# Funnel  Web Weaver Spider - Agelenopsis sp.



## Roland Slinger (Sep 17, 2009)

Can these be made into little pets? I have about 15 of 'em outside in a bush. Everytime I walk the dog I make sure to poke all their webs with sticks (not cutting through) and watch them come out and try to bite it  

So I thought I could just capture one and keep it in a deli container, would be interesting to see what kind of webbings they make in it and such.

Has anyone kept one? How long do they live? What can I feed them (can I feed them ants?), and are they communal?


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## Widowman10 (Sep 17, 2009)

yes, you could probably keep one of these gals with a proper setup.

you can feed them random insects, you know, the kind they would probably catch outside where you find them.

no, they are not communal. all the ones you found were in separate webs, correct?


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 17, 2009)

Widowman10 said:


> yes, you could probably keep one of these gals with a proper setup.
> 
> you can feed them random insects, you know, the kind they would probably catch outside where you find them.
> 
> no, they are not communal. all the ones you found were in separate webs, correct?


Yup, all separate. So if they feed fine on the insects outside, does it mean they are resistant to pesticides, or are the insects outside pesticide free and I could probably also feed them to my Ts? 

On their webs the only food I can make out they eat are some sort of fliers, which I won't be able to catch of course  So I don't know what else I could feed them

And what would a proper set up be? Would a deli container not be good enough?


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## Widowman10 (Sep 17, 2009)

Roland Slinger said:


> Yup, all separate. So if they feed fine on the insects outside, does it mean they are resistant to pesticides, or are the insects outside pesticide free and I could probably also feed them to my Ts?


hahaha, not going there, that's the big debate. basically, if you live out in the middle of nowhere and are sure there's no pesticides around, you can make that choice, you know the consequences. that being said, i've fed WC prey all my life and have always been fine with all critters. 



Roland Slinger said:


> On their webs the only food I can make out they eat are some sort of fliers, which I won't be able to catch of course  So I don't know what else I could feed them


sure you can!! a clear vial lowered slowly over a fly from above! easy every time... shake it up until it's dazed, then pick it out and throw it in!



Roland Slinger said:


> And what would a proper set up be? Would a deli container not be good enough?


try to mimic the natural environment/setup as much as possible.


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 17, 2009)

Hehe, good idea with the fly. Shouldn't be too hard since I have a few floating around the house a couple of times a day.

I'll go ahead and try to capture one and see how it goes.

Thanks for the help! :clap:


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 17, 2009)

>.< Much harder to catch than I expected. As soon as I move my hand after luring them out with a stick, they run back into their funnel.


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## leoman777 (Sep 17, 2009)

what i do sometimes is catch a cricket and let the spider gte it then play tug-o-war with and about half the time the spider will come out  hope this helps you!


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## jsloan (Sep 17, 2009)

Roland Slinger said:


> Has anyone kept one? How long do they live? What can I feed them (can I feed them ants?), and are they communal?


I've been keeping a female _Agelenopsis utahana_ for several months now and she's doing fine.  Just put the spider in a large container and throw in a few flies each week and it will do well.  Have water available (I squirt in a few drops with an eye dropper now and then - make sure you don't use the dropper for anything but water for your spiders,though), and also give it a place to hide.  I don't like to put in rocks, in case they shift when I pick up the container.  For mine I put in a crumpled piece of paper, which gave it plenty of nooks and crevices to make a home in.  I mated it with a male a couple of months ago; but, even though she's been very fat for weeks, she hasn't laid eggs yet.

The spider will do well enough in a small container, but put it in one where it has enough room to make a good web.  It will hide for most of the day, but come out at night and sit in its web.

You can try feeding them ants, but some spiders have problems with them.  Experiment and see what it will take (ants bite back and spray formic acid, which some spiders don't like.  Since this spider doesn't wrap its prey before grabbing it, ants might be a problem for it - if it doesn't take the ant within a reasonable time, I recommend removing the ant from the container).


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## BiologicalJewels (Sep 18, 2009)

If you are interested in the making of their egg sac.

http://scabies.myfreeforum.org/about2737.html


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## jsloan (Sep 18, 2009)

balam said:


> If you are interested in the making of their egg sac.
> 
> http://scabies.myfreeforum.org/about2737.html


Very interesting, thanks!  I didn't know that some of these spiders cover the egg sac with debris.


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## loxoscelesfear (Sep 18, 2009)

leave your door ajar and they will come in and be your pet.  i have several in my home.  natural bug control.  then again, maybe i should close the door and i wouldn't have a bug problem.


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 18, 2009)

weeee got one! After trying for 30 minutes the other day I went out again today, this time almost ALL were out on their webs. I tried a couple I liked but they got away and I sadly ruined all their webbing in the process.

There was one out however that didn't seem to have a funnel yet and was cleaning his legs, must be the new guy on the block. So I just nabbed him straight from the middle of his web. Hope I didn't hurt him because he's been under the same leaf since I caught him 15 minutes ago. Hope he isn't dead


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 18, 2009)

Hm, seems like these spiders can't climb plastic  

Not sure what to put in for vertical climbing. There isn't much outside besides leaves and grass I can put in the container.


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## 8+) (Sep 19, 2009)

I've been meaning to post about these for a long time! I caught a pair of the large ones (about 2" DLS) a couple of years ago and set them up in a large plastic tub with a divider that they could cross over to mate.

Let me tell you they displayed some fascinating behavior! They switched webs several times. The male actually seemed to be the dominant sex. He was the one that would chase the female out of her web. Once I observed him taking prey to the female! I saw them mating, but didn't get a sac. Probably because I didn't cycle them with temps or light. After they mated they spent time in the same web together with her deep in the tunnel and him standing guard at the opening.

I'll have to upload my photos and post them here; along with any other behavior I can remember...

Reactions: Like 1


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## BiologicalJewels (Sep 19, 2009)

Hey,

Good luck on your catch.
Agelenopsis don't necessarily need a little more floor room that vertical space, but they will build a web based on what you give them.
What container do you have yours in?

I kept the one I had in an acrylic box approx 7" x 3" x 3"

I used some dirt as substrate, a couple or rocks n order for her to have nooks and crannies from which the web would radiate outward and a couple of sticks.

You can really do well with the sticks alone.

On the set-up I used the spider made a sheet-web that tapered into a small funnel.

If you use a vertical set-up (even an old soda bottle) with sticks coming from the floor up, you will find that the spider is likely to make a deep funnel web from the bottom center and opening wider at the top (really cool).

They are not hard to breed or get them to hatch, I didn't cycle her, just kept her ~77 F.

With one mating she gave me 4 sacs, the first two didn't hatch, the last two did.

The slings are very small... and there were TONS of them.


Good luck and enjoy your new pet  They sure are fascinating to watch.


Oscar R

If


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 19, 2009)

xD xD xD

I just found a MM and managed to capture him. I put him in the females tank. We'll see how it goes!

I don't think it will go well, though, because I just captured the female less than 24 hours ago. She made a small web but I'm sure she's not confident in the cage yet.

How do males attract females with this sp.? Right now he's kind of thumping his abdomen on the silk and then vibrating his body a little, could that be it? The female can't tell though because she was scared off the silk as soon as he moved in the cage, she's waiting on the ground.


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 19, 2009)

He ate her

I have another female in a different cage. I guess I'll wait for him to make a sperm web, then I'll put them together.

Should I move the female into the males cage, or the male into the female?


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## Spider-Spazz (Sep 19, 2009)

I have a Agelenopsis utahana, Had him since he was about.. 5 cm big. I thought he was a female until his last molt. He's molted about 3 or 4 times since I've had him, and hes at least one to one in a half inches big right now.
Theres one on my back porch thats atleast 3 inches big. Very pretty boy.
I've had mine for about 4 months now.


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 19, 2009)

Spider-Spazz said:


> I have a Agelenopsis utahana, Had him since he was about.. 5 cm big. I thought he was a female until his last molt. He's molted about 3 or 4 times since I've had him, and hes at least one to one in a half inches big right now.
> Theres one on my back porch thats atleast 3 inches big. Very pretty boy.
> I've had mine for about 4 months now.


:O The ones around here at 1 inch at most! I haven't seen any bigger. Even this MM I caught today isn't 1 inch and he's the largest I've seen so far. 3 inch :drool:


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 19, 2009)

WTHHHHH

She's ALIVE! That is the most amazing thing I've seen!!!!

I put him in the cage and he kept raising his legs whenever the female walked by (he wasn't sure where she was because she was running all over the place).

He then jumped her when she got close and she stopped moving. I thought he envenomed her and was just going to eat her. He took her into the makeshift home she was using in a leaf where I could barely see them, and she was laying in the same position until now like 6 hours later. And he was there the whole time.

Now I went to check on him seeing how far he got to eating her. And I see both of them out and about!

Can someone explain this?


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## jsloan (Sep 19, 2009)

Roland Slinger said:


> Can someone explain this?


That's the way they mate!  The female becomes quiet and lays on her side, allowing the male to crawl on top of her and insert one of his palps. After a while she will turn onto her other side and he will insert his other palp.  They can do this for hours, facing in opposite directions. 

Here's a picture I took of a mating pair (_Agelenopsis utahana_) I had last July (I still have the female).  The female is on the bottom, and you can kind of see that her abdomen is turned on its side.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 19, 2009)

That's so interesting!!

I could have sworn he was just eating her. I mean they didn't touch or do any kind of mating ritual I could tell (aside from the male thumping his abdomen on the silk, which is probably it). Then when she came close, he just jumped on her and his mouth was on her abdomen and she stopped moving the second he hit her.

Are you sure they don't immobilize the female at least temporarily?


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## jsloan (Sep 19, 2009)

Spider-Spazz said:


> I have a Agelenopsis utahana, Had him since he was about.. 5 cm big. I thought he was a female until his last molt. He's molted about 3 or 4 times since I've had him, and hes at least one to one in a half inches big right now.
> Theres one on my back porch thats atleast 3 inches big. Very pretty boy.
> I've had mine for about 4 months now.


That is very large for this species.   I measured an adult male _A. utahana_ last July and the leg span was less than 1.5 inches (the female was a bit smaller).  Here is the actual spider:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/299590

Do you think you might be looking at a different species?


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## jsloan (Sep 19, 2009)

Roland Slinger said:


> Are you sure they don't immobilize the female at least temporarily?


If he did, I think it was because she "swooned" in his presence, not because he envenomated her in any way.  Females of many other species of spiders also become docile and quiet during mating, allowing the male to have his way so to speak.    For example, here are some pictures and a little explanation of a mating I saw between two crab spiders, _Xysticus emertoni_ (Thomisidae) earlier this year.  The male literally laid on his back, then picked the female up and manipulated her until she was in position for mating (this was after ritualistically "tying her up" with a few loose strands of silk - visible in the pictures).  She remained still the entire time:

http://forum.canadianarachnology.org/viewtopic.php?p=2324#2324

Spider behavior is always fascinating.  Expect the unexpected!

Reactions: Like 1


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## ZergFront (Sep 20, 2009)

I have two male Agelenopsis; a mature and an immature. All the males are large than the females at this point in the year. I keep trying to find a female for the MM but all of the wild ones I find are males or babies.

 I keep my MM in a salsa tub with holes around it and on the lid. He always has things in the container to web up and garden snail shells or hollow nutshells to hide in. When he makes the sheets of webbing I drop a fly on it in the evenings and mist a little.


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 20, 2009)

the female keeps running away from him for some reason. He's been chasing her all night and she won't let him come near


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 23, 2009)

Seems like the immobilization thing is a pheromone. It happens everytime the male touches the female, even after they just got done mating and I shove the female into the male.

The other day I threw in a cricket into their cage and they both tried hunting it. At one point the female mistook the male for the cricket and kind of jumped at him. The male got a hold of her and the instant he touched her she folded her legs and did not move. I kind of panicked thinking the male bit her so I separated them and she was fine and kept on hunting.

But my point is, even while mistaking prey, the female gives in immmediatly to the male. So it must be some kind of scent thing.

Also... why on earth are there so little males? For the past few days I've been actively hunting for males outside. I've seen at least 50 females but no males (aside from the first one I accidentally captured, thinking it was female in the first place)


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## jsloan (Sep 23, 2009)

Roland Slinger said:


> But my point is, even while mistaking prey, the female gives in immmediatly to the male. So it must be some kind of scent thing.


That depends. I left the male in with my female for a cuple of weeks after they mated, and she eventually ended up eating him.  Before that I could see he'd lost a couple of legs, so the female does not always tolerate the male's presence.



Roland Slinger said:


> Also... why on earth are there so little males? For the past few days I've been actively hunting for males outside. I've seen at least 50 females but no males (aside from the first one I accidentally captured, thinking it was female in the first place)


Mature males don't, as a general rule, make webs or stay in one place.  I caught quite a few males in pitfall traps this year.  Also, there is a season for mature males.  They appear for a while and then die out, but the females are always around.  I have found a couple dozen females throughout this season (and I wasn't even looking), all in webs except for two that turned up in pitfall traps.  Anyway, if the males are still around in your area try some pitfall traps.  You're more likely to get one that way.


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 23, 2009)

jsloan said:


> That depends. I left the male in with my female for a cuple of weeks after they mated, and she eventually ended up eating him.  Before that I could see he'd lost a couple of legs, so the female does not always tolerate the male's presence.
> 
> 
> 
> Mature males don't, as a general rule, make webs or stay in one place.  I caught quite a few males in pitfall traps this year.  Also, there is a season for mature males.  They appear for a while and then die out, but the females are always around.  I have found a couple dozen females throughout this season (and I wasn't even looking), all in webs except for two that turned up in pitfall traps.  Anyway, if the males are still around in your area try some pitfall traps.  You're more likely to get one that way.


Ah, if they don't make webs that would explain it, because I only look for webs (and the one I found was on a web, must have been a females web).

What is a pitfall trap? (Google to the rescue! I'll have to try that. Problem is, all the spiders are in a 1-2 foot bushes outside my house, not on ground level, I don't think males will go to the ground?)


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## Roland Slinger (Sep 28, 2009)

Well, it's been 10 days since I bred two females and still no sac from either one. Could it be that they're not mature? According to the link in this thread about breeding, it took that user 4 days to produce the first eggsac.

How can I tell if the females are mature or not? They're medium size from the ones I've seen outside


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## NixHexDude (Jun 11, 2010)

I thought I'd re-open this thread for discussion. This will sound stupid, but I was watching spiderman...Anyway the one part said that the "grass spider" has reflexes which border precognition. I googled grass spider and found that it's another common name for the funnel-web spider. I used the search engine to find this thread once I realized I catch/release one of these every month or so in my house. 

Anyway it got me curious about keeping one or two. I was wondering if anyone had pictures of their enclosures. I'm thinking about using the salsa jar setup I've used for sling aboreals. I also have some spare KK's around. Thanks guys.


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