I have a Brazilian Wandering Spider (Phoneutria fera) female I think. I don't know the age of this spider but I don't think it's full grown. Anyway when I first got it it was eating fine but for the last month or so everytime I feed it it will grab the cricket, hold it for awhile and then drop it, the cricket isn't even dead. I want to know what could be wrong and why it keeps doing this? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Brazilian Wandering Spider
- Thread starter Tim0374
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Not hungry?
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Pics would definitely be of use, but not a guarantee
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P. fera has become extremely rare in the hobby, at least in the EU, if it's even still around at all... Agree about the pics: try to take some shots please. Dorsal (spider viewed from above) and frontal (face area and palps). That species got mixed up with P. depilata years ago and it's more likely you have the latter than the former.
Second: size, how large is the spider, body-length and leg-span?
The behavior you describe is untypical for Phoneutria. May be observed if the specimen is extremely fat and just isn't hungry. However it would be more likely for an overfed specimen to not hunt at all.
Another reason that may cause such behavior might be the female is preparing to construct an egg sac. For how long does the spider show this behavior already?
Last reason is common and hopefully not true for this particular case: old age. Old specimens will still hunt, but barely eat what the caught, if they eat at all. This can be observed for several weeks, sometimes for longer than a month until the spider finally dies.
Second: size, how large is the spider, body-length and leg-span?
The behavior you describe is untypical for Phoneutria. May be observed if the specimen is extremely fat and just isn't hungry. However it would be more likely for an overfed specimen to not hunt at all.
Another reason that may cause such behavior might be the female is preparing to construct an egg sac. For how long does the spider show this behavior already?
Last reason is common and hopefully not true for this particular case: old age. Old specimens will still hunt, but barely eat what the caught, if they eat at all. This can be observed for several weeks, sometimes for longer than a month until the spider finally dies.
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Not the best pictures but from what I can see that spider looks obese.
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Weird. Thank you for the pics, though!
darkness975 is right, the lady is pretty fat. Indeed it's that fat, i'd guess it's an adult female and carrying eggs. Was this specimen captive bred or wild-caught?
I can't tell species going by these pics. I appreciate your effort and it's important to stay safe, for species ID i'd need much clearer pictures, unfortunately.
The prosoma stripe is pretty wild, looks different than both, P. fera and P. depilata. Variations in that regard do exist, they are very rare though.
WRT to the frontal: which color combination do the palps show: light basic color with dark stripe or dark basic color with yellow / orange stripe?
darkness975 is right, the lady is pretty fat. Indeed it's that fat, i'd guess it's an adult female and carrying eggs. Was this specimen captive bred or wild-caught?
I can't tell species going by these pics. I appreciate your effort and it's important to stay safe, for species ID i'd need much clearer pictures, unfortunately.
The prosoma stripe is pretty wild, looks different than both, P. fera and P. depilata. Variations in that regard do exist, they are very rare though.
WRT to the frontal: which color combination do the palps show: light basic color with dark stripe or dark basic color with yellow / orange stripe?
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I read an extensive study a while back on Heteropoda. When the female enters the gestation period they quit eating until some time after hatching and dispersal. It would be easy for a mom to slaughter all her offspring otherwise. It seems only logical that similar foraging hunting spiders such as Phoneutria have similar bio-chemistry.
As for the OP animal, looks preggo or grossly overfed.
As for the OP animal, looks preggo or grossly overfed.