Kidnapping spiders?

[Tenebrarius]

I dont know anything about araneomorphs (araneomorphae), but been considering on kidnapping a cross orb weaver from the wild (saw one on my fence). do they need water dishes or to be misted?

 

[chanda]

Orb weavers can be tricky to keep alive in captivity. They generally need plenty of room in a large, well-ventilated enclosure that allows a slight breeze to pass through, with plenty of sticks or other suitable attachment points for webs. If conditions are not right, the spider will sulk in a corner and refuse to web - and without a web to capture her prey, she will not eat.

If you do decide to try your luck, I'd suggest giving her a few days as a trial period. If she makes a web and feeds for you, great! But if not, release her back into the wild.

As far as care goes, they're pretty easy. I don't give water dishes to any of the orb weavers I've kept, but I do spritz the substrate to keep up humidity levels. They get the majority of their water from their food. I've also noticed a definite preference for flying insects as feeders - moths and flies are better received than crickets and roaches, both because they are naturally more likely to get into the web on their own and because they are not as strong or heavy. I've placed crickets or roach nymphs directly in a web before, and sometimes they can get free (damaging the web in the process) before the spider comes to get them. In the wild this is not so much of an issue because the spider usually darts out immediately to subdue anything that gets trapped in her web - but in captivity, the spider will be frightened when you open the cage to feed her and may hide until she no longer feels that you are a threat.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

@chanda is right.

They need a too much 'differently bigger/larger' enclosure, something that, 9 out of 10, the general T's keeper (no matter his/her experience) doesn't have at hand and/or can't provide fast (I'm not saying you, eh... just talking in general).

Personally, I wouldn't. Often, on the other hand, I just leave little crickets on their (on the wild) web-home they have in my garden

 

[Quetzalcoatl Nyarlathotep]

Black widows on the other hand are comparatively easy to care for, and you can rest assured that prey is subdued. They don't get frightened once you feed them a few times. They tend to associate the vibrations of opening the cages and tubs with feeding time, so I have very few that retreat into their pinecones now. They just wait there, looking beautiful.

 

[chanda]

Black widows on the other hand are comparatively easy to care for, and you can rest assured that prey is subdued. They don't get frightened once you feed them a few times. They tend to associate the vibrations of opening the cages and tubs with feeding time, so I have very few that retreat into their pinecones now. They just wait there, looking beautiful.

...or rush the opening of the cage! I've had a number of widows that learned a feeding response after only a few weeks. At first, they would retreat when the cage was opened - but they quickly learned to associate the opening with food. After that they stopped retreating - and some would even approach the opening of the cage, to snag the cricket the second it was dropped!

 

[Quetzalcoatl Nyarlathotep]

...or rush the opening of the cage! I've had a number of widows that learned a feeding response after only a few weeks. At first, they would retreat when the cage was opened - but they quickly learned to associate the opening with food. After that they stopped retreating - and some would even approach the opening of the cage, to snag the cricket the second it was dropped!

That pulls at my heartstrings. They do indeed have a beautiful spark of intellect compared to most north-American spiders don't they? No amount of feeding would prevent my Amaurobids from retreat into their hacklemesh funnels.

 

[Tenebrarius]

@chanda is right.

They need a too much 'differently bigger/larger' enclosure, something that, 9 out of 10, the general T's keeper (no matter his/her experience) doesn't have at hand and/or can't provide fast (I'm not saying you, eh... just talking in general).

Personally, I wouldn't. Often, on the other hand, I just leave little crickets on their (on the wild) web-home they have in my garden

makes sense, kinda dont want to send that much money, building a sweet enclosure for a common outdoor spider thats native pretty much everywhere, might just get a wolf spider instead.
>feels bad man
>that feeling when you only understand tarantulas needs cause NEET

 

[AngelDeVille]

I keep my orb weaver on the front porch, she feeds herself. The rains here have knocked her web down a couple times and she hasn't rebuilt in the past two days.

I have a widow now, and just released a wolf spider I fattened up and had kept for a few weeks.

 

[WildSpider]

Here are a couple enclosures I've made for A. diadematus:

http://arachnoboards.com/threads/my-araneus-diadematus-enclosures.310030/

I buy the mini cinnamon buns just for these containers. No problems getting rid of the pastries...

I usually feed my A. diadematus flying insects as previously mentioned but interestingly enough, last night I had an extra mealworm and was trying to decide who do give it to. Hadn't ever tried giving them one before and so I did and she readily accepted it. When I went and checked on her this morning, it was obvious she enjoyed that mealworm, lol. I tried giving my other A. diadematus a mealworm today though and she didn't want anything to do with it so I'm guessing it just depends on the spider.

I've kept some A. diadematus in very small containers (meant to be temporary until I can get them some larger enclosures) and have found that they actually adapt to the smaller size. Instead of building large webs, they act sort of like crab spiders in that they wait and ambush their prey. That being said, I enjoy the larger containers because I love seeing them build their webs. It appears to be unnecessary for survival however.

I am also keeping one A. diadematus loose up in the corner of my wall (not in my house, it's in another building). That is a newer thing I'm trying but so far it seems to be working fine.

For the spiders in the cinnamon bun containers and the one in corner of my wall, I mist their webs with water. For the spiders in the cinnamon bun containers as well as the ones in small containers, I also give them water with an eyedropper. I'm guessing I will probably try and give the one on my wall water with the eyedropper too eventually but it's only been there a short time right now and I'm guessing it doesn't need it yet. If/when I try to give it water with an eyedropper, I will probably try to hold something underneath it in case it does a defensive drop (drop from the web to escape). My others don't drop in their containers but the one on my wall might.

Hope this helps !

 

[schmiggle]

makes sense, kinda dont want to send that much money, building a sweet enclosure for a common outdoor spider thats native pretty much everywhere, might just get a wolf spider instead.
>feels bad man
>that feeling when you only understand tarantulas needs cause NEET

Definitely make your own decisions, and if you think you won't/can't properly care for a spider don't take it, but let me offer an alternative view.

There was a while when I was thinking of keeping a garter snake. Garter snakes are, of course, pretty much the most common species of snake for a large fraction of North America. One website I found talked about the disdain for garter snakes--reptile keepers would point out that they could just go catch one if they wanted one. However, as the website pointed out, they weren't actually inclined to do so, so long term captive garter snakes are far less common than, say, ball pythons in captivity in North America. Garter snakes, however, apparently make great pets (slightly more difficult than corn snakes, and very active).

Not keeping an animal just because it's common seems sort of silly, and you can lose a lot of animals that way. I grow Drosera filiformis, and I can find it in the wild an hour or two drive from my house.

 

[DiadematusQueen]

Hi, newbie here. I joined because I have exactly the same question! I have a beaut of an A. Diadematus at the foot of the apple tree in the garden, and check on her every night.
Is it the case that once she lays eggs she has to stay with them, and thus starves?

 

[WildSpider]

Hi, newbie here. I joined because I have exactly the same question! I have a beaut of an A. Diadematus at the foot of the apple tree in the garden, and check on her every night.
Is it the case that once she lays eggs she has to stay with them, and thus starves?

I haven't had experience with A. Diadematus laying egg sacs yet but I found this thread which I'm guessing doesn't answer your questions for the wild but these are observations made in captivity:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/346416

Where I live, I believe I've heard that the mothers eventually freeze when it gets too cold out for them. My guess would be that in the wild they continue to catch prey even after they lay their egg sac as a lot of spiders do but can't say for sure. I looked at Google Images of them with their egg sacs and it appears that they do stay with the sac in the wild too.

 

[Cororon]

That pulls at my heartstrings. They do indeed have a beautiful spark of intellect compared to most north-American spiders don't they? No amount of feeding would prevent my Amaurobids from retreat into their hacklemesh funnels.

I think most spiders are intelligent, but they have different instincts depending on species plus different personalities. It took a good while for one of my Steatodas to find a good place to bite his first beetle. I giggled when he finally found a good spot on the beetle's butt. After that first one he learned from the experience. Jumping spiders are known to be very intelligent, but they have great eyesight that makes them use their brain power in a different way than half-blind spiders. My Steatodas sometimes climb down from their webs to chase insects on the floor, but if the insect stops moving the spider can't really see it. It makes me go "It's only an inch away! CATCH IT!!! "

I'm sure your Amaurobids are smart. It's often better to run to hide than to take a risky chance. Many jumping spiders have been killed because of their curiosity and boldness. I remember a girl who asked a question on a spider blog about a jumping spider that climbed up on the corner of her keyboard and stared at her. The little hoppy then walked away but came back to the same spot to watch the girl 15 minutes later. She talked to her dad about it and he killed it.

 

[Smokehound714]

Silver argiopes and golden silk spiders are probably the easiest. the true orb weavers can be very frustrating, some just wont do anything unless you emulate their habitat a bit.

Neoscona and araneus seem to be impossible for me, probably because they normally make enormous webs

 

[draconisj4]

Personally, I wouldn't. Often, on the other hand, I just leave little crickets on their (on the wild) web-home they have in my garden

Lol, I do the same thing. I've been feeding some that are close to my door when I see they haven't caught anything in a few days.