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Comments & ID Thoughts
I was unboxing a shipment of crickets and this guy popped out. Any help identifying it would be very appreciated. Its sitting in a nice home but I want to make sure I have what it needs to thrive. I know it's to cold here to let it go outside in Alaska. But if it's an Alaska spicies I'll release it.
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Sep 18, 2020
- Photographed: Sep 16, 2020
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Kodiak , Alaska, United States
- Spotted Indoors: Other
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
Hi Aleisha! This is a Huntsman Spider, possibly Olios giganteus. Huntsman spiders don’t belong in Alaska, as far as I know. Here’s a tutorial on how to take care of these spiders:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU7vGhC_HHE
So, it looks like this spider ended up a long way from home, but she was lucky enough to be found by you 🙂
Oh wow ok . Thank you for the information. The crickets came from California so maybe it came from there as well?… really cool though.
That’s a plausible explanation.
Here’s the range of Olios giganteus in the USA:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/6931
Here’s the range of another Huntsman Spider:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/6930
As it seems, no spider in this family (Sparassidae) is established in Alaska:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcR4L3ySql8uoeOaYHCsUUt5veGXLk2Yw9O7Ww&usqp=CAU
Great job! That’s a thorough presentation! Huntsman Spiders are usually found in tropical parts of the World. They might be kept by the cricket dealer to control escaped crickets or they might breed them for the pet trade. They are popular wild spiders to have in homes for pest control in the tropics. So, it might need extra moisture in Alaska. A wet cotton ball might work. I give my own house spiders (family Pholcidae) droplets of water to drink from when they start hanging around the house plants and kitchen sink. They learn to show up for water when… Read more »
The spider pictured above doesn’t appear to be a Huntsman spider but it is another spider known to be found in cricket shipments. It belongs in the Philodromidae (Running-Crab Spider) family. Most likely, based off the markings and white outlines through out its body, it is Thanatus vulgaris. Below is a link to another one found in a cricket shipment in Alaska that was shipped from California. https://bugguide.net/node/view/1669005/bgimage Spiders vary in coloration and markings so that one may look a bit different so here is one more close to what you have. https://bugguide.net/node/view/260418/bgimage I don’t know if your specimen can… Read more »