My First Rabida Wolf Spider

[LadyShia77]

Hello all. I finally decided to try my hand at a rabid wolf spider after someone mentioned how great they were to have as pets. I've seen several in my yard, but haven't really thought of keeping one. Not sure if I'm going to keep this little guy, but I'm enjoying watching him/her until I decide lol. It was awesome watching it catch a cricket and carry it around. Is there anything I need to know in general about rabidas in general? Is there any way to tell whether this particular one is a juvenile or adult (I've seen far bigger ones in my yard with many having a green tint to their legs)? Can anyone tell whether this one is male or female? I'm having a little bit of difficulty telling with these guys. I have put substrate in the enclosure since taking the pic. Thanks again.

 

[Biollantefan54]

It’s either a juvenile male or a female. Adult males have dark front legs.

 

[LadyShia77]

It’s either a juvenile male or a female. Adult males have dark front legs.

That's good to know. What's the best way to tell the difference when it's older? Females don't seems to have as big of an abdomen as other species.

 

[Biollantefan54]

That's good to know. What's the best way to tell the difference when it's older? Females don't seems to have as big of an abdomen as other species.

I’m not sure i understand, when it’s older, if it’s front legs get really dark, it’s a male, if it looks like same it’s a female

 

[LadyShia77]

I’m not sure i understand, when it’s older, if it’s front legs get really dark, it’s a male, if it looks like same it’s a female

When it's older as in no longer a juvenile lol. When they're sub-adult or adult. So the ones with the green legs that I've seen have all been male? In that case, I don't think I've seen an adult female yet. They've all been males, but I thought the green on their legs was really neat.

 

[Biollantefan54]

They aren’t green, at least to me. Here is a link with a pic of an adult male, notice the front legs: https://bugguide.net/node/view/1278310/bgimage

 

[LadyShia77]

They aren’t green, at least to me. Here is a link with a pic of an adult male, notice the front legs: https://bugguide.net/node/view/1278310/bgimage

None of the ones in my yard look like that. I've seen about 2 or 3 that legit have green legs lol. Maybe there's just a bunch of chlorophyll in my grass that's being passed to them. There are a lot of green grasshoppers in my yard too. I'll try to get a pic next time I see one.

 

[Biollantefan54]

None of the ones in my yard look like that. I've seen about to or 3 that legit have green legs lol. Maybe there's just a bunch of chlorophyll in my grass that's being passed to them. There are a lot of green grasshoppers in my yard too. I'll try to get a pic next time I see one.

Definitely take a photo, I don’t think anything they eat would impact their leg color. I have only seen coloration effected by food apply to certain Scytodes I have found, and only in their abdomen. I am sure other spiders have this happen but I think it would be limited to their abdomens.

 

[LadyShia77]

Definitely take a photo, I don’t think anything they eat would impact their leg color. I have only seen coloration effected by food apply to certain Scytodes I have found, and only in their abdomen. I am sure other spiders have this happen but I think it would be limited to their abdomens.

I've stopped seeing them now. The last one I saw was a small one on the side of my daughters' kiddy pool the day before yesterday. I did catch it, but then decided to let it go. Starting to regret that decision as it had light green legs and it was the last one I've had the privilege of seeing. There was a bigger one the side of my home about a week before that was darkish green legs. For some reason, I did not take pictures of any of those and I caught both of them. I usually take pictures of whatever spiders I catch. For some reason, I didn't those.

 

[Biollantefan54]

I've stopped seeing them now. The last one I saw was a small one on the side of my daughters' kiddy pool the day before yesterday. I did catch it, but then decided to let it go. Starting to regret that decision as it had light green legs and it was the last one I've had the privilege of seeing. There was a bigger one the side of my home about a week before that was darkish green legs. For some reason, I did not take pictures of any of those and I caught both of them. I usually take pictures of whatever spiders I catch. For some reason, I didn't those.

Did it look like this https://images.app.goo.gl/7AchR2MfLAunTg8A7

 

[LadyShia77]

Did it look like this https://images.app.goo.gl/7AchR2MfLAunTg8A7

No, it had the rabida body with the stripe, but had green legs instead of the regular color. I'm really wishing I had kept the one I caught on my daughters' pool. I didn't decide I wanted a rabid wolf spider until after I had let that one go lol. The first one I saw had legs similar to this one. The one on my daughters' pool was younger and had lighter green legs. https://bugguide.net/node/view/67585