My practice spider

[Tegenaria]

We are hoping to get a T soon for our bug and spider crazy young daughter(dont worry, I'll be in charge of its upkeep) and may get a White Knee off a guy selling tanks on Ebay, or maybe a Chile rose sling from our local exotics store.

Anyway, in the meantime I caught a sub adult Tegenaria (female i think)and put it in a makeshift tank with half a plant pot and some substrate.
I then put a live moth in and before long the spider had it!

 

[Gigas]

i love tegenaria's, recently i had a gigantea which matured into a male so i let him go,
Goodluck with your first T

 

[Tegenaria]

i love tegenaria's, recently i had a gigantea which matured into a male so i let him go,
Goodluck with your first T

Thanks
I just put a green caterpillar in there(damn things are eating my geraniums!), not sure she likes it!

 

[Gigas]

Hey hows the tegenaria doing? i recently caught nother one, hopefully female i recon it is anyway its probably a domestica.
she recently moulted

and a really bad pic (not saying the other were good) just to show her pretty face

And the a pic i dug up of the male that i released, not long after his moult,

the legs on the giganteas are very big

 

[Tegenaria]

Great pics Gigus, is yours a really aggressive eater? Mine is for sure! I put a cricket in and she pounced on it straight away. Couple of days later I put a footman moth in, and same again. Then it molted which was the first time Ive been able to watch this. She was hanging upside down in her webbing for all to see, and emerged longer legged!
I read in a book that when they molt their abdomen is smaller each time. Surely this must mean when the spider is adult, or it would disappear!

My Tarantula on the other hand still hasnt molted and wont eat either!

 

[Gigas]

Ahh if onlyT's were as predictable as true's i've never seen mine moult but ive always assumed its a quick affair? just before her moult her legs turned jet blackand i checked on her often, i went out for unch and returned 2 hours later to a shiny new spid!
and now you mention the shrinking abdomen, shes eaten 3 ish times (and mines a pretty secretive but messy eater) and there is no visible gowth, before the moult one crick would fatten her up! (and yes the cricks were the same size)