Feeding a Harvestman?

[TheOneThatGotAway]

Hey i just caught a HUGE harvestman in my yard. Like....3 - 4 in huge. I don't plan on keeping him permanently, but I do wanna bring him in to school (biology academy, no worries. no poking, prodding, teasing, none of that). Problem is I'm sick and won't be in until sometime next week. So until monday, he's stuck with me.

What should I feed him? I've heard they like dead earthworms and fruit. I have orange cubes for crickets (with vitamins and other things). Would that be good? And then how often should I feed it?

Thanks in advance.

 

[rmorse]

Do you mean a daddy-long-legs?

 

[sncboom]

I'm guessing so. I've always figured they were scavengers of dead things. I have tons in my yard as I believe they might like to eat my dog's poop since he is on a raw meat/bone/organ diet.

 

[rmorse]

If it is a daddy-long-legs, its not an actual spider, and it feeds on plants....what kind, I dunno

 

[TheOneThatGotAway]

Do you mean a daddy-long-legs?

Well that's what people tend to call them, but they're different.

Daddy Long-Legs = http://www.usq.edu.au/spider/find/spiders/images/508A10.jpg

Harvestman = http://www.cirrusimage.com/Arachnid/harvestman_005.jpg

But yeah, essentially a daddy long-legs.

 

[TheOneThatGotAway]

I'm guessing so. I've always figured they were scavengers of dead things. I have tons in my yard as I believe they might like to eat my dog's poop since he is on a raw meat/bone/organ diet.

You think they'd eat Leopard Gecko poo then? They've been eating crickets and waxworms.

 

[sncboom]

From a quick search [ http://www.jstor.org/pss/3083071 ] it looks like earthworms and fruit would be a good start. I found another online book [http://books.google.com/books?id=Y_...&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result ] that would suggest that they, depending on the exact species will feed on many different things. Good luck. They're interesting little creatures. I've found several at night on my patio and a few have been covered in mites.

 

[rmorse]

From a quick search [ http://www.jstor.org/pss/3083071 ] it looks like earthworms and fruit would be a good start. I found another online book [http://books.google.com/books?id=Y_...&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result ] that would suggest that they, depending on the exact species will feed on many different things. Good luck. They're interesting little creatures. I've found several at night on my patio and a few have been covered in mites.

Copied and pasted the Jstor, as I believe you must be on campus to access Jstor.


Citation

• Diet Composition and Significance of Earthworms as Food of Harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones)
• Author(s): Juraj Halaj and Alan B. Cady
• Source: American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 143, No. 2 (Apr., 2000), pp. 487-491
• Published by: The University of Notre Dame
• Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3083071

Abstract

We gathered dietary data for several harvestman species in a soybean field and adjacent hedgerow habitats to assess the extent of their polyphagy. A total of 1032 harvestmen, predominantly Leiobunum spp., were observed during almost 50 search hours over two seasons. More harvestmen and increased foraging activity were observed in the hedgerow than in the soybean field, and in both habitats harvestmen were more active at night. Earthworms (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) were the prey items most frequently recorded as being consumed by all observed harvestman species in both habitats (47.1%), while fruit and other plant material constituted 18.1% of the records. Feeding trials conducted with female harvestmen, Hadrobunus Maculosus (Wood), revealed that these arachnids were not capable of subduing live earthworms, suggesting that consumption of these in the field might be limited to scavenging. Implications of harvestman foraging for local food web dynamics are discussed.

 

[TheOneThatGotAway]

From a quick search [ http://www.jstor.org/pss/3083071 ] it looks like earthworms and fruit would be a good start. I found another online book [http://books.google.com/books?id=Y_...&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result ] that would suggest that they, depending on the exact species will feed on many different things. Good luck. They're interesting little creatures. I've found several at night on my patio and a few have been covered in mites.

XD that's where i got my info from. i just came here to double-check everything

 

[coura]

Copied and pasted the Jstor, as I believe you must be on campus to access Jstor.


Citation

• Diet Composition and Significance of Earthworms as Food of Harvestmen (Arachnida: Opiliones)
• Author(s): Juraj Halaj and Alan B. Cady
• Source: American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 143, No. 2 (Apr., 2000), pp. 487-491
• Published by: The University of Notre Dame
• Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3083071

Abstract

We gathered dietary data for several harvestman species in a soybean field and adjacent hedgerow habitats to assess the extent of their polyphagy. A total of 1032 harvestmen, predominantly Leiobunum spp., were observed during almost 50 search hours over two seasons. More harvestmen and increased foraging activity were observed in the hedgerow than in the soybean field, and in both habitats harvestmen were more active at night. Earthworms (Oligochaeta: Lumbricidae) were the prey items most frequently recorded as being consumed by all observed harvestman species in both habitats (47.1%), while fruit and other plant material constituted 18.1% of the records. Feeding trials conducted with female harvestmen, Hadrobunus Maculosus (Wood), revealed that these arachnids were not capable of subduing live earthworms, suggesting that consumption of these in the field might be limited to scavenging. Implications of harvestman foraging for local food web dynamics are discussed.

NICE