hello everyone! Complete beginner here with ???'s

[mack1]

I live in the U.K (Scotland) and I am thinking about keeping a spider but have some ?'s.

At work there is a spider in the grounds/garden that has attracted my attention and as I know there are plans to modify that area, I plan to "rescue" it before its too late

The spider in question is a British garden spider (I think) - big round abdomen and shades of brown in contrasting tones, quite long hairs on legs for its size.

1 - How would I go about keeping this in a glass case?
2 - What is the lifespan of this type of spider?
3 - As crickets etc are not indigenous(sp?) to the U.K, how would I manage feeding?
4 - Can anyone help?

I realise this is not an exotic spider breed but was hoping someone could give me advice on whether this is a good idea or not! Any help would be welcome as this could be a trial run for bigger and better things!


Thanks - Mack1

 

[nightbreed]

hey ya
Im not 100% sure on this it may of been a wind up but i was told the garden spider is now protected so you might wanna look into that before you "rescue" it, you might have spideys best interests at heart but the old bill might get narky when it comes to food Im not sure, I keep bigger spiders so im not sure what a little'un like that would eat but you should be able to get some micro or maybe small crickets depending on spideys size from a pet shop or order em on line
hope that was some help

 

[mack1]

Protected?? Theres millions of them! Thanks for the heads up on that.

 

[nightbreed]

yeah thats what i thought, i think it may be a wind up but better to be safe than nicked lol not that i think special branch are gonna kick your door in for one spider

 

[mack1]

Just checked in uk protected species and am ok to keep (not protected)

 

[nightbreed]

nice one

 

[mack1]

It would have been funny though..*crash* "alright sunshine, step away from the spider!" "Oo's been a naughty boy? Thinks he can keep an Araneus diadematus (found it) an' get away with it! "

Thanks for help so far though dude!

 

[nightbreed]

lol not sure i've been any help i aint got a clue when it come to true spiders, tarantulas i know a little bit about but with the little guys i'm lost lol

 

[Lucretia]

I kept one for a few months, her name was Jennifer (aka Big Momma).

I fed her insects that I found as well as other spiders. Other smaller spiders, though I always felt there was a risk that she could be the loser in the fight. She ate shield bugs and flies without complaint.

It's important to give them water as well..you will notice their abdomen shrinking from dehydration. Sometimes I did this by actually giving her a drop of water or by just putting a wet paper towel in her home.

Make sure it's a pretty ventilated container...if not the sides, at least the top.

I am not sure how long they live for. I wanted her to finish off her life properly so I let her go.

 

[danread]

Hi Mack1,

it is no problem keeping any spider you are likely to find in your garden in the UK, very very few are protected, and even if they were, no one would know or care to do anything about it.

I presume you are talking about a common orb web spider Araneus diadematus. These arent the easiest to keep in captivity, as you need to be able to let them make an orb web. I've tried to keep a few, but never got one to succesfully make an orb web in a container. If you want to start keeping a UK species or spider, a better bet would be to keep one of the common house spiders, Tegenaria domestica, Tegenaria atrica or Tegenaria gigantea. I've kept a few of these before and they do well in cpativity. Keep them in a clear plastic container with air holes, and they will make a web covering the bottom of the container, onto which you can drop prey items such as crickets, flies, grasshoppers etc. They are entertaining to keep, and are quite aggressive predators.

Cheers,

 

[mack1]

Thank you all for your help so far. Perhaps re-locating the spider in question would be better than keeping it in captivity.
I was planning on keeping a spider of some kind but trying to keep away from the more popular exotic types, so that friends visiting could see there was more to keeping spiders than the tarantula breeds (no offence meant).
If anyone can help me with the basics of this type and I mean from the ground up (money is not really a problem for setup costs) but I have no idea what is required as most of the books available tend to deal with large spiders/hot weather species.
Size of habitat case,how to find food-stuff, etc etc.

Thanks in advance - Mack1

 

[Lucretia]

I have never had any problems getting them to make an orb web...even those that I kept for only a few days were always built a web. That was in glass jars...in a box with the sides cut off and covered in clear plastic...in a big tupperware container..