araneus diadematus

[elliotulysses]

After a night of getting ice cream with my girlfriend and her mother, I came to her mother's house to find the step-father about to kill a gorgeous cross orb weaver that was on the garage. Luckily having finished the ice cream I made a quick improv-ice cream cup home for the pretty girl. Now, I haven't kept true spiders in *years* and when I did keep them I had only some generic library books and a good sense of observation on my side (read: no proper experience). So I have been trying to read up on keeping an orb weaver and have seen some pretty insane differentiation in size requirements for an enclosure and virtually no general care guide.
She has spun a web in the ice cream cup and eats like a champ, but from what I'm reading she should be miserable in this size and not webbing/eating. If someone could point me in the direction of a good guide or just throw some tips at me, I would appreciate it. She's a pretty girl and I want to give her a nice life, free of the threat of being smooshed, but also meeting her requirements.

I personally was thinking of putting her in a fairy garden, but again I get the impression this is too small!

 

[The Snark]

Going strictly by observations. Some orb weavers are quite content in confined areas. They truncate their web into a pie shape with the wedge sometimes little more than a glop. If she is eating, she is happy. In fact, this can extend her life span as the silk production and web maintenance requires additional energy and exposes her to more hazards and environmental toxins. On the down side, a truncated web is less likely to attract male suitors.

So it really is your call. You miss out on her beautiful webs but as long as she's eating she's content and could live a long life. One other factor gets involved. Out on a full sized orb web she is sensitive to changes of climate and keeps track of the seasons. When the weather turns cold she will quit maintaining the web and eventually drop out, seek a hide and produce egg sack(s) even if she has never mated. With a small controlled environment she may loose track of time so to speak and even remain fully active during the winter. Whether this shortens her life span I'm unsure.

One more thing. Most if not all orb weavers will go dormant for part of the year if they don't go the egg sack route. Normally they park in the center of their web, dial down their metabolism and not move at all. If you notice her doing this, just keep her enclosure as undisturbed as possible. I once had one of these gals park in our window, immobile, for 5 solid months. She eventually roused herself, a couple of males joined her and she was good for another season.

So I'd say, go for a fairy garden and keep a close eye on her. As long as she keeps eating she's content and how she makes use of the space may be quite interesting. You will get to see her modifying her genetic instructions to suit the available environment.

 

[elliotulysses]

Going strictly by observations. Some orb weavers are quite content in confined areas. They truncate their web into a pie shape with the wedge sometimes little more than a glop. If she is eating, she is happy. In fact, this can extend her life span as the silk production and web maintenance requires additional energy and exposes her to more hazards and environmental toxins. On the down side, a truncated web is less likely to attract male suitors.

So it really is your call. You miss out on her beautiful webs but as long as she's eating she's content and could live a long life. One other factor gets involved. Out on a full sized orb web she is sensitive to changes of climate and keeps track of the seasons. When the weather turns cold she will quit maintaining the web and eventually drop out, seek a hide and produce egg sack(s) even if she has never mated. With a small controlled environment she may loose track of time so to speak and even remain fully active during the winter. Whether this shortens her life span I'm unsure.

One more thing. Most if not all orb weavers will go dormant for part of the year if they don't go the egg sack route. Normally they park in the center of their web, dial down their metabolism and not move at all. If you notice her doing this, just keep her enclosure as undisturbed as possible. I once had one of these gals park in our window, immobile, for 5 solid months. She eventually roused herself, a couple of males joined her and she was good for another season.

So I'd say, go for a fairy garden and keep a close eye on her. As long as she keeps eating she's content and how she makes use of the space may be quite interesting. You will get to see her modifying her genetic instructions to suit the available environment.

Thanks for the info! She is definitely eating and making triangle shaped miniorbs. It's good to know I'll be able to keep her comfortable. It's nice to get back into true spiders. They were my first love, after all!

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[The Snark]

I have a particular affinity for this critter. Literally in fact. I was once sitting on a curb at a gathering in a college town way up in N Calif with some local bands playing. About an hour and a half later someone pointed out that one of these had used my back to anchor the guy lines of her web. In came the biology students from the university. I got a major crook in my neck watching. They took the lowest guy line first, using my paramed Kelly's, and unattached it and moved it very slowly a few inches to a rose bush. It took the spider about 20 minutes to accept this and she reattached things there. Then another line and last, the major upper guy line. By that time we had about a hundred observers. It took well over and hour and when I was finally free to stand up both me and the spider got a standing ovation. I still glow about that.

These little darlings are also world class balloon artists. I was once walking down a side road when I got a web in my face. It was wide open dairy fields without even a bush or fence post in sight. Then another web and another. I stopped to examine things. You got this micro-miniature sling, I mean a heavy duty dot the size of an 16 point period, with anywhere from 6 to 10 feet of ballooning line.

 

[elliotulysses]

I know! I always found their skill and overall look very impressive. It seemed like someone was trying to make friends with you!
The closest I got to an unexpected visitor was getting a wolf spider on me in the bath. Of course she ended up dropping a sac in the tub, then babies everywhere!

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