So if there's one thing I love saying, it's "I told you so."

We decided to go ahead and drop in the mantises a couple days after this incarnation of Spideropolis came into existance, and immediately they began to dominate the spider population. I don't know exact scores (that's more David's side of things) but I do know that one of the mantises managed to kill off something like 10 spiders and 2 moths in its first night. And the domination just continued throughout the days afterwards.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. In a way. This time the mantises decided it was a good idea to mate. When mantises mate, they mate until death do them part. And that death comes from the hands of the female ripping the head off the male. Five of the mantises have been beheaded by those heartless women and unfortunately, we got no pictures of it (except for one of the carnage afterwards). Of course this means baby mantises which we can then raise to be hardcore killing machines like their ancestors, but for the time, it's quite depressing.

As far as site news goes, spideropolis.com shouldn't be all that far off into the future. Plans are already in the works for making it happen fast, dramatically and in a dominating fashion. Also, David promised me massive updates when I got home tonight, so there should be some new pics and some insight into the workings of the enclosure from him later on. Other than that, start commenting. Comments make me happy. It helps us know what you like so we can go ahead and start custom tailoring the site to you. So it's generally a good idea.

Labels: joe, Mantis

Spideropolis is in full swing now with over fifty spiders, three mantids and numerous moths, flys, beetles, centipedes and the like.

The highlights of the last three days are as follows:

Our dark green Mantis has killed 3 small tunnel web spiders, 9 Daddy Longlegs, 2 small moths and 1 small Whitetail. Interestingly the mantis was unable to eat, after several minutes of working at it, the Whitetail’s carapace or its armored front legs, eventually discarding the still living front half. The crippled Whitetail then curled its remaining legs into a shield and clung to life for a minute or two before its nerves softened and its noble warrior stance fell limp. CU Score (12.7)

The light green Mantis killed 3 Daddy Longlegs. CU Score (3)

The brown Mantis killed 2 small tunnel webs and 1 medium Tunnel web in the few minutes he’s been in there, followed by a wasp an hour later. CU Score (3)

All three Mantids have been listed for the honour of receiving names, which will be bestowed upon them in the next few days.

Our large Whitetail killed 2 small tunnel webs and a medium jumping spider. This Whitetail is listed for naming. CU Score (2)

The other large Whitetail killed 1 small tunnel web. CU Score (0.5)

The largest Daddy Longlegs killed 2 medium Daddy Longlegs before been slain by the dark green mantis. A noble effort.

The large Cobweb spider has killed three beetles. CU Score (0.9)

All three Stink Beetles have survived a powerful statement of resistance from this species.

All but 4 of the 20 Orb Webs have departed only four have been seen to die the rest have their end steeped in mystery.

Our super massive Whitetail has killed all 5 medium Tunnel Web spiders in her private enclosure and is listed for naming. CU Score (7.5)

Labels: news

Mantis continuing its reign of devastation not only kills a mother but proceeds to eat her eggs from her mouth as she watches helplessly knowing it is her turn next.

Labels: Mantis, Mantis eating, Mantis vs Spider

This small Tunnelweb has caught and beheaded a moth three times its own size. Minutes later her home was raided and stolen by a much larger Tunnelweb. A soled effort followed by a sound defeat this spider (0.4) was then eaten by a Mantis (13).

Labels: Spider eating, Spider vs Moth, Tunnelweb

This Mantis has now killed two moths and ten spiders! Pictured here devouring kill nine this Mantis is making a bid for total dominance.
Score = 13

Labels: Mantis, Mantis eating, Mantis vs Spider, White Daddy Longlegs

This is the enclosure. Here you can see, amongst other things, a large Tunnelweb well into building her maze of a web. We have hopes that once she has expanded on this structure she will be able to tackle the Mantids and end there rain of terror. You can tell it is night time as our plant has closed its leaves.

Labels: spideropolis.com

Tallies of death (ba hahahahaha):

Each insect in the enclosure will be given points for kills. The values of each species at a given size are listed below.

Ant 0.05

Fly 0.1
Large fly 0.2

Small moth 0.1
Medium moth 0.2
Large moth 0.4

Beetle 0.3

Wasp 0.5
Hornet 0.5
Honey bee 0.5
Bumble bee 2

Small Daddy Longlegs 0.5
Medium Daddy Longlegs 1
Large Daddy Longlegs 3
Small White Daddy Longlegs 0.7
Medium White Daddy Longlegs 1.5
Large White Daddy Longlegs 2.5

Small Tunnelweb 0.5
Medium Tunnelweb 1.5
Large Tunnelweb 4
Super Massive Tunnelweb 7

Small Whitetail 2
Medium Whitetail 4
Large Whitetail 10

Small Mantis 2
Medium Mantis 6
Large Mantis 10

Male Mantids yield only half of the Mantid points. So a large male mantid is only 5 points etc.

Brown Mantids add 1 point to account for their superior camouflage.

Small Skink 15
Skink 25

Small Huntsman spider 4
Medium Huntsman spider 10
Large Huntsman spider 25
Super massive Huntsman spider 50

Centipede 0.2
Millipede 0.2

Small Orb Weaver 0.5
Medium Orb Weaver 1
Large Orb Weaver 1.5

Small Cobweb Spider 0.5
Medium Cobweb Spider 1
Large Cobweb Spider 1.5

Small Slater Spider 0.5
Medium Slater Spider 1.5
Large Slater Spider 3

Small Sheetweb Spider 1.5
Medium Sheetweb Spider 3
Large Sheetweb Spider 6
Super Massive Sheetweb Spider 10

Good morning world! It is 0400 here in New Zealand, the home of a unique and original project, Spideropolis. The following details how I came up with the idea of Spideropolis, and I will continue to bring you updates on the science behind it. From breeding to species description, I will provide in-depth, factual information on the ecology of each species introduced into the Spideropolis enclosure.

Spider One:

The story behind this beautiful creature is steeped in mystery and horror. So let us begin, and tell of the spider known as Clarissa. Where she came from we will never know but we can tell you she was found in the girl’s shower. The birth of Clarissa into our mild existence began with a scream, followed by the flailing gait of our flat mate Emily (The Strange) and, dressed only in a towel and a panicked expression, she exclaimed “WHITETAIL IN THE SHOWER”. Our lives where changed forever. The poisonous scourge of the spider world (in New Zealand at least) was trapped in a glass and placed on the coffee table, but her furry could not be curbed. If anyone approached the glass she would rear up on her hind quad of legs and raise her front quad in a menacing challenge for an honorable blood match to the death. Though her challenge was noble, we are essentially cowards, and we submitted to her brutal magnificence by sallying forth en masse to find food offerings for sacrifice to the she beast. A Daddy Long Legs, two black Funnel Webs and a black Cobweb spider were found and placed in a wine decanter to which dry sticks were added to provide a three dimensional play ground for Clarissa. As she hit the ground with a clink of cleptothorax, she bolted across the length of the base coming to a sudden halt in a pile of legs too numerous to count. The seething mess had us all perplexed before we realized she was devouring another spider. I kid you not. She hit the ground and perhaps two seconds later was having lunch. The spider of choice was the larger of the Funnel Webs (though smaller than herself), and its lazy twitching sang testament to the potency of the famed Whitetail Venom. We watched all night as she ate all three remaining spiders and developed from a skinny, leg-dominated form to a well proportioned athletic killer.

The next day we increased the stick scaffolding and added over twenty spiders, including some massive Funnel Web spiders which were over four centimeters long with a leg span of a can of beer. The massacre took place over a three day period with thirteen confirmed kills by Clarissa, including a Funnel Web twice her size. To add to the horror, after kill seven (a large funnel web), she stopped eating them for any more than a few minutes (spiders can drain a large kill for days). She would just let the limp carcass fall to the ground. A true psychopath had been born. We added more spiders to the enclosure, as well as flies, moths, cicadas and a Paper Wasp’s hive, Queen and all. Clarissa, who was losing interest in the poor tests of combat she was encountering, ignored the spiders and concentrated on Elizabeth, the Queen wasp. After she was repeatedly chased off her hive, Elizabeth eventually gave up, abandoning her nest, and the two spent the next four days in almost constant skirmishes, during which both appeared to take damage but still survived. Clarissa’s eventual demise was at the hands of a huge white tail we found at Stian’s (honorary flat mate #1’s) farm. This white tail (over two centimeters in length) was attacked repeatedly over ten days by Clarissa, but it held her off until one day it managed to corner her and repeatedly bite her shield of legs. With a burst of strength, Clarissa escaped, but weary and poisoned she fell from her retreat up a stick to the ground where she proceeded to bite off three of her four front legs. Over the days her deformed abdomen straightened up, and she learned to walk on glass again, after a day or two of staggering and heavy falls. She made one last kill, a small Cobweb spider, before she fell from the roof into a massive Funnel Web’s web and was slain in combat. After a day, her broken body fell to the ground and was dismembered in true spider-warrior fashion by the ants, in a ceremony that would come to be known as the

“Hundred Ant Salute”.

Rest in peace Clarissa. We will never forget you.

You can see why we got so addicted to Spideropolis; each spider is so unique - they display moods, individual behavior patterns, likes and dislikes, spend time building homes, developing feuds, and producing succeeding generations. They overcome hardship, show courage in the face of great odds or, as some do, cower and hide. Brave spiders often fall and cowards often succeed, and big spiders are sometimes killed by small ones. Spideropolis shows you the world of an insect’s life and it is far richer and more human than you would’ve ever imagined.

As well as this unique view of a spider’s life, events rarely or even never before recorded will be captured and made available. You will see white tails eating all kinds of insects. You will see mantis beheadings. You will see bumble bees and funnel-webs fight to the death.

You will see death, life and glory.

David

Labels: history, spider one, whitetail

Well we do have pictures. But not hi-res like was originally planned. Due to me not being able to find the battery charger for my camera at the moment, hi-res is on hold for about the next 3 or 4 days. In the mean time, there are still decent pics so you can see the new rebuilt enclosure with some of the spiders in there. I'll harass David to update this so he can explain to you how it all works because all I know is we put in a few spiders along with some food (mostly beetles, also a few moths) and we're letting them start working out their order of supremacy before we drop in the mantises. And we may as well get this out of the way now. I'm totally biased towards the mantises because they're awesome and eat things live, usually leaving the face for last so the prey is still twitching to the last bite. Much more hardcore than the spiders.

But any how, there are some pics up on Flickr and I'll add some more later on tonight.
Enjoy.

-Joe

Labels: joe, updates