Giant House Spider (E. atrica) Care and Info?

[neoncacti]

Hello everyone,
I've recently caught a rather large and likely female E.Atrica. My problem is that I've had her in the enclosure for a few days now but it still hasn't spun a proper web. There is very little web and it worries me as, where I've found it, the web was extremely dense and silky. Does it need more time to acclimate and weave more web? It also seems pretty skittish.

Another issue is that it always just sits in the upper corner of the enclosure. I have various bark around the enclosure, but it always sits in the empty corner.

I've also been wondering if Giant House Spiders get along well with others of their kind and if maybe adding a smaller specimen would help?

 

[The wolf]

Hello everyone,
I've recently caught a rather large and likely female E.Attica. My problem is that I've had her in the enclosure for a few days now but it still hasn't spun a proper web. There is very little web and it worries me as, where I've found it, the web was extremely dense and silky. Does it need more time to acclimate and weave more web? It also seems pretty skittish.

Another issue is that it always just sits in the upper corner of the enclosure. I have various bark around the enclosure, but it always sits in the empty corner.

I've also been wondering if Giant House Spiders get along well with others of their kind and if maybe adding a smaller specimen would help?

Firstly the genus has been revised there are now I think three near identical species so we just call it the atrica group or my personal favourite just eratigena spp ex atrica

Secondly,mine made a full web over night and now has built a pretty hefty complex a few days on,they're heavy webbers and if yours isn't Webbing there are a few possibilities,most likely you have a mature male,to check this look at its palps (the "finger-y" things next to its chelicerae["fangs]),it the tips of these are enlarged and it's not Webbing then it's most likely a mature male (the subadult males have enlarged palps too but they're not sclerosised [meaning thyere smooth and with no complex structures like bulbs or detachable caps or whatever]),mature males don't eat or web they simply search for Females,it's a little(and I mean a little) early in the season,the normally mature in early autum

If it's just sitting in one corner it may be worth checking if the humidity,if it's too high that could be a factor,this is a dry loving species

And on your last point,no they are HEAVILY canabalistic and will Eat anything else in their setups that they can

Another possibility is misidentification,it could be a lycosid that doesn't like the sub,a pisurid,ctenid or something else arboreal or semi arboreal that looks super similar to an e.spp ex atrica or maybe an agelenid that matured early



A photo of the spider and the setup would help a lot and I'll see what I can do,ask me anything I'll try and answer

 

[neoncacti]

Hey! Thanks for the excellent and prompt response.. I was worried as I am new to this and could not find substantial info about the spider.

Okay so I am not exactly sure about the gender, I snapped some nice upclose pics so you should be able to assist. The reason why i assumed it was a female is because where I found it, there was an eggsac (but the slings were all dead). I had caught a smaller one previously, but it did the same thing. Corner, no web.

Could be humidity... substrate was not 100% dry and it rained lately so the air is quite humid as well.

I did, for test purposes drop in 2 daddy longlegs on 2 different nights and they vanished. Also found some legs laying around, unsure if it was from the old web I brought the spider with or from the new daddies.. also has a cricket but it is untouched.

Really hope I find a solution as my scorpion is doing great.. really would like to have a happy spider as well.

EDIT: I named the spider after the Greek region. I am embarrassed, but posting this at like 1.30am was not the brightest idea, as my brain just typed Attica, while I was thinking Atrica. Hahah

 

[Chin Crimson]

Well the enclosure looks real nice, i would wanna live there!

From my unprofessional view, it does look like T. Atrica but don't quote me on that. Maybe the webbing is just too thin. Make it dark and use a smartphone flashlight maybe you will see it then. If it's mature male they won't web i think? Maybe you can observe it a little, if it is running around all time, drumming, might be a mature male.

And what do you mean by Daddy Longlegs? Pholcidae or Opiliones? Because i would never trust Pholcidsae, they can take on almost anything.

 

[neoncacti]

There is very little and very thin web. They usually make a very dense weave, which makes me a bit sad and it seems worrisome. As I caught it in its "hole" where it had woven a lot of web.

Phlocidae, but they were really small in comparison.

Should I just release it where I found it and try getting another one? Where I caught it, I saw another Atrica in the web nearby, and it reacted aggressively/attacking/searching for food, when I touched the web slightly.

 

[The wolf]

Hey! Thanks for the excellent and prompt response.. I was worried as I am new to this and could not find substantial info about the spider.

Okay so I am not exactly sure about the gender, I snapped some nice upclose pics so you should be able to assist. The reason why i assumed it was a female is because where I found it, there was an eggsac (but the slings were all dead). I had caught a smaller one previously, but it did the same thing. Corner, no web.

Could be humidity... substrate was not 100% dry and it rained lately so the air is quite humid as well.

I did, for test purposes drop in 2 daddy longlegs on 2 different nights and they vanished. Also found some legs laying around, unsure if it was from the old web I brought the spider with or from the new daddies.. also has a cricket but it is untouched.

Really hope I find a solution as my scorpion is doing great.. really would like to have a happy spider as well.

EDIT: I named the spider after the Greek region. I am embarrassed, but posting this at like 1.30am was not the brightest idea, as my brain just typed Attica, while I was thinking Atrica. Hahah

Definitely e.spp ex atrica

Don't worry at all,e.spp ex atrica was my first spider too and I had no ide what I was doing lol,you're doing great

Definitely a female 100% sure on that

Unless the sub is damper than a puddle she should be ok,they're very hardy spiders

As @Chin Crimson said,if it's a pholcus phalangiodes (cellar spider,daddy long legs),certainly in their webs they could possibly take an adult e.sp ex atrica they're not much good out of their webs though but worth noting

I think to be honest,she's just Webbing slowly,try feeding her something like a cricket or something you would feed your scorp by putting it on any threads near her and see what happens

I'm dyslexic and always spelling my sciencific names totally wrong it's chill haha

Love the setup btw there's nothing wrong there

Well the enclosure looks real nice, i would wanna live there!

From my unprofessional view, it does look like T. Atrica but don't quote me on that. Maybe the webbing is just too thin. Make it dark and use a smartphone flashlight maybe you will see it then. If it's mature male they won't web i think? Maybe you can observe it a little, if it is running around all time, drumming, might be a mature male.

And what do you mean by Daddy Longlegs? Pholcidae or Opiliones? Because i would never trust Pholcidsae, they can take on almost anything.

Woah dude you're a couple genus revisions down,firstly it's no longer tengenaria,all the old "giant house" tengenaria species had been combined into eratigena atrica but now e.atrica has been split back into the original eratigena species so now you say eratigena spp ex atrica or "the atrica group"

That's a good idea taking pics of the web in he dark

Mature male true spiders don't drum,that's a myglamorph thing,she's a female looking at those palps

Those "dead" spiders by her eggsac are probably empty moults,they disperse after their first moult

Your options ordered most likely to least
Webbing a bit but slower
1.maybe she's just a slow Webber,each individual is different
2.could be she's tired from her other sac
3.could be planning on a new one

Premoult,she could be a younger individual that just happened to be near an old sac,when spiders go into premoult they rarely web or eat

She could be just old and near the end although that's highly unlikely in this season

So at the end of the day there's not much you can do,she seems happy and healthy and that's what counts

 

[The wolf]

There is very little and very thin web. They usually make a very dense weave, which makes me a bit sad and it seems worrisome. As I caught it in its "hole" where it had woven a lot of web.

Phlocidae, but they were really small in comparison.

Should I just release it where I found it and try getting another one? Where I caught it, I saw another Atrica in the web nearby, and it reacted aggressively/attacking/searching for food, when I touched the web slightly.

The big thick webs are built from lifetimes of Webbing,id just keep her and see what happens

 

[neoncacti]

Definitely e.spp ex atrica

Don't worry at all,e.spp ex atrica was my first spider too and I had no ide what I was doing lol,you're doing great

Definitely a female 100% sure on that

Unless the sub is damper than a puddle she should be ok,they're very hardy spiders

As @Chin Crimson said,if it's a pholcus phalangiodes (cellar spider,daddy long legs),certainly in their webs they could possibly take an adult e.sp ex atrica they're not much good out of their webs though but worth noting

I think to be honest,she's just Webbing slowly,try feeding her something like a cricket or something you would feed your scorp by putting it on any threads near her and see what happens

I'm dyslexic and always spelling my sciencific names totally wrong it's chill haha

Love the setup btw there's nothing wrong there


Woah dude you're a couple genus revisions down,firstly it's no longer tengenaria,all the old "giant house" tengenaria species had been combined into eratigena atrica but now e.atrica has been split back into the original eratigena species so now you say eratigena spp ex atrica or "the atrica group"

That's a good idea taking pics of the web in he dark

Mature male true spiders don't drum,that's a myglamorph thing,she's a female looking at those palps

Those "dead" spiders by her eggsac are probably empty moults,they disperse after their first moult

Your options ordered most likely to least
Webbing a bit but slower
1.maybe she's just a slow Webber,each individual is different
2.could be she's tired from her other sac
3.could be planning on a new one

Premoult,she could be a younger individual that just happened to be near an old sac,when spiders go into premoult they rarely web or eat

She could be just old and near the end although that's highly unlikely in this season

So at the end of the day there's not much you can do,she seems happy and healthy and that's what counts

Awesome dude, this was super helpful.
I guess I will be keeping a close eye on it for a while. By that time the substrate should also be a bit dryer, tho theres a tiny plany growing, so i might water it slightly to have a more natural look.

I feed my scorpion mealworms(as I have a Gecko), but I feel like they might escape the spider. Gonna leave the cricket with her for a while and see what happens.

Really hoping she survives and I that I can look after her properly! Thanks so much for all the kind words and most useful information!

 

[The wolf]

Awesome dude, this was super helpful.
I guess I will be keeping a close eye on it for a while. By that time the substrate should also be a bit dryer, tho theres a tiny plany growing, so i might water it slightly to have a more natural look.

I feed my scorpion mealworms(as I have a Gecko), but I feel like they might escape the spider. Gonna leave the cricket with her for a while and see what happens.

Really hoping she survives and I that I can look after her properly! Thanks so much for all the kind words and most useful information!

I appreciate that attitude,you know what you could do,get another one more the merrier

 

[neoncacti]

I appreciate that attitude,you know what you could do,get another one more the merrier

Might just do that! I could get a bigger jar, add some icecream sticks so it can web and climb and see how it goes!

 

[Joogvanhedel]

She will be fine, looks great! Full belly, and good terrarium, within a few days she will web it full ;-)

 

[neoncacti]

She will be fine, looks great! Full belly, and good terrarium, within a few days she will web it full ;-)

Thanks! This is the good news I was hoping for. ^_^

I checked up on her to see how she is doing and found a little spider in the enclosure. Just out of curiosity if anyone knows it.. it's tiny. When it hides, it looks very elongated, like skinny prism kind of. Dropped it a bit of water, it drank immediately and then moved on.

 

[The wolf]

I checked up on her to see how she is doing and found a little spider in the enclosure. Just out of curiosity if anyone knows it.. it's tiny. When it hides, it looks very elongated, like skinny prism kind of. Dropped it a bit of water, it drank immediately and then moved on.

Huh,that's not a pholcus,it's a MM something my first thought is obviously tetragnatha extensa but obviously look at the chelicerae and bodyshape,clearly it can't be,I'm not sure if there are any tetragnathids with that appearance,maybe something like a theriidid or a linyphiid,there's always a peculiar sp undoubtedly one as elongate as that,I'll check my books when I can and get back to you

 

[Chin Crimson]

Woah dude you're a couple genus revisions down,firstly it's no longer tengenaria,all the old "giant house" tengenaria species had been combined into eratigena atrica but now e.atrica has been split back into the original eratigena species so now you say eratigena spp ex atrica or "the atrica group"

I'll shut my mouth. xD I am just too newbie. I am sorry.

 

[neoncacti]

Huh,that's not a pholcus,it's a MM something my first thought is obviously tetragnatha extensa but obviously look at the chelicerae and bodyshape,clearly it can't be,I'm not sure if there are any tetragnathids with that appearance,maybe something like a theriidid or a linyphiid,there's always a peculiar sp undoubtedly one as elongate as that,I'll check my books when I can and get back to you

Does look a looot like a T.Extensa! Google some pics. But it is way too small. Maybe it's a youngling that I accidentally got in with some of the substrate or bark.

As a side note, just so I don't make another thread, would Euscorpius scorpions get along together? I think mine is an E.Gamma and I've seen other people online put them together, but don't want them killing each other off, and again having a harder time finding anything concrete on the web.
I used to find them sometimes in my backyard, cramped up under a vase. In most cases it was one per vase, but other times there'd be more of them.

 

[The wolf]

Does look a looot like a T.Extensa! Google some pics. But it is way too small. Maybe it's a youngling that I accidentally got in with some of the substrate or bark.

As a side note, just so I don't make another thread, would Euscorpius scorpions get along together? I think mine is an E.Gamma and I've seen other people online put them together, but don't want them killing each other off, and again having a harder time finding anything concrete on the web.
I used to find them sometimes in my backyard, cramped up under a vase. In most cases it was one per vase, but other times there'd be more of them.

right ok

Firstly I'm excluding tetragnatha extensa based on colouration

Could be tetragnatha nigitata but there are a few issues,male spiders have enlarged palps(the fingery things by the fangs[chelicerae]) most young males don't have enlarged palps and most species only have large palps when they're one moult of maturity and obviously when they're mature but there are a couple of exceptions which are generally from family's somewhat related to tetragnathidae,it's also worth noting immature males palps have no complex structures such as bulbs and detachable caps whereas mature males always do.its also worth noting that mature tetragnathids have massive chelicerae for "battling" (it's actually a totally safe match rarely even resulting in any semblance of an injury) so I'm leaning away from tetragnatha

Male orb weavers always look weird I think this could potentially be just a weird male orb weaver nephilia males look somewhat similar

I really personally think it's a weird theriidid or linyphiid microlinyphia and coleosoma are somewhat similar but there's endless possibilities with these families
I know nothing about scorpions,might be worth posting it in the scorpion section

 

[The wolf]

I'll shut my mouth. xD I am just too newbie. I am sorry.

Noooo don't,never shut your mouth,its not like you said anything outright incorrect,I appreciate your input

 

[neoncacti]

Thanks Wolf, you're an absolute legend! I appreciate all the help so much ^^

 

[The wolf]

Thanks Wolf, you're an absolute legend! I appreciate all the help so much ^^

No problem at all,dm or @ me if u have any questions here to help and happy to help that's all I can be