Invertebrates

Whip Spider Care (Amblypygi sp.)

~ BackwaterReptiles

Wondering how to care for a Whip spider? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Whip spiders are arachnids also known by the name tailless whip scorpions. They belong to an order of arthropods named Amblypygi and are not to be confused with whip scorpions and vinegaroons, which are similar invertebrates that belong to a different order.

Although these arachnids are commonly known as tailless whip scorpions, they do earn their name, as they are indeed tailless. In fact, the word Amblypygi actually means “blunt rump” and refers to the fact that these animals don’t actually possess stinging scorpion tails or silk saks.

They do, however, have pinching pedipalps (AKA pinchers) that can grab your fingers if the scorpion feels threatened. But they aren’t venomous, nor are they usually aggressive, so they aren’t considered dangerous pets.

tailless whip spider care
Whip spiders are harmless, even though they might look rather intimidating. Caring for them as pets is very easy.

Tailless whip scorpions are flat, wide invertebrates with eight legs. Only six of these legs are actually used for walking and the scorpion has a somewhat sideways gait similar to that of a crab. The front appendages are modified into long, thin segmented feelers, which the scorpion uses to orient itself and find prey. These feelers, which just happen to resemble whips, are also what gives these arachnids their common name.

When their legs are not stretched out, most whip spiders will average around two to three inches in length. However, it has been reported that these scorpions can stretch out to make their leg span as long as twenty three inches.

Tailless Whip Spider Care

When it comes to feeding, tailless whip scorpions are sit and wait predators. They will patiently wait and feel around with their long “antennae” until they sense that prey is nearby. Once the scorpion detects that prey is close enough, it will pounce and grab the prey using its pinchers and immediately begin chewing.

In the wild, whip spiders are insectivores primarily. In captivity, we give ours meals of crickets, roaches, and occasional wax worms. Sometimes, if your whip spider isn’t too shy, you can even get it to accept an insect from tongs.

amblypygi
A close up of the whip spider shows its pincers that it uses to snatch prey.

Like all arachnids, whip spiders molt as they grow. However, unlike most spiders and scorpions, they require a place to hang from while molting. Most arachnids will molt on the ground, but whip spiders need a vertical space to hang from while they wriggle out of their old exoskeleton. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that owners provide a surface that the scorpion can cling to in order to perform this behavior.

Directly following a molt, your whip spider will be a white or green color and will be far more vulnerable. This means that prey items such as crickets or roaches that can bite your whip spider need to be removed immediately from the cage if they are not eaten.

Believe it or not, prey can actually injure the whip spider while it is green or white. But not to worry – after a few days, your whip spider’s new exoskeleton will harden and you can resume feeding as normal.

Whip spiders are fairly active arachnids, so we recommend a decent sized enclosure. A ten gallon tank should suffice for a single scorpion, but if you add additional house mates, a larger home will obviously be required.

As previously mentioned when molting was discussed, be sure to have multiple angled surface with various textures that your scorpion can cling to and hang from while molting. And as far as substrate is concerned, anything that holds moisture will do just fine. We recommend coconut fiber, peat moss, or organic potting soil.

Be sure to maintain high humidity levels in your whip spider’s enclosure. These are animals that are naturally found in wet caves with naturally collecting water. They need humidity to thrive and go through proper molting.

A good way to maintain humidity is to mist your whip scorpion’s enclosure. This is also helpful because the scorpions won’t drink from a standing water dish, but they will drink water that has naturally collected on cage décor.

tailless whip scorpion
Notice the long “feelers” on the tailless whip scorpion that help it detect prey.

Caring for Tailless Whip Spiders – Conclusion

We think that whip spiders make excellent pets and are simple to care for, especially for people who want an arachnid but don’t want to be bitten by a spider or stung by a scorpion.

Best Pet Tarantulas

~ BackwaterReptiles

Welcome to our list of the best pet tarantulas in the world. Pet spiders are very polarizing – people either love the idea of keeping a large spider in their home or they hate it. At Backwater Reptiles, we take care of spiders destined to be people’s pets every day, so we understand the appeal of arachnids.

Our goal for this blog article is to describe and detail our picks for the top four best pet tarantulas. Read on to find out which species we chose.

Mexican Red Knee Tarantula (Brachypelma smithi)

Red Knees are one of the most commonly kept pet tarantulas. They are readily available in chain pet stores and most people probably think of this species when they imagine what a tarantula looks like.

As you’ve probably surmised, Mexican red knee tarantulas are dark brown or black with distinctive red knee patches on the joints of their limbs. They grow to have a leg span of approximately seven inches. Males will live for around three to six years old, while females can live for around twenty five years.

best pet tarantulas
Although we don’t necessarily recommend putting any tarantula with urticating hairs on your face, red knees are so docile that most owners feel comfortable enough to take the risk. Here’s one of our employees (Amanda) with her favorite Red knee.

Known for their reasonable temperaments, red knees usually don’t mind being handled. Although there is always some danger of being bit or getting urticating hairs in your skin, you don’t usually need to worry about this behavior with red knees. For the most part, although they can be skittish at first, red knees would rather hide from you than attack you.

We highly recommend a docile Mexican red knee tarantula if you are interested in acquiring a pet tarantula.

Rose Hair Tarantula (Grammostola rosea)

Rose hair tarantulas get their common name from the color of the hairs on their bodies. Some are more brightly colored than others with semi-metallic pink hairs, while others just have more of a dull pink tinge to them.

The rose hair is another species of tarantula that is known for its docile disposition. Many rose hair owners play with and handle their spiders on a regular basis without fear of being bitten or getting irritating hairs embedded in their skin.

rose hair tarantula
This particular rose hair tarantula only has hints of pink or rose to its coloration. The amount of pink to the spider’s hairs varies from animal to animal.

If you purchase a spiderling rose hair, it will take approximately three to four years for it to reach maturity. A spiderling that starts off life around the size of a pencil eraser will eventually grow up to have a leg span between four to five inches.

Purchase your own pet rose hair tarantula from Backwater Reptiles.

Brazilian Black Tarantula (Grammastola pulchra)

Many people label the Brazilian black tarantula as the “ideal” pet spider. This is because they are a bold, jet black color with highly docile attitudes. They have simple care requirements and healthy appetites. They actually make great pet tarantulas for beginners and we’d even recommend them as a classroom pet.

Brazilian Blacks are terrestrial spiders, so although they don’t require a massive amount of space, we do highly recommend that your spider live in an enclosure that is wide and not super tall.

brazilian black tarantula spiderling
Pictured is a baby Brazilian black tarantula. They start out small, but they grow quite large.

Interestingly enough, we do recommend keeping a water dish in the Brazilian Black’s enclosure. Even though you might never see your spider drink water, both spiderlings and adults need humidity, and a water dish helps to maintain that.

Ready for a classroom pet? Or just want a friendly pet spider? Backwater Reptiles has healthy pet Brazilian Black tarantulas for sale.

Golden Blue Leg Baboon Tarantula (Harpactira pulchripes)

We’ve included the rare golden blue leg baboon tarantula on our list because it is almost a “collector’s” spider. Because it is so hard to find in the U.S., it becomes a highly sought after spider for arachnid enthusiasts. Keep in mind that because it is so sought after, it does come with a fairly steep price point.

Although it begins life as a relatively unremarkable spiderling with a tinge of blue to it, the golden blue leg baboon tarantula matures into a beautiful, large spider with metallic blue legs.

golden blue leg baboon spiderling
This spiderling is a very rare. When this little spider matures, it will have brilliant blue legs.

Like all the spiders on this list, the golden blue leg baboon will happily eat crickets and other appropriately sized invertebrates. Spiderlings can eat a small cricket every day, whereas adults are perfectly happy eating once or twice a week.

If you’re a spider enthusiast, Backwater Reptiles does sell rare golden blue leg baboon  tarantulas.

Conclusion – The Best Pet Tarantulas

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our guide to the best pet tarantulas in the world. Indeed, tarantulas aren’t for everyone. But, if you’re not an arachnophobe, then we would recommend any of the spiders on this list as a pet. Most are pretty friendly and all of them are very easy to care for in captivity.

 

Gooty Sapphire Tarantula Care Sheet (Poecilotheria metallica)

~ BackwaterReptiles

We wrote the below Gooty Sapphire tarantula care sheet to help arachnid hobbyists understand more about this visually stunning spider, which also commonly goes by its scientific name: Poecilotheria metallica.

Even people who don’t “get” why anyone would want to keep a tarantula as a pet have to admit that the Gooty is a really beautiful spider. Although it begins life as a fairly ordinary brown color, after a series of molts, it will transform into a vivid, metallic blue color with accents of yellow or white in fractal patterns on its abdomen. The end result is a highly sought after species of spider that any hobbyist would be proud to own.

gooty sapphire tarantula care sheet
This is a Gooty Sapphire Tarantula spiderling. They start out a dull brown color but will mature into a bold blue. Read our care sheet to learn how to raise them to stunningly beautiful adults.

Not only is this tarantula lightning fast as both a baby, juvenile, and adult spider, but it’s also armed with a potent venom–more potent than New World tarantulas. Bite victims will experience increased heart rate followed by sweating, head ache, stinging, cramping, and of course, pain and swelling at the site of the bite.

Symptoms can persist for a week! Ultimately, what this means is that you should not handle your Gooty without protection, if ever. When kept as pets, these tarantulas are definitely made to be seen and not touched.

Although the Gooty Sapphires sold by Backwater Reptiles are captive bred spiders, this species is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. This puts an extra degree of responsibility upon anyone who wants to own one as a pet.

Gooties are not common spiders, and therefore not common pets, so we highly recommend doing your research and being positive you can handle such a rare spider before you purchase.

As far as care is concerned, Gooty Sapphire Tarantulas are arboreal spiders, so their habitat needs to replicate a tree-dwelling spider’s habitat. Small spiderlings don’t require much room to thrive, but they do need items to crawl on and hide inside of.

We recommend our arboreal tarantula terrarium kit for the sake of convenience and visibility, although you can just as easily house a spiderling in a plastic shoe box with a very secure lid. Again, just make sure to provide a few hiding places.

gooty sapphire tarantula terrarium
This is our arboreal tarantula terrarium. It’s perfect for arboreal spiderlings.

Adult Gooties will require a bit more room than a spiderling, obviously. Due to their arboreal nature, we recommend an enclosure that has a bit of height to accommodate a tree branch or two for your spider to climb on.

No matter the age of your Gooty, it might be sensitive to light, so we recommend storing your spider’s home somewhere fairly dark and out of reach of direct sunlight.

Room temperature is generally acceptable for a Gooty, but make sure that it stays within the range of high 70s during the day and low 70s during the evening. If your home does not naturally stay at this temperature, invest in a heat pad and thermometer.

Poecilotheria metallica
Once your Gooty has gone through several molts, it will become a stunning blue color with white or yellow fractal shape markings.

Peat moss and coconut fibers are the recommended substrates. Both will retain moisture but not become overly soaked. We don’t recommend misting your Gooty’s enclosure, but rather moistening the substrate once per month. Keeping a water dish in the enclosure will also help keep the moisture level at an acceptable range, even if your Gooty doesn’t actually drink the water.

Feeding your Gooty Sapphire is relatively simple. Spiderlings will eat pinhead crickets and fruit flies, while adults will happily consume crickets, wax worms, reptiworms, and even roaches. Due to their photosensitivity, it’s usually best to feed your Gooty around dusk.

We’ve heard success stories that involved simply dropping an insect or two in the cage at night before bed.  The spider will eat it during the night. But always make sure the insect is no larger than the tarantula’s abdomen.

If you purchase a spiderling, you can expect for it to take approximately a year for your spider to undergo enough molts to finally start sporting the blue color these spiders are named and known for. Don’t be surprised if your Gooty refuses food prior to molting either as this is very common.

gooty sapphire spiderling
Gooty Sapphire spiderlings are about an inch to an inch and a half long.

Conclusion

Gooty Sapphire Tarantulas just might be the spider to cure your arachnophobia. They’re strikingly colorful tarantulas and can make extremely rewarding pets.

If you’ve done your research and are prepared keep your own Gooty Sapphire tarantula, Backwater Reptiles has some captive bred spiderlings for sale.

 

Are Hornworms Good Feeder Insects?

~ BackwaterReptiles

Tobacco Hornworms (Manduca sexta), or Goliath worms, are caterpillars that transform into the Carolina sphinx moth. They are green with seven diagonal markings along their sides and a red, spiked “tail” adorning their rear ends, which is where they get their common name.

These caterpillars, which are more commonly known as just plain ol’ hornworms, feed on both tobacco and tomato plants, which means they are widely considered to be pests by farmers and gardeners.

Hornworms make excellent and nutritious meals for many animals sold through Backwater Reptiles, but many people don’t know much about these juicy little feeder insects.

In this article, we will answer the questions:

-What types of animals eat hornworms?
-How do I care for my feeder hornworms?
-What is the nutritional value of hornworms?
-What is the difference between the two species of hornworms?

Hornworms as feeder insects
This is a tobacco hornworm. You can tell by the red horn on its rear end.

What types of animals eat hornworms?

Hornworms are great feeder insects for virtually all types of reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates including, but not limited to, turtles, frogs, scorpions, spiders, and lizards.

When you receive them, your hornworms will not be full-grown. At this smaller size, they can be fed to smaller animals or juvenile animals.

Once they have grown a bit and plumped up, your hornworms will be especially great feeders for animals that live in dry, arid environments where getting water from food is a requirement. Examples of these types of desert species that love to eat hornworms are: uromastyx lizards, collared lizards, agamas, tarantulas, and even scorpions.

Chameleons are also big fans of hornworms. We can’t stress enough that hornworms contain lots of water, so they are great to help your chameleon stay hydrated.

How do I care for my feeder hornworms?

When you place an order for feeder hornworms, you will receive a container that holds caterpillars that are either one inch or two to three inches long, depending on what option you select when you checkout.

Your hornworm pod will contain food for the hornworms on the top. It will also contain a screen for the hornworms to climb on to reach the food. The food will sustain the worms until they reach about four inches in size. This will usually take two to three weeks.

Feeder Hornworm Pod
This is what your hornworm pod will look like. The bottom is removable.

The hornworms you receive are basically in their own little ecosystem. Your hornworms are self-contained and have everything they need to thrive for a few weeks. All you need to do is remove the bottom of the container and empty out the hornworm droppings every few days.

What is the nutritional value of hornworms?

Hornworms are very high in calcium so they make excellent nutritional supplements for animals that need regular vitamin dusting such as leopard geckos.

As previously mentioned, hornworms are very succulent and high in water content. This makes them excellent food items for desert critters.

They are also great food for animals that are finicky eaters. They are even good for enticing animals on “hunger strike” to eat once more. If you have a picky eater on your hands, we suggest giving hornworms a try.

What is the difference between the two species of hornworm?

There are actually two types of hornworm that appear very similar – the tomato hornworm and the tobacco hornworm. People commonly confuse and mistake the two.

The tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) is the type of hornworm sold by Backwater Reptiles. They differ from the tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata) slightly in physical appearance. Rather than diagonal lines on their sides like the tobacco hornworm, the tomato hornworm has “V” shaped markings. In addition, the tobacco hornworm’s tail spike is red, while the tomato hornworm’s tail spike is black.

Large hornworm
This is an average-sized feeder hornworm.

Both species feed on the same plants in the wild and we do not recommend capturing wild hornworms of either species to feed to your reptiles. This is because tobacco hornworms are actually capable of collecting and storing the toxin found in the tobacco plant, which means they could be fatal if ingested by your pet. So if you don’t know the difference between the two caterpillars, we suggest avoiding wild-caught hornworms altogether.

Conclusion

Pretty much any reptile, amphibian, or invertebrate that is large enough to eat a hornworm will find it a tasty treat.

If you have a desert-dwelling critter, picky eater, or spoiled rotten pet reptile, Backwater Reptiles has feeder hornworms for sale. Order some today – your herp will thank you!

Do Scorpions Glow in the Dark?

~ BackwaterReptiles

Did you know that scorpions can glow in the dark underneath a black light?

It’s true! Nearly all scorpions will glow a purple, blue, green, or white-ish color when exposed to an ultraviolet or black light in the dark. Below we’ll use one of our our scorpions as an example.

Do scorpions glow in the dark?
This Asian Forest Scorpion (Heterometrus longimanus) fluoresces a purplish white color.

Juvenile and freshly-molted scorpions don’t glow in the dark however. This is because their exoskeletons have not yet had time to develop enough to produce the unknown substance that causes the glowing.

Heterometrus longimanus
Here is a photo of the same Asian Forest Scorpion pictured above without the blacklight.

Interestingly enough, scientists are not 100% sure what causes scorpions to glow or what the purpose or advantage the glowing gives to the scorpion. All that is known is that the substance is found in a very thin layer of the scorpion’s cuticle known as the hyaline layer and that as the exoskeleton hardens, the fluorescence is brighter.

It has been hypothesized that scorpions glow under blacklight for multiple reasons. Some believe it’s so that they can find other scorpions – scorpions have pretty poor eyesight plus they already blend in very well with their desert surroundings.

Others have said it’s to protect the scorpion from the sun – i.e. it’s a form of sunscreen. However, this doesn’t hold up as scorpions tend to come out at night. It’s even been suggested that the glowing is just a fluke of nature and actually serves no purpose at all.

Scorpion under blacklight
Here’s one of our scorpions under a blacklight.

The most recent research that has been done on the subject comes from California State University archeologist Carl Kloock. He believes that because scorpions dislike the light, they use the UV levels as a way to know whether or not they want to come out to hunt. Apparently, when there are more UV rays present, scorpions tend to stay in hiding and be less active than if it’s darker.

Backwater Reptiles has all kinds of scorpions for sale if you are interested in checking out this neat trait for yourself! We also sell blacklights specially designed for getting your pet scorpion to glow in the dark! Just use the drop-down menu on any of our scorpion pages to purchase one.

Don’t miss our other scorpion-related articles, including: