The Crab Spider

The Crab spider, scientifically called Misumenops nepenthicola (that lives in/on nepenthes) is one of the infauna associated with pitcher plants. Reddish to blackish, the can look scary, but are pretty harmless. The ones pictured here are from cuttings of Nepenthes gracilis taken from your typical 'semak'. Not realising that the pitchers weren't empty, I dumped the cuttings into a bucket of tepid water. After a while, out comes the crab spiders, scurrying away from their sunken homes. I saw 2 females (very large - sexual dimorphism) and two males plus a smaller one, possibly a juvenile male. All I can do is to allow them to crawl onto my pots of nepenthes. Hopefully they find is as homey as their original house.

Nepenthes rafflesiana

Nepenthes rafflesiana is a good recommendation for any beginners into Nepenthes cultivation, well at least in the tropics. The pitchers are interesting, and depending on the type (as in variants), it could be large and highly decorative. Even the common, Johore type itself is interesting enough. As for the plant care, it is a very forgiving plant; water it well, enough sunlight and bingo, you've got a very rewarding plant that you can show off to your friends. You might want to occasionally feed it with insects or worms. My favourite food for them is none other than freeze-dried bloodworms. People have tried other insects as well but I prefer bloodworms as it doesn't leave much indigestible remnants in the pitchers. Besides the standard type, there is also a pretty pink one (as in the pitchers are pink in colour) plus a whole range of colours in between the two. All-white pitchers is considered rare. Another type worth mentioning here would be the 'Sandakan winged' where the wing of the pitchers continue towards the stalk of the pitcher.