Problems with feeding Steatoda (false widow)

[KristianDobias]

Hello Everyone I know I posted thread not so long ago and with that thank you very much you really helped me out but I kinda have problem with feeding my Steatoda and I think that someone here can help me with that
So I have this interesting looking Steatoda triangulosa as a pet I recently moved her because her previous enclousure had a mold problem, her abdomen is kinda small so I decided to feed her a fly larva as I do with all other spiders but the fly larva didn't touched a single gumfoot line and so wasn't launched into her cobweb it instead burrowed itself in the substrate so what should I do ?
Should I just wait till the adult fly emerges or should I somehow remove the larvae ?
And what should I feed to my Steatoda she looks pretty hungry tho Iam afraid that if I tried feeding her another fly larva I would end up with the same results ?
Thanks in advance for any help
(1st picture is her when I caught her, the 2nd photo is her in her enclousure and the photos 3 and 4 are photos of her enclousure)

 

[CRX]

First off, you messed up giving a widow substrate. They have zero need for it and IMO it only helps the prey. If you can remove the larva without damaging the spider, I would do that. If you have to damage the web its fine, they will re-web the next night. I feed mine pinhead crickets, do you have access to those? What made you choose fly larva over small crickets?

edit: I see you are in Slovakia, I'm not familiar with petshops there. Surely some have to sell crickets??

@darkness975 can provide good input here too

2nd edit: I would provide little bit more environment. If you keep fish or water reptiles, you know the black spongy part of the filters? They LOVE those and are perfect surface for them to crawl on.

 

[Ramen]

I wouldn't say they "messed up" by giving the false widow substrate, it really does no harm if kept dry. The enclosure does look to have minimal ventilation, so I can see mold becoming an issue as @KristianDobias stated. I would remove substrate like @CRX suggested due to the lack of ventilation holes in the enclosure. If you can remove the larvae, sure it won't hurt. I also don't think she "looks hungry" since the abdomen seems to be a healthy size.

 

[KristianDobias]

First off, you messed up giving a widow substrate. They have zero need for it and IMO it only helps the prey. If you can remove the larva without damaging the spider, I would do that. If you have to damage the web its fine, they will re-web the next night. I feed mine pinhead crickets, do you have access to those? What made you choose fly larva over small crickets?

edit: I see you are in Slovakia, I'm not familiar with petshops there. Surely some have to sell crickets??

@darkness975 can provide good input here too

2nd edit: I would provide little bit more environment. If you keep fish or water reptiles, you know the black spongy part of the filters? They LOVE those and are perfect surface for them to crawl on.

Thank You very much well I

First off, you messed up giving a widow substrate. They have zero need for it and IMO it only helps the prey. If you can remove the larva without damaging the spider, I would do that. If you have to damage the web its fine, they will re-web the next night. I feed mine pinhead crickets, do you have access to those? What made you choose fly larva over small crickets?

edit: I see you are in Slovakia, I'm not familiar with petshops there. Surely some have to sell crickets??

@darkness975 can provide good input here too

2nd edit: I would provide little bit more environment. If you keep fish or water reptiles, you know the black spongy part of the filters? They LOVE those and are perfect surface for them to crawl on.

Thank You Very Much for advices

Well she have been moved so much and I don't want to stress her out again but if it's removal of the substrate necesary Iam gonna do it (I keep the substrate dry and dew the web once a week)

The reason why I gave her substrate is because I followed the caresheet on YouTube where the person in it had substrate in Steatoda enclousures

With the pinhead crickets I don't think they sell those in Slovakia I never saw them being sold here atleast and they eat the fly larvas just well (if they don't burrow themselfes like this one did)

With the sponge thing maybe I have the sponge thing from the filter but Iam not really sure I will have to look at that and in case I have it where should I put it in the enclouser ?

Again thanks for help

 

[KristianDobias]

I wouldn't say they "messed up" by giving the false widow substrate, it really does no harm if kept dry. The enclosure does look to have minimal ventilation, so I can see mold becoming an issue as @KristianDobias stated. I would remove substrate like @CRX suggested due to the lack of ventilation holes in the enclosure. If you can remove the larvae, sure it won't hurt. I also don't think she "looks hungry" since the abdomen seems to be a healthy size.

Thank You Very Much
The enclousure haves ventilation holes on the top (and pretty plenty) tho I understand it's not very visible on the photo

I will probably remove the substrate anyways as it is problematic and it does much more harm than good but in case of that what should put on the bottom as I saw she had problems walking on plastic ?

 

[Charliemum]

Thank You Very Much
The enclousure haves ventilation holes on the top (and pretty plenty) tho I understand it's not very visible on the photo

I will probably remove the substrate anyways as it is problematic and it does much more harm than good but in case of that what should put on the bottom as I saw she had problems walking on plastic ?

Don't worry she will use the twigs to rebuild she won't go on the ground at all. I believe @darkness975 uses sand because it doesn't hold humidity but will keep the twigs in place . I personally did use sub with mine but it was dry bone dry and it was purely there to stop the bark n twigs from moving about .
If you have just moved her in you may have to hold the food with small tweezers against a web line till she takes it if she's thin she's probably hungry and most likely will take it either that or try fruit flys or curly wings both will wander around the viv and she will eventually catch them.
Darkness975 will be able to give you more info their true spoody knowledge is immense I know they're busy alot atm but I am sure they will answer as soon as they can.

Oh and yes they struggle on plastic but would just use the twigs to get up instead

 

[KristianDobias]

Don't worry she will use the twigs to rebuild she won't go on the ground at all. I believe @darkness975 uses sand because it doesn't hold humidity but will keep the twigs in place . I personally did use sub with mine but it was dry bone dry and it was purely there to stop the bark n twigs from moving about .
If you have just moved her in you may have to hold the food with small tweezers against a web line till she takes it if she's thin she's probably hungry and most likely will take it either that or try fruit flys or curly wings both will wander around the viv and she will eventually catch them.
Darkness975 will be able to give you more info their true spoody knowledge is immense I know they're busy alot atm but I am sure they will answer as soon as they can.

Oh and yes they struggle on plastic but would just use the twigs to get up instead

Thank Youuuu ^ ^
The sand isn't bad idea thanks

Oh yeah I heard that tho she sadly connected the web with the opening so that's kinda problematic :/

Thanks the fruit flyes/curly winged flyes aren't a bad idea to they are kinda hard to get here would normal flyes do to ?

Oh Okay I will wait for Darkness975 to answer

True that's the reason why Iam scared of not giving them any substrate Iam afraid that the twigs would move

Thanks Very Much for advices ^ ^

 

[Charliemum]

Snap a little off the top of the twig and brake the web connecting she will only web what she can reach.

I didn't want the twigs to move either that's why I used it too.

Yes normal flys are fine, these spiders can take down things much larger then themselves like gecko's they are even capable of taking out real widows they are tough little spiders infact 2 seconds.

When you get time watch this Travis explains how cool these spoods are better then I ever could and he has the papers to back it up unlike myself .

 

[KristianDobias]

Snap a little off the top of the twig and brake the web connecting she will only web what she can reach.

I didn't want the twigs to move either that's why I used it too.

Yes normal flys are fine, these spiders can take down things much larger then themselves like gecko's they are even capable of taking out real widows they are tough little spiders infact 2 seconds.

When you get time watch this Travis explains how cool these spoods are better then I ever could and he has the papers to back it up unlike myself .

Oh thanks really that's a good idea ^ ^
Hopefully I will have time to do it today if not then sadly I will have to wait to tommorow to do it tho Iam sure they will survive they have fairly slow metabolism
Hope that will be the last time I will have to modify their enclousures xD it's kinda difficult to get the right enclousures tho once that's done everything else should be easy

Oh Thank Youuu then I will wait for the flys to emerge I already have some pupas

Cool I've already seen that video unhealthly amount of times, that video is the one that made me love Steatodas but thanks anyway (fun fact species on my profile picture is Steatoda bipunctata I have one specimen tho that's a different story XD)

 

[CRX]

Thank You very much well I

Thank You Very Much for advices

Well she have been moved so much and I don't want to stress her out again but if it's removal of the substrate necesary Iam gonna do it (I keep the substrate dry and dew the web once a week)

The reason why I gave her substrate is because I followed the caresheet on YouTube where the person in it had substrate in Steatoda enclousures

With the pinhead crickets I don't think they sell those in Slovakia I never saw them being sold here atleast and they eat the fly larvas just well (if they don't burrow themselfes like this one did)

With the sponge thing maybe I have the sponge thing from the filter but Iam not really sure I will have to look at that and in case I have it where should I put it in the enclouser ?

Again thanks for help

I just want to make it CLEAR that caresheets are BS. Nowdays, really the past several years, they're written by AI and often contain "advice" that will literally kill the animal you're taking care of. Just one of many dangers of AI. They scrape the whole internet for information and they don't distinguish between real or BS or wrong info. It's very dangerous.

OP, I strongly encourage you to do your best to find tiny crickets. Slovakia is a big country, I know that people there keep reptiles, its a hobby there, so there has to be a shop somewhere that sell crickets or flightless fruitflies.

edit: wow, just realized I've been on this forum for almost 20 years. Maybe that would mean you should listen to me? lol jk but kinda not

 

[KristianDobias]

I just want to make it CLEAR that caresheets are BS. Nowdays, really the past several years, they're written by AI and often contain "advice" that will literally kill the animal you're taking care of. Just one of many dangers of AI. They scrape the whole internet for information and they don't distinguish between real or BS or wrong info. It's very dangerous.

OP, I strongly encourage you to do your best to find tiny crickets. Slovakia is a big country, I know that people there keep reptiles, its a hobby there, so there has to be a shop somewhere that sell crickets or flightless fruitflies.

edit: wow, just realized I've been on this forum for almost 20 years. Maybe that would mean you should listen to me? lol jk but kinda not

Oh Thank you very much I didn't know that that happens (tho the one I was following was like 10+ years old and I found it on this forum but nevermind)

Thank You I will try my best to find pinhead crickets as they sell here crickets but the ones they sell here are too big or would they be able to take down even those ?
But I think I saw somewhere on the internet flightless fruitflies being sold

Cool didn't know this forum is so old LOL

 

[The Snark]

You can always dry out an enclosure given a little time. Purchase a desiccant, a half kilo package of silica gel and place it out of the way in a corner. Every couple of days bake the package for a half hour at low heat, 50C or so, let cool to room temperature and replace. It will continue to absorb moisture indefinitely and in it's package it's non toxic and harmless. Ideal for drying out smaller enclosures where you don't want to disturb the occupants and have minimal air circulation. Bonus, if you dry out the substrate fast enough the fly larvae will die. They require some moisture.

https://www.amazon.com/silica-gel-sale/s?k=silica+gel+for+sale

 

[KristianDobias]

You can always dry out an enclosure given a little time. Purchase a desiccant, a half kilo package of silica gel and place it out of the way in a corner. Every couple of days bake the package for a half hour at low heat, 50C or so, let cool to room temperature and replace. It will continue to absorb moisture indefinitely and in it's package it's non toxic and harmless. Ideal for drying out smaller enclosures where you don't want to disturb the occupants and have minimal air circulation. Bonus, if you dry out the substrate fast enough the fly larvae will die. They require some moisture.

https://www.amazon.com/silica-gel-sale/s?k=silica+gel+for+sale

Oh Thanks for an interesting advice ^^

But won't it dehydratate the spider ?
I mean they like dry environments but they still require some moisture don't they ?

 

[The Snark]

But won't it dehydratate the spider ?

No. It only removes moisture from the air and the surface it's on.. Ordinarily cobweb weavers get all the moisture they need from their food.

 

[KristianDobias]

No. It only removes moisture from the air. Ordinarily cobweb weavers get all the moisture they need from their food.

Oh Okay thanks

 

[darkness975]

First off, you messed up giving a widow substrate. They have zero need for it and IMO it only helps the prey. If you can remove the larva without damaging the spider, I would do that. If you have to damage the web its fine, they will re-web the next night. I feed mine pinhead crickets, do you have access to those? What made you choose fly larva over small crickets?

edit: I see you are in Slovakia, I'm not familiar with petshops there. Surely some have to sell crickets??

@darkness975 can provide good input here too

2nd edit: I would provide little bit more environment. If you keep fish or water reptiles, you know the black spongy part of the filters? They LOVE those and are perfect surface for them to crawl on.

I somehow missed this tag. Sorry about that.

@KristianDobias

No substrate necessary. Or if you do use something like sand.

Regarding feeding, pinhead crickets work. So do moths. I will often use small meal worms but that is because I don't have substrate in my enclosures so they can't burrow. I will place the meal worm on the web and 90% of the time they get it before it drops out. The other 10% of the time the trip lines will eventually get it.

Your best bet for now would be pinhead crickets. Try to find banded crickets. They are hardier and live longer.

 

[darkness975]

I believe @darkness975 uses sand because it doesn't hold humidity but will keep the twigs in place

I do have sand in some of my enclosures. The nicer ones with more fancy setups.
For the rest of the lot I don't even bother.

See here for pictures.

southern black widow inquiries

About two weeks ago, I removed my lawnmower cover and underneath was a southern black widow. After getting several false positives over the last couple of years, I was truly surprised when one decided to take up residence in my yard- and for the first time in 40 years that I know of! After...

arachnoboards.com

 

[darkness975]

I just want to make it CLEAR that caresheets are BS. Nowdays, really the past several years, they're written by AI and often contain "advice" that will literally kill the animal you're taking care of. Just one of many dangers of AI. They scrape the whole internet for information and they don't distinguish between real or BS or wrong info. It's very dangerous.

OP, I strongly encourage you to do your best to find tiny crickets. Slovakia is a big country, I know that people there keep reptiles, its a hobby there, so there has to be a shop somewhere that sell crickets or flightless fruitflies.

edit: wow, just realized I've been on this forum for almost 20 years. Maybe that would mean you should listen to me? lol jk but kinda not

I agree with this. AI care sheets are even worse than human made ones.

I have been here as long or a bit longer. But my old account was lost so I had to make this one.

 

[KristianDobias]

I somehow missed this tag. Sorry about that.

@KristianDobias

No substrate necessary. Or if you do use something like sand.

Regarding feeding, pinhead crickets work. So do moths. I will often use small meal worms but that is because I don't have substrate in my enclosures so they can't burrow. I will place the meal worm on the web and 90% of the time they get it before it drops out. The other 10% of the time the trip lines will eventually get it.

Your best bet for now would be pinhead crickets. Try to find banded crickets. They are harder and live longer.

Thank Youuuu ^^

It's Okay Iam glad you helped me anyway

Oh Okay but won't the twigs move without substrate ? Iam afraid they would move and it would stress the animal

Thanks for advice I will feed them that way tho I will have to modify the enclousure as they unfortunately connected the cobweb to the opening :/ (hopefully modify them for the last time)

Thanks as Iam saying I never saw pinhead crickets being sold here in my country I would very much love to get them but sorry I didn't saw them being sold here that's why I use fly larvas etc. (they ussualy fed on them just fine if they don't burrow)

Thank You Very Much for help ^^

 

[darkness975]

Thank Youuuu ^^

It's Okay Iam glad you helped me anyway

Oh Okay but won't the twigs move without substrate ? Iam afraid they would move and it would stress the animal

Thanks for advice I will feed them that way tho I will have to modify the enclousure as they unfortunately connected the cobweb to the opening :/ (hopefully modify them for the last time)

Thanks as Iam saying I never saw pinhead crickets being sold here in my country I would very much love to get them but sorry I didn't saw them being sold here that's why I use fly larvas etc. (they ussualy fed on them just fine if they don't burrow)

Thank You Very Much for help ^^

Get the proper size twigs that you can stretch across the enclosure and the sides will keep them in place.

See the thread I posted for pictures.