probably something like 20-30 species of Lox in the USA. i believe we have something like 9-10 in my CA.

a good identifier for Loxosceles is their eye arrangment

they have six eyes (vice 8 for ~most other spiders) first off. second they are arrange in three pairs. the pairs make a sort of cresent moon shape. they are freaking hard to see usually... best to takea bunch of pics with flash and try from those.

 

[cacoseraph]

look up Kukulcania. they are basically mini-tarantulas. or true spider tarantulas, if you will.


they live a long time. the females can mate, make a sac, shed, and do it all again (not a lot of trues can do that).

there are a few ppl that have babies or can catch you adults on the forums, but you would have to look around.

oh... and some species seem to be VERY tolerant or even communal






stuff about sic's
http://scabies.myfreeforum.org/about252.html
^ tight pic of eye arrangment for Lox in that thread

 

[pitbulllady]

look up Kukulcania. they are basically mini-tarantulas. or true spider tarantulas, if you will.


they live a long time. the females can mate, make a sac, shed, and do it all again (not a lot of trues can do that).

there are a few ppl that have babies or can catch you adults on the forums, but you would have to look around.

oh... and some species seem to be VERY tolerant or even communal






stuff about sic's
http://scabies.myfreeforum.org/about252.html
^ tight pic of eye arrangment for Lox in that thread

Female Kukulcania can indeed live as long as some female tarantulas. I spoke with an arachnologist at Clemson University who says he's had this one female for over ten years, and she's still in good shape. I've had females produce several eggsacs, year after year, with no ill effects. 'Slings grow VERY slowly, though-again, like many tarantula species. I've got some yearlings that are still small enough that two could comfortably occupy the top of a pencil eraser. Like tarantulas, they lie on their backs to moult, and males lie on their backs to spin a sperm web. Females are very protective of eggsacs and youngsters up until they hit about the third instar; at that point they are still very tolerant of the babies, but they don't try to attack everything that gets near them. Other than females with new offspring, though, they're very handleable and non-defensive(other than playing dead, which they quickly stop doing soon after capture). I keep several on my desk at school because the district personel said I couldn't keep any tarantulas at school, but they can't do anything about spiders that are already living in the school building, in abundance! Most of the ones I have, with one exception, were captured either by the building's custodian or one of my students, who know to bring me all spiders they find in the building, or at least, come get me to catch it. I have several, and can usually find more easily, so if anyone wants any, let me know, and I can send them out for the cost of shipping.

pitbulllady

 

[buthus]

Pittbulllady, do you ever run into Filistata species in your area?
I very much desire keeping a few more species from the Filistatidae family.