Orb Weaver cage setup

[JJJoshua]

I've been seeing alot of orb weavers around my house recently, and I wanted to catch a little one and keep it over the winter and release it in spring. I was wondering what I should do for a cage?

I'm not even sure what kind of orbweaver I'm going to catch, I'll probably browse around my house and choose an orb weaver on the smaller side. I wish I could find an argiope, but I haven't seen any all summer... I was thinking maybe a marbled orb weaver...

Thanks all,

 

[Malhavoc's]

The Encosure shoudl abe a large cube basicly With alot of ample opertunities for it to creat a full potential web You'll normaly get a good web if your produce a [_] shape or If you creat X with large gapes inbetween, in awhile it wil have made an orb web inbetween the gaps, IF IT CANNOT MAKE AN ORB WEB do not expect it to live long as they normaly dont fair well without a full potential web.

 

[JJJoshua]

Would a large critter keeper work? I have one right now that's larger than a 10g tank but my Avic is in it now.

 

[Malhavoc's]

Depends on the size of spider, I';ve seen a 2m spiderling make a 5 inch web if that gives you insight into the potential of these spiders, they will mnake their webs smaller but will activly search for someplace they cna make the largest web that the can make.

 

[Lochala]

I dont cage the argiopes I catch; they usually find a suitable spot along the walls.

 

[diadematus]

spider frame

I dont cage the argiopes I catch; they usually find a suitable spot along the walls.

I like this, but the problem where we live is that the ceilings are so high that they might as well be outdoors (on the balcony railing, for example, where one can at least see them).

I'm trying out a wooden frame idea I got from an Australian website. It's basically a frame about 30 x 30 x 5 cm on a stand that sits in a tray of water (such as what you put under a flower box). You drill a hole and/or add some covering in the corner as a retreat. I first tried an adult Araneus diadematus, but after five days she had not built a web and had escaped several times (any draught will pick carry the silk line). So I let her go out the window and thirty minutes later (in full daylight) she already had a web there.

The second attempt is with a "sector spider" as they are known in Germany (Sektorspinne) Zygiella x-notata (I think). The first night she escaped (was on my first, larger frame) and proceeded to build a web in the upper corner of the window (but as I mentioned, way too high up). I'll give her tonight again.

After that I may switch back to A. diadematus, but a much smaller one.

-Kevin

(BTW, hello, as I am new here.)

 

[diadematus]

I'm trying out a wooden frame idea I got from an Australian website. It's basically a frame about 30 x 30 x 5 cm on a stand that sits in a tray of water

(Two years later...)

We moved to Berlin, into a newly remodeled apartment, which naturally had no spiders whatsoever. This summer, finally, I've started to see the occasional critter here.

And about five weeks ago a lovely A. diadematus (Kreuzspinne/cross spider) moved in and built a web in the window to the right of the door to our patio. She's been happy there ever since. Perhaps my feeding her has something to do with that. The only problem is that she decided after a few days to attach one of the anchor threads to the floor a few centimeters in front of the window. This makes housecleaning a little trickier.

Every other day or so (I try to do this when my wife is not around) I feed her house flies that I catch and also very small crickets that I buy at the pet store. The very nice clerk fishes one or two at a time out of the larger packages and sells them individually -- that's real service.

-Kevin

 

[helixrose]

Several years ago my cousin found a large orbweaver and had it in a mason jar to show my aunt since she was an avid arachnophile. It was terrible seeing it dragging its back legs all over the glass bottom (they aren't built to walk like a wolf spider) so I gave it a stick to climb and it seemed much happier. So I took my 15 gallon long aquarium with a fitted screen for keeping scorpions, stood it on end with the screen covering the front and lined the sides with sticks and rough surfaces, and blacked out the bottom (back). It made a web and I kept the whole thing on my dresser in my room. I had to snap some of the anchor threads from the screen so I could remove it to feed her, and she obligingly reattached threads away from it. I fed her crickets and moths from the porch light and sprayed with a super fine mister on the web every morning, she got very big and lived all winter. She spun an egg case eventually but I knew she hadn't been mated since she'd come inside long before so I put it down to some kind of false egg case, which was what it turned out to be. By spring I figured she'd lived indoors long enough and let her go.
A square cage probably WOULD have been better but the aquarium was all I had and it seemed to work that time.

 

[Kruggar]

They seem to enjoy areas that get full sun more then being inside too. This might be why Dia's spider didn't want to web.

 

[helixrose]

That's an interesting point- my room had three windows and was full of sunlight. I wonder if they perceive sunlight as being more open air, where bugs might fly, or if they need sunlight for itself? Most I've come in contact with are nocturnal.