# Keeping a crab spider?



## flamingpie (Jun 2, 2014)

It's been ages since I've posted here, and I just caught my first new spider of the year. I'm almost positive he's a crab spider from the formation of his eyes and the way he moves, but I'm not positive. I'll post pictures for ID as soon as my sister returns the battery from my camera so I can actually take them, but in the meantime, I was hoping for advice on keeping one. I've only really kept jumping spiders in the long term, and while I like crab spiders, I have no real idea of what they need. Should I give him substrate/if so what kind? Any ideas for feeding? I'm a complete newbie in this, so any advice would be great.


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## Smokehound714 (Jun 2, 2014)

they like hanging out on flowers, or objects that match their coloration.

  I would simply use yellow or white objects.


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## flamingpie (Jun 2, 2014)

Awesome, thanks. I'll put some yellow flowers in the tank. Do you think I need to put dirt on the bottom, or is he better off without, like a jumper?


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## Smokehound714 (Jun 2, 2014)

flamingpie said:


> Awesome, thanks. I'll put some yellow flowers in the tank. Do you think I need to put dirt on the bottom, or is he better off without, like a jumper?


I'd give it some substrate, get coco fiber, dirt needs to be sterilized, or you'll get parasites and mites, unhatched eggs, etc.


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## Tongue Flicker (Jun 3, 2014)

The green ones also love weaving small leaves in twigs into little clumps so try to provide that as well


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## Dark Raptor (Jun 3, 2014)

You can keep small spiders on paper towels. I've kept many european species. If you remember to keep substrate humid, avoid fungus and mites (correct ventilation), and provide spiders with appropriate preys, everything should be OK.

Leaves, sticks and any organic stuff like that can be a good substrate for mould.


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## thegreatpede (Jun 3, 2014)

I keep tarantulas, Centipedes, and scorpions but whiptails, vinegaroons, and solifugids creep me out. I don't know why :/

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk


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## The Snark (Jun 3, 2014)

Just my obnoxious opinion but I think you people are losing it. We've got a small contingent of crabs out on the Ginko tree and thinking of them as wussy needing to be pampered fluff bunnies is sort of ludicrous. They are the same white as the ginko flowers but are quite happy to lurk on the magenta bougainvillea blossoms. They are fearless musclebutts that put the jumpers all over the walls to shame. They take down the miniature wasps anytime one takes a break from swarming and even the greenflies, read sort of fly shaped a little smaller than a housefly, apparently a cross between the military grade horsefly and a fully armed electric green predator drone, bites like the furies have landed and can draw blood, are no match for the crab hug.
They never go down on the ground voluntarily so read completely arboreal and substrate could be anything from mud to concrete. Their only big bitch is monsters. Huge creatures with 2 arms and 2 legs they can recognize 3 or 4 feet away that they want no part of and will quickly zoop behind leaves or flowers, or even bail out on a safety line when one comes into view.
Give them bugs to hug, a warm humid environment and keep out of their sight and it's party time.

Reactions: Like 4


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## Umbra (Jun 18, 2014)

This crab spider hitch hiked in some moss I collected early this spring.  I saw it crawling around in the bag after I got it inside and it warmed up.  I tossed it into this little terrarium jar I have growing random plants and it's been doing well for the past few months feeding on fruit flies and crickets.  Very bold critter, does a threat display whenever I open the lid to feed it or mist the plants.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Trippycornflakes (Jan 24, 2021)

Howdy, New here..
Male crab spiders have been known to eat flower nectar. So if you really want to keep them healthy include some flowering plants in your setup.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Cororon (Jan 25, 2021)

Trippycornflakes said:


> Howdy, New here..
> Male crab spiders have been known to eat flower nectar. So if you really want to keep them healthy include some flowering plants in your setup.


Hello, and welcome Trippycornflakes! This is an old thread but that's good and relevant info. I assume that tip is mostly for so called "flower crab spiders". The males are much smaller and not as good ambush hunters as the females, so they eat pollen and drink nectar. That keeps them healthy and so that they can live longer. Females also feed on pollen and nectar sometimes when there aren't many prey insects around. 

Ground crab spiders (Xysticus) don't need flowers, and can be found almost anywhere. But they do know that flowers are good places to catch prey, so it's very common to find them of flowers too.



Umbra said:


> Very bold critter, does a threat display whenever I open the lid to feed it or mist the plants.


Very late reply, but   That is so typical of crabbies! They are actually very gentle and nice spiders, but they are also very slow. They can run, but if they suspect that you might be a threat they try the defencive display first. If that doesn't work they can try to scare you by standing up on their hind legs, spreading out their front legs or even waving them at you! So scary! (it's cute, but please don't tease crabbies. You make them stressed, and that's not nice). When your pet crabby lifts its front legs, just do what you wanted to do, drop in the food or spray the mist of water (not on the spider, of course) or of you just want to look at it, and the spider will calm down in a bit.

Crab spiders hear very well and learn by experience. A little tip is to sing a cute little song for the spider when things are calm and it feels good. I did that when I took care of a little Xysticus female during the cold winter months. When it was time to release her in the spring I let her climb up on a wet tissue paper to drink and so I could transfer her to a box. I walked outside with the box and she finished drinking, and then she noticed that she was in a different box and got stressed and ran around. Then I sang the little song and she instantly calmed down.


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## Trippycornflakes (Jan 25, 2021)

I honestly didn't know there were ground crab spiders. 
Thank you for the new info! I'm always looking for new info


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## Cororon (Jan 25, 2021)

Trippycornflakes said:


> I honestly didn't know there were ground crab spiders.
> Thank you for the new info! I'm always looking for new info


You're welcome!  

Maybe you have seen ground crab spiders before? They like to sneak up on insects and then wait for the insect to run into them.

Here's one stalking a fly (not my video):


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## The Snark (Jan 25, 2021)

Cororon said:


> Here's one stalking a fly (not my video):


You can easily hear that spider thinking, "This would be a heck of a lot easier if I was green and didn't have these itty bitty back legs."


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## Trippycornflakes (Jan 25, 2021)

Cororon said:


> You're welcome!
> 
> Maybe you have seen ground crab spiders before? They like to sneak up on insects and then wait for the insect to run into them.
> 
> Here's one stalking a fly (not my video):


That's cool! I want it ha ha


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## Cororon (Jan 25, 2021)

The Snark said:


> You can easily hear that spider thinking, "This would be a heck of a lot easier if I was green and didn't have these itty bitty back legs."


Yeah   But I suspect that they reflect some kind of light wavelenghts that attract some types of insects. I have observed how insects for some reason just walk straight into the spider. One crabby sat near a porch light at night and caught midge after midge.


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## The Snark (Jan 25, 2021)

Cororon said:


> But I suspect that they reflect some kind of light wavelenghts that attract some types of insects. I have observed how insects for some reason just walk straight into the spider. One crabby sat near a porch light at night and caught midge after midge.


It would make an interesting scientific study. Your theory one of several possibilities. Other's being they have perceptions telling them where the best places are to set ambushes. Another would be they genetically have programming to gravitate towards certain situations.
I saw a video of a very similar situation with a Green Lynx spider. Fly landed and the spider ducked out of sight on the underside of the leaf. It then moved into the correct position out of sight, then came around to the top of the leaf and nailed the fly. So you have two animals in the same habitat that developed very different abilities and have extremely different physiology.


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