Broad face sac spider acting weird

[Nick Cutler]

Hi, so my pet broad face sac spider has been acting weird for the past couple of days. Shes staying in one spot and kind of rapidly and frantically circles around that one spot. It's not its hide just a part of the bark i have in her enclosure. I'm really concerned for health. Can anyone help?

 

[WildSpider]

Broad faced sac spiders are laying eggs around this time. Supposedly they like to attach the sac to bark. When did you catch it?

 

[Nick Cutler]

I caught it October 23rd and it wasn't doing any sort of the circling till yesterday

 

[chanda]

"My spider is acting weird..." -pretty much every spider owner, ever, at one time or another

Spiders spend their time doing incomprehensible spidery things. We at least sort of understand the most basic of their activities - eating, mating, hiding, spinning webs - because we can look at them and it is immediately obvious what they are doing. Other times, though, periods of unexplained activity - or lack of activity - mystify and concern us because we just don't know what they are doing, why they are doing it, or whether it is normal behavior or not.

The best thing you can do is relax and trust that your spider knows a lot more about "spidering" than you do. If all is well, then you are worrying yourself needlessly - and if there is something wrong, or if the spider is approaching the end of its life, unfortunately there really isn't much you can do about it. Last time I checked the yellow pages, there were no spider veterinarians listed. All you can really do is make sure the basic needs - food, water, shelter, appropriate substrate, and temperature range - are being met.

I don't know the lifespan of Trachelas species, but with many of the true spiders, the life span is quite short, with the spiders maturing during the summer months, mating and laying eggs in the fall - and then dying in late fall or winter, leaving behind their egg sacs to launch the next generation when the temperatures warm up in the spring. The biological clock that determines their lifespan is not purely environmentally based - even in captivity, where they are protected from freezing temperatures and the corresponding lack of prey, these spiders tend to die during fall and winter. It is entirely possible that your spider is approaching the end of her natural life. She may be looking for a good spot to lay her eggs, in which case you should see her creating a little white "blister" out of silk on the bark. Perhaps the circling behavior is her starting to lay down the silk for an egg sac? If she was already mature when you caught her, then she may have mated and the eggs may even be fertile.

 

[Nick Cutler]

Thank you guys for helping me out with this I was concerned as she was my first spider pet. I'm just gunna let her do her thang and if she does lay I'll be sure to post pictures of the babies

 

[WildSpider]

Thank you guys for helping me out with this I was concerned as she was my first spider pet. I'm just gunna let her do her thang and if she does lay I'll be sure to post pictures of the babies

Since it was just caught, I would say it's very possible that it is gravid and preparing to lay eggs as chanda mentioned. If you're sure it's female and it seems pretty plump, I'd say there's a pretty good chance. Always love baby spider pics .