Cellar Spider Questions.

[isopodgeek]

I was going outside for a walk when I noticed a large cellar spider on the front door. This caught me off guard because I didn't expect to see a large spider inside my apartment at this time of year. I took a spare Deli cup with holes and placed it in the cup. I then created a little habitat for it.

My question to all of you is. Should I keep it or let it go inside my apartment?

Why I want to keep it:
I really think this would be an awesome species to keep. I can feed it small Isopods 1-2 times a week. I feel like it will do better with my feeding it then wondering inside of my apartment in search of food. In a weird way, it is already technically in a household setting.

Why I don't want to keep it:
This is a wild animal that knows how to survive on it's own. If so, I would release it inside my apartment.

What do all of you think?

Also, I I should keep it, how do I care for it. Can it live in a 6 quart container with holes. The container is 14 x 8x 4 inches.

 

[viper69]

Back in the wild where it belongs. I always catch and release little fellas where they belong.

 

[isopodgeek]

Would you want to be stolen from your home and held hostage till you die??

Back in the wild where it belongs

That is a good point, will do that. Thank you.

 

[viper69]

That is a good point, will do that. Thank you.

I edited because I releaized you found it indoors- read tkkk quickly- but let’s face it spiders don’t come from homes. Hah

 

[isopodgeek]

I edited because I releaized you found it indoors- read tkkk quickly- but let’s face it spiders don’t come from homes. Hah

My one concern is that it won’t find enough food indoors. I know this is a species that builds a web and waits for food to come to it. I don't know if anything will wonder into its web. Putting it outside will be certain death as their is a foot I snow outside and it is 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Should I really release it?

 

[viper69]

My one concern is that it won’t find enough food indoors. I know this is a species that builds a web and waits for food to come to it. I don't know if anything will wonder into its web. Putting it outside will be certain death as their is a foot I snow outside and it is 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
Should I really release it?

Ohhhh I see— don’t kill it

Keep feed release in spring

 

[isopodgeek]

Ohhhh I see— don’t kill it

Keep feed release in spring

I would never hurt or kill any animal. Not even a spider. I think that is a good idea, take care of it until spring.

How would I care for it until then?

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

I too have cellar spiders living in my apartment. Every year from spring to fall I find them coming and going inside my apartment as well as the exterior. Last summer, I even got to watch a mother cellar spider care for her egg sack and watch the babies disperse in my apartment.

I never had the desire to capture one and care for it because they are a synanthropic species, meaning, they live and reproduce in human structures. They also have a remarkable ability to go very long periods of time without food and water so I would not be doing it any favors by capturing them and trying to care for them myself. I also have no idea what they are eating, but they are definitely getting enough food and water somehow to be able to have babies every year! I also notice they live a vagabond existence and never stay in the same place throughout the year. For me, holding one as a captive would seem more detrimental to their well-being than letting them carry out their life-cycle as they see fit.

My advice is to just put it back where you found it and hope to see it again, or one of its relatives, next spring. It knows what is doing and doesn't need a human thinking for it.

Here is the best picture I could get of the mother cellar spider with her babies from last summer. Just look at all of those adorable babies!

 

[isopodgeek]

I believe you are right. It is wrong to hold a wild animal captive. I came to the relization that the spider has everything it needs. I will just let it go in my house.

In the summer, there are tons of spiders all around my apartment. Everything from house spiders to cellar spiders. I have seen tons of egg sacs but never had the privilege to watch one hatch.

I really appreciate you( a moderator ) for helping me out. Thank you.

 

[The Snark]

synanthropic species

Nailed it. In all likelyhood, where a human thrives, a pholcid will probably survive.

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

Nailed it. In all likelyhood, where a human thrives, a pholcid will probably survive.

Not just pholcids, but so many more. Just in my apartment, which is in a 100 year old building, I have recorded the following in just one year. 2 species of cellar spider, 1 species of spitting spider, 1 species of money spider, about 3 species of jumping spider, and 2 species of cobweb spider. The cellar spiders, cobweb spiders, and money spiders all reproduce yearly inside my apartment as I see both males and females every year. It is absolutely amazing to see how they all can accomplish a complete life cycle completely devoid of fresh water. They all have plenty of food in the summer when insects start making their appearance which means free pest control for me! The cobweb spiders are for sure the most active predators. I have to break their webs every few weeks- which they build against the floor boards- to sweep up the numerous little insect carcasses. I even found the body of a spitting spider wrapped in silk beneath a cobweb.

 

[The Snark]

It is absolutely amazing to see how they all can accomplish a complete life cycle completely devoid of fresh water.

What's amazing to me is the ongoing water dish in every enclosure and the serious lack of research as to the animal's natural environments.

 

[darkness975]

They also can be found out in nature away from human habitations. But like Latrodectus geometricus it seems their numbers are higher near human habitations.

The first time I saw a Pholcid in a natural environment I was almost stunned.

 

[The Snark]

The first time I saw a Pholcid in a natural environment I was almost stunned.

I'm laboring under the impression their native environment were originally the primitive concrete or brick outhouse (read, cave) common in S.E. Asia back to the Pleistocene era.

 

[darkness975]

I'm laboring under the impression their native environment were originally the primitive concrete or brick outhouse (read, cave) common in S.E. Asia back to the Pleistocene era.

That could be. Rocky outcroppings and such seem to be their preferred habitat aside from cellars.