- Messages
- 1,197
- Location
- South Wales
I've had a house spider in an enclosure, well I say I, but my partner has been doing all the care. Unfortunately, this is one species of true spider that still creeps me out, though I can remove them with a cup and piece of paper, no problem.
I'm not sure exactly how long we've had her, but it's got to be at least 2 months.
My partner has been giving her wild caught bugs but now i've got crickets in for my new T, we decided Spidey would go on the cricket diet too.
To our surprise she didn't pounce immediately like she normally does. Now, this is a spider that can sit in the same position on her web for 3 days at a time, then teleports into position to grab a bluebottle as soon as it hits her web. We guessed she just wasn't sure about the cricket, which was trying to hide down the side of the water dish.
This extra time of looking into the enclosure led my partner to make a discovery. He uttered the words I didn't want to hear, "Oh, there's a little spider in there!"
Oh boy, sure enough there was at least 50 babies (1st or 2nd instars?) in there. And a small yellowish egg sack. I'd noticed she'd done a fair amount of extra webbing but I hadn't suspected ( I'm not fussed on her so I don't look too closely!), as I thought they dropped sacs September/October time. Got that wrong!
She isn't kept in the same room as my little sling, though even if one could get in through a tiny airhole (which I very much doubt), my sling would have it for dinner, seeing as they are so much smaller. But I don't fancy having those slings disperse through the house, so we've popped a pair of tights (pantyhose for our US readers!) around the enclosure. They'll all get released tomorrow in the garden. Unless anyone comes up with a better solution that is!
I'm not sure exactly how long we've had her, but it's got to be at least 2 months.
My partner has been giving her wild caught bugs but now i've got crickets in for my new T, we decided Spidey would go on the cricket diet too.
To our surprise she didn't pounce immediately like she normally does. Now, this is a spider that can sit in the same position on her web for 3 days at a time, then teleports into position to grab a bluebottle as soon as it hits her web. We guessed she just wasn't sure about the cricket, which was trying to hide down the side of the water dish.
This extra time of looking into the enclosure led my partner to make a discovery. He uttered the words I didn't want to hear, "Oh, there's a little spider in there!"
Oh boy, sure enough there was at least 50 babies (1st or 2nd instars?) in there. And a small yellowish egg sack. I'd noticed she'd done a fair amount of extra webbing but I hadn't suspected ( I'm not fussed on her so I don't look too closely!), as I thought they dropped sacs September/October time. Got that wrong!
She isn't kept in the same room as my little sling, though even if one could get in through a tiny airhole (which I very much doubt), my sling would have it for dinner, seeing as they are so much smaller. But I don't fancy having those slings disperse through the house, so we've popped a pair of tights (pantyhose for our US readers!) around the enclosure. They'll all get released tomorrow in the garden. Unless anyone comes up with a better solution that is!
