I think it’s official now — either solifuges like me, or there’s something substantially wrong with me.*
Yes, there was another one in the hall at work this morning, a good-sized one too, and it was very hale and quite peppy. I was able to contain it using my trusty candy jar, but since it was so active there was no way I’d be tipping it onto my desk to try to get it posing.
So I popped over to the pet emporium and scooped up a small plastic locking-lid aquarium/terrarium … and, well, a few more things too. The images that follow can be right-clicked for viewing full scale.
I decided on the gaudy aquarium substrate because its color lets the arthropod’s body show much more clearly. The blue lines on the mat are one inch apart, to give you an idea what I mean by “hale” and “good-sized” when I refer to solifuges. Here the arachnid is exploring its local environs. To the right is a bit of egg carton.
…and here it is again, burrowing a little. The small brown insects are feeder crickets. I bought them along with the mini-terrarium and substrate. They came with the egg carton section.
I think it might be worth trying to see if I can keep this creature alive for a while. (I said I think there might be something wrong with me.) I’ve been observing it for a little while now and have learned that solifuges seem to use their legs primarily for burrowing, but will also pick up larger pebbles in their mouthparts, carrying them out of the way in a fashion similar to the behavior of ants.
Given the size of the abdomen on this specimen, I think it ate comparatively recently — that, or it’s loaded with eggs — and so might not want to have much to do with the crickets for a while. The crickets, for their part, don’t seem particularly alarmed at the arachnid’s presence; when they get near enough to brush against it and it moves, they freeze, but apart from that they don’t seem to know it’s there.
Curiously enough the solifuge seems to avoid resting where the crickets congregate. Maybe they give it the creeps.
Anyway, depending on how things go I might need a name for this little guy/gal. I can’t keep calling it solifuge or arachnid or arthropod. Anyone got any ideas?
UPDATE: Wahoo! It ate a cricket!
That’s actually important. If the arachnid refused to eat I’d have to let it go. That is obviously not a problem now. More pics below.
There’s a mangled bit of cricket — abdomen and leg — visible in the mandibles.
Not much cricket left to go here. The insect was half-devoured when I noticed what was going on; in all I think it took the solifuge about thirty seconds to eat everything.
Here and in the next shot you can see its mandibles’ front-and-back as well as up-and-down motion. The solifuge did this for a few moments after it ate the cricket. Cleaning its jaws, maybe? Or just working down the last crunchy bits?
Well, it looks as though I know now whether it’s even feasible to keep a solifuge. I suppose the next question is whether they can be leash-trained, and taught to attack on command.
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* Hush. This is NOT a poll.
5:12 on July 10th, 2007
Hi again! Last week I found another arachnid at home. It was way bigger than yours, although I have to admit it was mostly legs. Anyways, it passed away (by accident) and I sincerely regret not having named it. Its name was going to be Pepa (something in these creatures reminds me of my neighbor at home, hehehe…). You can adopt the name, I think the it’s perfect for your beauty!
9:07 on July 10th, 2007
Hey Warren,
I’m at a loss for name suggestions, I suppose it would have to be something gender-neutral unless ‘Seppy’ has revealed this information to you. Hmmmm, ‘Seppy’….not very imaginative, but there you are.
BTW, in your last thread I mentioned my persistent tarantula friend from last year…he’s back! He marched in the other night with great (but unknown) purpose, and then amused himself by wandering around and terrorizing all the cats and dogs. I trapped him under a tupperware bowl for relocation and his own protection. I did get a coupla pics I thought of sending you, but he’s not that clear thru the plastic bowl. I brought him about 75 feet away from the house and after releasing him, he followed me all the way back like a puppy and came right back in. I recaptured him and relocated him a second time several hundred feet away, but I have a feeling he’ll be back.
I still haven’t worked up the courage to present my hand to him, but he’s always an attentive and polite listener and good house guest.
10:23 on July 10th, 2007
On second thought, how about ‘Sully’? [grin]
15:28 on July 11th, 2007
You could just as easily take pics of a tarantula “naked” — they’re not aggressive or fast-moving enough to pose a flight (or attack!) risk.
Strange that it seems to keep following you.
6:36 on July 13th, 2007
Well, I’ll see if I can manage that next time, but if he takes me down, it’s your fault!
Slapping the bowl over him quickly was more for his own protection than mine. He could have vanished under furniture or come to harm in the time it took to go get the camera
We have seven cats and three dogs, and he might not fare so well if he generated too much interest or decided to try and move in long-term. One of the cats followed him in gently batting him on his butt (encouraging him to come in to play?) the second time he came in this time, it could have gotten ugly–I shooed the cat away. Not worried so much at the cat being nipped as Speeder suffering injury. I have seen one of our cats carry a huge scorpion into the house in its mouth, and release it alive and pissed under the kitchen table to play with. And snakes, very large snakes, have been brought in for Play Time. The cats are fearless until they learn proper respect for everything, and we have had serious injuries (bites, stings, etc.) resulting from this curiosity.
I do take issue with this general perception that tarantulas are slow. Yes, they do normally amble along, but in my experience if provoked or in a hurry they can move astonishingly fast, at least for short periods. And they do leap very high or several times their body size sideways or forward. It’s quite impressive to see this guy leap up and down inside the bowl, he lifts it a little bit and makes an audible smacking sound.
mike keers