Hairy Jumping Critters

Mina (Part II) - Hyllus semicupreus

2008-08-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

Some more shots of my lovely lady, Mina. She is a beautiful spider, don't you agree?

Tangy - Salticidae sp.

2008-08-10T18:58:00.000-07:00

This is Tangy, a Jumping Spider that I caught on 9th Aug '08, the same day I lost Goliath. The base colouration of Tangy is similar to Mina, orange based. It is slighty bigger sized than Mina.

Goliath - Hyllus diardi

2008-08-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

This is my new pet, Goliath, a Hyllus diardi. I saw him high up on the underside of a big leaf. Luckily the lower branch of the leaf is accessible, and I managed to get to him.

Its huge and has powerful legs. I really feel the impact of the landing it made when it jump oto my hand.

Goliath is bronze toned and has some white patches on its body. A beautiful jumping spider, IMO.

- Update 09 Aug '08-
Goliath has passed on....... :(
I found him upside down in the container, that I intended to transfer him to a friend for a breeding project.... *sigh*...

Spikes - Epocilla calcarata

2008-07-21T21:17:00.001-07:00

Meet Spikes - a male Epocilla calcarata Take a look at his arms, you will know why I call him Spikes. He only looks similar to Drako superficially, but under scrutiny, you can tell that there's a fair bit of differences.

Like Drako, Spikes is also not afraid of walking about on my hand.

Drako - Telamonia festiva

2008-07-21T21:06:00.000-07:00

This is a Jolly Jumping Spider (Telamonia festiva). Surprisingly, this guy is not afraid of walking around on my hand. Most spiders are very jittery and cannot even stand for a moment on human's touch, but not Drako! He is also pretty gutsy against larger prey.

- Update -
Drako has left me for another realm on the 2 Aug '08. :(

Mina - Hyllus semicupreus

2008-07-21T20:48:00.000-07:00

This is my pet female Heavy Jumper (Hyllus semicupreus), which I previously mistook as a Hyllus diardi. I call her Mina (taken from the movie, Bram Stoker's Dracula). She is pretty huge for a jumping spider. I think she looks a lot like a Teddy bear with eight legs!

I found a male common House Jumper (Menemerus bivittatus), dead, lying on the floor outside my house. Decided to try feeding the dead spider to Mina. Usually Jumping spiders don't eat prey that's already dead. I drop the dead guy in front of Mina a few times, and she finally pounced! Here she is with her meal which I "fooled" her to take.

Goblin - Thiania bhamoensis

2008-07-17T01:52:00.001-07:00

This is Goblin, another one of my pet Thania Fighting Spider. The face feature of this guy is noticeably different from Jabber, he has a dark patched below the eye.

Jabber - Thiania bhamoensis

2008-07-17T01:36:00.000-07:00

This is one of my pet Thania bhamoensis, which I call Jabber. Its a male Fighting-Spider which many Singaporean school boys used to keep as pets in the past.

Not all spiders can stand to be handled by human, most jump off as soon as you put it on your hand. Thania bhamoensis is, however, quite docile and tame once it get used to you.

Keeping these fellows as pets is not that difficult. You just need to provide them a few leaves (preferably leaves with no bristles on it) in their containers, so they can use them as their home. I use leaves from spider-lily. They bind the leaves together with rivet like web. Fresh leaves are provided periodically.

They prefer live insects, such as small fruit flies, moths, winged ants, plant hoppers , etc as food. You can sometime fool them by dropping dead insects right in front of them though. These species also prefer prey not bigger than them. I have yet to see one grabbing damselflies, like the mopsus Mormon.

Thania needs fresh water everyday. I use eye-dropper to provide them the life-saving water they need.