Cellar Spiders

[xero]

Hello everyone.

I'm not really a insect hobbist or any thing but here's my story.

I have to kill lots of moths or bugs that get in my house at night because my brother and my dad are ususally outside fixing the car so they come and out of the house a lot. I also come outside to feed my cats. When we open the door bugs come in because of the light.
Well I'm fed up with killing the bugs and flushing it down the toilet or throwing it back into the yard.

There are 2 cellar spiders near my desk. Do they make good pets?
As you can see I want to feed them with insects I have swatted and keep them in captivity. I am usually afraid of spiders but the dang flying ones are annoying as hell.

Thanks in Advance.

 

[critterz]

I have never heard or seen Pholcius (sp?) eat anything much larger than mites. Maybe they do and I just was unaware, but I have heard rumors that they have very small mouth parts.

 

[CedrikG]

I think you better throw them in your yard ... even if you take them incaptivity they probably wont eat everything you give ...

 

[gothmog]

I have never heard or seen Pholcius (sp?) eat anything much larger than mites. Maybe they do and I just was unaware, but I have heard rumors that they have very small mouth parts.

They can eait big stuff

The best way to use them as an anti-bug tool is to just leave them be or relocate them into the room you want to keep bug free, they'll build inconspicuous webs in the corner alcoves and take out their fair share of bugs and other spiders.

Although if you have a breeding pair it can get a bit silly

 

[Elizabeth]

I use the house spiders (Pholcids) all the time to control other "pests". Critterz, I wonder if you have them confused with harvestmen: small mouth parts, eat mites...Both are sometimes referred to as Daddy Long Legs, so maybe you got 'em a little mixed up?

My house spiders have even taken down angry yellow jackets: web, web, bite, wrap, eat!

Gothmog gives good advice to follow, imo.

 

[critterz]

Nope, I didn't have them confused, I was just under-educated. I don't keep them, but I have them in my house and I leave them be, because they deserve to be there. Just never seen them feeding on anything of size. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused. And thanks for teaching me more about these funny little guys.

 

[dtknow]

When I was young I kept these in "captivity"(if thats what you wish to call it) regularly. All they need was a container, something to allow them to climb up the sides and spin webs, and of course food. I used 2 liter soda bottles or smaller waterbottles which I liked as waste and dead insects would drop out from there. They ate most small bugs like houseflies, pillbugs, small moths, etc. etc.

Keeping them in your room is as simple as ignoring them. How much easier can a pet get?

 

[cacoseraph]

i've seen them take apart a tegenarian house spider that had to mass at least 20 times as much as the pholcus. pholcus are one of the meanest customers i know... at least to other bugs
i've noticed they have a tendency to completely take over an area, then mysteriously relinquish their hold. they pushed out a nasty Latrodectus occupation where i used to work... it took them a summer, but they eventually took over... and then their population declined back to "normal"

and they are actually somewhat interesting looking spiders, when they get bigger (the biggest i saw probably had a 4-6" legspan)

 

[bistrobob85]

Wow, since i'm not aloud to keep big invertebrates, i think i just found my next little project, mouahahaha!! Super HouseSpid3R ProJ3Kt or just the Spid3R Philadelphia Experiment!! Lots of fun to come!!

phil.

 

[pandinus]

maybe it's just me, but i would take a few theridons over cellar spiders any day of the week. or even some stetadoa triangulosa.

 

[Villagecreep]

Im always finding these and have been wondering if there are any good enclosure ideas for them besides bottles

 

[The Snark]

Im always finding these and have been wondering if there are any good enclosure ideas for them besides bottles

Pretty much anything would do. Honestly, an enclosure isn't really necessary except to initially confine it to a location. Once they pick a place to park they will stay there and completely ignore you and the world around them as long as they are left undisturbed. Usually only a web completely trashed causes them to relocate. You can clean up, remove, most of a pholcid web and it will just retreat and wait out your housekeeping.

 

[Towerchick]

I have a cellar spider that I originally found as she was wrapping up her prey... Which was a juvenile wolf spider. I put her and her meal in a container and once she gathered herself, she continued to eat the rest of her meal. Since then, I've dropped many insects in her enclosure (clear plastic container with air holes in the top) and she's devoured them all. It's very interesting to watch as she traps her prey, wraps them gently from a distance with her long legs, and when it seems safe to, she gives them a few bites here and there. They usually move a little afterwards, then she'll come back in and ferociously use her back legs to pull out silk and wrap the insect up. She keeps her very front set of legs pulled way back, almost as if they're a backup to pounce down on her meal should it suddenly come free.

Keeping a cellar spider as a pet is as simple as it gets. They get their water intake when they eat, but I like to keep a damp paper towel piece folded in the corner just in case she wants to go over and grab some water. I've never seen her use it though.

Critterz- they do have tiny little mouths, but don't let that or their delicate long legs fool you...they will easily eat other spiders and insects that are many times their size!

 

[The Snark]

@Towerchick Nice that you have paid close attention to them and their activities.

Your comment gave me a revelation, answering a question I've pondered for 20 years observing pholcids at close range. (In the tropics it's highly unusual if you make it through the day without blundering into one of their webs).
They always seem entirely unaware of their environment. Make their webs out in the open and aren't reclusive or phobic at all. So contemplating them just now I realized they create their own environment with their web which their sensory abilities do not extend beyond. That random mass of cobweb is their fortress regardless of how out in the open it is. Within it they are a force to be reckoned with. And unlike just about all other web dwellers if the web is trashed they don't death curl or run away and hide, they just put together a new one as quickly as possible in the nearest convenient location.

 

[Towerchick]

@Towerchick Nice that you have paid close attention to them and their activities.

Your comment gave me a revelation, answering a question I've pondered for 20 years observing pholcids at close range. (In the tropics it's highly unusual if you make it through the day without blundering into one of their webs).
They always seem entirely unaware of their environment. Make their webs out in the open and aren't reclusive or phobic at all. So contemplating them just now I realized they create their own environment with their web which their sensory abilities do not extend beyond. That random mass of cobweb is their fortress regardless of how out in the open it is. Within it they are a force to be reckoned with. And unlike just about all other web dwellers if the web is trashed they don't death curl or run away and hide, they just put together a new one as quickly as possible in the nearest convenient location.

You've eloquently translated a pholcid's existence to accurate words! The are fearless in a non-aggressive way!

 

[Quetzalcoatl Nyarlathotep]

These eat all my good spiders. They're invasive and IMO, they're worse than brown widows.

 

[Xylobiose]

Could a cellar spider be kept in one of these as an enclosure? -

<edit - image removed>

And is there a specific kind of material I should use as substrate for one?

 

[Towerchick]

That would do. I use tall plastic tupperware with holes poked in the lid and sides. I don't use substrate for cellar spiders because they prefer being up high in their web.

 

[Xylobiose]

okay, thank you!