Finally found Dysdera crocata!

[ScottySalticid]

Well I was flipping logs yesterday seeing if I could find any cool last minute bugs for my entomology class collection. Well I flipped one beam of wood on our campus and low and behold, I saw a large-ish orangey/red spider crawling about. It stopped moving and the chelicerae were all I needed to see to tell I stumbled upon a Dysdera crocata! I swept him up in my jar and brought him back to my dorm. Do these guys need any special requirements as far as care?

It's a male no doubt. Hands down the craziest looking palps I've seen on a spider so far in my short time working with them. They look alot like robotic boxing gloves that Inspector Gadget would have (Go go gadget palps!). I'll try and get pics later.

Oh yea, and I think there was a female too. It was in a sac of web just sitting there but I spooked it and never saw it again even after returning hours later hoping to nab her.

[MaartenSFS]

We'll need some photos for evidence.. erm. :rolleyes:

[jsloan]

It's always fun to find one of those spiders. :)

[Deroplatys]

I really want to find one of these now and get some pics, i remember finding them all the time everwhere as a i kid, now i cant remember that last time i found one :(

[ScottySalticid]

I really want to find one of these now and get some pics, i remember finding them all the time everwhere as a i kid, now i cant remember that last time i found one :(

Check out rotting logs.

[edesign]

I found one today underneath a rock...and naturally had nothing to collect it in. Pretty defensive specimen too, anywhere that I'd touch it with a piece of grass it would spin around and give a threat display, tried to bite once or twice...no egg sac either.

[TheDarkInfinity]

I love these spiders!! They are all over here in Hawaii. Though I did have to get Pandinus to ID it for me...:o
http://i584.photobucket.com/albums/ss290/thedarkinfinity/Unknown.jpg

Sorry for the crappy pic.

Anyone kept one before???

[cacoseraph]

i've kept them before. they are pretty tolerant of each other which is fun. the babies look like tiny bright orange gummy candies


they are pretty easy to keep, i found. keep them in a low vent, medium-low moisture enclosure with something to live under and they will go about their biz quite nicely. a note though! when i saw low vent i mean like almost no vent at all... and when i say low vent and medium-low moisture i mean that the sub should be moist enough to keep shape, but in no way moist enough to wring water from. a low vent rig means the moisture is going to stay in the sub/enclosure WAY more than most ppl are used to... so if you soak the sub the water it is going to still be soaked in two weeks.

p.s. try to feed them when it is really quiet. sometimes you can hear a faint little (((crunch))) when they bite stuff!

[TheDarkInfinity]

Sweet, thanks cacoseraph, I am about to go look for bugs, I think I might have to keep my eye out for one of these.:D