Found a Solifugid

[Macano]

Went on a hike the other day, and coming down the trail at night by headlamp, the shiny eyes of a Solifugid at my feet caught my eye. Fantastic! I knew we had them here but have never been able to find one. He or she is only about 1" in size, but WOW is it aggressive. I had it in a container with a mesh lid and it chewed through it, so I had to put a plastic lid on it. I have caught it gnawing on the plastic, but with no results. After finding a care sheet for them I gave it plenty of hiding places and deep sand. Now it has dug itself a burrow, and I seldom see it. It comes out only at night, but as soon as I shine light on it it runs to the burrow. If I can get a picture of it I'll add it to this post, but he's a quick bugger!

I also caught a 2" scorpion, and he has eaten 3 roaches the same size as him so far. He's not as shy as the Solifugid and will come out of hiding occasionally. Lots of fun to watch him wrestle and sting the roach! I'll add a pic of him later when I have time also.

 

[Macano]

Ok, here's 2 pics of it, which were difficult to get because he/she is either hiding underground all the damn time, or he's running like mad! It is interesting watching him burrow, he "bulldozes" the sand out of the way using his large jaws and pedipalps, shoveling it all aside. And yes he is so aggressive! For some reason though, it won't eat, and I've read they need to eat a lot, so I hope he survives!

 

[PseudoDave]

How's the little fella doing?

 

[Ian]

ohhh, that looks really wierd....

Cheers,

Ian

 

[garbonzo13]

Man that's a fat ******* :lol: . Don't think it's gonna starve to death anytime soon :wink: . To bad you can't find a few more an breed 'em.

 

[Andrew]

The reason she wont eat is because she is gravid. Look at her abdomen, you can see the eggs right through it.

Thanks,

Andrew

P.S. Macano, check your PM inbox :wink:

 

[garbonzo13]

:shock: Ohh damn! If she is gravid I would like to get some of them things please. Also I came across this interesting site on them with links.http://www.tarantulaspiders.com/pages/solifugid.htm :wink: ENJOY.

 

[Andrew]

The eggs are very difficult to hatch, and nymphs hard to raise. Few people have had success at raising them from egg.

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[Macano]

Yes, I've read they are very tempermental and don't do well in captivity. She is still alive, but it still won't eat. It will literally let the food crawl over it and she won't respond. But she is active at night. She digs and digs and digs. And runs around a lot. We'll see what happens, I've become fascinated by it.

 

[Ian]

dam...how many eggs has she got in her!!!

Cheers,

Ian

 

[garbonzo13]

Hey Macano, try crushing the head of the feeder and with tweezers put it down so the solifugid can taste the juices. It may trigger a feeding reaction. I had to do that with my Borealis after I caught them, I think they go into temporary shock or something. Good luck.

 

[francisco]

Hello Guys,

As andrew said, they are difficult to keep alive in captivity. If you give them the right emviroment and space, they can live up to 4-5 months.

I also keep solifugids.

The ones I have are from Egypt they are Metasolpuga picta. they also love to hide and I have to hand feed them with tweezers.

I have some for sale if anyone is interested.

email me for pics.

thanks

FT

 

[Leah]

Charles @ botarby8s.com had some of these (california variety I believe) at a show recently, he may be able to help you with that particular species.

 

[Macano]

I'll try the "crushed food in the mouth" trick soon. Maybe that will do it. She's still hanging in there.

 

[garbonzo13]

:shock: still not eating huh? If the food in the face doesn't work, try just letting it be for a week. Don't check on it, don't turn on the lights, put it in the closet out of the way somewhere. Maybe all this spying has it skittish. That way it may drop them eggs too, and then eat. Remember if it's gravid it want to deposit those eggs somewhere safe. :wink: Good luck.