Grass spider laid eggs then bailed

[Ares6735]

So long story short, I captured a female grass spider outside my home in mid September, placed her in a terrarium with provisions, and she built a small web in the corner and after a week or so she laid an egg sac, and then a second.

She's been reinforcing the egg sacs the last few days, but wasn't expanding the web.

Cut to about 10 minutes ago, I check the spider terrarium and she's not in her web, nor anywhere in the terrarium.... I had left the little tab open on top and my best guess is she somehow got all the way up to that hole and climbed out.

I last opened that tab to mist the water gel this morning, and she was in there, but could have escaped anytime the last 12+ hrs.

Any ideas on where she might retreat and/or start building a web in my house?

Is it normal for them to just abandon their egg sacs? I thought the mothers kinda guard them to the death once laid.

In general I am a bit baffled.... she never showed any ability nor ambition to climb out or escape, I never found her anywhere but on her web in the corner the last 6 weeks.

 

[Poonjab]

She just went out for some cigs and malt liquor

 

[CRX]

Honestly she could be anywhere.

 

[Spoodfood]

Check the corners or where you’d typically find a house spider web

 

[Ares6735]

Last night I laid a trap of sorts, basically a small cricket habitat with an open top and one old/lazy cricket who had no ambition to climb.

This morning, I found her near an Amazon box curled up like she was dead, but when I scooper her up she was moving a little.

I got her in the tank and she was mostly curled up, but when I shoved her into her web with my scooper, she spread her legs out at least.

Crossing my fingers she's okay.

 

[Ares6735]

She's still sitting in the same spot, but often she did that during daylight hours before she escaped.

I'll check the camera I have in the terrarium after dusk and see if she is moving.

Now for those egg sacs, I was hoping to get babies, so no concerns for me.

However, I am wondering if anyone can give me an idea of how many spiderlings may result from 2 egg sacs assuming she mated later Summer/early Fall before I captured her.

I know I should expect a fair amount of cannibalism, so I am wondering how many total might be in there, and then any guess as to how many may survive the cannibalism and go build webs?

My hope was to have maybe 6-12 of them left by Spring and then release them onto my bushes near where I found their Mom, so they can continue to protect my home from insects.

I have a cricket farm going and fruit fly cultures coming, so I can produce lots of food for the babies when they hatch.

I was thinking of just kinda making it a spider/cricket habitat where I let live crickets live so they can be hunted by the spiders.

Any thoughts/advice?

 

[Spoodfood]

She's still sitting in the same spot, but often she did that during daylight hours before she escaped.

I'll check the camera I have in the terrarium after dusk and see if she is moving.

Now for those egg sacs, I was hoping to get babies, so no concerns for me.

However, I am wondering if anyone can give me an idea of how many spiderlings may result from 2 egg sacs assuming she mated later Summer/early Fall before I captured her.

I know I should expect a fair amount of cannibalism, so I am wondering how many total might be in there, and then any guess as to how many may survive the cannibalism and go build webs?

My hope was to have maybe 6-12 of them left by Spring and then release them onto my bushes near where I found their Mom, so they can continue to protect my home from insects.

I have a cricket farm going and fruit fly cultures coming, so I can produce lots of food for the babies when they hatch.

I was thinking of just kinda making it a spider/cricket habitat where I let live crickets live so they can be hunted by the spiders.

Any thoughts/advice?

I have no idea how many will hatch from grass spider sac. If you know the species it would be easier to find out a range. As far as babies go, your best bet is to probably do them like jumping spiders. Separate them each individually and feed and water them. Get the small deli cups, they’re like $3 for a pack of them at the store. You can put a wet but not dripping cotton ball in the bottom for water, and put a fruit fly or two in each. Don’t worry about substrate or anything either.

 

[Ares6735]

Well, she did climb to the top of the web and is now sitting there.

I spritzed some water to see if she'd move, and she just curled up in place.

Oh poor lady, all you had to do was stay on your web.

 

[Ares6735]

She survived the night.... found her in the same spot and nudged her and she moved fast to scurry away, so perhaps she's not dead just yet.

I've been leaving some of the Josh's Frogs water gel in a Gatorade cap near her web, but also spritz the web with water sometimes to make sure she's getting some.

 

[Biollantefan54]

She survived the night.... found her in the same spot and nudged her and she moved fast to scurry away, so perhaps she's not dead just yet.

I've been leaving some of the Josh's Frogs water gel in a Gatorade cap near her web, but also spritz the web with water sometimes to make sure she's getting some.

I would get rid of the gel and just use water. As long as she has drops on her web she’ll be able to drink

 

[Ares6735]

I would get rid of the gel and just use water. As long as she has drops on her web she’ll be able to drink

Gel lasts longer and prevents her and the crickets from drowning.

Why would you replace it exclusively with water?

 

[Biollantefan54]

Bc it lasts longer and can breed bacteria. They are perfectly capable of drinking from water droplets in their web. I would let crickets roam free in the enclosure either because of the spider molts, the cricket can eat the spider. I would just drop a cricket in the web when the spider is hungry.

 

[Ares6735]

Bc it lasts longer and can breed bacteria. They are perfectly capable of drinking from water droplets in their web. I would let crickets roam free in the enclosure either because of the spider molts, the cricket can eat the spider. I would just drop a cricket in the web when the spider is hungry.

Thx very much, new to this, so it helps to know the whys behind the what-to-dos

I removed the gel and added water as suggested.

The remaining 2 crickets in there are on their last legs, so I'll leave em for her to eat if she wishes.

Baby crickets started hatching last week, and I just got to see a few who have gotten quite big already.

Any idea how to know when she's hungry? Will she hold up a sign?

EDIT: I should add, baby crickets in a 20 gal tote breeding container, no breeding is going on in the spider terrarium.

 

[Jonathan6303]

Thx very much, new to this, so it helps to know the whys behind the what-to-dos

I removed the gel and added water as suggested.

The remaining 2 crickets in there are on their last legs, so I'll leave em for her to eat if she wishes.

Baby crickets started hatching last week, and I just got to see a few who have gotten quite big already.

Any idea how to know when she's hungry? Will she hold up a sign?

EDIT: I should add, baby crickets in a 20 gal tote breeding container, no breeding is going on in the spider terrarium.

When the abdomen is not plump then feed her. A standard rule of thumb is don’t leave feeders in the enclosure for more than 24 hours. This is because the feeder will cause your spider stress, if your spider molts and there is a live feeder in there, it can damage it, and if your feeder dies and is in the enclosure it can attract mold mites and all sorts of unfavorables.

 

[Ares6735]

When the abdomen is not plump then feed her. A standard rule of thumb is don’t leave feeders in the enclosure for more than 24 hours. This is because the feeder will cause your spider stress, if your spider molts and there is a live feeder in there, it can damage it, and if your feeder dies and is in the enclosure it can attract mold mites and all sorts of unfavorables.

This is great information, thanks!

Any ideas on enrichment for her habitat? Things I can do to make her more comfortable or encourage her to build a web?

She took up residence in a new corner, and I cut a paper towel tube and placed it under her in the corner.

She slid down into it, sitting with part of her body on the rim at the top.

I realized I wasn't offering her a proper hide, which normally is kinda where the web begins in nature.

 

[Jonathan6303]

This is great information, thanks!

Any ideas on enrichment for her habitat? Things I can do to make her more comfortable or encourage her to build a web?

She took up residence in a new corner, and I cut a paper towel tube and placed it under her in the corner.

She slid down into it, sitting with part of her body on the rim at the top.

I realized I wasn't offering her a proper hide, which normally is kinda where the web begins in nature.

Can you post a pic of the enclosure

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

This is great information, thanks!

Any ideas on enrichment for her habitat? Things I can do to make her more comfortable or encourage her to build a web?

She took up residence in a new corner, and I cut a paper towel tube and placed it under her in the corner.

She slid down into it, sitting with part of her body on the rim at the top.

I realized I wasn't offering her a proper hide, which normally is kinda where the web begins in nature.

Grass spiders typically build their webs among plants, especially dense ground cover, which provides tons of anchor points for their webbing as well as hiding places. One option might be to get some fake plants from a local dollar store or craft store. You can also add things like cork bark and cholla wood to set up the type of complex terrain that these spiders typically prefer. The paper towel tube will unfortunately get mouldy so isn't a good long-term solution.

 

[Ares6735]

Can you post a pic of the enclosure

She moved back to her web overnight, so I removed the tube in which she had been hiding.

The one female cricket I had left I moved back to the cricket tote, I suppose she can breed with the young males if she/they have it in them.

The little lady was even kind enough to pose for a decent picture!

 

[Albireo Wulfbooper]

Yeah, this friend needs some complexity in that enclosure to feel safe and secure.

 

[Ares6735]

Grass spiders typically build their webs among plants, especially dense ground cover, which provides tons of anchor points for their webbing as well as hiding places. One option might be to get some fake plants from a local dollar store or craft store. You can also add things like cork bark and cholla wood to set up the type of complex terrain that these spiders typically prefer. The paper towel tube will unfortunately get mouldy so isn't a good long-term solution.

Check my pics of the enclosure.

She moved back to her web and abandoned the tube, so I removed it just now on your advice