Giant Swamp Fishing Spider-Dolomedes okefinokensis-adult female

She's the largest spider I've got. When I first received her she was two molts away from maturity...at that point I thought she was ginormous but this girl showed us she had a lot more growing to do! She's about 4 and a half inches in leg span and I'd guess at about 1.5 inches in body length. These spiders are common to the swamps of Florida and are documented eating vertebrates like frogs and small fish, along with larger aquatic invertebrates like crayfish!

She likes to hang vertically by her hind most legs, a bit like a bat, although against the glass/wood in her cage. (By the way, the container she's inside of for this video was just to keep her in one spot, she can't climb the glass. She lives in a 10 gallon aquarium tank) and is pretty active at night time. She's wicked fast and extremely skittish most of the time so I have only handles her twice, including the time in this video. I only do so because I have previous experience with larger, extremely fast and skittish spiders...but she is in a class all her own with her weight and claws. They feel like tiny needles when she walks across my skin. She's not agressive at all and has never made an attempt to bite when I persuade her around the cage when I clean it, but I definitely don't go looking to annoy her either. Awesome spider in general!

http://bugguide.net/node/view/40024

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Dolomedes
• okefinokensis
• giant
• swamp
• fishing
• spider
• huge
• big
• fast
• adult
• female
• dock

[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!

[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.

[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

[BostonBruins1990]

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

[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.

[Halo4evar]

@muffyjay LMFAO



[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?

[damesondainjured]

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

[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?)

[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

[BigChiefMike]

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

[plopnod]

Nice camera work