Parson Spider Help Please

[LadyShia77]

Hello everyone. I was doing laundry and ended up finding a little parson spider (Herpyllus ecclesiasticus) hiding among the clothes. It's too cold to release outside in my area now and was wondering if anyone could give me information on the best way to care for one in an enclosure. I had one earlier in the year, but, sadly, it didn't live very long and I can't much online about them. Pictures of the little guy/gal. I can't get a very good shot of its underside to tell whether it's a male or female and my phone isn't the best. Thank you for any and all information.

 

[NMTs]

I just let them go about their business when I find them in the house - they help keep the feral cricket population in check! I would assume an enclosure with relatively dry, shallow substrate and some leaf litter and a couple sticks would suffice. Maybe you can put a dirty sock in there to make it feel more at home? Haha!! OK, seriously though - I feed the ones I find running around in my garage pinhead crickets that are almost as large as them and they take them down no problem. I can't tell if it's male or female either, but I wouldn't expect it to live very long if male. A female might live for a while, but who knows. Probably drop a little water into the enclosure every few days. That's all I can think of. Good luck!!

 

[LadyShia77]

I just let them go about their business when I find them in the house - they help keep the feral cricket population in check! I would assume an enclosure with relatively dry, shallow substrate and some leaf litter and a couple sticks would suffice. Maybe you can put a dirty sock in there to make it feel more at home? Haha!! OK, seriously though - I feed the ones I find running around in my garage pinhead crickets that are almost as large as them and they take them down no problem. I can't tell if it's male or female either, but I wouldn't expect it to live very long if male. A female might live for a while, but who knows. Probably drop a little water into the enclosure every few days. That's all I can think of. Good luck!!

I would if my bf and daughter's weren't scared of them. They're better than they used to be with spiders, but will still freak out if they see one until I relocate it. My home isn't exactly airtight so we get frequent visitors, especially, in my bathroom/laundry room. The webbed ones usually get to stay where they're at, but the roaming spoods usually have to be relocated or become my pets. lol