Damon variegatus

[TheEternal]

I just picked up a few young ones at a reptile show. WOW! These are some amazing critters!

A few questions: What is their life span and growth rates? How often should I feed them? Do they breed easily? What size container do I need to keep three adults in?

-Bryan

[Wade]

Be careful about keeping them together, cannibalism isn't common, but it does occur. Often, they get along fine up until one molts, and then one of it's cage mates will take advantage of it's weakend condition and eat it. If keeping them together, I'd think the bigger the better regarding cages. Provide lots of vertically arranged cork slabs for them to hide between.

Cage height is usually important for molting, as they cling to bark and kind of drop down out of their exoskeletons and they need an unobstructed area in order to do this succesfully. Some say they need twice the distance as their "whips" are long. I'm not sure they need THAT much space, but it wouldn't hurt. I keep some of my adult singly in containers that are about 8" tall.

I've had good luck breeding and getting babies, but very bad luck keeping the babies alive. One thing I discovered is that babies will drown themselves in even the smallest amount of open water. I was using shallow dishes with gravel in them for the adults, but the babies managed to drown themselves in even that. They also don't seem to do well in damp conditions. Hopefully, someone else will have some baby rearing tips.

To breed, I set them up in pairs. You will know breeding is taking place when you see little white T-shaped objects stuck here and there on the bark. Those are the stalks that support the male's spermataphores. The female picks up the little sperm packet, but the little stalk remains. I usually split them up after awhile, because either one could molt again and be vunerable. Adult males and females are easy to distinquish, as the males have absurdly long pedipalps compared to the females.

Since they do go through post ultimate molts, I suspect they have a relatively long lifespan, maybe sombody can confirm or deny this. Possibly not as long as most tarantulas, but considerably longer than most non-therephosid spiders and other arachnids. I purchased mine in July 2003 and they had about a 2" "whip span" and a body length of maybe half an inch. By the following spring, they had 2" bodies and 6-8" whip spans and one female had even produced babies.

Wade

[danny7499]

Arent those called "African cave dwelling spiders" Just kidding, I laugh everytime i see them now cause of that Fear Factor episode.

[Icey]

Caresheet to be found here (http://www.petbugs.com/caresheets/D-variegatus.html)

another one here (http://www.centralpets.com/pages/critterpages/insects/other_insects/BUG4334.shtml)

[jdcarrel]

anyone know how long these live, or where I can get some?

Also, the first time I saw these was on fear factor and for the longest time I thought they were actually called african cave dwelling spiders. lol

[El Johano]

Very strange creatures indeed :)
My male D. diadema (sold as variegatus) :