Giving water to spiders - how?

[zergo512]

Hi

I captured two types of spiders:

1. Pholcus phalangioides, very small but with very long legs (he loves to live high and upside down)
2. Clubiona corticalis, (he prefer shade and low levels)

Clubiona corticalis: I once dropped him small piece of... carrot and I was surprised that he actually came to it and began to suck(or lick?) water from it. Today (afer like 5 days of no water) I dropped him wet cotton and he almost instantly (HE CAN SMELL WATER!) ran to it and began to suck(or lick?) it. It was amazing.

Now the problem is that I don't know how to "force" Pholcus phalangioides to drink as wet cotton balls are on the bottom of jar while spider is at the top (constantly). How to force him to drink? (in case that he is too stupid or afraid to descend to ground level to that cotton ball).

Thank you all! (im new to this hobby)

 

[Tenodera]

They get a lot of their moisture from food; tossing it a couple of fat flies might be the most reliable method. Otherwise, use a pipettes to drip water on its web or the wall and the spider will drink if it's thirsty.

 

[Ciphor]

Hi

I captured two types of spiders:

1. Pholcus phalangioides, very small but with very long legs (he loves to live high and upside down)
2. Clubiona corticalis, (he prefer shade and low levels)

Clubiona corticalis: I once dropped him small piece of... carrot and I was surprised that he actually came to it and began to suck(or lick?) water from it. Today (afer like 5 days of no water) I dropped him wet cotton and he almost instantly (HE CAN SMELL WATER!) ran to it and began to suck(or lick?) it. It was amazing.

Now the problem is that I don't know how to "force" Pholcus phalangioides to drink as wet cotton balls are on the bottom of jar while spider is at the top (constantly). How to force him to drink? (in case that he is too stupid or afraid to descend to ground level to that cotton ball).

Thank you all! (im new to this hobby)

Have pictures? I'd love to see the Clubiona sp.

Zergo it really depends on how you want to keep these spiders. True spiders can survive with only hydration from their food, yes, this however is not optimal care. Pholcids are in the Haplogynes clad, which are among some of the most hardy true spiders out there. Truely, Haplogynes are the only spiders I do not worry about watering.

Now the Clubionid definitely should have water, which is why she/he is desperately drinking it. What you will find is the further evolved a spider is, the more water it needs. Haplogynes being more evolved then Mygalomorphs, but less evolved then the rest of the Araneomorph infra-order that reside in the Entelegynes clad. The two most developed/evolved families are arguably Lycosids (wolf spiders) & Pisaurids (nursery web spiders). These two families absolutely drink tons of water. There are exceptions, there are always exceptions. Your two spiders however are not an exception.

So my advice, don't worry about the cellar spider, that guy is fine with a bi-weekly feeding.
I would do one spray on the side of the enclosure for the sac spider. That is how I water my trues, they suck down the droplets off the glass or whatever. Just try not to spray the spider itself. You wont hurt it, but you wont make it happy either. Alternatively you can use a plastic bottle cap, but, you will need to get in and clean the cap every few weeks, so I don't recommend it.

I also recommend bi-weekly feedings. True spiders do not need big meals, they do not need frequent meals, and honestly, if you are just tossing huge food items in once or twice a week, I wouldn't worry about watering the sac spider, it will reach the end of its life fast enough from improper feeding, making worrying about water moot. If a long lived true spider is your goal, feed once every two weeks, water spray once every week. You can spray the side of the cellar spiders enclosure, but the benefit is minor, as they are built to survive long periods without hydration.

 

[Arianji]

If he drank from a carrot I bet you could offer the corticalis the cricket quencher stuff by fluckers/zoomed. Its just a gel and it keeps is shape for a pretty long time. They even make a calcium fortified gel if you wanted to offer it occasionally.
As for my true spider, I very lightly mist the side of my widow's jar and the top of her web once a week along with her weekly feedings, and she's fat and healthy, I never see her drink the water droplets though.
But Ciphor and Tenodera have wonderful advice as usual, they know their spiders.

 

[Ciphor]

If he drank from a carrot I bet you could offer the corticalis the cricket quencher stuff by fluckers/zoomed. Its just a gel and it keeps is shape for a pretty long time. They even make a calcium fortified gel if you wanted to offer it occasionally.
As for my true spider, I very lightly mist the side of my widow's jar and the top of her web once a week along with her weekly feedings, and she's fat and healthy, I never see her drink the water droplets though.
But Ciphor and Tenodera have wonderful advice as usual, they know their spiders.

Thanks! I personally have not tried using the gels on spiders, but If your spider is not mature, I would not give it any calcium, as this could cause complications in molting.

Weekly feed/water is ok too, don't mean to sound like anything other then bi-weekly is bad. Bi-weekly food simply gives spiders the best lifespan. Size of prey is important too tho!

 

[Arianji]

You are very welcome. I will try to cut my widow back to bi-weekly myself. What size food is acceptable for a spider her size, she is full grown now (or I am pretty sure she is) She molted not too long after I captured her (she was much smaller before that molt she doubled in size) So now her abdomen is about the size of a pea, and her leg span is probably that of a quarter. I mainly feed her small crickets, but I gave her a medium sized one last week because I didn't have any small in the batch. She took it down no problem. Should I bump her up to the medium size (right before they molt into their wings) or keep them small?
I actually just went and looked at her and I guess the big cricket pushed her over and she molted again. She's not significantly bigger, but much fatter. And she lost another red dot on the back of her abdomen (she had 3 red dots on the top of her abdomen when I found her and it looks like each molt she loses one. Now only one dot remains right above her spinnerettes, and, of course, the tell tale red hourglass underneath.

 

[Ciphor]

The thing most people forget is spiders must live opportunistically in the wild. They must be able to take down and eat prey twice its size, because in the wild, it might be the only meal they see for months. It is basically binge eating in a sense, and it takes its toll on the spiders life.

What I do is max out and pace. Once they hit adult (or if I captive a small one that hasn't been eating well) I feed it a big meal, or two medium meals to get the spider to it's max size. I follow it with bi-weekly feedings of prey about 1/3 to 1/5 the size of the spider, and give it water every 7 days.

For most spiders, you will get 6-12 months extra life, and when your pet true spider only lives an average of 12-18 months, an extra 6-12 months is significant. With a widow you could be talking about the difference between a 3 year old specimen and a 4-5 year old specimen.

 

[Arianji]

So since she is an adult now I should feed her a medium cricket every other week and water her once a week. Cause I would love for her to live as long as possible, she is a beautiful spider whom I love to observe.

 

[catfishrod69]

I still have a adult female L. mactans that i caught 1 year 7 months ago. She was adult when i caught her. She has been doing fine until recently. She has been refusing food, and is getting very skinny. Guess its just her time. I was feeding her crickets once every 2 weeks or so. I recently tried a cricket, and a housefly. Both were rejected. But she has lived a long time. Who knows how old she really is. She could have been in the wild for 3 years before i found her. Everyday i look at her to see if she has finally withered to nothing, but she is still holding on with that tiny abdomen.

 

[Arianji]

That is a shame about your widow catfishrod69, but it sounds like you gave her a very nice life regardless, maybe she'll bounce back, or maybe you'll find another. Either way I hope it works out

 

[catfishrod69]

Yeah. But im sure she has lived a long life. I do have about 7 other females. I have mactans and variolus. Thanks.

That is a shame about your widow catfishrod69, but it sounds like you gave her a very nice life regardless, maybe she'll bounce back, or maybe you'll find another. Either way I hope it works out

 

[zergo512]

Thank you all for great answers and hints.

My clubiona spider is still alive and well. I was feeding her a lot, and suddenly in just like two days she made small egg sack as she was sitting on it for days not moving at all. I removed the egg sac and flushed it in the toilet (sorry), as I wasn't prepared for having small army of spiders.

I might post some photos soon but I still didn't manage to discover a way to photograph this spider safety (it's quick and she can climb on glass).

ps. Is it normal for clubiona spiders to buld nets (barley visible, just few threads but enough to support spider weight) - but not for hunting but for traveling faster (jar)?

ps2. Daddy Long-legs spider was hanging upside down for weeks (even in separate jar). He ate one of his companion (same family) and was quite lazy in general. So I throw him away. But I must admit that those spiders are real killers - they can kill spiders/insects even 4x bigger then them. try it! quite scary.