Prefered widow prey

[CRX]

Anyone who keeps widows or false widows, do they have a prey preference? Do they take prekilled prey at all?

 

[Kada]

I mostly kept hesperus and gave them taller architecture (branches reaching upwards) which wasnt really the native habitat they are normally found in which tended to be under something and a much shorter distance between ceiling and floor. But I found the vertical space they seemed less stressed (my opinion, not theirs, obviously). I tended to use prey that stayed near the bottom because they really like to "fish" with their hind legs. Dubia were great for that. They take crickets etc easily enough. But if a spider isn't hungry, it's pretty easy for a cricket to destroy webbing and cause huge stress on the spider that can't escape its tiny enclosed habitat. I wouldn't leave crickets in any enclosure for more than of couple hours. Mom's with babies would regularly kill and let their babies feed. The [communal] babies would also feed on prekilled feeders even if the mom wasn't involved.

I was keeping L. hesperus from west coast Canada and observing the wild populations there. Can't comment on other species/locales.

 

[darkness975]

Anyone who keeps widows or false widows, do they have a prey preference? Do they take prekilled prey at all?

I avoid anything with too much armor and defensive appendages (etc) like adult darkling beetles.

Crickets, flies, small meal worms, etc work well. I usually use small meal worms so they don't break themselves free too quickly from the webbing if the spider doesn't go after it right away.

I have not tried pre killed with them since they hunt through their webs via the vibrations of live prey.

 

[Tbone192]

I have owned a bunch of S nobilis and they happily take small crickets, black soldier flies, and would probably take roach nymphs too. Can't confirm this as roaches are highly controlled in Canada AKA we have none or they are few and far between.

I have always had trouble with prekilling prey for the adults, they often won't react to a dying/dead feeder. Usually they will kill the prey even if they don't eat it so as long as you keep an eye on your spider they should be fine.

 

[darkness975]

I have owned a bunch of S nobilis and they happily take small crickets, would probably take roach nymphs too. Can't confirm this as roaches are highly controlled in Canada AKA we have none or they are few and far between.

Those would work too.

 

[Theraphosphor]

I have a few Parasteatoda spiders around the house. They don't seem picky at all, and there were several ant carcasses below the webs. The largest, Catherine, even took a large beetle once. I gave another one a mini mealworm after noticing her getting skinny.

 

[Tbone192]

I have a few Parasteatoda spiders around the house. They don't seem picky at all, and there were several ant carcasses below the webs. The largest, Catherine, even took a large beetle once. I gave another one a mini mealworm after noticing her getting skinny.

Truly natural pest control at its peak. Spiders eating ants and beetles around the house can only be a good thing. And so while many view spiders in the house as pests, we on AB view them as free range pets. 🫸🫷

 

[Godsmack1934]

I mostly keep widows, and I've always fed them crickets with the occasional wild pray I find. Depending on the size of your widow I'd advise looking into crickets no bigger than the legspan of the widow, but that's just how I do it.

 

[darkness975]

I mostly keep widows, and I've always fed them crickets with the occasional wild pray I find. Depending on the size of your widow I'd advise looking into crickets no bigger than the legspan of the widow, but that's just how I do it.

+1 on the prey size.

I avoid wild caught for my captive ones though.

 

[TheWidowsPeak]

I feed fruit flies to slings and mealworms for anything 1/2 inch legspan and up. If I have a female lay a sac I may give her a small dubia roach to get her back up to size for a second sac. I have to get the mealworms tangled in the web with tongs usually. If the female doesn't seem interested I will crush the mealworm head and leave it in the web. Mine have never seemed to mind scavenging.

 

[Kada]

Anyone else notice maternal feeding patterns? I have noticed, when I used to keep them, moms would readily prep a meal and not eat until the babies were well fed and dispersed. Then she would go in for the feed herself. Which would obviously follow with more egg sacs. For that reason I would feed a couple prey items for a hatched sac and later for mom to get her fill. Not sure if this is the norm for the genus, even the species. Maybe a geographic thing, maybe an environment thing, maybe a lucky coincidence with multiple individuals thing. I did notice it remained true after even a few cbb generations though.