New Nephila!

[Dragoon]

Here is my gorgeous Nephila, she is eating a cricket!
She spun a nice web, so I offered up some breakfask (inserted a crushed cricket). I've named her Kreature (yes, I'm reading Harry Potter right now!) and she's very interesting and colorful.
Her head is swirled gray and her abdomen is yellow and white. Legs are banded red and black. (Gosh Tarcan, it sure would be nice if you could post your most excellent photo of the species here!) Words fail this nice animal.
~Martin;BTW, did yours spin a yellow web? Mine's not yellow?

I won't be letting Kreature free-roam since I have various insect-eating monitors that would LOVE the colorful snack if they ever got out.
D.
<IMG SRC="http://varanid.mvd2.com/Files/Dragoon/nephila.jpg">

[Tarcan]

Hi D., I am glad it is eating...

The web of mine is not yellow...

I will post pictures ;ater.

Tale care

Martin

[ChokeOnSmoke]

Nice additions Dragoon, how big do Nephila get?

[LINEBACKER 2]

Oh my goodness she's AWESOME. I've ALWAYS wanted a Nephila, but the species in my city are small... I've always wanted one of those large tropical ones. That would be a fantastic addition to my spider collection.

Steve

[Tarcan]

here you go...

[Tarcan]

and a second one, better close up... this is actually a picture of yours Dragoon... splendid animal... so incredible that I decided to keep one for myself and go against my rule of keeping only Ts...

This species is from Bali... I have another nice species from Congo... one of the females layed an eggsac...

[Tarcan]

Oups... the pic...

[Dragoon]

I am just so fascinated with this animal!
I've misted her a couple of times and she gets all excited! She drinks by squeezing the water droplets down her legs and putting her tiny foot in her mouth.
Do you have any pics of the other subspecies you have, Martin? I hope that eggsac is viable, I think baby Nephila would be just adorable!
Aidan; I'm not sure how large they get, only that the Nephila get larger than the Argiopes. Argiopes require a 2 foot squared cage, and Nephila need 3 feet, or a corner of a room!
I am learning as I go, with most of my animals. Which explains why I got offended by your comment recently about "if you have to ask, then you shouldn't have the animal", on this forum. (something like that)
Cheers
D.

[Joozt]

Hey!
Hope you don't mind me posting some pix.
I bought an adult Nephila madagascariensis a while ago. Unfortunately the spider was at the end of her life span and never really made an impressive web. It did however lay an eggsack prior to dying, and the babies are coming along really nicely.
Now for the pix: first one is the adult female (just over 5"):
http://img13.photobucket.com/albums/v39/Arachnojoozt/spinnetjes/mad07.jpg
Second one is the young emerging from the eggsack in the incubator:
http://img13.photobucket.com/albums/v39/Arachnojoozt/spinnetjes/jonkies09.jpg
This is two molts later, one of the young had escaped and built a perfect little orbweb:
http://img13.photobucket.com/albums/v39/Arachnojoozt/spinnetjes/jonkies10.jpg
Last one, picture taken yesterday. One of the young that I released in my room (the largest ones are about 1 1/2" now):
http://img13.photobucket.com/albums/v39/Arachnojoozt/spinnetjes/jonkies24.jpg
greetz,
Joost

[Siretsap]

Are those venemous? I like the colors they have. I do not know why, but I can pick up tarentulas without any problems, but when a house spider or any spoder outside walks on me, damn I have shivers down my spine.

[the_frog_man]

SWEAT SPIDERS MAN!!!!!! are you selling the s'lings? how much?

[ChokeOnSmoke]

Taracan is selling them . Well they aren't slings but they are Nephila
Joozt might be selling them but he lives in Holland

[dr greenlove]

I like those spiders...

Quick question, how long do they live for on average?

[Dragoon]

I looked it up, and its around 3 years, depending on how you feed them. I read you are not supposed to 'overfeed' them. I think mine has a couple years of life in her, since she is not really that large. Oh well, even if its for a short time, this is worth it, she's just delightful!

Joozt, nice pics! Thanks for sharing the life cycle with us! I was really curious to know what slings of this animal looked like, you're too kind! Your madagasca...something is really nice, but I'm glad I got the "Bali" morph, mine has a bit more red in her. I'm trying hard to get a pic of mine's web by misting it heavily so all the drops catch the light, but my camera isn't the greatest...I'll post a pic soon.
D.

[Dragoon]

Here is where I am keeping her, for now anyways. She built a nice web, and is eating and drinking daily. I mist her morning and night. This cage is at a nice height for me to sit beside her and gaze...I'm eating all my meals here since I got her, LOL. I just leave the door open so the ventilation is good. The bottom is some sort of chopped cork litter...won't mold.
If my insect eating lizard ever escapes again, I can close the door to keep my prize safe.
Enjoy her sparkling colors!
<IMG SRC="http://varanid.mvd2.com/Files/Dragoon/nephilahome.jpg">

Hey Martin, here is a fun thing to do with your Nephila...
I misted mine, and kept misting, just to see what would happen. All the hairs on the spider caught all the water and held it until it just shimmered in a water capsule. She let go of her web, and just hung limply hanging from her back two feet only!. It was so cute, she was like a limp little leaf. She let all the other legs dangle down until the 'downpour' stopped.
When I stopped the misting, she became animated again, and grabbed her web, and started speequeeing all the water off her legs. Interesting!
D.

[Tim and Julie B]

OMG>>>>>>>>I GOTTA GET ONE! TB

[emilsmee]

hey d, what's the specific care on these? like enclosure size, humidity, heat, feeding, venom potency, aggression, lifespan, etc? thinking about getting one from martin... just wanna be sure about all that before i get one.

emilsmee

[Dragoon]

hahahaha, ....

I dont know!

hahahahaha

I do know they are commonly kept free in a room, so room temp and humidity must be fine. They are not agressive...you were here and saw mine. I sit with my face about three inches from her, I'm soooo nosy. I like to watch her squeeze the water down her legs to her foot, then sip her foot. If I squint and look real close, I can just make out the tiny claws on the ends of her delicate feet, that grip the web.
She is not defensive or skittish. I mist her and feed her with tweezers...she's pretty gentle about taking her cricket from me. I have to hold her food in front of her face while she slowly touches it with a foot, to make sure its food. She doesn't pounce like a tarantula does.
They only live around three years. Get to be about five or six inches? Double what mine is, most likely. So I have a while to keep mine still.
She is so gentle , she's not gonna bite anyone, hahahahaha

All you readers are just reacting to her 'big house spider' appearance. Once you get past the Ewww..a spider reaction, she's not scary at all....just pretty!
D.

[Siretsap]

How potent are those?

[Dragoon]

Here you go....
a link to a page describing some Nephila. The one pictured is not the color morph I have, but it is the same exact body.

To save you time, it says on the page, they are docile, with insignificant venom, the pain would be due to the mechanical size of the fangs.
Another page I had read said the Nephila were very reluctant biters.

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Insects/Japan/Spiders/GiantWood/

[emilsmee]

so is the tank you have the minimum, maximum or average size, that looked a little big for her... i have limited shelf space. hey would those screen cages i have at work be good for her??? i'm so bad, i took home one of the rosehairs (the biggest and nicest one) and the Cyclosternum fasciatum. geez the Cyclosternum fasciatumo has grown so big since we first got him in. n e one have suggestions for names??

emilsmee

[Dragoon]

My Nephila cage is rather small for an adult.
I have a juvie.
That is why most people let them go, in a room. So they can make their webs as big as they want. Yes, those gorgeous cages at your store would be fine...but a lot of money for a little spider! If you want, I'll just build you something nice, for a fraction of the cost.:)

Congrats on the tiger rump! Why not let the spider name itself? wait a while, and one will come to you...
My pokies are Eek, Peek and Boo. They hide alot. and they have big bad scary reps, being Pokes.
I'd call a Tiger Rump Ember, Glow or Hallowe'en due to the colors. Once you have more spiders, its easier to just call them the scientific names. I'm not referring to my Courtney, of course. ...big T.blondis demand names.

Tarcan has a Cyriocosmos named Jewel!
Or...so we tell him....
hahahahahaha
D.

[emilsmee]

i'm going to grab one from work because i buy them for a fraction of the cost. you are right though, they're kinda expensive but really nice looking!
can i have more than one nephila if i were to buy one of the HUGE enclosures? it's a 120G screen enclosure. i think it'll cost me $150 at cost. i'm in no hurry for the nephila because i already have a bunch coming in soon that'll keep me happy for a while. speaking of which, can you build my tiger rump and rose hair as well as my new spidy's some of those cool enclosures? I'll pay you whatever you think is good for them. i was going to do them but i have no time and i know i'd mess it up for sure. or better yet you can come over and help.
hehe he's not now, but i think grays gonna be angry that you've gotten me back into t's. our place is gonna be covered in them... *grin*

(...and to think, he's allergic, lol)

emilsmee