Giant Swamp Fishing Spider-Dolomedes okefinokensis-adult female

[Torn80cj]

I don't know why I missed this particular video, I love the face on this spider, very good size spider also.

[Kanati747]

Beautiful spider! I plan to order one myself, but I like to do a bit of research beforehand. I can't find very many sources though, unfortunately. Do you know the average lifespan of females? And how often do you need to sweep her enclosure? Thanks in advance! :)

Again, very lovely spider. I'm hoping mine will be as tame as yours! Also loving the Nine Inch Nails in the background. ;)

[Neosiotype]

As a kid I was playing in some water and had one of these crawl up my bare back. Terrified me.

Beautiful spider though.

[109367]

found one in my backyard about this size, BA spider, I relocated her though so no one would bother her

[shakou1]

Nice looking spider. How do you keep these? There is a shop in the UK selling them at the minute and I'm pretty interested in getting one.. I have around 23 species of T but wouldn't mind branching in to different species

[vfIskullangel]

Cool video. I would have used Status quo in the army since it has Army coloring.

[DigimonSuperFan]

Omg I am truly envious of u. Mine is only like half her size. She also hadn't molted for awhile, but I look forward to the day she becomes tht big. Oh and handling thm often does in fact make thm less skittish, at for mine. Great vid

[megamax014]

that dude's got a deathwish or somethin'

[Apus100]

It is a Beauty!!!

[Gandora00]

Thats a big motherfucking spider!!

[maxasken]

what is the name of the song?

[cantfeelbetter17]

all i can say is "DUDE U R CRAZY!!!"

[MegaNova1996]

So where do you live so I know never to go there?

[cprahl007]

Do you get this Fishing spider in Maryland ? When I was a kid in the late 60s near Annapolis, MD I was grass shrimping with my father along the shore and we were going by some a pier where a spotted this huge spider, I mean the size of a tarantula . I splashed at it and my father said he can swim faster then you and I backed off at once. I never forgot that and how big it was. Scary !

[Locke217]

Has she ever bitten you? Did it hurt? (or itch maybe?)

[Fyeagass16]

He Looks Skinny, You Should Feed It

[TheTyro]

@Fyeagass16 The spider was filmed between feedings, so her abdomen wasn't at peak rotundness. These spiders seemed to defecate quite a bit after a large meal and didn't retain the look of fullness as much as some of my other spiders do. Also, the spider was filmed more than a year ago and has since passed away. She lived for quite a while, though!

[plopnod]

Nice camera work

[Psychosymatical]

You should have squashed that sucker with a shoe!

[TheTyro]

@Psychosymatical No way! I purchased her, and if I happened to live nearby this species I'd probably have several free-ranging my room. :D

[BigChiefMike]

@TheTyro .... fuck that

[TheTyro]

@BigChiefMike bahaha, come on, BigChief! :D I wish I could show you guys how goofy it is to be freaked out by spiders. Perhaps, one day I will. I'm a girl, and I used to be as scared as anybody else - only because I was ignorant and conditioned by society to be afraid. So much of life is like 'spiders'. Seek the simple truth, because you'll never see anything in the same light. It's both tremendously liberating and...terrifying.

[BigChiefMike]

@TheTyro how did you... "educate yourself" out of that?... but still. fuck that

[KyleMakYeah]

@TheTyro i find these in the hatchway next to my room in the basement and sometimes they get into my room...im scared shitless of them

[damesondainjured]

@TheTyro well you certainly made that girl look like a pussy.. no offense to you..

[gooooblaster1800]

i hope u didnt just keep it in that jar. should of gave it more room!

[TheTyro]

@gooooblaster1800 There is no way I'd keep her in the candy jar! This was just to make her accessible for the video. Too bad I didn't get video of her with my new camera before she died. She was housed in a 10 gallon aquarium, with water, some thick branches to hang out on and moss/cocoa fiber to maintain humidity (also had her cage at a higher than room temperature, on account of the species living in swampy areas of FL.

[TheTyro]

@gooooblaster1800 Also, I'm glad you are concerned for the well being of the spider, as there are folks out there who probably would keep a spider without knowing what a species needs or just wouldn't care. It's important to do research before keeping any animal captive!

[gooooblaster1800]

@TheTyro im pretty sure i was just saying the obvious. its a 7in spider in a 5in width jar i mean like come on.

[KLCBProductions]

NIce hilbilly music xDD

[The0bservation]

So cute :D!

[prokiller201]

wtf ill kill tht bitch lol

[LisasAMegaHam]

no offense, but just watching this video made me cry.... I think it's safe to say I'm an arachnophob...

[hamronD73]

i hate spiders but i respect them, such crazy creatures, i wonder what those 8 eyes were thinking when u were filming her hahaha

[BarBi3Skittles]

ii dont like spiders and i have these spiders by my house and there brown and the jump do u know what kind it could be ?

[zakdoman2]

awh, what did u call her?

[estbroadway]

venomous?

[Olawz]

Damn nature you scary

[LisasAMegaHam]

@Olawz this just made my day.XD

[Olawz]

@LisasAMegaHam Aww well glad it did :D

[AntiiGrav]

At 2:15 that is one PISSED OFF spider!

[DJ4000VOLT]

Someone better give me my dream car if I had to hold it

[unisolgr89]

if a big spider like this try to bite me, damn i will run fast!!

[dieselman555]

is it posunes or not it lookes like it is

[TheTyro]

@dieselman555 These spiders do have venom, so they are indeed venomous. As far as I know, they don't pose any threat to the health of a human who may get bitten. Almost all spiders are venomous, but few are of concern.

I had this spider for over a year, and she never once bit me. I handled her often, but always did so cautiously. There were several times were she leaped off my hand/arm/head and it was interesting retrieving her. :D

[dieselman555]

@TheTyro thanks for telling me that where are they fond

[muffyjay]

wtf I drown insects so I don't have to touch em to kill it but this mother fucker cann swimm lol he must be from thee hood

[TheTyro]

@muffyjay Dolomedes do well above the waters surface, but the Diving Bell spider actually lives beneath the water. It traps air bubbles on it's abdomen so it can breathe, swim and hunt, and even lives inside of an air bubble, to feed and do other spidery things.

[Halo4evar]

@muffyjay LMFAO



[xxXCOOLK11AXxx]

that was in my hose and it chased me lol :D

[Asadullah21]

You turned this video into a horror movie!

[MarlonTheMonster]

I see these alot where I live and people mistake them often for Wolf Spiders that get huge also and live in the same area, but I hadnt yet seen a Wolf Spider get as big as a Dock Spider yet.

[shin1300]

KILL IT KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!

wait WTF?!? it can SWIM!?!? were f*cking doomed

[jellybeantm11]

ewwwww ewww ewwww ewww

[trumansnare]

I have one very similar. Dolomedus Tenebrosus. They look almost identical. Yours looks much bigger than ours, but I have no idea how old ours is.

I got a video of it on my channel, with some feeding footage, and pics of us holding it.

[CatskillMountainView]

We have dolomedes here in the mountains of New York. They live around fallen trees along the larger creeks and rivers. They are huge and will kill and eat minows.

[onckabal66]

I know this is Nine Inch Nails, but whats the name of the song?

[LovesGreysAnatomy18]

@onckabal66 I love this song ... I need to know the name!

[justmarinus]

I had one of those on me!

I shitted my pants!

[4neon2beat0]

this is the type of spider that was in my sisters back yard and apperntly it gets really big and eats frogs

[DanielKitchener]

I just moved to a new house near a river and was shocked to see one of these - I thought my area had only small spiders. I just put it outside and it didn't seem aggressive. Just yesterday I took another one out of the shed for my wife and back into the forest it went.

[TheTyro]

@DanielKitchener Nah, they aren't aggressive, not in my experience. Only defensive if really bothered, although even with all the handling I did (carefully) she never once attempted to bite me. These spiders know they have speed and will run given the opportunity. Glad to hear you spared the spider and set yours into a better environment!

[BostonBruins1990]

Also, the ones I've seen in Maine are just as big as these ones.

[BostonBruins1990]

I've seen these on my Uncles dock in Maine. These fuckers are not shy about coming towards you and they swim.

[TheTyro]

@BostonBruins1990 Haha, I wouldn't mind them coming towards me one bit. I'd happily make them my pet. I know they float by surface tension, but I wasn't aware of them actually swimming beneath the surface? Or did you mean how they skim across the water? This species is only ( to my knowledge) found in Florida, but there are other Dolomedes that look similar that live in other locations. They are a bit smaller, though.

[BostonBruins1990]

@TheTyro

I meant how they skim across the water. They lived on my uncles boat so whenever he would take the tarp off that protected it from the rain they would be 2-3 just chilling on the engine or on the side of the boat. I'm not afraid to say I'm terrified of these things and I have pet tarantulas. It's the skinny, hairless ones that get to me, I don't mind the fat, hairy ones crawling on me though.

[782Matty]

@TheTyro Actually these spiders are found from Canada to South America. They can walk across water and can actually dive under the water to catch fish and they can stay submerged for up to 30 minutes!

[TheTyro]

@782Matty I saw a species of fishing spider in Ecuador, which at the time, I had believed was Dolomedes. Turns out they used to be classified as such, but the interesting thing was seeing where they'd position themselves, being visible almost only at night. A lot of them hung out on the side of a bridge, above a tilapia pond, and others along a creek...on a rock. I would have liked to have seen them hunting, and hope to get another Dolomedes soon. I'd like to feed it in the wild style.

[7DARKHELLS]

Some people get these spiders confused with Carolina Wolf Spiders which also get big.

I have seen Carolina Wolf Spiders before, but never that big.

[LovesGreysAnatomy18]

What is this song!

[LovesGreysAnatomy18]

Aw! Take Care of her!

[TheTyro]

@LovesGreysAnatomy18 I did, and she lived for a year and a half in my care, she must have been 2 or more years of age when she did die.

[LovesGreysAnatomy18]

@TheTyro that is really wonderful that you did that! By the way what is this beautiful song called?

[Atrax1207]

Very cool and big too :D Good luck with her.

[somoteitbethree]

Gorgeous.

[somoteitbethree]

Also, how do you know male from female? J

[TheTyro]

@somoteitbethree The males of this species are puny compared to females and have a white strip of color around the edge of the carapace. The females have it very vaguely. Dolomedes females exhibit gigantism, and are several times larger tham mature males. In general for spiders though, males have enlarged pedipalps which are just modified legs. They look like boxing gloves. In the video you can see hers, but they just look like small legs.

[sNstRflyEr]

She is just unbelievable, wow, amazing. I also just posted a fishing spider video right after you, check it out. What do you feed her? Im using all common insects, also salamanders and other spiders. Great handling footage, mines way too fast and tricky to handle. J

[TheTyro]

@sNstRflyEr I feed her adult cricketsand superworms because thats all I have available that seems decently sized for her. I am thinking about adding a "pool" area with small fishes to give her more variety. I watched your video, great pattern, her legs seem crazy stripey! I don't have the heart to feed my spiders vertebrates...even though I still feel bad feeding inverts too. XD

[TheTyro]

@TheTyro And I think my female is kind of getting used to being touched. When I clean her cage I persuade her where I want her to go with a soft paintbrush, she used to freak out instantly but now and then she just tries to push it away or ignores it. During the filming, she did run on my back/shoulders and in my hair! She even ran across the desk onto the floor at one point. I don't recommend handling them but I did here because she was pretty relaxed for a few minutes.

[sNstRflyEr]

@TheTyro Thanks for the response, i love her stripey leggs too. Also i keep calling it "her", can you tell me if mine is male or female?, i read your response to this question by somoteitbethree but still cant tell. If mine is a male, is this as big as he gets? Thanks. J

[TheTyro]

@sNstRflyEr Yours is most definitely female! No bulbous ends on her palps, and she look pretty big! I can't be sure about how big yours will get, as I am still learning about Dolomedes, and I can't quite be certain of her current sized based on the video alone. I wouldn't be surprised if your spider molts again but it really depends on the species. The okefinokensis is the largest Dolomedes found in the U.S.A but there are tons of other dolomedes out there....all of em pretty big for spiders.