Nepenthes sp. possibly use as watering hole for arboreal tree spiders.

I'm in the process of building vivariums for my asian arboreal tarantulas and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with using Nepenthes sp. for water dishes. I was worried about the digestive enzymes that produce however I know that in wild the wild some species have several invertebrates and vertebrates that live within the pitchers.

Thanks in advance, Josh

apriliarider15 said:

I'm in the process of building vivariums for my asian arboreal tarantulas and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with using Nepenthes sp. for water dishes. I was worried about the digestive enzymes that produce however I know that in wild the wild some species have several invertebrates and vertebrates that live within the pitchers.

Thanks in advance, Josh

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The enzymes that Nepenthes produce is incredibly weak. The water is drinkable but I don't see how this would be a viable way to water an arboreal tarantula. The waxy coating and downward pointing hairs will not allow the tarantula to back up out after it has gotten a drink. Also, in order to have pitchers even large enough to accommodate a tarantula, you would have to have a very large plant about 24" diameter. This in turn would require a very large terrarium.

Over all I do not think it is worth the effort. A nicely camouflaged water dish is very inexpensive and does not run the risk of drowning your tarantula.

Thanks for the fast reply. I was planning on using Nepenthes ampullaria which is basically a large open pitcher. Almost the same size as a 2 oz solo cup. The Nepenthes sp. I keep now now have little water in them but I was planning on adding water to the pitcher when needed to allow the spider to drink. I know I will probably lose some pitchers over time doing it this way but I thought it would be worth the effort.

The problem I see with using a N. ampullaria is that it is a ground growing nep. The do really well in terrariums because of their lowland nature but the soil must be very well drained. Most people that cultivate them keep them in their own individual pot in the terrarium and do not plant them into a terrarium. Also, I don't think the pitchers will be big enough to drink out of. The shape of the pitcher will make it very difficult for the tarantula to drink. If you MUST use a Nepenthes, I would use a N. lowii. Their large toilet bowl shaped pitchers will allow for easy access to the water. Also, it is an epiphyte so will do fine hanging from a back drop.

Some bromeliad species develop rain-catching "cups" in their central crowns.
Since bromeliads are considered to be ornamental in their own right they are not very difficult to find.

I agree and use them for dart frogs and Avicularia but I wanted something a little different for my Asian sp. I will look into N. lowii SEB and thanks for the advice. Right now I keep 7 species/hybrids of Nepenthes as houseplants and am excited to try them in vivariums. Wish me luck

Sure I will.
Please keep us posted.
Thanks!!!

apriliarider15 said:

I agree and use them for dart frogs and Avicularia but I wanted something a little different for my Asian sp. I will look into N. lowii SEB and thanks for the advice. Right now I keep 7 species/hybrids of Nepenthes as houseplants and am excited to try them in vivariums. Wish me luck

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dont put a lowii together with a T. Lowiis are ultra highlanders (something like hamata) and they need cool nights of around 15 degrees celcius. It is expensive to grow highland plants because of this reason, the cool nights. In addition, adding a highlander to your T's cage is probably not the best idea too. Also, most plants you buy online will be very small, unles you buy from forumers, they will take years to develop into a mature plant whereby their pitchers can be fit to drink from by the T. If you really need the T to drink from a pitcher, get something bigger, cheaper and less sensitive. Something like Nepenthes rafflesiana/miranda/dyeriana. Those are huge, but careful not to let your T fall in!

This sounds like a bad idea.

Pitchers work for small frogs and other animals that use pitcher plants in the wild, but a big spider that has to back in and out of water to drink properly could wind up dying in a pitcher.

And if you accidentally harm the plant by adding too much water to the pitchers, then you will have a dying plant to deal with, which will make the setup look worse. It's an aesthetically cool idea, but it sounds likely to fall apart IMO.