# woodlouse spider.



## gwinni (Oct 8, 2007)

I have vague memories of someone wanting one of these not long ago so thought i'd post the link.
Woodlouse Spider on eBay, also, Spiders Insects, Pet Supplies, Home Garden (end time 10-May-08 10:16:40 BST)


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

Hah, nice. ebay though:/

I was supposed to send mine to the guy.. kinda forgot, pmd him now:blush:


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

C_Strike said:


> Hah, nice. ebay though:/
> 
> I was supposed to send mine to the guy.. kinda forgot, pmd him now:blush:


Never heard of these before.

What are they like to keep?

Are they easy for anyone here to find..?


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

enlightenment said:


> Never heard of these before.
> 
> What are they like to keep?
> 
> Are they easy for anyone here to find..?


Very, lol
find some woodlouse colony in your garden and you can be assured theres a good chance one will be around close.
Sheds and garages are a good un, my first one i was phoned to ID by police, lol was found in a superstore, with bananas:lol2:


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

C_Strike said:


> Very, lol
> find some woodlouse colony in your garden and you can be assured theres a good chance one will be around close.
> Sheds and garages are a good un, my first one i was phoned to ID by police, lol was found in a superstore, with bananas:lol2:


Odd.

AFAIK, I have never come across one of these, in the UK, not even when woodlice are around...

What size do they normally get to?

Would they eat anything else, save for woodlice?


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

I cant beleive people would honestly consider buying these...and it seems peoples concerns about WC seem to cease when its a UK species...

I find tons in my garden all the time. Perhaps I should start selling them, hahaha. As if!


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

Item removed. It was in breach of ebay policies.


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

GRB said:


> Item removed. It was in breach of ebay policies.


lol, thought as much, it didnt say 'livefoods' on the ad


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

GRB said:


> I cant beleive people would honestly consider buying these...and it seems peoples concerns about WC seem to cease when its a UK species...
> 
> I find tons in my garden all the time. Perhaps I should start selling them, hahaha. As if!


Tons?

I have never seen one!

Give me a couple then? :no1:


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

C_Strike said:


> lol, thought as much, it didnt say 'livefoods' on the ad


He could relist it again, I suppose?


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

enlightenment said:


> He could relist it again, I suppose?


I hope not. I think you shouldnt be allowed to sell WC UK animals at all tbh. Whats next? There's nothing to stop people collecting very rare UK insects and pleading ignorance ("oh, I see these all the time" - and it turns out they are living in the one area they bred in or such), and that could cause a lot of irreversible damage to the already fragile ecosystems in the UK. 

I'm not a fan of WC anything tbh, and for some reason I feel even more negatively about WC UK animals.


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

GRB said:


> I hope not. I think you shouldnt be allowed to sell WC UK animals at all tbh. Whats next? There's nothing to stop people collecting very rare UK insects and pleading ignorance ("oh, I see these all the time" - and it turns out they are living in the one area they bred in or such), and that could cause a lot of irreversible damage to the already fragile ecosystems in the UK.
> 
> I'm not a fan of WC anything tbh, and for some reason I feel even more negatively about WC UK animals.


Have to disagree, its the same situation across the globe, if uit wasnt for people collecting native fauna in their native land then we wouldnt have anything. I could agree if it was excess collecting of endangered species. but woodlouse spiders are far from, well there is some uncommon ones, but generally their mediterranian.
WC animals are ok imo, depends on the scpecies. I would hope that collectors wouldnt exhaust the very supplies of fauna they use toi make their money, overcollecting leads to unemployment.As for WC in collections, after them successfully breeding it reduces the demand for them to be imported. I do not agree with buying WC rosies, or other equally CB species. Its simply not neccessary.
I actually feel good to see other people getting an interest in our own british species, theyr very interesting spiders. Its nice tos see other interest and people 'possibly' interested in keeping them. I dont see too much of a difference really


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

GRB said:


> I hope not. I think you shouldnt be allowed to sell WC UK animals at all tbh. Whats next? There's nothing to stop people collecting very rare UK insects and pleading ignorance ("oh, I see these all the time" - and it turns out they are living in the one area they bred in or such), and that could cause a lot of irreversible damage to the already fragile ecosystems in the UK.
> 
> I'm not a fan of WC anything tbh, and for some reason I feel even more negatively about WC UK animals.


Yeah, well, the spider in question is apparently very common.

And, on top of that, many inverts that are claimed to be CB, are most likely WC, I would imagine.


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

C_Strike said:


> Have to disagree, its the same situation across the globe, if uit wasnt for people collecting native fauna in their native land then we wouldnt have anything. I could agree if it was excess collecting of endangered species. but woodlouse spiders are far from, well there is some uncommon ones, but generally their mediterranian.
> WC animals are ok imo, depends on the scpecies. I would hope that collectors wouldnt exhaust the very supplies of fauna they use toi make their money, overcollecting leads to unemployment.As for WC in collections, after them successfully breeding it reduces the demand for them to be imported. I do not agree with buying WC rosies, or other equally CB species. Its simply not neccessary.
> I actually feel good to see other people getting an interest in our own british species, theyr very interesting spiders. Its nice to see other interest and people 'possibly' interested in keeping them. I dont see too much of a difference really


I can totally understand your opinion there, and i agree its great to see people taking an interest in UK wildlife.

The points you made about the global market are valid too - and I disagree with WC exotics as well; with better education WC could reduced significantly (a few batches now and again to maintain genetic diversity) and a lot of the confusion etc could be avoided. Just look at the Avics - a lot of the problem there (besides taxonomy) is people collecting wild animals and then shipping them on to make a profit, and misnaming them as new species etc. How do we know that some of our spiders are not very rare in such localities? We might not even be sure of the species. I only make this point to illustrate that we dont really know much about wildlife in the UK - eg, how many species of Dysdera are there? How many are condsidered rare in the UK/Europe? 

This species is not particularily rare, but what if mis-identified species of rare inverts were collected in the same manner? This happens globally, and there is little that can be done about it. However, when its on my doorstep, I can at least hope to put forward an opinion that provokes some thought. I guess this is all getting a bit philosophical, so i'll leave it here 

I think its the attempt to sell them that got my back up. If they had been offered free, then I could see the educational merit in such activities. Also, the listing was cancelled because the seller was not going to ship special delivery, as per ebay rules.


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

GRB said:


> eg, how many species of Dysdera are there? How many are condsidered rare in the UK/Europe?


aprox 200 species in EU
approx 50 or 60 are considerd rare, many of which are indigenous to mediteranian islands, canary islands more specifically:lol2:.
Iirc Dysdera is a non-native imigrant to Uk.

I know what your saying though, its one of those debates that has no end, lol no light at the end of the tunnel. I agree in part with ya for definate though


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

GRB said:


> Also, the listing was cancelled because the seller was not going to ship special delivery, as per ebay rules.




I would have bought it from him!


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

C_Strike said:


> Iirc Dysdera is a non-native imigrant to Uk.


Does it have a passport?

Is it a terrorist threat?


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

Dunno lol, probably came with some fruit like my mate marcello, :lol2: joke, he 'says' hes got permission, but we dont beleive him


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

enlightenment said:


> I would have bought it from him!


Why buy? Seriously, get a bunch of paving slabs and stack them in your garden. Leave for 6 months, and hey presto, you'll have 8million woodlice, snails and a bunch of dysdera in little silken cocoons overwintering. 

Also, C_strike: Where do you get your information on Dysdera? I've been looking to get a decent book on the UK spiders (I have the FSC ones on Pseudoscorpions and Harvestmen), was wondering if you knew of any decent ones.


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

GRB said:


> Why buy? Seriously, get a bunch of paving slabs and stack them in your garden. Leave for 6 months, and hey presto, you'll have 8million woodlice, snails and a bunch of dysdera in little silken cocoons overwintering.
> 
> Also, C_strike: Where do you get your information on Dysdera? I've been looking to get a decent book on the UK spiders (I have the FSC ones on Pseudoscorpions and Harvestmen), was wondering if you knew of any decent ones.


Because it was selling for a quid, and would save all that hassle!


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

enlightenment said:


> Because it was selling for a quid, and would save all that hassle!


Lol, I guess, but they are more fun in the garden than in a tank 

Plus, you could have lots of them to observe rather than just one - and who knows if it would even survive transit. Dont feed the beast that is improper shipping and collection! ;p


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

Jones-Walters, L.M. (1989) Keys to the families of British spiders is one iv used but dont have.. part of FSC (Field studies council)

I cant find the book i have, only the pictoral guide part of it..
Its a BAS book part of FSC too, AIDGAP.
Really informative guide, has pictures and breif identification guides to differnt families of spiders.
will hunt for it, its really good
Dysdera specific book, i doubt exists.. aint got a book that covers them really.. just web articles and journals iv read


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

C_Strike said:


> Dysdera specific book, i doubt exists


Well man, write one, write one....


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## GRB (Jan 24, 2008)

C_Strike said:


> Jones-Walters, L.M. (1989) Keys to the families of British spiders is one iv used but dont have.. part of FSC (Field studies council)
> 
> I cant find the book i have, only the pictoral guide part of it..
> Its a BAS book part of FSC too, AIDGAP.
> ...


If you could find it that would be great, I was contemplating buying the BAS atlas of british spiders, but I doubt its very in depth (species specific) other than maps. I didnt mean just Dysdera either, just a good general book on UK spiders would be great  Thanks!


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

enlightenment said:


> Well man, write one, write one....



LOL, as much as i like them, id be more focused on writing a journal on Meta menardi, one of UKs least seen but most beautiful spider..bloody scary looking too tho, lol Also nearly totally trog, cave dwelling + easily 4 inch legspan


This shows you where it lives, lol

but jsut look at it, AWWWWWWW:flrt:




Im actualy writing about Theraphosa blondi at the moment. for my own benefit more than anyone elses:Na_Na_Na_Na: but will probably open an online version.. literally covering all aspects as best i can, including previous studies and such.
Only 3 pages in but hardly touched the surface


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

A few years ago, I visited some underground caves, in the UK.

There were these large spiders on the ceilings, I mean like, large!!!

I thought they were fake, put there for effect.

Apparently they are real.


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

enlightenment said:


> A few years ago, I visited some underground caves, in the UK.
> 
> There were these large spiders on the ceilings, I mean like, large!!!
> 
> ...


Thatl be Meta menardi i would imagine, only 2 Meta sp. in UK adn both as fierce looking as each other..beautiful tho


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

What would they eat though? I mean, it was hardly swarming with other bugs in those caves.

Wish I had caught one now, but it was like an official tour..


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

Your were right mate, indeed, it was Chiselhurst Caves that I saw them in.



Meta menardi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## C_Strike (Feb 20, 2007)

enlightenment said:


> What would they eat though? I mean, it was hardly swarming with other bugs in those caves.
> 
> Wish I had caught one now, but it was like an official tour..


Well, theres a suprising amount of invverts that use the caves as a refuge, they either spend their time within the depths or they swan in and out during the light and dark times. Generally youl find amny different midges, and also some pretty, rusty coloured moths to.
Not to mention the bats, :flrt: but ofc they arent on the spiders menu:lol2:
Theyr quite unknown, as you would expect but so worth seeing, they are big spiders too, lol


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

Anyway, given some of the bits and bobs that people are selling, I am going to catch some woodlice, paint them gold, then sell them on for £15 each, as rare genetic specimens....

:no1:


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## jetski (Apr 7, 2008)

i came across a woodlouse spider yesterday. well actually he came across me in my living room. i picked him up in one of my mantis tubs. no mantis was in there at the time. as they can give a proper bite i was reluctant to let him walk on my hand. hes still in there now. does anyone know if they eat anything other than woodlice? hes not interested in fruit flies and that's all i got at the moment. there cant be many woodlice in my flat for him and hes very well fed. if there's anyone who still wants him/her they are welcome to have it if the postage is covered


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

Sent you a message, mate....

Steve


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

Oh well.

If you happen to see this mate, you know that I have tried to get in touch.

Steve


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## jetski (Apr 7, 2008)

i did reply to your pm mate. i havnt got it now anyway, sorry


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## enlightenment (Dec 14, 2006)

jetski said:


> i did reply to your pm mate. i havnt got it now anyway, sorry


Never got it then, mate.

Thanks anyway.


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