New Nephila!

Dragoon · 06-19-04, 10:10 AM

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.
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Tarcan · 06-19-04, 11:28 AM

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

The web of mine is not yellow...

I will post pictures ;ater.

Tale care

Martin

ChokeOnSmoke · 06-19-04, 12:07 PM

Nice additions Dragoon, how big do Nephila get?

LINEBACKER 2 · 06-19-04, 01:15 PM

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 · 06-19-04, 01:52 PM

here you go...

Tarcan · 06-19-04, 01:53 PM

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 · 06-19-04, 01:54 PM

Oups... the pic...

Dragoon · 06-19-04, 10:12 PM

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 · 06-23-04, 06:40 AM

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"):

Second one is the young emerging from the eggsack in the incubator:

This is two molts later, one of the young had escaped and built a perfect little orbweb:

Last one, picture taken yesterday. One of the young that I released in my room (the largest ones are about 1 1/2" now):

greetz,
Joost

Siretsap · 06-23-04, 06:47 AM

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 · 06-23-04, 02:23 PM

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

ChokeOnSmoke · 06-23-04, 02:26 PM

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 · 06-23-04, 02:32 PM

I like those spiders...

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

Dragoon · 06-23-04, 05:29 PM

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 · 06-23-04, 07:54 PM

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!
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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.