Anyone kept or keeping wolf spiders?

[boxy]

Cool. I remember someone telling me that they have been known to highjack other females with spiderlings on their backs of their babies. Something about taking the new babies on board so that they can be used as food for the others.

 

[Roach]

Ok, now, we've come to believe that this is a wolf spider, but I'm not 100%. We've had it a few months now. I think it was late June that we caught it. Since then, there have been three eggsacs. The latest coming this week. It's kinda frustarting at this point. The little ones aren't so easy to set free.

This may not be a wolf spider though. There's a picture here: http://www.geocities.com/zipperpig.geo/spido3.gif

She's pretty big. But I don't know a ton about these things. All I know is that, minus the sac, she eats like crazy. We can put in multiple crickets a day and she will tear them up.

She's seems pretty cool with us. We can open the enclosure and she runs right to the eating spot. But lately, she's constantly carrying the baby ball around. In that case, she doesn't do much.

That's about all I know at the moment.

Roach

 

[xanadu1015]

I just caught one in my basement and she is doing very well. I laid some fake leaves down and she is quite happy curling up underneath or in the leaves themselves. This female is dark grayish brown in color, no real marks as far as I can tell and she's about an inch in length. She's very impressive when it comes to hunting crickets and very fast. I have her in a deli type cup with the silk leaves, she seems happy and healthy.


Laura

 

[RedKat007]

I caught a wolfy about 1 to 1 1/2 inches a couple weeks ago, and now she's got an eggsac. She was really fat for about a week so I didn't feed her and now she's really skinny and I've been giving her lots of food, but she hasn't touched it for hours. Is there something wrong or is she somehow not hungry? Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Ratmosphere]

I caught a wolfy about 1 to 1 1/2 inches a couple weeks ago, and now she's got an eggsac. She was really fat for about a week so I didn't feed her and now she's really skinny and I've been giving her lots of food, but she hasn't touched it for hours. Is there something wrong or is she somehow not hungry? Anyone got any ideas?

Probably just not hungry. Give her a few more days before you try again.

 

[Ungoliant]

I caught a wolfy about 1 to 1 1/2 inches a couple weeks ago, and now she's got an eggsac. She was really fat for about a week so I didn't feed her and now she's really skinny and I've been giving her lots of food, but she hasn't touched it for hours. Is there something wrong or is she somehow not hungry? Anyone got any ideas?

When I had a wolf spider, she wouldn't eat while she had her sac.

 

[RedKat007]

Alright, thanks. One more thing, does anyone know approximately how many babies wolf spiders have? I've been looking it up, but I can't seem to find anything...

 

[RedKat007]

Alright, so it's been a few days since I last tried to feed her, and I put a live insect in and now she has been hiding in her burrow for the past few days. Does anyone know what's going on?

 

[Venom1080]

If it has a sac, you should let it go..

 

[RedKat007]

But...I can't just let her go like that, I've had her too long to just cast her out into the cold. Plus, it's almost winter, so it'd probably be an unfortunate time to set her free, as she probably wouldn't be able to burrow into the hard ground and would most likely freeze to death.

 

[darkness975]

But...I can't just let her go like that, I've had her too long to just cast her out into the cold. Plus, it's almost winter, so it'd probably be an unfortunate time to set her free, as she probably wouldn't be able to burrow into the hard ground and would most likely freeze to death.

The eggsack is likely what is preventing it from wanting to feed.

 

[RedKat007]

Alright, so now it's been a long time since she last ate, and she just recently came back out of her burrow from about 10 days in there(I'm not sure why she was in there so long). There are some dead bugs that I put in there for her(they were fresh when I first put them in but they have since decayed) and she still has not eaten. However, I was a little confused about how she looked the exact same going into her burrow as coming out. She did not seem to decrease in size at all. Also, I've only been feeding her black crickets that I've caught, and I was wondering if when she started eating again, if I could feed her the brown crickets from the local pet store. Anyone have any opinions about this?

 

[Tia B]

I love my wolf spiders, they're very fun to keep. I don't consider them a "starter" spider or a precursor to tarantulas, they have their own merits. I currently only have two, one is a sling that I've raised myself from my last egg sac and the other is an adult female who just molted.

 

[Tia B]

By the way, wolf spiders have like 30-60 slings in each sac in my experience.

And I think feeding pet store crickets would work well when she starts eating again.

 

[RedKat007]

Mine just recently had it's egg sac hatch and she's dropped it on the ground, but I don't know whether to take it out or leave it. Does anyone know what I should do?

 

[Tia B]

Mine just recently had it's egg sac hatch and she's dropped it on the ground, but I don't know whether to take it out or leave it. Does anyone know what I should do?

If it's hatched and she placed it on the ground and is tending to it, then she's helping the hatchling slings out and onto her back. If she's not by it and you see no slings at all, the egg sac has been abandoned and likely won't hatch at all. It may never have been viable.

 

[Tia B]

If the slings are completely out and the egg sac is just sitting there, you can take it out no problem, as long as you don't disturb the mom too much.

 

[Tia B]

I've raised slings before. They stay on the mother and eat what she eats for a while, so make sure she eats during that time. After they get off the mother, they will spread throughout the tank. Fruit flies are a good food source at that point. Make sure, and I cannot stress this enough, that the container the mother and slings are in is well sealed. The little buggers will go everywhere if you let them. If you're worried about escapees, then put small mesh over any openings. Unlike the mother, the babies CAN somewhat climb glass.

They're a little better at not cannibalizing than tarantulas, but when you decide to separate, I suggest using small condiment cups with holes poked in the top. There will be a lot of babies, but you will suffer some losses. The babies are somewhat less hardy than tarantula slings, so some will likely not make it through bad molts.
Make sure they have some sort of access to water because they dessicate easily. My slings liked drinking water droplets off the walls more than from any sort of dish. Try not to make their enclosure too humid, though.

This is my experience raising slings. I posted it on a different thread. I suggest you separate them as soon as they get off their mother's back if you want a higher survival rate. Good luck!

 

[RedKat007]

Thanks! I've only got about 10 to 15 slings at the moment, and they hatched about 4 days ago. However, it's almost winter now, so how will I find any fruit flies for the babies? Is there something else that they can eat or is buying something an option?

 

[Tia B]

Thanks! I've only got about 10 to 15 slings at the moment, and they hatched about 4 days ago. However, it's almost winter now, so how will I find any fruit flies for the babies? Is there something else that they can eat or is buying something an option?

You could buy fruit flies. Most chain pet stores sell jars of them. Really, you just have to find prey that's small enough for them to take down. Any small insect would do.