Damon diadema “Whip Spider”

Damon diadema “Whip Spider” is social and you can keep them in groups, but with this species there can be territorial fights between males and females. Therefore, you should offer them enough space and hiding places. Typical for whip spiders, Damon diadema “Whip Spider” has a relatively flat body. This means that it fits into every crack and that is exactly what it likes to do. It is fascinating to see the nocturnal whip spider species scanning its surroundings with its flagella and moving sideways. You should also make sure that they have enough space in the terrarium so that they can move freely. The walking surface can be increased with layered cork bark or heaped lava stones. The latter also store moisture well and slowly release it back into the environment. The animals should be kept at 25-30 °C and a constantly high humidity (80-95%). It also makes sense to offer a shallow water bowl with stones, as we have often observed that the animals actually accept these and drink from them.

We use a mixture of forest humus, white rotten wood and leaves as substrate. We have inoculated this with springtails and use Porcellionides pruinosus (Cuban isopods) as ground police and food source at the same time. This soft-shelled isopod species is very well accepted by the Damon diadema “Whip Spider” and we have a kind of self-sufficient symbiosis in the terrarium.