Singapore - Malaysia Fighting Spider Enthusiasts

Hunting Adventure at Triange, Pahang - Part 3

2010-12-09T10:31:00.001+08:00

Hi Everyone

Part 3 of Triang's FS hunt.

It was Saturday, 4th of December 2010, my last day for hunting. Was hoping that it would not rain, but...well no control over the weather and it rained and rain and rain.. the type of long life rain that you know will continue the whole day.

Would rain stop hardcore Fs hunters? The answer is obviously, No.

I put on a thick T-shirt, a track jacket and a hooded rain coat coupled with a cap. ken was also adequately dressed to hunt in the rain, though his dressing was more basic. We left home at about 7.30am, not on a motor bike but in Ken's 2.7 litre spanking white SUV. I suggested to Ken to go to Triang river to check out the possibility of big FS and we were there in less than 10 minutes. The river isn't like what we SG people are used to. Over in Triang, we needed to drive through the palm oil plantation to reach the edge of a river. It was there that I learnt that the torns on the palm tree branches are poisonous and next time I am at Megatron side of P#, I would avoid the oil palm tree as it had this dangerous looking torns ready to poke.

When we were at the edge of the river, we immediately spotted a small spot with FS potential. I was mindful that there were many holes about 4 inches in diameter all over the muddy ground. ken confrmed that they were snake holes. There was also no indication where the river starts as the edge was covered by vegatations and don know why I kept imagining a big crocodile jumping out and biting us even though ken said there was no crocodile. We were able to catch a few Fs but there were not the big ones we were after. Well, now at least I know that the river bank does not neccessarily produce large FS. ken parked the car facing land in case the tide rushes in ....but well we left safely, no flood, no snake bite, no crocodile and no big FS..only rain and more rain.

We left the river and look at people's vegetable/fruit plot. They do to a certain extend look alike and look like the picture below (which was where FS No. 2 was caught). They also had some unfamiliar vegetable for which the leaves does have FS residing inside.

We then drove about and decided that the single storey abandoned house with primary school leaves at the broken fence hold some Fs potential. Yes, there were some Fs but not really big ones. Suffice to say, the mosquitoes were plentiful too. Just as I was about to give up as it was raining quite heavily, Ken pointed to 2 primary school leaves and yes....clearly that is a male Fs sleeping there. FS No. 4 was accordingly caught.

FS No. 4 is an ML sized Fs but appeared slow and the legs not sticky. However my months of experience tells me it was due to the weather. We then headed for home about 9.30am. By then Ken's white SUV had become brown from the rain and mud.

The morning and afternoon were spent with our respective families sight seeing. When our families were at home in the evening due to rain, we set off for round 2. We headed straight for the abandoned house. I looked high and low but the elusive big FS was nowhere to be found. It did not matter that it rained the whole day, was cold and wet and was still raining.

I hunted outside the fence whereas ken went inside the house...all in vain. I decided to bend down and flip at each and every leaf, a tough task as almost all the leaves were wet. Just then, Ken called for me and I knew he had found another big one. It was the natural reaction to call for support in case the precious big one escape. However I could not find him.

I called out for him and realised that he was opposite the abandoned house. He was across a big drain at err... a rubbish dump..a small rubbish dump (not smelly) where people left old sofa and if I remember correctly a fan and some car parts. The drain, a proper cement drain was about 1 metres deep and about 1 metres to jump accross. I decided to walk across via the cement beam and was safely accross. This place had a short coconut tree, many dragon plant and other plants and it was very messy...perfect for FS. Well the call for me was not to tell me about any big FS but to tell me he was there. Anyway, we hunted and caught a couple of small male. Then Ken's eagle eye spotted two dragon plant leaf sticking together and he declared "quite big". It was however across the drain and Ken remained there while I walk across the drain and across the rubbish dump. The leaves of the dragon plant which I know as Drascina (not sure of spelling) are long leaves and this FS nest were two leaves stuck near the middle, not at the edge. It was therefore a real challenge for Ken to lean over across the drain to hold the leaves, for me to cut and shorten the leaves while standing on a coconut tree branch. We did not want this FS to escape. When the leaves were shortened, I used the net Mrs Exspiderking gave me to catch this fella and viola....FS No.5 was caught.

By then it was about 6.00pm, cold and dark and alas it was time to go home.

We caught a total of 5 FS this 2 days.

The biggest is FS No. 1, now confirmed to be a giant. FS No. 5 is the second largest, a very big ML like Valtor's size and the third biggest is FS No. 2.

It was a very fruitful hunting trip for me. In SG, I don think I can get 5 good size FS in 2 days. Most importantly, I had the company of Triang's Golden hands, Ken. During the hunt, I was in FS heaven and I look foward to going to Triang to hunt again.

Your ExSpiderKing
Randy

*** Contributed by ExSpiderKing ***

Hunting Adventure at Triange, Pahang - Part 2

2010-12-08T10:59:00.003+08:00

Hi Everyone

Continuation of the Triang FS hunting trip....

There are many many small FS spots to try. Almost every spot had FS. We did catch some FS in the other spots but there were not big enough, probably SL at most. What deterred us were, once again the mosquitoes. Very fierce, aggressive and by the thousands. It was the mosquitoes that determine the length of our hunt, we expect to get something big in minutes...or else run off to escape mosquitoes.

While we were riding around, we were chased by this pair of goose.

It was not very macho for two matured man and a child to be fleeing from 2 goose who were hell bent on pecking our legs. On the other hand, we could not be seen fighting with goose, right? Anyway, we did not wait to find out whether their bites were painful or not. I also don know my insurance coverage include bite from goose

During our happy ride, there was an active exchange of FS ideas. Ken's belief is that a gostun pao must gostun 3 times and move forward to fight...that would be a good fighter. Also the under belly of the FS must be darker in colour. Ken and I both agree that FS are normally found at the outside of any wooded area and never inside. His reasoning is that FS is a 'tame' spider and not a wild one. There would also be curious stare from people whenever we hunt. Some thought we were there to steal fruit. We often explain in Hokkien, liak Huay ler (catch FS). Liak Huay Ler is readily understood by them and they would smile or offer suggestions on where to get the best FS. They speak mainly Hokkien. It helped that there is an 8 year old boy with us as they think the FS is meant for the boy, instead of us, adults.

Ken then suggested that we go back to the plot behind his house (as we happen to ride near his house). I thought to myself, why? This plot only have small FS, why waste time? Anyway, we hunted there and I followed his advice to look at the Pandan leaves. There was a row of pandan leaf between the papaya trees and the sugar cane trees. I flip over the leaves not expecting much.

There were 2 leaves that stick out prominently. I thought, ayah, this type wont have FS one and just flip it. But to my surprise, there was quite a big FS sleeping between the leaf and continued to sleep despite the leaf being separated. I gently closed the leaves back and again, decision time. This time I decided to use my NTUC plastic bag, fold both leaves in the bag and FS No. 2 was caught.

By now I have 2 FS and naturally wanted more. We again tried other spots. In total we tried about 10 spots and they look almost the same like that shown below.

FS No. 3 was caught also from pandan leaves but from another vegetable plot. This time the FS nest was at the top of the pandan patch. Again the NTUC bag with my lucky scissors saved the day and FS No. 3 was caught.

By now it was about 0930am and we went back home to admire our catch. We had a total of about 12 male FS and naturally FS No. 1, No.2 and No. 3 had their individual boxes. The others proved unsuitable and were released at the front portion of his house where there is a small vegetable plot.

(to be continued)

*** Contributed by ExSpiderKing ***

Hunting Adventure at Triange, Pahang - Part 1

2010-12-07T11:56:00.007+08:00

Hi Everyone

I travelled 358 kilometres to Triang, Pahang, caught 5 very very good sized Fs and is now safely home with my 5 foreign talents.
I was there from 02/12/10 to 05/12/10 with my family to visit my friend Ken and his family. Here is a photo of err... a sign post that says Triang.

I stayed with Ken, a very good friend of close to 20 years, ken. He is Triang's exspiderking as well as Triang's version of Golden hands.

On 02/12/10 evening was my first FS hunt. We took a small motorbike to a small plot about 300 metres from where we stayed. It was a small garden with sugar cane, pandan leaves, some unknown vegatables and lots of mosquitos. Ken used the traditional kop method and caught 3 rather small FS. Alamak, all the way here just to catch Fs of this size????. Ken assured me that there would be bigger ones and that we would hunt early tomorow morning.

03/12/10: 7.30am, ken and his 8 year old son was ready to hunt. We took the small motorbike and went to small spots around his neighbbourhood, ken, like me had not hunted for more than 30 years. The environment is totally different from SG. Over in SG, I would look for CB leaves, but there, they don even have CB leaves. They had an Fs environment perhaps like what SG was 50 years ago...small houses with small plots of land and all sorts of vegatables and fruits. The drains does not have any cement base and was at best loosely dug. These plots were often overwhelmed with very fierce battalions of mosquitos, by the thousands. As we rode in the nice morning fresh air, I was fascinated by the number of swallow birds flying about, stray dogs lazily walking, birds chirping, in particular Or Pek (magpie) birds, see Kar Chua and snakes too. We were essentially in a small town deep in Pahang where everyone knows each other or are related to each other.

Anyway, the first FS of considerable size, FS No. 1 was caught at this plot of land:-

We were there about 8.10am. I was not mentally prepared for the aggreesive mosquitos who were biting every inch of my body. This was despite havin sprayed generously the best repellant Beach Road army goods store could offer. Then ken gave a shout to me, big one, big one. Hidden at the right side of the tree ..about 2 metres were some hidden dumbcane leaves. I looked into the leaves and was shocked to see such big arms stretching out and the Fs actually staring, no..glaring at me. It was BIG. Then my months of Fs experience comes in handy, decision time ...to use a NTUC plastic bag, Bro Ura's giant ziplock bag or a flexible soft long net bag Mrs Exspiderking gave me. I chose the net and cut the leaves in the net. FS No.1 was accordingly caught.

When FS no. 1 was walking in the net, I could not believe my eyes, here was a Fs bigger than any that I have caught and it was in my net. I managed to transfer it safely to my plastic container. Ken looked at the Fs and proclaimed that it was quite big and something he was use to. This was the first of my 5 FS. It was caught at the spot as shown in the picture above.

Then we happily proceed to our next spot.....

(to be continued)

*** Contributed by ExSpiderKing ***

Another Sub-Adult Male Moulted

2010-01-26T12:50:00.000+08:00

Last week, Krauser passed me afew fighting spiders including 2 sub-adult males. One of them which is dull in colour and bigger then the other sub-adult male moulted last night ( 25th Jan 2010 ). He measured 7mm in body length and I hope there's still room for further growth. According to Krauser, he was caught at N** and I shall name him Ace. What surprised me was Ace after moulted, turned out to be bright and shiny !

The other sub-adult male still hasn't moult yet and 'she' measured 6mm. 'She' is quite bright and shiny and I hope 'she' could moult into a 8mm male like Spawn. Anyway 'she' was caught at Thomson.

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

Two Cases of Extreme Moults

2010-01-20T13:45:00.000+08:00

Recently I have a 'female' fighting spider that moulted into a large size male fighting spider. I named him Spawn. Spawn moulted on 4th Jan 2010. When I caught Spawn, he was a sub-adult male which looked like a female. All sexually matured males have a white face as oppose to sub-adult males which still poccess a blackish face. To tell a sub-adult male from a female, you got to look at its palps. If the end of its palps look swollen, it should be a male.

Two weeks after I caught Spawn, the sub-adult male moulted into large size male. Spawn measured almost 8mm in body length. From my experience, I didn't encounted such size before with previous few moultings. All were medium small to medium sizes and they measured from 5mm to 6mm.

The other extreme moult was from a small sub-adult male. After 2 days I caught him, 'she' moulted into a very small male spider. He measured around 4mm in body length.

I only managed to keep Spawn for two weeks and he passed away peacefully.

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

Santa Claus Gave Simon A Big Late Christmas Present - Wolverine

2009-12-28T14:31:00.003+08:00

It's Sunday and that was two days after Christmas. Most of us enjoyed a super long weekend. We decided to pay Thomson a visit again. As usual me, Ura, Jong and Krauser set off from Sengkang around noon time. It rained earlier on but the sky turned sunny pretty fast. We arrived and saw Simon was already there. Edwin joined us later on but I didn't noticed him as I was busy hunting for fighting spiders a distant away from the group.

This time round we didn't try the Sabretooth spot as we find that spot is depleting of fighting spiders. Today's harvest was good. Most of us caught at least 3 fighting spiders. I was one of the luckiest guy to catch a good size spider after an hour of hunt. I named him Escape because when I lifted a dry leaf, Escape jummped and went missing. After several minutes of waiting I spotted him again and manage to capture him. Today's trip I caught around 9 fighting spiders but only kept four and released the rest as its size wasn't that good.

It's around 5+pm and time for the matches. When me and Krauser arrived, the guys were already there preparing the fighting arena. Simon showed us his prized catch -- Woooo.... its a Large size fighting spider. Its head was big and arms were long. The iridescent shine on its body denotes the spider just molted recently. Two weeks ago Simon just lost a good size fighter and now he caught back another Sabretooth. He was really a lucky guy among us.

Today's matches recorded at Thomson.

1) Simon's Wolverine vs Escape - Wolverine won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1sVzW6BcNA

2) Edwin's 3B vs Reborn - 3B won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2KpHk4wXSs

3) Edwin's Sembawang vs Twilight - Sembawang won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRcKu4sdFtE

4) Krauser's 2C vs Edwin's Model - 2C won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsmGzSoCHqw

5) Krauser's 2C vs Edwin's Mystery - 2C won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQfcMjNeVbU

6) Simon Spar vs Edwin's Pride - Simon Spar won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFeI_NuPvtI

7) Simon 2nd vs Ura's Saino - Simon 2nd won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oh8FM6B5tE

8) Simon 2nd vs Edwin's FarmMart - Simon 2nd won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVjruPEToKU

9) Simon 1st Spar vs Jong's Onetooth - Simon 1st Spar won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-TArUNdBxQ

10) Simon Spar vs Ura's PA - Simon Spar won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUXa8VLA85A

11) Krauser's Joker vs Jong's Short Hand - Joker won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prWsYNsjw3I

12) Simon's Wolverine vs Ura's Kane - Wolverine won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iOI8MpiosM

13) Simon's Rain vs Ah Seng Chopster - Rain won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3tAGDWO588

14) Edwin's Model vs Simon 2nd - Model won.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-3v0FWUp4s

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

The Day Simon Lost Sabretooth

2009-12-28T12:57:00.008+08:00

On 21th Dec 2009, me, Krauser, Ura and Jong went to Thomson for fighting spider hunting cum matching session. Weather for that day was cloudly and water might pour from the sky any moment despite it had rained earlier on. The foliage was wet and the ground was damp. We proceeded to the spot where Simon caught Sabretooth.

The vegetation looked good but we didn't manage to catch any good size spiders after an hour hunt. Simon, Ah Seng, Edwin and Vincent joined us later. We searched for another hour with no success and proceeded to match our fighting spiders. Just as Simon gonna brought out Sabretooth, he discovered it went missing inside its container. This incident spelt a major setback for Simon as Sabretooth was one good size fighter. Anyway we still proceed with the matches and hope that Simon could get another Sabretooth soon.

Below were the matches for today.

1) Twilight vs Simon's Spar - Twilight won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38kQxiIRkqA

2) Twilight vs Edwin's 3B - 3B won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFZo1U-tFtc

3) GI Joe vs Krauser's Chopster - GI Joe won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so1TCca3IrY

4) GI Joe vs Krauser's Fuyoh - GI Joe won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSsmiRx391o

5) Edwin's Spar vs Simon's 3rd - 3rd won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNqeQ7QO9Us

6) Edwin's 3B vs Simon's 3rd - 3rd won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1aJpPQQ3Nw

7) Krauser's 2C vs Edwin's Pride - 2C won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO7BvxHTDL4

8) Simon's Rain vs Ura's Kane - Rain won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa7lQqXBjC0

9) Jong's Goldy vs Edwin's Sembawang - Goldy won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2L1XlKZ4BA

10) Jong's Goldy vs Edwin's 3B - Goldy won
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu7v_mX3WeI

and match of the day

11) Jong's Pincer vs Seng's Bullet

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

Fighting Spider Hunting Adventure - The West

2009-11-01T18:06:00.009+08:00

I stayed at the North-East side of Singapore and seldom gone to the west side to hunt for fighting spiders. Last Saturday, Simon proposed to try a new spot at Jurong Road together with Ah Seng's group. It was a long journey but our hopes were high. As we drove past the destination, we were joyed to see that its a long stretch of road with green vegetation on one of its side. There were CB trees along certain parts of the road as well.

We parked the car and immediately pounced into action. While waiting for Ah Seng and his friends to arrive, we tried the surrounding area near to where we parked the car. Simon and Ura headed straight for the CB trees while me and Jong went deeper in to the forest. After 20 mins, me and Jong were both empty handed but Simon and Ura got afew male spiders from the CB trees. I gave up the search on those soft leaves and headed for the CB trees. Besides the CB trees, there were some patches of wild pepper plants next to it as well. I guess I had no luck on that day as even on the CB trees, I caught none !!

Ah Seng and his friends arrived and we changed to another spot which was 500 meters further behind from where we parked our car. It was another CB trees area but not much spiders could be found. I lost one average size male. Just as I thought I had him, he slipped onto the grass patch. What a smart spider !

While the whole group doesn't seem to catch much spiders, we decided to head for Jalan Bahar which was not far away. Along the way, we saw some very nice stretch of CB trees next to the Singapore Omni-Theatre. The spot looked promising and we decided to give it a fast search. After 10 mins of searching, there was no sight of fighting spiders and we gave it up and headed for the targeted destination - Jalan Bahar.

We reached Jalan Bahar and it was already 5.30pm. Before the start of the hunt, Ura and Simon matched their newly caught spiders. It seemed that Ura's newly caught fighting spider from Jurong West was a potential good fighter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6h6QHHQqMc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uFok5S10ug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA_NY5JPLNc

I've been to this spot at Jalan Bahar twice and today was my third time here. Some of the spider kakis had caught medium-large to large size males here and this spot was considered the best spots in the past. Since the kakis had came here frequently, the spot eventually lost its glory. It was not like in the past where male spiders were abundant and their sizes were big. Despites all frequent huntings here, I still pinned some hopes that there would be big males somewhere around.

As I walked along the concrete pavement, I saw there were many insects on the undergrowth. Ants, crickets, green flies, mosquitoes etc. The abundancy of these insects in this area was the main factor to contribute to the sizes of the spiders. Since it was near to evening, I knew that most of the spiders would wander out of their nests in search of food. I did not search much on closed leaves but preferred to stay still and observed the bushes for wandering spiders. My best record was spotted 4 wandering spiders from the same spot ! After two were caught, I made a U-turn back to the same spot again after 20mins and saw another two emerged. The closed leaves on that spot were earlier searched and there were no spiders hiding and where could these spiders came from ? So the method of 'wait and observe' worked and I caught several males within an hour. Though there wasn't any large size spiders caught, I was quite happy with the result as there was one particular male which was near to medium large size !

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

Fighting Spider Hunting Adventure at Sengkang Forest

2009-10-26T20:00:00.022+08:00

Last Saturday, met up with Ken25 and Urahinuk at Anchorvale CC. While waiting for Ah Seng and Edwin, me and Ura decided to proceed to the forested area besides Sengkang Riverside Park to hunt for fighting spiders.

There were some constructions going on at the forested area but since its weekend, the activities had stopped. There's a path leading to the forest. We stopped at a small patch of vegetation (picture 1) along the way and was surprised that area produced quite a nos of fighting spiders. Within 20 mins, I caught one male and several females fighting spiders. While we were searching high and low for more spiders, I spotted a green snake and we immediately left that spot and headed further in to the forest.

Inside the forested area, there's a concrete road used by the construction vehicles and that provided us a path. We need not bashed into the vegetation and that gave us a relief. It was a quiet and hot afternoon. After the hot spot, we arrived at another hot spot that is near to a power or dunno what station. The fighting spiders over here wasn't that big. Most of them were medium - small with occassionally some medium sizes. At one point of time, I thought I spotted a big size spider. That was when I flipped a leaf that was not nested. The spider looked huge for split of a second and it disappeared underneath the leaf. I waited and finally saw that bugger emerged from the undergrowth. Oh mine, its smaller then medium size but how come at that instance when I lifted the leaf over, the size really looked huge ! It must have been my eyes playing tricks on me. Haiz... One thing I noticed that when you saw a fighting spider wandering among the leaves, it looks big and you only realised the actual size when you compared it with your exisiting spiders.

We proceeded further into an area where there were CB trees. To those guys who doesn't know what is a CB tree, it's english name is Dillenia Suffruticosa or Simpoh Air. How does it looked like ? Google it. CB tree derived its name from the shape of its leaves. See the picture http://www.flickr.com/photos/dedamselfly/294174005/in/photostream/ Does the leaf resembles a CB ? LOL ... The CB trees were popular among the fighting spider kakis. They caught most of the good sizes fighting spiders from this type of plant. The leaves are thick and it provides a good shelter for the spiders during rainy seasons. We were quite excited when we saw the CB trees but turned out to be a big disappointment. We only spotted 3 pathetic size females !!!

After the CB trees area, we proceeded deeper and results were poor. The forested area leads to Jalan Kayu but we stopped halfway inbetween as the road ahead is filled with big cylinders and bulldozers. Overall, the hunting adventure at the forested area near Sengkang Riverside Park wasn't fruitful.

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

Fighting Spider Hunting Adventure at Mandai

2009-10-20T21:25:00.002+08:00

It was a sunny Saturday afternoon and I asked an old friend of mine, Ah Soon together with Urahinuk to go Mandai to hunt for fighting spiders. We took bus 138 from Yio Chu Kang road bus stop and alighted somewhere near to OrchidVille.

There were some CB trees around the vicinity. The first stop consisted of yam leaves vegetation. I spotted one soft leaf on top of a big yam leaf and when I carefully flipped open the leaves, saw a male fighting spider. Just as I was about to cut the leaves, another male fighting spider appeared on the same nest. Both met and engaged into a fight. While they were fighting, I cut the leaves and there goes two male fighting spiders into the plastic bag. 一石二鸟 (one stone kills two birds ) ?

Later on , we ventured to the spot where there were CB leaves and caught quite a numbers of spiders. Sizes from medium-small to medium. We then turned into OrchidVille and there was a quiet road (lor lada hitam) leading to nowhere. The vegetation along the road isn't that good. Mostly soft leaves !! There was a long stretch of drain near to OrchidVille and we decided to explore it. Along the drain there were some soft bushes and trees. No sights of male fighting spiders except one or two females. We gave up after 20 mins of hunting and decided to proceed to another part of CB leaves spot (near upper seletar reservoir). Afew male fighting spiders were caught but the size was kind of miserable. We hunted till around 6pm and ended somewhere near Mandai Crematorium.

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

A King Kong Pow or Hyllus Diardi - Fighting Spider Hunting Adventure at Thomson

2009-10-05T09:57:00.022+08:00

Last saturday me, Jong71, Simone, Urahinuk and his friend went to Thomson to hunt for fighting spiders. Thomson used to be my childhood hunting ground as I stayed Toa Payoh when I was young. It had been a long time I didn't return to Thomson and I was kind of excited for this hunting trip. The weather was sunny in the morning till early afteroon and while we prepared to set off for the hunt, it rained. Not a good day I guessed but we still proceed to Thomson.

When we arrived, the rain stopped. The ground was kind of wet and the leaves was filled with droplets of water. That doesn't put us off and immediately we started to flip the leaves after spraying ourselves with insect repellent. Plenty of 'sticked leaves' but that was due to water sticking them together and not the spider web. We caught several male and female spiders along the route to where Simone caught Megatron.

The spot where Simone caught Megatron housed a large patch of wild pepper leaves. After searching for quite sometimes, we gave it up as the result was pathetic and Simone suggested we moved to the spot where he caught Laser.

We arrived at the spot where Simone caught Laser and it was much better then the previous. It's a long stretch of road with big yam leaves. Our morales went up again and we can't wait to land ourselves with some good size fighting spiders. During the hunt, we missed afew spiders and Urahinuk finally got himself a medium-large size fighter. That fighter was the largest caught on that day and won all the newly caught fighters !

Around 5+pm we were all shacked out and I was left behind while the rest were much ahead of me searching for fighting spiders. The sky was getting abit dark and suddendly from my left eye, I sensed that there was a big and black thing on my left and when I turned and looked at it, it was a big spider that resembled the shape of a fighting spider. It looked exactly like a fighting spider except it was almost black in colour. It lacked the iridescent green and blue hue. The abdomen was thin but it got two thick and long arms. The size was about 2 times of a large size Thiania Bhamoensis.

When I first looked at him, it really got me very excited. I thought I had spotted a King Kong Pow ! He was resting on a small leaf with arms spreading wide. I stared at him for a few seconds wondering if its a T. Bhamoensis and when I had finally decided to capture him, he jumped. Alas, I lost one big spider. Feeling unsastified, I waited there and searching for him. It was kind of dark and visibility wasn't that good. After waiting on the spot for 5 mins, there's still no sign of him and suddendly out of nowhere I heard a soft feminine whisper. Oh mine, I couldn't make out whether its a human voice or insects' cries. Not wanting to stay there anymore, I quickly moved to where the rest of the guys were and forsook about the king kong spider myth.

Some of the fighting spider matches held at Thomson.

Thomson Match 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRof3JzZP4c

Thomson Match 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YANxeqhYFE8

Thomson Match 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAA9McbFprk

Thomson Match 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpdkNTOT0lE

Another picture of Hyllus Diardi
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68268595@N00/3385156524

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

A Trip to Pulau Ubin - The Beginning of Season 2 Fighting Spider Hunting Adventures

2009-10-01T10:51:00.029+08:00

The hungry ghost festival has put most of us off from hunting spiders and that spelt the end of season 1 fighting spider hunting adventures.

Finally the chinese 7th month has come to and end and bro Ken25 suggested we have a gathering at Pulau Ubin on 27th Sept for the beinging of season 2 fighting spider hunting adventures. Reporting for the trip were Ken25 and his girlfriend, BTL, Koppao, Jong71, Simone W, Ah Seng, Trevally and lastly our newly joined member, Urahinuk.

We met at Changi Village at 9.30am and the weather was sunny. After having breakfast at the nearby hawker centre, we headed to Pulau Ubin. I was surprised Pulau Ubin hasn't changed much since my last vist that was 6 years ago. However, the bumboat fare has increased to $2.50 per passenger as compared to a dollar plus afew years back.

when we arrived, we immediately went to rent a bicycle. To explore Pulau Ubin you really need a bicycle and don't save on that cause the bicycle rental there is really cheap ! You only need to pay $5 to $6 for the whole day and where could you get such a bargain in the mainland ?

We just couldn't wait to flip the leaves and the 1st hunting stop was just a few metres from the bicycle rental stations. Everywhere in Pulau Ubin was bushes and that really delighted us as we could hunt almost anywhere. After a few mintues of hunting, Ken25, the legendary spider hunter finally broke the silence and caught a male fighting spider. Though it was not big, it gave all of us a boost. Followed by Jong71 had a miss and we proceeded to our next hunting spot.

The second spot was fruitful and each of us got ourselves two to three fighting spiders. We spent quite sometimes there as the spot looked promising with a long stretch of bushes filled with fighting spiders. This was the best spot in Pulau Ubin afterall.

We continued to cycle along the road looking for potential spots, stopping for a short break to match the newly caught spiders and quenching our thirsts with fresh coconut juice. Gradually, the weather was getting hotter and hotter with the afternoon sun glowing on us. Our tired and almost dehyrated bodies called upon our souls to stop the hunt and eventually we gave it up and headed to the restuarant for our lunch. All of us looked half dead but the scrumptious lunch brought our smiles back again. With a full stomach and replenished energy, we said goodbye to Pulau Ubin.

Even though we were shacked off and did not catch any L size fighting spiders ( was surprised that the fighting spiders there wasn't that big ), the trip was fun filled. It was the first massive gathering for the fighting spider kakis and hopefully there would be another coming soon.

Some of the fighting spider matches held at Pulau Ubin

Seng254's newly caught vs BTL's newly caught - Seng254 wins
Laser vs Trevally's newly caught? - Laser wins
Laser vs BTL's newly caught? - Laser wins
Laser vs BTL's spar? - Laser wins
Laser vs Koppao's Spar - Laser wins
Laser vs Jong's suppow - Laser wins
Laser vs Sea - Sea wins

Fighting Spiders: Ubin Fight1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N79xD0vUlbI
Fighting Spiders: Ubin Fight2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWsoscfEAFc
Fighting Spiders: Ubin Fight3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5C_U8mpkzg
Fighting Spiders: Ubin Fight4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX3JLUNQQbo
Fighting Spiders: Ubin Fight5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCseC9eoDlo
Fighting Spiders: Ubin Fight6 (Rd1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADDmdKJHuPg
Fighting Spiders: Ubin Fight6 (Rd2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqtpIU85kN0

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

Keeping and Caring of Fighting Spiders

2009-08-18T10:24:00.044+08:00

As kids, most of us kept our fighting spiders in match boxes. Why ? I guess the reason is match boxes were readily available during that time and it was free. What about the present days ? We kept them in containers instead and seldom keep them in match boxes as you hardly find one nowadays !

I find that keeping fighting spiders in match boxes pose a harsh living condition on them. They don't lived long and often being attacked by ants or died of thirst. We were kind of ignorant when we were kids and doesn't give a hack on how to keep a fighting spider.

Presently, most of us keep fighting spiders in containers with holes and change the leaves when it gets dry. Below is a picture from Koppao showing his fighting spider containers.

I used to keep my fighting spiders in containers until recently I have changed it to house them in pet containers. Keeping fighting spiders in containers need to change the leaves quite often and its kind of a hassel . I have discovered that if the stem of a leaf is placed in the water, the leaf could stay fresh for a longer period. This discovery prompted me to change to a pet container where its height is tall enough to accomodate a small container of water for the leaves. Another advantage of a pet container is it provides good air flow for the spider. Alright, here are the pros of using a pet container.

1. The leaves could stay fresh for a longer period. Fresh leaves mimic a natural habitat for the spider.

2. Minimise the cleaning of the container.

3. Ample air ventilation. Good airflow ensures the spider would be lively and it also help in healing the spider's injury after a fight.

4. Bigger space.

5. Good visibility of the spider.

6. Expose to natural sunlight. Spiders need some sunlight for them to digest their food and also to maintain their colours. You will notice that if you keep the fighting spider in a dark surrounding, its colour would become dark very soon.

What about the cons ? I guess the only disadvantage of using a pet container is the trouble of bringing the spider out.

Below are a series of pictures showing the setup of a pet container for keeping a fighting spider. Remember to keep only one male fighting spider in one container. You could add in a female fighting spider as a mate for the male spider.

A mini glass aquarium tank is an ideal substitute for a pet container as well. It provides a much clearer visibility of the spider. Here are some of my pet containers currently housing my fighting spiders.

Fighting spiders do not need to be fed regularly. I read from somewhere that if a spider is fed too much, it will die of indigestion. I would recommend to feed the fighting spider once every 2 to 3 days. A bloated abdomen indicates the spider has ate too much and a thin abdomen tells you its time to feed the spider. I feed the fighting spiders with pinhead crickets, fruit flies, flying ants, mosquitoes, ants and green flies ( http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_flies/GreenLongLeggedFly1.htm )

Heard that feeding mosquitoes filled with blood, green flies and the head of a big housefly to your fighting spider increase its vitality and strength. To a certain extend I do agree with it as I guess they contain traces of blood.

Another important element to keep your fighting spider alive is water. Spiders need to drink water very often else they would get dehyrated and died off. Let your spiders drink water once in the morning and once at night. For me, I spray water twice a day into the pet container.

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

Where to Catch Fighting Spiders

2009-08-17T17:26:00.048+08:00

Fighting spiders could be found almost everywhere where there are green bushes. You can find them at HDB estates, parks, gardens, nature reserves and forests. In response to the question posted in the Lowyat forum asking which type of plants / trees could find fighting spiders, I've decided to compile a list of them. Haha, I do not know most of the names of these plants / trees, nevertheless a picture tells a thousand words. Stay tune for more updates on the type of plants where you could find fighting spiders.

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

How to Catch a Fighting Spider

2009-08-06T14:07:00.023+08:00

How to catch a fighting spider ? There are many ways used to catch a fighting spider but I'll just describe the below few methods.

1) The Traditional Kop Method

This method of catching fighting spider was used by many children in the olden days. I remembered during my childhood time, most of my friends employed this method to catch fighting spiders. The hit rate was not 100%. Many times, we crushed the spiders to death or the spiders managed to escape. The below video shows how to catch a fighting spider with the kop method.

2) The Scissor and Plastic Bag Method

I would say this is the most secure method of catching fighting spiders. The hit rate would be near to 100% and most of us used thise method to catch spiders. You need a big transparent plastic bag which could cover the whole leaves. When you spot the target, gently move the leaves into the plastic bag. Let the plastic bag covers as much area of the leaves as possible so that if the spider trys to jump out of the nest, it would land itself into the plastic bag. With a good pair of sharp scissor, cut gently at the stem and closed the mouth of the plastic bag with the leaves in it. Hooray, you have caught a fighting spider with this method.

To the more experienced veterens, a pair of scissor would be sufficient.

3) The Container Method

This method of cathing spider is considered a 'plants friendly' method. You don't need a scissor and you don't plug leaves. What you need is just a plastic pill container or any other containers that you think is suitable. When you spot the spider, move the container towards the spider and coach it to jump into the container. Its not an easy task and you have to be very patient and quiet. A noisy movement would usually send the spider jumping off. If you guys happen to catch spiders in hdb estates, parks and nature reserves, this is the best method as you don't destroy the plants. However, its not wise to hunt in those places as you might get fine by park rangers and NPark officers !

4) The Spider Jumps OnTo Your Hand Method

Well, let the video explains it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr6CqLG_aG4

5) The Shaking Method

This method of catching fighting spiders is abit of hilarious. You place a large piece of white cloth or big carboard box under a tree. You then shake the branches and those spiders and insects would fall and landed onto the cloth or box. Don't be surprise, sometimes you might land yourself with afew fighting spiders from this method !

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

Different Types of Pows for Fighting Spider

2009-08-05T11:06:00.044+08:00

When I was young playing fighting spider, we gave names to those fighting spiders with different fighting styles and colours.

Here's a list of names given to fighting spiders with respect to its colour.

Kim Pow - Fighting spider with irediscent golden colour on its head and abdomen. Hearsay this type of fighting spider isn't that fierce and just got its skin changed (molt).

Green Pow - Fighting spider with irediscent green colour on its head and abdomen. This type of colour is commonly found in fighting spider.

Blue or Lam Pow - Fighting Spider with irediscent blue colour on its head and abdomen. Hearsay this type of fighting spider is truely a fierce fighter with a brave heart. Not commonly found in fighting spider's colour.

Black or Orh Pow - Fighting Spider with no or slight colour on its head and abdomen. Hearsay this type of fighting spider is fierce and mostly belongs to the Kop or Sup Pow.

Here's a list of names given to fighting spiders with respect to its fighting style.

Sup Pow - This type of fighting spider has no fighting style. It would crawl slowly then pounce directly on its opponent with strong bite. Usually very little or no arms pushing occur. This type of fighting spider is very fierce but is also easily prone to injury during a fight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6IzwDaWuLQ

Kop Pow - This type of fighting spider charges at its opponent with a fierce pose. Its first attact is usually a bite on its opponent follow by arms pushing and biting. A very fierce fighting spider.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Gn4y_Heg4

Gostan Pow - This type of fighting spider will usually observes its opponent while moving backwards before engaging into a fight. Hearsay its a good fighter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvRGWdtncWg

Fair Fighter - This type of fighting spider fights with arms pushing and follow by biting its opponent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhn6TmWnr7E

IceCream Pow - This type of fighting spider fights with arms pushing and would run away less then 5 seconds.

There are still other names given to the fighting spiders that doesn't fall within the fighting style and colour category.

King Kong Pow - A very big size fighting spider. I yet to see one and I guess this is the raja labah labah I'm searching for.

Kang Bu Pow - A male and female fighting spider caught in the same nest. Hearsay its a good fighter if you caught this type of fighting spider.

Brothers Pow - Two or more male fighting spiders caught in the same nest. Hearsay only one male fighting spider could fight and brothers don't fight each other.

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

The First Meet Up

2009-07-28T17:41:00.012+08:00

Playing fighting spider alone wasn't that fun although I still continue to chat in the forum. One fine day, I decided to meet up with those guys from the fourm for a spider hunting trip. Edwin ( Koppao ), Yuda ( Yuda1987 ) and Ken ( Kenz691 ) from the forum joined the hunting trip on 1st May 2009 and we met at SengKang.

Before setting out for the hunt, we decided to give our present spiders a match. First was my 1st king against Edwin's spider and my first king won easily. Second match was my first king against Yuda's big spider.

It only lasted 3 chops. I was surprised my 1st king was able to withstand 3 chops from this fight as Yuda's spider is much larger then mine.

Next, Edwin challenged his deadly chopster against Yuda's fatal chopster and ended up with a draw. Both chopsters looked tired and injured after the match.

Haha the subsequent match of chopsters was mine against Edwin's chopster named Grey. Both ended with a draw match but a rematch showed my chopster did not dare to take up the fight anymore. I guessed mine lost.

After the match we headed down to hunt for fighting spiders and caught afew ranging from small to medium sizes. Most of the spiders we caught doesn't put up a good fight except there's one case where my newly caught spider (one teeth) fought with Edwin's newly caught spider that ended at least 7 chops.

The last spider which I caught got all of us a surprise. I spotted it and thought it was a huge one. When both Yuda and Edwin came to take a peep, both also exclaimed it looked huge (face only). When I brought it out then realised that its just an average size or small size spider. What took me in surprise was there was another male spider besides it. We tested fighting him with the companion spider and he won.

Next, I tested him with the one teeth newly caught spider (which put up a good fight earlier on) and well this 'brother' spider won again with a few chops. The following match was against Edwin's newly caught spider which resulted in 8 chops and he still hold on to his champion title.

After winning 3 times, we decided to try him out with Yuda's big spider and needless to say who was the winner. We all concluded that for his size he was a good and brave fighter.

After the match, it's almost 6pm and I had to bid Yuda and Edwin farewell.

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

My Passion for Fighting Spider

2009-07-27T16:50:00.021+08:00

Since I was a kid, I used to catch fighting spiders in bushes and matched them against each other. It was a fun game where most of the children in the 60s, 70s and 80s loved it. As time goes by, children tend to sway away from this game. There are too many electronics games around and catching fighting spiders is not an easy game to play with. You have to endure walking under the hot sun, insects bites and not to mention watch out for snakes !

Oh yes, there is another thing that I forgot to mention. There is basically a lack of spider hunting spots in Singapore. Those green vegetation found at HDB estates, parks and nature reserves are prohibited by Town Councils and NParks. Catch at your own risk !

I rekindled my passion for fighting spider when MediaCorp TV broadcasted Fighting Spiders. That was in mid April this year.

http://fightingspiders.mediacorptv.sg/games_spiders.htm

After several google from the net, I chanced upon this thread where it was created by one malaysian guy who shown great passion for fighting spiders.

http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/608348

From there on, I joined the thread and started communicating with members there. I was glad that there were a few members from Singapore and that means I'm not alone. :)

The first few fighting spiders that I caught were from my workplace compound. The bushes wasn't that thick and mainly constitute of japanese bamboo. All and all, I caught over 20+ fighting spiders from that stretch of bushes. After segregating those good ones, the lousy ones were released back to where I caught them.

*** Contributed by Trevally ***

Thiania Bhamoensis 巴莫方胸蛛

2009-07-27T14:06:00.014+08:00

Thiania bhamoensis is a species of jumping spider. It belongs to the family of Salticidae. In Singapore, we called it the fighting spider. This species of jumping spider is found in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar. A more detailed description on T. bhamoensis could be found on the below link.

http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/50/50rbz143-151.pdf

There's another species of fighting spider which very much resembles T. bhamoensis. They are called Thiania Subporessa 細齒方胸蛛 which can be found in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The abdomen pattern of T. subporessa is different from T. bhamoensis and that's how you differentiate them.

The below link shows how a T. subporessa looks like.

http://nc.kl.edu.tw/bbs/showpost.php?p=108752&postcount=36

And this is an interesting link on the molting of a T. subporessa.

http://nc.kl.edu.tw/bbs/showthread.php?t=10614

T. subporessa blog

http://www.geocities.jp/g_spiderhk2006/

*** Contributed by Trevally ***