Help on Caring for a Steatoda Grossa?

Cororon

Arachnoknight
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
268
I am wondering if I should get flightless fruit flies for my Tegenaria Domestica juvenile? Were you solely talking about the steada grossa? I don't think he has eaten in a while he won't eat crickets anymore maybe he got bit. I just put 4 moths in his tank I hope they go into his web I think the last ones I put might have just died because I didn't see any left over pieces in his web maybe he tossed it all the way out the web I don't know.

My T Domestica is fairly small with the legs included he is about the size of a quarter. Would the fruit flies be too small? They are the next thing I have access to other than moths and crickets. I looked at some meal worms but they seemed way too big, I don't know where I would get maggots from but I think I may order some butter worms. I think he needs to eat before they would come in through shipment though so I need to figure out what to feed in the meantime if he doesn't catch the moths in his tank now.
The Drosophila hydei is fruit flies are larger than the tiny D. melanogaster and good food for smaller spiders and young ones of the bigger spiders, so they are a good choice.

The Xysticus sp. Crab Spider I took care of one winter enjoyed stalking and eating them.



In nature, and in our homes as well, spiders catch prey of different sizes. From tiny midges to big moths. Some species, like the Raft Spiders eat small flies, but sometimes they even eat fish. It happens that spiders just don't feel like eating, like before molting. And who knows, they might even have a headache or something. They can have their reasons that we will never know anything about.
 
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Dragon Rescuer

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 14, 2019
Messages
20
The Drosophila hydei is fruit flies are larger than the tiny D. melanogaster and good food for smaller spiders and young ones of the bigger spiders, so they are a good choice.

The Xysticus sp. Crab Spider I took care of one winter enjoyed stalking and eating them.



In nature, and in our homes as well, spiders catch prey of different sizes. From tiny midges to big moths. Some species, like the Raft Spiders eat small flies, but sometimes they even eat fish. It happens that spiders just don't feel like eating, like before molting. And who knows, they might even have a headache or something. They can have their reasons that we will never know anything about.
Hi,
Where do I buy small fruit flies for slings? Care, information, expectations? I know nothing about them. Thank you.
 

Cororon

Arachnoknight
Joined
Aug 8, 2018
Messages
268
Hi,
Where do I buy small fruit flies for slings? Care, information, expectations? I know nothing about them. Thank you.
Google for a pet shop that deals with spiders, frogs, lizards and animals like that. Some of them sell fruit flies, and sometimes the Hydei species (about double the size compared to the melanogaster). You get the fly culture in a plastic cup (with a lid, of course) and inside is a nutrious sludge called a medium. Hundreds of maggots crawl in it, eat and grow. There will be brown pupae here and there, and the adult flies just walk around in the cup. You just open the lid a little and let a fly or two walk out, and then you give it to the spider.

Flightless fruitflies have wings, but the muscles that control them are too weak for them to work properly. There are also wingless fruitflies, but the flightless with wings are easier to control. You can more easily pick one up with a tweezer if it has wings.

The fly culture can be stored in room temperature, but the flies will slow down (and also their life cycle) if stored in the fridge.

Google and learn, and try to find a place that sells them near you. Then, if you want, you could use some of the flies to make your own fruitfly cultures for the future. I tried that but got more grain mites than flies. I guess I should have boiled the oats I used. :lol: I don't have any spiders at the moment, so I have no need for flies. But spiders show up when you least expect them...
 

Caveternal

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jul 23, 2020
Messages
117
The Drosophila hydei is fruit flies are larger than the tiny D. melanogaster and good food for smaller spiders and young ones of the bigger spiders, so they are a good choice.

The Xysticus sp. Crab Spider I took care of one winter enjoyed stalking and eating them.



In nature, and in our homes as well, spiders catch prey of different sizes. From tiny midges to big moths. Some species, like the Raft Spiders eat small flies, but sometimes they even eat fish. It happens that spiders just don't feel like eating, like before molting. And who knows, they might even have a headache or something. They can have their reasons that we will never know anything about.
I think he has been eating the moths, because I keep putting them in the tank , and I don't see them the next day, Actually I saw some of them get stuck in his web and then I didn't see them the next day. I'm fixing to catch some more and will be ordering some flies I'd like to find some kind of small meal worms or something has anyone tried butter worms?
 

Caveternal

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jul 23, 2020
Messages
117
What kind of webbing to steatodas web? I think I have a juvenile. I have a 1 by 2 cube tank and she has single strings of web going from top to bottom through out the tank some of the strings seem to not even be connected to her area at all. I don't see how she could feel it do they go by sight or is it more likely she just made some dud strings or something?
 

Dragon Rescuer

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 14, 2019
Messages
20
Hello! I am new to spider care. I have recently housed a male wild-born False Widow spider. He has food (a live leaf footed bug) and water, but he hasn't established a complete web yet. He is currently asleep (in a dark corner of the wood piece). Should I release him or keep him? If I keep him, any advice?
And I am wondering if he can catch food without a web. Is the food I gave him fine? Is the water source good?

And if you were wondering, here's a photo of the enclosure (lid off)
Hi,

I have 10 Steatoda Grossa. My enclosures are not bio. They have man made structures to hide in, for better viewing. I convert plastic candy boxes into enclosures. If you find another, I will help if I can. 20210413_035443.jpg 20210413_035231.jpg 20210413_035359.jpg
 

Dragon Rescuer

Arachnopeon
Joined
Nov 14, 2019
Messages
20
What kind of webbing to steatodas web? I think I have a juvenile. I have a 1 by 2 cube tank and she has single strings of web going from top to bottom through out the tank some of the strings seem to not even be connected to her area at all. I don't see how she could feel it do they go by sight or is it more likely she just made some dud strings or something?
Hi,

She probably didn't finish it. She will in time. Their sight isn't very good.
 

Cecelias lair

Arachnosquire
Joined
Nov 1, 2020
Messages
105
I haven't had any experience with Steatoda grossa but have had experience with Steatoda nobolis (over 20 of them) and I find they like a big open space with a main part for webbing and retreat. They really like to make webs and hang around at the top of the enclosures, but also like to make webs and explore the whole enclosure. So I've seen them happiest in jars or homemade enclosure like my gf made.
Jars are great because it means you can have the lid on the bottom and easily remove things without disturbing their web too much.
Here's some enclosures I've kept some in
 

Attachments

Ungoliant

Malleus Aranearum
Staff member
Joined
Mar 7, 2012
Messages
4,096
What kind of webbing to steatodas web? I think I have a juvenile. I have a 1 by 2 cube tank and she has single strings of web going from top to bottom through out the tank some of the strings seem to not even be connected to her area at all. I don't see how she could feel it do they go by sight or is it more likely she just made some dud strings or something?
Similar to widow spiders, Steatoda build complex three-dimensional tangle webs with trap lines running down to the ground.

Their vision is poor; they primarily rely on the vibrations from their web to tell them what is going on around them.

As long as it looks like she has a functional web and is catching prey, I would not worry.
 
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