Golden Orb Web

david31337 · Jul 23, 2005

Does any have any pics of these spiders in captivity(Or any orb web)? Need to know if his house is ok. Been googling for ages with not much luck! Thanks in advance

Goanna · Jul 24, 2005

This is the only care sheet type info I know of. Its where I first saw one.

http://www.petbugs.com/caresheets/N-madagascarensis.html

They say to keep it in the corner of a room where it will not be disturbed, as they do not come off the web.

I always liked this quote from that page, lol.

petbugs.com said:
The Madagascar Silk Spider will remain on its' web, and will happily accept flying insects, or non-flying insects that you make fly.

In the national zoo in Washington DC they have a large corner sectioned off for them with no glass, no screen, completly open air, just a short wall on the floor and ceiling. You could stick your hand right into the exhibit. They have a whole bunch in there and they were even breeding. I stuck my head in the exhibit and was looking around inside, and when I turned around and looked at my friends they pointed out that I had a baby spider crawling on me, lol. I would have kept it but I figured it wouldnt survive a 2 day drive to florida, 2 weeks there, and then another 2 day drive back so back into the exhibit it went.

david31337 · Sep 2, 2005

Follow up, since getting this spider, he has build a huge web and eats more than the T's!
It's laid an egg sack, and I'm not sure what will happen? Why has it done this? Will they hatch? Anyone know? There's very little info out there on this. Also if they are gonna hatch what do I feed them and how many will there be?
Thanks!!

JJJoshua · Sep 2, 2005

If it's building an eggsac than yes, it will hatch. I don't know what you should feed them, but I would suspect just leaving them alone till they start cannibalizing eachother, that's when you know that they are big enough to start eating prey. Plus it's natural selection and you will have the strongest of the bunch. I don't know if you plan on keeping them or what not, but I would just let them go outside once they start eating eachother, maybe keep a few, but let the majority of them go. There will be lots and lots of them.

EDIT: can you put any pics of it up?

Raqua · Sep 2, 2005

Just got Nephila sp. from Tanzania which might be this specie. Looks like that one at least..

I have adult female. I put her inside large terarium 3ftx2ftx2ft. I have it for more than week and it still does only a little webbing. Just like few threads she sits on, nothing to throw food into ...
I also have 5 slings. They are very small, I'm afraid that they might have trouble taking down fresh hatched pinheads. The same with their webs... Am I doing something wrong ??

david31337 · Sep 2, 2005

Thanks for the info! I'll try them on Pin Head crickets, any idea how long till they hatch? She/He only made the sack yesterday. (I'm gonna need to buy a bigger flat. Not enough rooms for a lot of these

)

Raqua, it's taken this spider over a month to build it's web, give it time. Hopefully they'll keep webbing.

JJJoshua · Sep 2, 2005

Awesome pic. No idea on how long until hatching however, hopefully someone else can help.

arachnoking1234 · Sep 2, 2005

housing

:?

david31337 said:
Thanks for the info! I'll try them on Pin Head crickets, any idea how long till they hatch? She/He only made the sack yesterday. (I'm gonna need to buy a bigger flat. Not enough rooms for a lot of these )

Raqua, it's taken this spider over a month to build it's web, give it time. Hopefully they'll keep webbing.

you arent supposed to keep them in a tank ami right. aren't they supposed to live in the corner of a room.

david31337 · Sep 2, 2005

U can do?! As long as it's a big enough tank should be ok. Try getting your Girl to have this loose in the house

Stylopidae · Sep 2, 2005

They're blind so escape isn't an issue...they stay on their webs their whole life.

david31337 · Sep 2, 2005

I didn't know that! Someone should write a good care sheet for these spiders! Does anyone know the period of time the egg sack takes to hatch?

Scythemantis · Sep 3, 2005

I had just come here to make a thread about these...how convenient! A friend brought me back one from south carolina, but he didn't know what it was (he's a reptile person more than an invert person), and I myself didn't know much about them either. It's definately a female Nephila clavipes, and he said it was one of the smaller ones he saw (but she's HUGE!) so she probably has a few months to live yet (I hear they can live a couple years in captivity, is this true?)

She's in a small tank but she has webbed it up and eaten, so I think she'll be okay. I love the idea of just having one out in the room, though. If it's no different for this species, I'll probably set her up in my new bedroom after I move this month. I'd still worry about her safety, though, It can't be 100% certain that she'll never end up scuttling along the floor (and accidentally trodden), can it? Maybe I'll enclose the corner in some screen.

When she passes on, I definately want more. I've only had her for a day but she's the coolest thing I've ever owned.

Scythemantis · Sep 5, 2005

Well, gee, mine just laid eggs as well!

I don't have a fine enough mesh to contain them at the moment...

Can they be removed from where she's webbed them up without damaging them?

Wade · Sep 6, 2005

If the spider is eating, I suspect the cage is adequate. They can be sensitive to dessication, so in some instances a large tank might be better than free range. This would depend on your ambiant conditions.

Babies are very sensitive to dessication. INVERTEBRATES MAGAZINE had an informative piece on rearing N. claviapes a few issues back, maybe you could track down a back issue at www.elytraandantenna.com Rearing is likley the same for most other Nephila as well.

The spider pictured does not appear to be N. claviapes. Is it an African species?

Wade

david31337 · Sep 6, 2005

I have no idea it was sold as a Golden Orb Spider(Nephila sp.). There are so many diffrent makes and models of this spider it's hard to tell whats what. Gonna try hatch the egg sack and feed on pinheads. Does anyknow where this spider is from? Least then I can set up accurate conditions for the babies.

Wade · Sep 6, 2005

Golden orb spider is usually used as a common name for the whole genus. Likely it's African, at least if you're in the US as most of the imports of the genus seem to come from Africa, although the genus occurs throughout the tropics.

Most of them come from humid tropical regions of the world, so it probably doesn't matter where it comes from when it comes to husbandry. The spiderlings will be very tiny, and are very sensitive to dessication. The home environment of most people is going to be too dry unless the spiderlings are reared in containers with moist substrate and limited ventilation.

Wade

Scythemantis · Sep 6, 2005

I'm afraid of stressing out the mother by moving the eggs, but once they hatch it's probably going to be VERY hard to get them into a better container...I might put them in either a two gallon tank with a glass lid or an old water jug with gauze over the mouth, which would be better? The latter will probably be easier to feed them through.

What's the best natural substrate to hold moisture other than peat? (Since a lot of people seem to have problems using peat)

Raqua · Sep 12, 2005

David it looks like we have the same species. At least they look the same. I have it from a guy, who imported them from Tanzania. They made eggsacks in his care and hatched in less than month if the data he provided were thuth.
Mine looks like she already had an eggsack, her abdomen is small. Do you think they can make another one ??
She is building her web, but quite slow. I thought she will make it in one night.
Those slings don't want to eat too much, I am a bit worried about them.

Scythemantis · Sep 13, 2005

My spider still hasn't built a web since she's still a tank, but she has been eating moths out of my hand

I carefully attached her egg sac to a twig and put it in an empty water jug, covering the top with gauze and the jug's lid with a single hole punched in, should I give them more ventilation or will that be enough? I misted the inside of the bottle first.

bannanaspider · Sep 15, 2005

nephila

Raqua said:
Just got Nephila sp. from Tanzania which might be this specie. Looks like that one at least..

I have adult female. I put her inside large terarium 3ftx2ftx2ft. I have it for more than week and it still does only a little webbing. Just like few threads she sits on, nothing to throw food into ...
I also have 5 slings. They are very small, I'm afraid that they might have trouble taking down fresh hatched pinheads. The same with their webs... Am I doing something wrong ??

a good nephila to keep free living in your home is sengallensis,bad spelling as it doesnt require so much humidity,the webs span across river systems in its home land,south of the sahara.

Golden Orb Web

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