Found: In burrows, sandy soil
Date: N/A
Length: Approx. 3,5cm
Comments: These juveniles were kindly given to me for safekeeping by Ian Engelbrecht. They display the adults' distinctive colouration, at a glance very similar to O.karrooensis. In the adults, the males have exaggeratedly elongated pedipalps. These little guys are remarkably aggressive, stridulating noisily and striking rapidly and readily. Although they were fat as ticks (see left) when I got them, it was almost a year before they shed their skins, within a week of each other. Until then they seemed to eat fairly sparingly. Since shedding they have been voracious feeders, still with loads of attitude (see pics below) and they are fattening up nicely, hopefully to moult again next year. CLICK ON THE PICS TO ENLARGE |
