Solifugid !

[cloud jaguar]

I went field herping yesterday at a local small dam in the area with some desert - i was very excited to find a solifugid skittering along the desert floor. It has large red pedipalps in front and does not seem remotely interested in eating small crickets or ffs despite being visibly skinny.

Has anyone ever kept one of these?

 

[Ntsees]

I have, but only for less than a week. They may look like spiders, but they don't feed like the way spiders do. When they eat, they eat (like mantids). Oh yeah, and another thing. I may have kept it, but I didn't handle it. It looks too freaky.

 

[cloud jaguar]

I may have kept it, but I didn't handle it. It looks too freaky.

No doubt -- I am definitely not planning on handling this guy! -- far to creepy looking.

 

[Peter Clausen]

Native species don't do well in captivity. They do have voracious appetites, however, so don't be discouraged in offering it food more regularly than you might imagine (like mantises!). Keep trying. It might just be stressed. Give it some substrate to hold in some humidity. Create a little depression in the substrate and maybe place a bit of bark, etc. over the depression to give it a hide.

So, don't let it dry out and keep it warm at the same time.

I've never seen one out and about during the day. You should go back there at night and see what's lurking around.

Not an easy bug to find, even when you're looking for them!

 

[kitkat39]

I'm from Orange County, California and I've had these before. A cousin gave it to me and I just kept it in something in the equivalent to a 5 1/2 ounce clear plastic jar. It seemed to be really hardy just at room temperature and ate just about everything I threw in there. One day I threw in one of those small common house spiders and the next day the solifugid was upsidedown while the spider was hanging out on it's new web that it made in the container. I guess don't throw anything that might have poison in with it and it should be alright. That thing just kept eating and eating and eating. Kind of making me want to go out and get another one just talking about it.

 

[cloud jaguar]

Thanks everyone - Peter, i misted some water in the enclosure with the solifugid - i noticed that it seemed fatter too - perhaps it was going to molt because it made a burrow in the moistened sand - complete with a little dome on top and disappeared -

 

[Peter Clausen]

If you can keep it alive for more than a month, you'll be doing GREAT!

You say it's fatter. Have you seen it feeding yet? It's amazing to watch and you should be seeing it frequently. Their metabolism, especially if kept suitably warm, is intense. In captivity, the two challenges to success are desiccation and starvation. These bugs also have a unique way of climbing up glass, believe it or not!

I think some people are probably wondering what your new pet looks like! Males are usually skinny/leggier than females.

 

[cloud jaguar]

Peter, it climbs by pulling itself up the plastic enclosure walls with its long leg-like pedipalps - it is very fast. It has taken to hiding during the day - i guess this is a good thing as opposed to running in circles all day. It was caught during the day running very fast down a desert part in a zigzag manner - then it stopped right next to my foot - it was so fast that i knew if it got a headstart on me it would defintely get away - i was yelling for my kid at the picnic area to bring me a deli cup ... finally he delivered it and I placed it next to the bug and he ran into it.

Here is a link to what it looks like - however, mine has considerably smaller mandibles and is less than 1/2 inch long http://www.americanarachnology.org/HiResGallery/solpugid_eremobatidae_2.html

About eating, no Peter i did not actually see him eat. The first day I caught him he seemed very skinny - then he seemed much plumper - perhaps he is bloated on air or something - in his enclosure i placed some small ffs and also a couple of small crickets about as big as he is. One cricket may be missing - not sure. I read they like termites but thank the gods i cannot find any around my home.

Yesterday I had a scare and thought i killed him. I had placed a small sponge with water in a little lid in his enclosure for the crickets. I had witnessed the bug picking up grains of moist sand with its pedipalps and turning them at its mouth - presumably drinking some moisture. It seemed to completely ignore the sponge until yestrday - i saw it run onto the middle of the sponge - they it did dome little dance with one pedipalp up in the air and nestled down on the moist sponge - i figured it was drinking or soaking to molt or someting. 20 minutes later i noticed it was still on there! also i noticed he did not look right like when bugs curl up after they die - kind of slack-legged. I flicked him gently off of the water sponge with the tip of a skewer - and he just landed on his back dead-like on the ground upside down with his legs curled up 20 minutes later he was right-side up and seemingly fine. Then he just disappeared into a closed off burrow with a conical mound on top he made -- he has made several of these little domes in the enclosure.

 

[Orin]

Usually they have a very hearty appetite. I usually get about three months out of the native adults assuming they're not dying on arrival. Once I hatched out young that went through a few molts but all withered away within a few months. Please take some photos of the dome. Molting photos would be great too.

 

[cloud jaguar]

sadly he appears to have suicided himself