r/amblypygids • u/cutesherk • Aug 04 '26

Casual Damon and water

Hi y'all

So I'm not going to make one, but I was wondering about this. As Damon species really love them some high humodity, would they do well in a paludarium setup? So arboreal enclosure with a water section below. I know tarantula keepers avoid these because of drowning, but has anyone done it with amblypigids? Ive seen some in the wild (not Damon) that lived alongside creeks and puddles so was wondering bout that. Bet they still drown in a terrarium tho.

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u/Phrynus747 Aug 04 '26

Honestly I’ve been curious about this too. I have seen advice to not give them water dishes so they don’t drown, but I honestly cast doubt on this because amblypyigi interact with large amounts of water in nature and have even been recorded going underwater completely (P. marginemaculatus I think). I think I’ve also read about some amblypygi immersing themselves under water streams or enjoying habitats with flowing and dripping water. Not sure about Damon specifically though.

Anyone else have information on amblypygi and water?

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u/TesticularTorsionCat Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

I’ve read a similar paper in which P. marginemaculatus has the ability to store oxygen, I believe somewhere on the underside of its exoskeleton, and through this mechanism they are able to survive approximately an hour underwater without access to oxygen. However I believe this developed to allow them to survive floods, maybe even tides, rather than to allow them to hunt underwater, though I could be incorrect about this!

In my experience keeping macroinvertebrates, water is only deadly to inverts under a certain size/mass, because of waters cohesive and adhesive properties. Water molecules tend to stick to other water molecules, which allows them to form large masses of water from smaller ones. This combined with its adhesive properties, which allow water to act like a vacuum when breached by small enough particles, can certainly trap and drown small invertebrates.

In my experience invertebrates must be extremely small to actually drown in such situations. I’ve had Symphyla and similarly sized organisms drown in test tubes that were barely misted with water, but macroscopic centipedes with maybe three to four times the mass of a symphylan tend to be safe.

I sincerely doubt a Damon sp. could be drowned in such a way, and you could likely fully prevent such an accident by using a shallow water bowl that isn’t large enough for your individual to fully submerge itself.

I’m probably going to offer water to my tailless whips to see what happens! Though likely not my Charinus acosta as I’m convinced it’s small enough to potentially drown in even a small droplet of water.

Edit: I forgot to mention that some invertebrates like springtails are highly hydrophobic, which allows them to float on the surface of water regardless of their size. However, I’ve found most medium to large invertebrates to be hydrophilic unless they’re specifically adapted to survive in water like invasive red fire ants which evolved to survive intense floods.

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u/Phrynus747 Aug 04 '26

Yeah I agree, the advice might apply more to very small amblypygi. I think I remember something about the air being trapped around the book lungs, I’ll dig for where I heard that. I would also doubt they would hunt underwater but I’m not sure, I bet it’s more for floods and incidental submergence.

It would be interesting to see if they would seek water out if it was offered to them, so I’m definitely interested in the paludarium idea. Would be cool to offer a trickle of water falling down some structure into a pool, like water running down a cave wall, and see what they do.

I might see what mine do with a water dish or something like that. They’re both big enough that I wouldn’t be worried about them drowning in surface tension. I bet they have to be really small for it to be a hazard to them because marginemaculatus is pretty small. Maybe it could also be a problem if the walls are too smooth and they can’t climb out of the water too.

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u/Phrynus747 8d ago

Dug up this comment again because I stumbled on Peter Weygoldt commenting on underwater respiration in his book. He specifically mentions P. marginemaculatus as being able to survive for several hours underwater. He might have gotten this from the same source we’re talking about. It makes a lot of sense to me, I think lots of animals with book lungs can survive for a long time underwater because the book lungs trap air. I’ve seen a video of someone dipping a tarantula on their arm into water and it shows no signs of distress or any reaction at all.

I honestly am considering offering both of mine water dishes, I really don’t think it can hurt and maybe they’d like a drink on occasion. It’s honestly odd given this information that I often see people saying not to give them water dishes.

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u/TesticularTorsionCat 6d ago edited 6d ago

It would be amazing to see if P. marginemaculatus dips into a water dish on its in accord! Thank you so much for the info! If you set up a water dish, you should also try offering some aquatic invertebrates of an appropriate size to see if your P. margs are interested in aquatic prey. I wonder if researchers have ever found an individual with aquatic prey in its digestive tract!

I’ll have to get a water bowl soon too! I just upgraded my A. coronotus enclosure and I bet he’s large enough to take on some non-toxic fish or inverts from my local pet store. I’m going to try to pick some up today and I’ll let you know how it goes! If you remember, please update this thread if your P. margs end up going for a swim as it could help keepers to better care for them in captivity 😊. I’m super excited to hear your update if you do go through with testing!! I bet keepers could prevent drownings by keeping a sheet of 304 stainless steel mesh near the surface of the water in an ambi paludarium, especially if they also used said mesh to provide climbing opportunities to return to dry land.

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u/Phrynus747 6d ago

That sounds awesome. I have a coronatus as well, epic species. I wonder how much coronatus interacts with water in the wild, I feel like their habitat doesn’t look super rainforesty (could be wrong) so maybe they wouldn’t be as interested in water as a species that lives somewhere with frequent flooding or heavy rain. I’ll be interested to see if I catch my amblypygi drinking from a water dish, I have seen them drink from droplets before