I got these new spiders from Texas last week, and they aren’t adjusting very well. Usually what the new gals do when I put them in a nice big roomy empty cage is that they start filling the space with webbing, pick a nice spot somewhere in the middle, and hang upside down, waiting for it to start raining flies. Not these spiders. There a few short patches of cobweb here and there, but mainly they sit huddled in a corner and don’t bother coming out. Compare Lantana today with Lantana last week — she seems to have scarcely moved.
I guess I can’t blame her. How would you feel if I picked you up in Texas and hauled you all the way up to Minnesota in November? It sounds cruel, even to me, and I prefer my northern state.
Yes, it’s snowing right now. But that’s outside! These spiders are all in a nice warm lab with a 14/10 light dark cycle!
What’s the humidity? Going from a warm humid temperature to a dry heated one might be a bit of a shock.
They get spritzed with an atomizer of DI water a couple of times a week.
Of course they aren’t happy. They’re used to proper Texas flies, these puny Minnesota flies just don’t taste right!
Is it possible they can sense the magnetic field of the earth, or whatever, and “know” they are somewhere different? I think birds can. In fact despite several hundred years of domestication canaries still breed when it’s the right time in the Canary Islands, not wherever they happen to be, despite light levels etc. That would be super interesting to find out. It does not seem like a change from TX to MN would make a difference to them but maybe it would.
great picture lots of good detail. they truly are beautiful remarkable creatures.
nice about the light levels I did not think of that
maybe it is a reaction to their whole experience of being captured and held in their vials for an extended time and transported and they kind of shut down waiting for things to return to normal?
uncle frogy
Is that white circle on her abdomen supposed to be there, or is it an artifact of the light?
Looks like PZ may have invested in a ring flash, or is using one of those articulated magnifying lamps with a circular bulb as the light source.