Injured wolf spider

[arachnophobespiderkeeper]

Let me start off saying, I'm actually an arachnophobe if it isn't obvious from my name pft. Though I always had a strange fascination with spiders. I recently found a medium sized wolf spider on my bed and, after proceeding to have a panic attack and cry, managed to capture it. Once captured, I am absolutely fine with spiders. I know they cant touch or hurt me, so I dont mind. I've actually been keeping spiders as a way to slowly overcome my arachnophobia since I know they're truly quite cool creatures.

Heres the issue though. In my blind panic to get this large spider off my bed, I slammed the jar down a bit on one of its legs. I plan to keep the spider as a pet and not release it, but I think I may of broken one of its legs. I didn't mean too, the jar i used was too small and I was panicking and not wanting it to run away. I feel terrible but my question is, will it heal naturally? is there anything i can do to help it? will it die? or will it survive since its now in a man made habitat and being fed and cared for? if you could help me out that'd be great I read up on wolf spiders and they really dont need much to survive. I got some dirt, clean water, and a hide for it in a container about 2-3x larger then its legspan and some Vaseline at the top so if it does decide to climb (despite it likely not being able too) it wont be able to get to the top and scare me. Either way, any help and tips is appreciated!

 

[arizonablue]

A lot of people would have crushed the poor little thing entirely so try not to feel too bad about injuring it by accident. Spiders are cool as pets but not too many people want them in their beds!

If it's injured, it will probably lose the leg, depending on how bad the injury was. I kept a wolf spider with only seven legs and it did just fine. Just let the spider do its thing, there isn't really anything you can do to help it and trying would only stress it out. A water dish isn't really necessary, you can just mist the enclosure a bit and it will drink from the droplets. Keep it supplied with the occasional cricket or something and it should be fine. Hope that helps!

 

[arachnophobespiderkeeper]

A lot of people would have crushed the poor little thing entirely so try not to feel too bad about injuring it by accident. Spiders are cool as pets but not too many people want them in their beds!

If it's injured, it will probably lose the leg, depending on how bad the injury was. I kept a wolf spider with only seven legs and it did just fine. Just let the spider do its thing, there isn't really anything you can do to help it and trying would only stress it out. A water dish isn't really necessary, you can just mist the enclosure a bit and it will drink from the droplets. Keep it supplied with the occasional cricket or something and it should be fine. Hope that helps!

thank you for the help!! I heard spiders tend not to thrive in moist places so I figured a bottle cap water dish would work. I dont think hed lose the entire leg, just at the knee thankfully, so he should be fine!!

i was tempted to crush it,, but I would feel too bad. Spiders on my bed though...big no no! so now hes safe and secure.

if anybody iscurious or wants to try to sex him, heres a pic! I think hes a juvenile male but im nooo expert:

sorta just chilling over his water dish with a dead ant.

 

[Ungoliant]

will it heal naturally? is there anything i can do to help it? will it die?

The best thing you can do is provide it a nice home, or failing that, release it. Do not mess with the injured leg.

If the leg is too badly injured to use, the spider may amputate it on its own. Spiders can live just fine with a missing leg or two -- in fact, it's not uncommon to find spiders with missing legs.

Spiders are capable of autotomy or self-amputation to escape from predators or in response to trauma. The leg joints are "designed" to break off at certain places (such as the coxa or hip joint) to minimize bleeding.

If it's not yet mature, the leg will regrow when it molts. (After a couple of molts, you might not be able to tell that it was ever missing a leg.)

thank you for the help!! I heard spiders tend not to thrive in moist places so I figured a bottle cap water dish would work. I dont think hed lose the entire leg, just at the knee thankfully, so he should be fine!!

I can't determine the sex from this image, but the sex doesn't affect care unless it's a mature male (palps that look like they are capped with boxing gloves), in which case you should release it outside near your home, as it's only interested in finding a mate.

I can tell you that you don't actually have a wolf spider (Lycosidae). Your spider is a harmless funnel weaver (Agelenidae) -- not to be confused with the medically significant funnel-web spiders from Australia.

If you're in eastern Canada, the most likely option is Tegenaria domestica (barn funnel weaver). In western Canada, you have Eratigena atrica (giant house spider) and Eratigena agrestis (hobo spider). There is a lot of misinformation about hobo spiders on the Web claiming that it is capable of causing necrotic lesions, similar to a brown recluse. However, hobo spiders should not be regarded as medically significant.

Without your location or the size of the spider, I would say that it looks most like Eratigena atrica (but these species can't always be distinguished from their similar-looking cousins by photos).

Care for these spiders is a bit different from wolf spider care but is still very easy. It just needs anchor points for webbing. You can water it by misting the web.

sorta just chilling over his water dish with a dead ant.

Did you try to feed it an ant? I would avoid using ants as feeder insects, because they can bite, sting, and/or spray formic acid. Many also contain formic acid (even if they can't spray it), which a lot of potential predators find unpalatable.

You should wait until it has built a web to offer prey, but otherwise, it's not a terribly picky eater. A good size to offer is something that is the size of the spider's abdomen.

 

[arachnophobespiderkeeper]

The best thing you can do is provide it a nice home, or failing that, release it. Do not mess with the injured leg.

If the leg is too badly injured to use, the spider may amputate it on its own. Spiders can live just fine with a missing leg or two -- in fact, it's not uncommon to find spiders with missing legs.

Spiders are capable of autotomy or self-amputation to escape from predators or in response to trauma. The leg joints are "designed" to break off at certain places (such as the coxa or hip joint) to minimize bleeding.

If it's not yet mature, the leg will regrow when it molts. (After a couple of molts, you might not be able to tell that it was ever missing a leg.)




I can't determine the sex from this image, but the sex doesn't affect care unless it's a mature male (palps that look like they are capped with boxing gloves), in which case you should release it outside near your home, as it's only interested in finding a mate.

I can tell you that you don't actually have a wolf spider (Lycosidae). Your spider is a harmless funnel weaver (Agelenidae) -- not to be confused with the medically significant funnel-web spiders from Australia.

If you're in eastern Canada, the most likely option is Tegenaria domestica (barn funnel weaver). In western Canada, you have Eratigena atrica (giant house spider) and Eratigena agrestis (hobo spider). There is a lot of misinformation about hobo spiders on the Web claiming that it is capable of causing necrotic lesions, similar to a brown recluse. However, hobo spiders should not be regarded as medically significant.

Without your location or the size of the spider, I would say that it looks most like Eratigena atrica (but these species can't always be distinguished from their similar-looking cousins by photos).

Care for these spiders is a bit different from wolf spider care but is still very easy. It just needs anchor points for webbing. You can water it by misting the web.




Did you try to feed it an ant? I would avoid using ants as feeder insects, because they can bite, sting, and/or spray formic acid. Many also contain formic acid (even if they can't spray it), which a lot of potential predators find unpalatable.

You should wait until it has built a web to offer prey, but otherwise, it's not a terribly picky eater. A good size to offer is something that is the size of the spider's abdomen.

thank you for all the information!! i live in western canada, and due to markings and just..general size and the fact that we only really have wolf spiders, orb weavers and some psudo arachnids, I just sort of assumed aha.

He does have VERY small orbs on the end of his pedipalp so its hard to tell but I dont mind if hes male, due to him mostly being interesting to watch and survive. A female would be cool though and idont mind either way.

And lastly, no,i didn't feed him the ant. I have a carpenter ant enclosure as well that I stole some dirt from and it happened to have a dead one in it.

Thanks for all the help! i'll look into the type of spider they are!