Underappreciated arachnid thread!

[MorbidArachnid]

This is a thread for everyone keeping the niche arachnid species, I'm talking pseudoscorpions, opiliones, mites (as pets not as tank invaders lmao), schizomids, palpigradi, ricinulei??? (if you keep ricinulei please tell me what that's like). Right now I keep pseudoscorpions and opiliones, only have one species of each but I'd love to keep more in the future. Opiliones I think are extremely slept on, one of my friends has some amazing opiliones tanks and species, and I think there is some absolutely gorgeous species out there that would make amazing pets. Has anyone tried keeping schizomids, palpigradi, or ricinulei? What's that like? Would love to see pictures too!

Pseudoscorpions, labeled as Chelonethida sp. but I don't have a great ID for them (or a locality unfortunately).

Cynortoides quadrispinosa, have absolutely exploded for me, and they grow extremely quickly!

 

[gzophia]

This is a thread for everyone keeping the niche arachnid species, I'm talking pseudoscorpions, opiliones, mites (as pets not as tank invaders lmao), schizomids, palpigradi, ricinulei??? (if you keep ricinulei please tell me what that's like). Right now I keep pseudoscorpions and opiliones, only have one species of each but I'd love to keep more in the future. Opiliones I think are extremely slept on, one of my friends has some amazing opiliones tanks and species, and I think there is some absolutely gorgeous species out there that would make amazing pets. Has anyone tried keeping schizomids, palpigradi, or ricinulei? What's that like? Would love to see pictures too!

Yes!!! We need this thread!

I have kept pseudoscorpions before; they died off due to mistakes on my part (I was an idiot and knew nothing about arachnids back then) but I definitely plan to try again this summer. They are at a local park in my town, so I might go on a collection trip in a week or two. I'm going to try and establish a CB colony; I know that my species is in the family Cheliferidae but I can't find anything else. I'll add pictures if I can find them!

Opiliones are truly amazing; I agree. I have seen some crazy looking ones in the woods, and there are even weirder ones online. Some are fluorescent too, which is neat! They apparently eat lots of bizarre stuff, including plant matter, making them quite fascinating to observe. I kept two local specimens as a kid for a while before releasing them; I don't remember much except that they liked fish flakes

Mites are cool; believe it or not, I used to keep spider mites (Tetranychus urticae I think). My mom would give me leaves from plants crippled by these buggers, and I took a liking to them. I'd keep them on their host leaves and study them under a microscope. It was cool to see eggs, adults, and nymphs; I hate to admit it but they were kind of cute with their little spots. Horrific pests though!

I also have been interested in Giant Velvet Mites (genus Dinothrombium) lately; they are pretty hard to find info on though. Then there are the Opilioacaridae, which are just plain cool. I'd love to collect some one day!

I'm currently hunting Palpigradi-- one of the few species described in the US was discovered 30 minutes north of where I live. Its habitat was totally destroyed when I went to check it out 111 years later with not a single specimen in sight, but I'm still hoping to find some. They have tiny ranges, so it's not going to be easy, but I think I can do it with enough tenaciousness on my part.

As for Schizomida, I have no experience and have never seen one. I'm hoping to find some in SoCal on vacation one day though! And Ricinulei are my dream; there's like one described species in the states (Pseudocellus dorotheae; super rare and lives underground) but I do think there might be more. They seem to be very restricted in range and have unusual habitats, but honestly, I would do anything to find one!

 

[MorbidArachnid]

I've heard a couple people talk about keeping giant velvet mites, never seen any officially in captivity though. I did see your post on palpigradi which is part of the reason I made this, they're really cool and I wonder if anyone's had any success keeping them. There is someone I know that sees a lot of schizomida in their area (they seem to be locally common but also not very widespread) but they haven't tried collecting any, I think them and palpigradi honestly might have similar care to a lot of other tiny soil predators, just humid and provide a lot of small feeders. Haven't gotten to test any of this yet though. Ricinulei would be so cool, they are super understudied so I definitely think there might be more of them around than people realize, definitely puts Texas an edge above every other state with arachnid diversity though!

I live in Portland, OR, and I'm honestly surprised how many amazing opiliones we have out here, I want to take more dedicated bug hunting trips to try to find them. We have Cryptomaster behemoth and leviathian, but I think these are only found in caves in Southern Oregon, Dicranopalpus ramosus which are Fork-Palped Harvestmen introduced near where I'm at, and Briggsus sp which are super cute little orange harvestmen with only six observations on Inat, and they're all around my area. I've looked at some of the more exotic species from Southeast asia and there are some absolutely stunning ones. Epedanidae (excavator harvestmen) are super cool, as are Cranaidae and Sadocus sp. There's a lot more diversity there than I initially realized, again extremely slept on order.

 

[gzophia]

I've heard a couple people talk about keeping giant velvet mites, never seen any officially in captivity though. I did see your post on palpigradi which is part of the reason I made this, they're really cool and I wonder if anyone's had any success keeping them. There is someone I know that sees a lot of schizomida in their area (they seem to be locally common but also not very widespread) but they haven't tried collecting any, I think them and palpigradi honestly might have similar care to a lot of other tiny soil predators, just humid and provide a lot of small feeders. Haven't gotten to test any of this yet though. Ricinulei would be so cool, they are super understudied so I definitely think there might be more of them around than people realize, definitely puts Texas an edge above every other state with arachnid diversity though!

I live in Portland, OR, and I'm honestly surprised how many amazing opiliones we have out here, I want to take more dedicated bug hunting trips to try to find them. We have Cryptomaster behemoth and leviathian, but I think these are only found in caves in Southern Oregon, Dicranopalpus ramosus which are Fork-Palped Harvestmen introduced near where I'm at, and Briggsus sp which are super cute little orange harvestmen with only six observations on Inat, and they're all around my area. I've looked at some of the more exotic species from Southeast asia and there are some absolutely stunning ones. Epedanidae (excavator harvestmen) are super cool, as are Cranaidae and Sadocus sp. There's a lot more diversity there than I initially realized, again extremely slept on order.

Oh cool, glad you saw it! I know someone who has Schizomida in their yard too; they opted to leave them alone, which is a decision I respect. I've read papers on Palpigradi and many species scavenge regularly like Pseudoscorpions; some palpigrades even eat cyanobacteria. I always prefer scavenged prekill over microfeeders; I usually have problems with the latter.

Ricinulei are great, and yeah, that one species makes Texas the only US state with all 12 arachnid orders. I think Arizona has a chance to join the club though; some places in the southern part of the state seem like good places for Ricinulei. Maybe SoCal too from what I see on maps. I'll have to them all one day!

Also, I think I found a video on YouTube a few weeks back of a small Mexican child playing with some Ricinulei and various other arachnids... it was a really weird video, and the channel was so small that it seems to have been overlooked. Super interesting.

I'm in NorCal, so we're not too far apart! Cryptomaster is such a dang cool genus name haha, and they look amazing too. All the other ones you mentioned are so interesting; honestly, I seem to have overlooked this order quite a bit! D. ramosus looks crazy, and holy cow, Sadocus spp. can be gigantic and look so bizarre. Man, this post really opened my eyes; I'm gonna have to do some research!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Yes!!! We need this thread!

I have kept pseudoscorpions before; they died off due to mistakes on my part (I was an idiot and knew nothing about arachnids back then) but I definitely plan to try again this summer. They are at a local park in my town, so I might go on a collection trip in a week or two. I'm going to try and establish a CB colony; I know that my species is in the family Cheliferidae but I can't find anything else. I'll add pictures if I can find them!

Opiliones are truly amazing; I agree. I have seen some crazy looking ones in the woods, and there are even weirder ones online. Some are fluorescent too, which is neat! They apparently eat lots of bizarre stuff, including plant matter, making them quite fascinating to observe. I kept two local specimens as a kid for a while before releasing them; I don't remember much except that they liked fish flakes

Mites are cool; believe it or not, I used to keep spider mites (Tetranychus urticae I think). My mom would give me leaves from plants crippled by these buggers, and I took a liking to them. I'd keep them on their host leaves and study them under a microscope. It was cool to see eggs, adults, and nymphs; I hate to admit it but they were kind of cute with their little spots. Horrific pests though!

I also have been interested in Giant Velvet Mites (genus Dinothrombium) lately; they are pretty hard to find info on though. Then there are the Opilioacaridae, which are just plain cool. I'd love to collect some one day!

I'm currently hunting Palpigradi-- one of the few species described in the US was discovered 30 minutes north of where I live. Its habitat was totally destroyed when I went to check it out 111 years later with not a single specimen in sight, but I'm still hoping to find some. They have tiny ranges, so it's not going to be easy, but I think I can do it with enough tenaciousness on my part.

As for Schizomida, I have no experience and have never seen one. I'm hoping to find some in SoCal on vacation one day though! And Ricinulei are my dream; there's like one described species in the states (Pseudocellus dorotheae; super rare and lives underground) but I do think there might be more. They seem to be very restricted in range and have unusual habitats, but honestly, I would do anything to find one!

Very nice there’s nothing worth catching here I been to the park could not find anything. Too cold for any large inverts like scorpions.

 

[gzophia]

Very nice there’s nothing worth catching here I been to the park could not find anything. Too cold for any large inverts like scorpions.

Oh no! I've heard that there are pseudoscorpions in your state though; any luck with those?

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Oh no! I've heard that there are pseudoscorpions in your state though; any luck with those?

Yes but in southern Ohio, I’m somewhere in the middle. So none here , I’ve looked.

 

[gzophia]

Yes but in southern Ohio, I’m somewhere in the middle. So none here , I’ve looked.

That's unfortunate. I see some sightings of them as north as Cleveland on iNaturalist, but those are mainly just the cosmopolitan species.

 

[CRX]

Yes!!! We need this thread!

I have kept pseudoscorpions before; they died off due to mistakes on my part (I was an idiot and knew nothing about arachnids back then) but I definitely plan to try again this summer. They are at a local park in my town, so I might go on a collection trip in a week or two. I'm going to try and establish a CB colony; I know that my species is in the family Cheliferidae but I can't find anything else. I'll add pictures if I can find them!

Opiliones are truly amazing; I agree. I have seen some crazy looking ones in the woods, and there are even weirder ones online. Some are fluorescent too, which is neat! They apparently eat lots of bizarre stuff, including plant matter, making them quite fascinating to observe. I kept two local specimens as a kid for a while before releasing them; I don't remember much except that they liked fish flakes

Mites are cool; believe it or not, I used to keep spider mites (Tetranychus urticae I think). My mom would give me leaves from plants crippled by these buggers, and I took a liking to them. I'd keep them on their host leaves and study them under a microscope. It was cool to see eggs, adults, and nymphs; I hate to admit it but they were kind of cute with their little spots. Horrific pests though!

I also have been interested in Giant Velvet Mites (genus Dinothrombium) lately; they are pretty hard to find info on though. Then there are the Opilioacaridae, which are just plain cool. I'd love to collect some one day!

I'm currently hunting Palpigradi-- one of the few species described in the US was discovered 30 minutes north of where I live. Its habitat was totally destroyed when I went to check it out 111 years later with not a single specimen in sight, but I'm still hoping to find some. They have tiny ranges, so it's not going to be easy, but I think I can do it with enough tenaciousness on my part.

As for Schizomida, I have no experience and have never seen one. I'm hoping to find some in SoCal on vacation one day though! And Ricinulei are my dream; there's like one described species in the states (Pseudocellus dorotheae; super rare and lives underground) but I do think there might be more. They seem to be very restricted in range and have unusual habitats, but honestly, I would do anything to find one!

Spider mites are adorable, they form little family units. There was a family on our thyme plant that I watched for probably 4 or 5 months before my mom put it back outside when it got warm

They prefer to be indoors in dry conditions

 

[gzophia]

Spider mites are adorable, they form little family units. There was a family on our thyme plant that I watched for probably 4 or 5 months before my mom put it back outside when it got warm

Exactly! It's so unfortunate how they are such destructive pets; it was fascinating to watch them.

 

[Kada]

Spider mites are adorable, they form little family units.

I breed loads of spider mates on my farm. Supply ability: in the billions. I can give you a good price!

 

[gzophia]

I breed loads of spider mates on my farm. Supply ability: in the billions. I can give you a good price!

Fantastic, I'm so glad we have a reliable and knowledgeable breeder for this species

 

[Kada]

Above post can't edit. Spider mites*, not spider mates haha. Dang.

Did a search on one of my country's databases, quite a few psuedoscorpions here. And only 1 scorpion (native). I only wish I had my childhood eyesight still haha!

I definitely want to start looking for them in the wild to get some pics. They are pretty wild creatures. I think I have only seen 2 in person though. Any of you guys keep any? What are their behaviors like? I just read a main form of transportation is on other animals, like mites. Even learned a new word: Commensalism

Cool stuff!

 

[MorbidArachnid]

Above post can't edit. Spider mites*, not spider mates haha. Dang.

Did a search on one of my country's databases, quite a few psuedoscorpions here. And only 1 scorpion (native). I only wish I had my childhood eyesight still haha!

I definitely want to start looking for them in the wild to get some pics. They are pretty wild creatures. I think I have only seen 2 in person though. Any of you guys keep any? What are their behaviors like? I just read a main form of transportation is on other animals, like mites. Even learned a new word: Commensalism

Cool stuff!

Yea I actually haven't found any in the wild yet, though I've heard they can be easier to find on other creatures than by themselves. They're also tiny, large mite/large springtail size. Because of this I haven't really gotten to observe a lot of their behaviors or interactions, but they do tuck their claws in and scoot in reverse if you touch them with a paintbrush and they see you as a threat. I've also heard that beekeepers are starting to use them to control the variola mite, because they're pretty good at sitting in beehives and they eat mites.

 

[gzophia]

Above post can't edit. Spider mites*, not spider mates haha. Dang.

Did a search on one of my country's databases, quite a few psuedoscorpions here. And only 1 scorpion (native). I only wish I had my childhood eyesight still haha!

I definitely want to start looking for them in the wild to get some pics. They are pretty wild creatures. I think I have only seen 2 in person though. Any of you guys keep any? What are their behaviors like? I just read a main form of transportation is on other animals, like mites. Even learned a new word: Commensalism

Cool stuff!

Yea I actually haven't found any in the wild yet, though I've heard they can be easier to find on other creatures than by themselves. They're also tiny, large mite/large springtail size. Because of this I haven't really gotten to observe a lot of their behaviors or interactions, but they do tuck their claws in and scoot in reverse if you touch them with a paintbrush and they see you as a threat. I've also heard that beekeepers are starting to use them to control the variola mite, because they're pretty good at sitting in beehives and they eat mites.

Yeah, they are really interesting creatures. I had an obsession with them when I was 11 or so, but I gave up on finding them after a while. But what do you know-- last year, I found some underneath rocks at a park that I frequented. I was only able to find them in that one area at the park-- a specific section of trail with 5-7 rocks. I looked in other places with no avail, which was surprising since iNaturalist had recorded sightings of them all over my area. I guess that shows how secretive these animals are-- I assume they live underground or in hard to reach places like rotting logs.
I took some home for collection purposes, but I was an idiot who was struggling mentally back then. As a result, I put no effort into researching them or keeping them alive. As a result, a few passed on from improper care before I eventually released the rest.
Some people may say that these are small creatures with "primitive" nervous systems and that I'm being too hard on myself, but I sincerely think this experience was an abuse of nature and life on my part.

Anyways...

As @MorbidArachnid said, pseudoscorpions are pretty small; mine were in the family Cheliferidae so I guess they were a bit rounder and bigger than normal-- but still tiny. I've included a photo of me holding one as a size reference; this photo was taken last year when I was a buffoon and serves only as scaling. I would never recommend handling these tiny animals.
They do have cool behaviors; the specimens I found seemed to be blind and relied on tactile senses to navigate. Their movement reminded me of bumper cars as they would scoot around and back up when disturbed. They climbed the sides of the cup I put them in and liked to hide around the lid/cup boundary; seems like they were looking for tight crevices in absence of hides.
I didn't notice any commensalism, but I have heard of how common this is in this order-- hence the cosmopolitian distribution of species like Chelifer cancroides (the house pseudoscorpion). And the usage of these little buggers to fight bee killing pests is something I have read about as well; I was just talking to my sister the other day about how interesting it was. I do hope it ends up being a partial solution.

Super cool little guys. I'm going to try and find some in a few weeks to start a colony, and this time, I will be prepared-- unlike last year, which was a idiotic disaster on my part.

Edit: Forgot the photo
Here it is:

 

[MorbidArachnid]

They do have cool behaviors; the specimens I found seemed to be blind and relied on tactile senses to navigate. Their movement reminded me of bumper cars as they would scoot around and back up when disturbed. They climbed the sides of the cup I put them in and liked to hide around the lid/cup boundary; seems like they were looking for tight crevices in absence of hides.

THEY DO! I have them in a 32oz vented deli cup, like the kind you would use for fruit flies, and they're always under the rim. They can't escape from what I've seen because it's held on under the lip of the cup, but on that rim on the lip and the lid I always see a couple. I assume they're looking for somewhere tight as well.

 

[gzophia]

THEY DO! I have them in a 32oz vented deli cup, like the kind you would use for fruit flies, and they're always under the rim. They can't escape from what I've seen because it's held on under the lip of the cup, but on that rim on the lip and the lid I always see a couple. I assume they're looking for somewhere tight as well.

Oh cool! Maybe the position helps with hunting or something?