Obtaining and caring for camel spiders

[Koshmar]

Now that I've dived into the world of the mantid (again kind of...) I've taken a renewed interest in entomology! I'm spending hours on end browsing the Internet and reading about pet terrestrial inverts (think that encompasses the general group well instead of saying "insects").

Anyway, one day I would like to keep a camel spider or Solifugae. However I cannot find a seller nor anyone who has extensively kept these creatures. I even used the holy search feature with limited success and the website one member setup is closed ATM. Can someone point me in a general direction?

 

[Entomo-logic]

Solifugae are really cool but almost impossible to work with in captivity. They will live for a few months but they must be fed almost constantly as their metabolisms are incredibly fast and they are quick to starve if not offered food 2-3 times a day. Do to this fact they cannot be kept communally and attempts to breed them almost always end in one of them getting eaten. They like it hot and a little on the dry side. I have worked with them and enjoy them a lot for the one or two months that they live but for some reason they do not do well in captivity. All of my Entomology nerd friends in the zoo world have had about the same success that I have had in attempts to keep them. I collect them in Arizona when I go down for the SASI/IECC conference. Theey are easiest to find eatting the insects around lights at rest stops and gas stations.

 

[Koshmar]

Thanks for the information. Though it is a little sad that they don't survive well in captivity. Oh well...

 

[Entomo-logic]

You could attempt to keep one still. I mean maybe you will be the one that figures them out! and if you get one and It dies preserve it in a frame or something so you will always have a sulifuae in your collection. Don't get discouraged anything is possible!

 

[PeterF]

I just want to echo everything that Entomo said, same results here.

I have not heard anything about shipping them. But again, given their difficulties, I suspect shipping is mostly out.

 

[Peter Clausen]

I've shipped them and they ship fine. Of course, they still die a few months later at best.

Eggs...

 

[critterguy]

I collected 2 females in different locales in CA that were gravid. They both deposited eggs for me. I ended up shipping the eggs to people and one person got them to hatch-the young died a short time later. The creatures were actually quite sedentary except for evening prowling but after depositing the eggs their vigor decreased and they soon died.

 

[Peter Clausen]

Could you describe their deposition of eggs, Critterguy? Was it just on the top of the substrate or in a burrow, etc?

 

[lion]

This is the one we find the most of in SA.

 

[Peter Clausen]

What is the length, Lion, excluding the legs? Great species, great photo!