Hello Everyone!
I'm a newbie hobbyist that just stumbled into the wonderful world of spiders and I recently came across arachnoboards. I've been keeping ants in addition to some other inverts for quite some time now (4+ years), and I've been familiar with formiculture for a while now. Just this summer I was exploring a local wildlife management area in Cape Cod Massachusetts when I came across these massive circular burrows in the sand. Initially I figured these were some species of large solitary wasps, but after a closer inspection I found that these burrows actually formed a turret-like structure which protruded almost a centimeter above the surface, with the inner surface area completely covered in a small layer of silk. Definitely not a wasp. I turned my phone flashlight on and peeked down into the hole, and low and behold there was an extremely large spider looking up at me.
This was by far the largest spider I'd ever seen in my area, and I was completely stunned by her size. I had no idea there were spiders that could grow to be this size in my climate, she must've been well over 2 inches. When I got home later that day I immediately started researching on what genera she belonged to, which proved to be a daunting task since I had literally no background in spider ID whatsoever. I was able to narrow it down to the family of wolf spiders (Lycosidae) with relative ease via means of a knowledgable friend on discord but nobody was able to get it past that. After a thorough search amongst the depths of the internet I eventually came across the genus Geolycosa, thanks to iNaturalist.
Now, for my first question, does anybody know what species she is? Or rather if there is any way to find out what species she is? The link below displays pictures of a separate adult female I coaxed out of her burrow (With bebes on her back)
Now, this where my previous ignorance to this hobby becomes potentially irresponsible. At the time of getting pictures, one of the baby spiderlwings fell off mommas back and onto the surrounding soil, and I figured, why not try to raise her separately in captivity. So I put her into a small vial with some moss so she had something to grip and cushion her, and headed home (after making sure momma was safe and secure in her burrow of course). At that point in time I was unaware that Wolf spiders need to be around their siblings and mother to develop proper behaviorally and neurologically. "Contact with maternal parent and siblings affects hunting behavior, learning, and central nervous system development in spiderlings of Hogna carolinensis (Araeneae: Lycosidae)" - see file attached to further read on these developmental issues. Now I know the decision I made wasn't the right one in hindsight, but as of now I'm just doing my best to give this spider her best possible life.
After about a week her pigments had fully developed and her exoskeleton had mostly hardened. I remember sometime around around a week later after she had settled in, I offered a pre-killed pinhead cricket which she happily accepted. I then continued to offer food every 1-2 weeks up until this point.
Her husbandry has simply been a snap-cap vial (air holes poked through the lid for ventilation) with approximately 2cm of a sand/coco fiber mix for substrate with some little twig pieces and other small debris like dead leaves as hides. I misted the vial every week or two so she had stable humidity and a consistent source of drinking water. More or less I tried to replicate the habitat I found her in as best as possible. I plan on keeping her in this until she outgrows it, probably 2-4 molts away from her current setup becoming too small. Is this a good idea of what her husbandry should look like? Is there anything I can improve? And what are their temperature/humidity requirements if any?
I'm open to any comments, suggestions, and criticism on my current care. Thanks for reading!
I'm a newbie hobbyist that just stumbled into the wonderful world of spiders and I recently came across arachnoboards. I've been keeping ants in addition to some other inverts for quite some time now (4+ years), and I've been familiar with formiculture for a while now. Just this summer I was exploring a local wildlife management area in Cape Cod Massachusetts when I came across these massive circular burrows in the sand. Initially I figured these were some species of large solitary wasps, but after a closer inspection I found that these burrows actually formed a turret-like structure which protruded almost a centimeter above the surface, with the inner surface area completely covered in a small layer of silk. Definitely not a wasp. I turned my phone flashlight on and peeked down into the hole, and low and behold there was an extremely large spider looking up at me.
This was by far the largest spider I'd ever seen in my area, and I was completely stunned by her size. I had no idea there were spiders that could grow to be this size in my climate, she must've been well over 2 inches. When I got home later that day I immediately started researching on what genera she belonged to, which proved to be a daunting task since I had literally no background in spider ID whatsoever. I was able to narrow it down to the family of wolf spiders (Lycosidae) with relative ease via means of a knowledgable friend on discord but nobody was able to get it past that. After a thorough search amongst the depths of the internet I eventually came across the genus Geolycosa, thanks to iNaturalist.
Now, for my first question, does anybody know what species she is? Or rather if there is any way to find out what species she is? The link below displays pictures of a separate adult female I coaxed out of her burrow (With bebes on her back)
Now, this where my previous ignorance to this hobby becomes potentially irresponsible. At the time of getting pictures, one of the baby spiderlwings fell off mommas back and onto the surrounding soil, and I figured, why not try to raise her separately in captivity. So I put her into a small vial with some moss so she had something to grip and cushion her, and headed home (after making sure momma was safe and secure in her burrow of course). At that point in time I was unaware that Wolf spiders need to be around their siblings and mother to develop proper behaviorally and neurologically. "Contact with maternal parent and siblings affects hunting behavior, learning, and central nervous system development in spiderlings of Hogna carolinensis (Araeneae: Lycosidae)" - see file attached to further read on these developmental issues. Now I know the decision I made wasn't the right one in hindsight, but as of now I'm just doing my best to give this spider her best possible life.
After about a week her pigments had fully developed and her exoskeleton had mostly hardened. I remember sometime around around a week later after she had settled in, I offered a pre-killed pinhead cricket which she happily accepted. I then continued to offer food every 1-2 weeks up until this point.
Her husbandry has simply been a snap-cap vial (air holes poked through the lid for ventilation) with approximately 2cm of a sand/coco fiber mix for substrate with some little twig pieces and other small debris like dead leaves as hides. I misted the vial every week or two so she had stable humidity and a consistent source of drinking water. More or less I tried to replicate the habitat I found her in as best as possible. I plan on keeping her in this until she outgrows it, probably 2-4 molts away from her current setup becoming too small. Is this a good idea of what her husbandry should look like? Is there anything I can improve? And what are their temperature/humidity requirements if any?
I'm open to any comments, suggestions, and criticism on my current care. Thanks for reading!
