Thinking of starting a "Solfugid Project"...

[JSN]

well, I've lived in Arizona all my life, I've kept ones in the past, but I was really too young to know anything or try to actually care for these guys...I went camping last night and saw one and it reminded me how cool these guys are and how exciting they are to watch...but they are notoriously hard to keep and supposedly have relatively short life-spans compared to T's and Scorps...they are very mysterious, but I think I want to give it a shot in trying to capture a number of native wild ones and seeing if I can get them to breed, or even just have a little luck in finding out how to better care for these little beasts, so I'll probably go out today or tommorow and try to find a bunch...

I'll try to replicate the habitat in which I've found them, use the same soil, same bark, whatever...
Also, since they are huge eaters, I'll use normal store-bought crickets and seee how it works out...

once I catch a few, I'll post pics and keep ubdates on whats going on...

just thought it would be something fun to do...any input is appreciated...

[Gigas]

Good luck, if you have any succes, make sure to let us know!

[lucanidae]

Read Fred Punzo's books on solfugids and you'll see captive rearing and some breeding has been done, it has good information on how to go about keeping them alive in captivity.

[cacoseraph]

from my experience feeding them a lot only hastens their demise.

but i don't know if all i'm doing is making their death take a long time vs keeping them alive longer, if you get my drift?

i can keep them alive for about 6 months, but that's no molt, no breeding, nothing useful. i stopped buying them

that book sounds very interesting, however

[Scorp guy]

i wish you the best of luck! caco, you seem to know quite a bit on them, and when i found out all that stuff about them, i decided NO! (and the fact mom said no camel spiders in the housee)

[brigebane]

I think the main problem is a lack of young specimens on the market. Most are wild caught adults that are most likely towards the end of their lifespans. I have managed to keep one alive for nearly a year though. She laid a few batches of eggs(that didn't survive) before she died.

[Scolopendra55]

I've kept several and they all die within 5-6 months. Best of luck however :)