European wolf spider care

hjalfi

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 12, 2020
Messages
20
So I've just acquired a European wolf spider with egg sac from the garden outside my apartment block. I believe it's a Ponderosa amentata. (I was actually looking for a jumping spider but found her first.) Her body's about 4mm long and is about 10-15mm toe to toe, so she's rather different from the US wolf spiders which are mostly discussed here.

I'd like to keep her until the eggs hatch in order to get some pictures of the spiderlings. I have her in a basic 15x10x15cm enclosure with a water crystal dish, some sticks, paper towel substrate, etc. Unfortunately, I've had her a week now and she won't eat. I've given her the smallest cricket I can find, which is about 8mm long, but she just ignores it.

I have two questions:

(a) is it worth trying to feed her at this point? Is she ignoring the food because she's carrying the egg sac, or is there a problem because she's stressed / the cricket is too big / other?
(b) if she continues to refuse to eat, how long can I safely keep her before releasing her back into the garden?

Thanks!

P1100518.JPG
 

Cororon

Arachnoknight
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
268
Pretty Wolfie. :happy:

She might be stressed. Wolf spiders are easily scared, and like to hide. You can make a little hut or something out of paper she can hide under and calm down. Then catch a fly and put it in the enclosure. Maybe she doesn't like crickets, or is scared of them. So a fly could be a safer bet. If she doesn't care about the fly either, maybe it's best to release her.

Wolf spiders carry the egg sac so they can protect the eggs while they are hunting. Same when they carry the slings on the back. A couple of weeks ago I studied a wolfie with babies on her back. At first she hid under a plank when she saw me, but she came back up. I managed to catch a mosquito and gave it to her. She poked it with her front legs before taking it from my fingers. Then she took it under the plank to sit and eat. :)
 

KaroKoenig

Arachnobaron
Joined
Dec 7, 2019
Messages
438
Ditch the water crystals. Instead, give her a lego brick with real water.
 

hjalfi

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 12, 2020
Messages
20
There is a hide, which is a tunnel made from the bark stripped off half a stick, but she doesn't go in it, instead preferring to squeeze underneath the paper towel; the cricket uses the hide instead.

Silly question: does P. amentata wrap up its victims in silk? Is there any way to disinguish a corpse which has been eaten vs one which died of natural causes? And will they scavenge? If the cricket's too big, I could always... shorten it... to make it less threatening.

Also, I thought water crystals were recommended for insects (especially small ones). What's the problem with them?
 

KaroKoenig

Arachnobaron
Joined
Dec 7, 2019
Messages
438
For tarantulas, it is known that they can't drink from water crystals, and probably don't even recognize them as source of water. Assuming this goes for all spiders, it is safer to provide a source of real water. Anything small works, like a lego, a small clamshell or whatever.
 

hjalfi

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 12, 2020
Messages
20
Good to know. I've changed the water.

News update: I found an eviscerated corpse of some kind of bug sucker that I completely forgot I put in a week ago. It's possible the cricket ate it, but... also she's detached the egg sac from her abdomen and is now carrying it around with two legs and pedipalps.

 

Cororon

Arachnoknight
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
268
Oh my, a Lycosa became a Dolomedes :astonished:

Joking aside, I hope she is ok. At least she still cares about her eggs. As for water, you could spray a little in a corner opposite to where she is, and she'll drink from the droplets. If you don't have a good clean water spray bottle, you could dip a piece of bark or something in water and see if she drinks from it. A tray might be unsafe for a small spider like this.
 

Cororon

Arachnoknight
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
268
I would have released her if I thought she was stressed, but now when she's carrying her egg sac like this, it might be better to keep her until the eggs have hatched and the spiderlings will sit on her back. She would have trouble running to hide or defend herself from predators when carrying her egg sac like this.
 

hjalfi

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 12, 2020
Messages
20
I'm a daddy!

I'm going to guess that wolf spiders aren't one of the very rare lactating spiders, so the spiderlings will need to eat at some point. There's absolutely no way I can find food small enough for them, so I'll have to release her before they get hungry. How long is that likely to be?

Here's a less nice but clearer photo: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aWRxJp88EQWpJvPi8 Spiders are very deep in the z-axis, which makes getting them in focus rather hard... also, along the lines of things that once you see you can't unsee, having two eyes show up in the profile shots make her look just like Peppa Pig.

P1100565.JPG
 

Cororon

Arachnoknight
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
268
Yay! Congratulations to you and Wolfie! :D It looks like there are some more babies in the egg sac, but they'll hatch and come out of there soon. <3 Hehe, yeah, the linked photo can make anyone confused when the eye on the side is as big as the frontal eye.

This eye placement would seem more "normal", but then the field of view would be narrower. :p



Someone else might know how long the spiderlings stay on her back, but they should have enough "yolk" in them to last for a while. Personally I would release the wolfie before I get too attached to her and the babies. Certainly before I feel the need to name them all. :lol:
 

hjalfi

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 12, 2020
Messages
20
Update: I've released the lot of them back where I got her (bar the three spiderlings who fell into the water dish and drowned).

Sadly I was unable to get a really good photo of the spiderlings. They all turn into a low-exposure mass of generic legs. To get a good angle I was having to take the pictures through the plastic enclosure, which doesn't do much for the quality. Plus I have a 1970something manual glass macro lens which is a pain to focus. At one point when she was posing in just the right place to get light and was facing in the right direction and was the right distance from the edge of the terrarium so that she'd be in focus but the dirty plastic wouldn't be, I got a shot set up, set the timer (so that the camera would stop shaking by the time I took the picture), and just as the timer reached one second to go she moved... https://photos.app.goo.gl/FAavV4VSFPUgo1vcA Turns out that taking pictures of things a few millimetres across is hard. Who'd have thought it.

But the attached one gets a nice shot of her face, despite being a bit muddy. Next time I'll get some lights set up.

For interest value: what do wolf spider spiderlings eat? They're incredibly small --- what's the right size for them to catch? Mites? Will they scavenge prey caught by the mother?

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