#132 - SPIDER TALK

I'm like an STD that just lingers ... chickenpox that becomes shingles, an itch that becomes a puss-oozing boil. I just won't go the fuck away.

The 159 posts of KMBHS have 33,352 page views. That's an average of 200 per post. More recent numbers are dismal, but that's my own fault as my frequency of blogging here has diminished. By contrast, my new Triggercontrol Tactical blog has 1343 page views for 11 posts. 122 per.

I don't require a lot of feedback. I enjoy comments, but other than Apple they are few and far between. I blog for myself. I like to hear myself type. I'm a quiet guy, even anti-social, but have diarrhea of the fingers. So this has always been about me.

But feedback does encourage, and I just got some praise that was all I needed to post again, not even an hour after a post that may have seemed like a farewell. The person with the kind words saw my post about the blog on Instagram despite following only six people and having no posts or followers of his own. He commented that he doesn't typically read blogs, but "KMBHS blog is kick ass, whether you are talking about tarantulas or going on rants it's just an awesome read". Cheers mate. Just for you, Cody, I will post something–on topic–here.


Here is some SPIDER Talk: This is a special blog version of the article I co-authored with Tom Patterson for the Journal of the British Tarantula Society 31(1). I'll add only a few of the articles images here and only my own. Thus, the figure numbers in the original article are irrelevant for this version and have been deleted. Only BTS Members with access to the print Journal or PDF version can enjoy the many beautiful photos Tom and I shared with this article.

I'll remind you that this is just one example of the quality content that our BTS publications enjoy, and urge you once more to consider membership. If money is tight just get a digital membership and download the Journals and Newsletters as PDF.

By the way, you can download an abridged list of my publications here.

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Huntsman Spiders of the genus Heteropoda (Sparassidae) in Captivity

Text and images by Michael Jacobi & Tom Patterson

Introduction

Who doesn’t love spiders that can seemingly teleport? In the blink of an eye, most keepers of huntsman spiders have had the experience of a blurry streak of spider vacating its enclosure and appearing seconds later in the opposite corner of the room or beyond. Human reflexes are no match for containing the flurry of a spirited spider at hyper speed. Who isn’t enchanted by the myriad of colours and patterns adorning the crab-like resting pose of many sparassids? One was even named after superstar David Bowie due to having facial makeup that would make the king of glam rock blush. The popular name for these spiders itself conjures images of a master marauder. Huntsman. Stalker, assailant, attacker. Those whose arachnocultural pursuits tend towards the predatory tarantula spiders may find spiders that snare their prey in silken traps less appealing, but the fast and efficient assault of the huntsman spider is certain to captivate.

The family Sparassidae Bertkau, 1872 consists of 85 genera. This article will limit itself to Heteropoda Latreille, 1804, which contains an astonishing 197 species (World Spider Catalog, 2015), and a tome could be devoted to this genus alone. However, Heteropoda isn’t even the largest genus of Sparassidae. Its cousin, Olios, is found worldwide and currently is home to 244 species. The evolutionary success of the huntsman spiders is astounding.

Heteropoda is Asian and Australasian in distribution, but the cosmotropical H. venatoria has been introduced elsewhere. We believe that the spider marketed as “Heteropoda sp. Cameroon Giant” is a large form of H. venatoria. The genus does not naturally occur in Africa. In the United States, H. venatoria populations are succeeding in subtropical areas of Florida, Texas, and California, and in some coastal areas of Georgia and South Carolina. Three species currently listed as Heteropoda (World Spider Catalog, 2015) from South America (two from Colombia and one from Peru) are certainly misidentified and misplaced. One of the Colombian species, H. camelia, has already been treated as misplaced by Jäger, 2014.

Clearly tackling a genus so diverse and extensive is a daunting task. In this article we wish to just highlight a handful of Heteropoda species and undescribed forms that we have worked with in captivity and treat you to some stunning images that illustrate the beauty of these huntsman spiders. We will provide some tips and tricks helpful in maintaining and breeding these amazing spiders in the terrarium while providing some brief comments on their natural history.

Natural History Notes

With such a large genus occurring from Afghanistan through the Indian subcontinent, Asia, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Borneo, Australasia, the Pacific Islands and beyond, it is no surprise that Heteropoda fills many niches from caves to rainforest canopy. Throughout its tropical distribution it has acquired a number of vernacular names, and, in English, they are sometimes referred to as crab spiders (not to be confused with the “real” crab spiders of the family Thomisidae) due to their crab-like habitus, and also as cane spiders, banana spiders and, of course, huntsman spiders. They are active predators that possess potent venom that is effective against their prey (in addition to insects they are known to consume scorpions and even bats), but none are thought to be dangerous to humans. Among their interesting traits at least one species has the ability to produce sound without the stridulatory organs used in some theraphosid spiders (Rovner, 1980). During its courtship behaviour, a male Heteropoda venatoria can create a faintly audible buzz or hum by the vibration of its long legs while its feet (tarsi) remain in contact with the substrate.

Challenges in Husbandry

The biggest hurdle to overcome when maintaining Heteropoda and other sparassids is their blinding speed and how quickly a disturbance can initiate a flight response that results in an escaped spider. There are some recommended protocols that should be used to contain their apparent “teleportation”. An adult that is housed in a spacious and well-planted natural terrarium should be able to be offered food and have routine maintenance tasks performed without any difficulty. You just have to ensure that you gently open the terrarium and keep disturbance to a minimum. However, spiderlings and juveniles that are being reared in smaller containers like vials or gallon jars present the greater problem. The senior author always, without fail, opens these containers only inside of a large tub that acts as a secondary containment enclosure should the spider launch itself to freedom. More often than not, this larger tub is placed on the floor of a shower stall that has white walls. The shower stall now acts as a third level of containment. Of course, catch cups or jars are always at the ready, as are paintbrushes and rubber-tipped forceps that can be used to direct the spider’s route of travel. Whenever possible the containment vessels should be white, smooth and free of crevices or hiding places. The white background is essential for quickly finding escapees before they “teleport” meters away. We cannot stress enough how a single distraction that breaks eye contact and a huntsman spider can, presto, vanish. All escape routes must be eliminated or managed.

Another difficulty presented in raising young Heteropoda is that they require small food that is provided more often than tarantula keepers are accustomed to. Spiderlings should be fed almost daily with several times each week being a minimum frequency. Newly hatched (pinhead) crickets are preferred as these can be gut-loaded with quality feed for maximum nutrition value before being offered as prey. Flightless fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster and then the larger D. hydei) can be used, and they certainly are easy and economical to culture. However, if they are cultured using “old school” potato flake and powdered sugar mixes they provide minimal nutrition to their predators. Modern fruit fly media used by dart frog keepers is preferred, and the best media is very nutritious and, thus, the flies are healthy meals for your spiders. We also recommend dusting the flies with a supplement. This serves two purposes: at the minimum it limits fly movement so they are easier for you to contain during feeding and easier for the spiders to immediately capture, and it may even provide increased nutritional value. The latter is debatable, and perhaps doubtful based on how spiders feed, but it certainly can’t hurt. The senior author uses Repashy SuperVite micro-fine vitamin supplement as do other sparassid keepers and breeders (e.g., Frank Somma, pers. comm.). The fruit fly media used is Josh’s Frogs special blend, but we are sure there is similar vitamin-packed fly media available in the UK and Europe.

Frank Somma (pers. comm.) has successfully raised Heteropoda spiderlings communally in an enclosure that includes a small fruit fly culture that has a hole that allows the flies to escape so that the baby huntsman spiders can feed at will. Cannibalisation will be experienced in any group enclosures, but this will reduce the number of weak spiderlings and, with food being abundant, a method like Frank’s will result in vigorous young that grow quickly.

An additional difficulty is that young sparassids often require elevated humidity that would be ill advised for most tarantula species. Stagnant, wet conditions will kill tarantulas and sparassids alike, but whereas we preach “ventilate, ventilate, ventilate!” and feel that poor ventilation kills most tarantula spiderlings, we are known to raise Heteropoda spiderlings in large vials without any ventilation. The senior author has used 50-dram clear styrene vials (inside height: 4.25 in or 10.8 cm; inside diameter: 1.875 in or 4.763 cm) without any ventilation holes in the lids to raise baby huntsman spiders. This prevents fruit fly prey from escaping and keeps in essential moisture. However, feeding every other day ensures that there is plenty of fresh air exchange (and more frequent openings of the vial may be performed as necessary) and a careful balance is achieved between “too wet” and “too dry” This is the result of experience and frequent attention to the moisture cycle.

Sparassid Enclosures

Young huntsman spiders are easily raised in a series of progressively larger cups familiar to all arachnoculturists. An adult huntsman spider can be housed in a vertically oriented 10-gallon aquarium with a polycarbonate front. What would have been the top opening is now the front-facing opening, and this is typically covered a clear acrylic or polycarbonate panel that is hinged at the bottom third and has one or more screen vents set into round holes. This style of terrarium is popular among dart frog keepers and readily adaptable to arachnoculture. They also will fare well in translucent plastic storage containers that have been appropriately ventilated. A very simple and effective enclosure can be created with one of these inexpensive containers with the addition of some damp substrate and a piece of cork bark. The addition of a length of silk or plastic plant may be aesthetically pleasing, but the easier you make it for your huntsman spider to hide the greater your chance of not knowing where it is when you take off the lid to offer food. Remember that whole teleportation thing?

An Overview of Courtship, Mating and Reproduction

Sparassid spiders typically have a lengthy courtship and the male is rarely attacked after mating. In fact, many huntsman spiders are found to live together in large colonies. The female Heteropoda sp. produces a flat, oval egg sac of white papery silk containing up to 200 eggs. Some large females, particularly in captivity, may produce even larger sacs. She then places it under bark or a rock and stands guard over it, without eating, for about three weeks. Some species instead protectively carry their egg sac beneath their bodies (e.g., H. venatoria). When nesting or guarding her egg sac the female can be quite aggressive, and will often rear up in a threat/defensive display if provoked.

Notes on Breeding

A simple breeding arena (aka “chamber”) can be created from a large storage container that includes a large slab of cork bark to create a “dance floor” for the mating pair and has enough room to place the female’s enclosure, or perhaps that of both male and female. The senior author uses a similar technique to pair Poecilotheria and other tarantula spiders.

The concept behind a breeding chamber is to provide a large and neutral area for the introduction of males and females. A large storage tub can easily contain both a cereal container style enclosure housing a female and a gallon jar holding a male. Both lids can be left on for a few days and the pair will become aware of each other via pheromones and, in the case of theraphosids, by courtship tapping. For sparassid spiders the junior author uses the procedure described here.

Once the female’s enclosure is placed in the breeding chamber the male is “gently” introduced.  In most cases, the lid is left on the female’s enclosure until the male has found a place within the chamber to settle down and get comfortable. This reduces the risk of a nervous male bolting right into an unsuspecting female’s container and eliciting a feeding response from her. Once the male has become accustomed to the breeding chamber and found a place to rest, the lid of the female’s enclosure is carefully removed and the lid that covers the breeding chamber is securely fastened. Copulation is rarely observed, and males generally don't begin courtship ritual until the room has been dark for some time. The following day the male is removed and placed back into his enclosure. Experience has shown that a single night of cohabitation will result in mating and multiple pairings are unnecessary.  

Females are heavily fed during the weeks after mating to prepare them for egg sac production. About three weeks after the female produces her sac, her enclosure is moved into a larger airtight container in anticipation of a couple hundred fast-moving huntsman spiderlings escaping the airs of the adult female’s enclosure. On some occasions, the sac is pulled and incubated in a 32 oz. (one liter) cup with some damp peat moss or coco fiber on the bottom. Once the spiderlings hatch and are ready to be separated, rehousing them into individual vials still needs to be done over a larger bin with a tight fitting lid, as the babies will start to scatter once the lid of the incubator cup is removed. Only as many spiderlings as can be reasonably cared for are separated into vials. Others are traded to breeder friends or offered for sale. Any remaining spiderlings are left in the incubator cup to cull each other, and then the largest and strongest surviving ones are eventually separated from there. That may sound cruel, but is the reality of hatching hundreds to thousands baby sparassids each year. Raising spiderlings of huntsman or wandering spiders is more time consuming and labor intensive than raising young tarantulas. They require more frequent feedings, require more caution during feeding to prevent escapes and demand small prey that presents its own problems.

Some Popular Species

Heteropoda boiei (Doleschall, 1859)

This is a giant species of Heteropoda with females reaching a body length of 37 mm [1.5 in]. Known from Singapore, Malaysia, Sumatra, Java and Brunei, it is largely arboreal and normally found on rainforest tree trunks.

Heteropoda davidbowie Jäger, 2008

There is perhaps no huntsman spider more spectacular than Heteropoda davidbowie. This species is known from Thailand (Yala), Malaysia (Padang), Singapore and Indonesia (Sumatra) and was given the rock star legend's name by Jäger in 2008. Females may vary from grayish-brown to orange. Males have a median longitudinal reddish line that runs from the eyes to the middle of the abdomen.

Heteropoda davidbowie, penultimate male

Heteropoda lunula (Doleschall, 1857)

As splendid and spectacular as H. davidbowie is, it could be argued that no Heteropoda species is more gorgeous than H. lunula. Doleschall described the species as Olios lunula in 1857. It is known from India to Vietnam, Malaysia, Java, Sumatra and Borneo. Taxonomically, it was transferred to many different genera and species over the years until Jäger reestablished called it Heteropoda lunula in 2002.

Heteropoda lunula

Heteropoda tetrica Thorell, 1897

This species is primarily a creature of the forest floor, but can also be found at the bottom of tree trunks and among low branches. It is a large species that is widespread in Southeast Asia. It is highly variable in appearance, but is popularly known as the “Black Jaw Huntsman” due to its black chelicerae. This species varies greatly in both size and colour and pattern from one locality to another (Euseman and Jäger, 2009). For example, the spider recently known in arachnoculture as Heteropoda sp. “Borneo yellow” is, in fact, H. tetrica.

Heteropoda venatoria (Linnaeus, 1767)

This pantropical species is for many arachnoculturist’s the first introduction to the world of huntsman spider husbandry. It is often found in homes and barns throughout its range, but also can be found in gardens and on tree trunks. Females have a white band across their clypeus (face) and carry their flat disc-shaped egg sac under the body.

Heteropoda venatoria, adult female - Phetchaburi, Thailand

A number of “new species” have recently arrived in arachnocultural collections. These include the “Malaysian Burgundy” and “Sumatra Violet”. All of the above species and new forms are being bred in captivity and becoming increasingly more available. Additionally, other sparassid taxa are increasingly kept and bred. For example, the Cameroon, Africa species Barylestis scutatus has become established in American and European breeding collections.

Summary

There is a great allure to these swift and diverse predators. If you’re drawn to tarantula keeping because of their ambush hunting, you’ll be fascinated by the stealthy habits of the huntsman spiders and their warp speed attacks. They don’t share the longevity of theraphosid spiders and most live only two or three years. However brief it is, a huntsman spider’s lifetime offers wonders for those who observe, and beauty for those who look.

There’s even a species called Heteropoda jacobii Strand, 1911. However, since the senior author wasn’t born for another fifty-plus years and his Transylvanian father’s name was spelled “Jakobi” until he reached America, this spider honours some other bloke of no relation. Since this precludes a Heteropoda ever being named after him, Michael hopes to discover a new Olios species instead.

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank their mutual friends John Apple and Frank Somma for information sharing, provided specimens, and breeding loans of many true spiders including the sparassids covered in this article. Both gentlemen were interviewed for contributions to this article.

References

Bertkau, P. 1872. Über die Respirationsorgane der Araneen. Archiv für Naturgeschichte 38: 208-233.

Doleschall, L. 1857. Bijdrage tot de Kenntis der Arachniden van den Indischen Archipel. Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indie 13: 339-434.

Doleschall, L. 1859. Tweede Bijdrage tot de Kenntis der Arachniden van den Indischen Archipel. Acta Societatis Scientiarum Indica-Neerlandica 5: 1-60.

Eusemann, P. & P. Jäger. 2009. Heteropoda tetrica Thorell, 1897 – variation and biogeography, with emphasis on copulatory organs (Araneae: Sparassidae). Contrib. Nat. Hist. 12: 499–516.

Florida Nature. 2004. Heteropoda venatoria, Huntsman Spider. http://flnature.org/species.asp?species=Heteropoda_venatoria. (Accessed 20 November 2015).

Jãger, P. 1999. Sparassidae - the valid scientific name for the huntsman spiders (Arachnida: Araneae). Arachnologische Mitteilungen 17: 1-10.

Jäger, P. 2001. Diversität der Riesenkrabbenspinnen im Himalaya -- die Radiation zweier Gattungen in den Schneetropen (Araneae, Sparassidae, Heteropodinae). Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 232: 1-136.

Jäger, P. 2002. Heteropodinae: transfers and synonymies (Arachnida: Araneae: Sparassidae). Acta Arachnologica, Tokyo 51: 33-61.

Jäger, P. 2014. Heteropoda Latreille, 1804: new species, synonymies, transfers and records (Araneae: Sparassidae: Heteropodinae). Arthropoda Selecta 23(2): 145-188.

Latreille, P.A. 1804. Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des Crustacés et des Insectes. Paris 7, 144-305.

Rovner, J.S. 1980. Vibration in Heteropoda venatoria (Sparassidae): a third method of sound production in spiders. Journal of Arachnology 8, 193-200.

Strand, E. 1911. Spinnentiere aus Neu-Guinea (Opiliones, Psechridae und Clubionidae) gesammelt von Dr. Schlaginhaufen. Abhandlungen und Berichte des Königlich-Zoologischen und Anthropologisch-Ethnografischen Museums zu Dresden 13(5): 1-16.

Thorell, T. 1897. Araneae paucae Asiae australis. Bihang till Kungliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar 22(6): 1-36.

World Spider Catalog. 2015. http://www.wsc.nmbe.ch/genus/3115/Heteropoda (accessed 20 November 2015).