What to feed incredibly small web-dwellers?

PidderPeets

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Let me start this off by saying I'm comfortable with tarantulas, but I admit I'm not all that confident with true spider husbandry, particularly for web-dwellers. So any and all advice is welcome and appreciated.

I noticed an absolutely miniscule spiderling residing on my garage fridge yesterday. It's too dangerous for it to stay there (I have spider haters in the family), but as tiny as it is, I can't think of anywhere safe for it. So I decided I'd like to attempt to raise it up a bit and perhaps release it once it's gained size. Aside from being a web dweller, I have absolutely no clue what it is. It's much too small for my camera to get a clear picture of it. It's roughly 1/8 inch in legspan, and it's body is just barely 1/16 inch.

So my main question is what to feed something so tiny? Will it accept prekill? If not, what are the options for something so small? Do I have to wait for it to establish a proper web before attempting to feed it? Additionally, do I need an adult sized enclosure (not that I know it's adult size) right off the bat or do slings need something more appropriate to their size? I know the enclosure would require anchor points, a small amount of substrate, and ventilation but is there anything else?

From what I can make out with my eyes, it appears to have a dark grey (possibly lighter shade of black), oblong abdomen with two rows of white spots down the dorsal side, a solid black carapace with no patterning, and black striping at each joint on the 8th pair of legs. The rest of the legs are an opaque white. I know it's unlikely, but if by some crazy chance someone can at least narrow it down to a genus, that would help me immensely at least get more specific with it's care.

20180710_144110.jpg
(It's the teeny tiny speck on the left. On the right is a prekilled pinhead cricket and a prekilled gnat. Also, that enclosure is temporary. I plan to rehouse it to something with more anchor points)

Finally, is this something I should even attempt with absolutely no clue what it is? Even if I worry for it's survival outside, I'd much rather it take a shot out there if I can't provide for it. Thanks in advance for any help
 

Wesley Smith

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I've heard of people feeding springtails to extremely small species of mantis, perhaps that could work? I use see through pill bottles for true spider slings, usually they take fruitflies but I don't think I've ever seen a sling so small. I would upgrade it to a 32oz. deli cup (unless it's something VERY big) after probably 4th-5th instar.
Good luck!
 

PidderPeets

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I've heard of people feeding springtails to extremely small species of mantis, perhaps that could work? I use see through pill bottles for true spider slings, usually they take fruitflies but I don't think I've ever seen a sling so small. I would upgrade it to a 32oz. deli cup (unless it's something VERY big) after probably 4th-5th instar.
Good luck!
I kinda figured this wouldn't be a simple cut and dry scenario. I've been meaning to get springtails for quite a while, so maybe that's something I should finally cave in and do. The two dead feeders are stuck together and attached to the cup wall with a strand of webbing, so I have to assume it's at least interacted with them. But I can't tell whether it's actually eaten or not.

The only thing I can confidently say it's not, is a Pholcus phalangioides. I have a handful of them in my room, and they all had babies a month or so back, so I'd recognize those in a heartbeat. Whatever it is, I don't think it's anything too large, as the largest webbers we have around here are Argiope sp., but from what I could tell this doesn't even remotely resemble a sling of those. If I can confirm it's eating I might keep it just to figure out what it is.

Thanks for your suggestions!
 

NYAN

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Ive raised several species of latrodectus from that size on fruit flies and pinhead crickets. If it’s a web dweller, once it establishes a web it’ll be able to take larger prey than hunting spiders in my experience.
 

PidderPeets

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Unfortunately, the sling passed away some time last night. I don't know what went wrong (it was active and behaving normally before I went to sleep) but I can only assume it was something I did wrong. The deli cup that I housed it in had never been used for anything else before, and the cricket that's in there with it was prekilled, so I can't imagine either of those were a cause. I kept it on the cooler side of the room last night, but the cooler side is still in the mid-70s at least. Is there anything at all that someone can think of that I should try differently, so I can try and learn from my mistakes?

Maybe it wasn't my fault after all, but I can't help but think that if I had just left it where it was, it might still be alive. I seem to have terrible luck with most true spiders.

Thanks anyway to those who offered suggestions. It was appreciated
 

Wesley Smith

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It may have already walked through some poison when you caught it, other than that the only thing I can think is that it may have never eaten in your care, also can't see why that would be your fault with the information given.
 

PidderPeets

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It may have already walked through some poison when you caught it, other than that the only thing I can think is that it may have never eaten in your care, also can't see why that would be your fault with the information given.
It's likely that it never ate in my care. I had it for maybe 24hrs, could it have really starved in that short a time? I know it's possible it wasn't anything I did, but it seemed to be acting totally normal the night before, so I can't help but think there was something I neglected to provide for it. It might just be the natural guilt felt due to something I tried to care for dying.

I appreciate your reassurance that it might not have been my fault
 

NYAN

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It's likely that it never ate in my care. I had it for maybe 24hrs, could it have really starved in that short a time? I know it's possible it wasn't anything I did, but it seemed to be acting totally normal the night before, so I can't help but think there was something I neglected to provide for it. It might just be the natural guilt felt due to something I tried to care for dying.

I appreciate your reassurance that it might not have been my fault
Could’ve been infant mortality type thing. Spiders have so many offspring with each sac and many don’t survive for random reasons.
 

PidderPeets

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Could’ve been infant mortality type thing. Spiders have so many offspring with each sac and many don’t survive for random reasons.
It's possible. It's a real shame because it really was neatly colored for a sling, and I would've liked to have known what it was. There was no adult spiders near where this sling was, so I'll likely never know
 

NYAN

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It's possible. It's a real shame because it really was neatly colored for a sling, and I would've liked to have known what it was. There was no adult spiders near where this sling was, so I'll likely never know
If there’s one I think you may find more. Take a look around and look closely, you might find more or something else cool.
 
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