Raising Wolf Spiderlings

[gunslinger]

Has anyone raised wolf spiderlings before? I have a sac that hatched maybe 12 days ago, the young are beginning to move about, and I think may disperse in mass soon. I have heard many problems w/ feeding simply fruit flies to young spiders, as it may cause dietary deficiencies.

Anyhow, they are too small to eat anything else at this point. Anyone raised these have any ideas or knowledge of this? BTW the young are from a larger spp. of wolf probably H. georgicola.

Also, I am going to try a few in one of my millipede enclosures. I have a 10 gallon tank simply OVERRUN with stinking fungus gnats!! Should be interesting to see how that turns out.

here is a pic of the bravest soul in the bunch!!! Came out before I even knew they'd hatched.

 

[padkison]

I don't know about wolf spiders, but I have been raising Green Lynx spiders on fruit flies through several molts without a problem.

Springtails might work well.

I have heard many problems w/ feeding simply fruit flies to young spiders, as it may cause dietary deficiencies.

 

[KUJordan]

I have reared many Lycosid slings from an eggsac. They definitely are not too small to eat anything else. They are predators and ANY predator will take a meal if it is offered properly without too much risk involved for them. One of the most commonly ignored method of feeding tiny spiderlings is a crushed/cut cricket. I usually take a large adult cricket and cut it up into pieces. A very tiny piece will suffice a tiny spider, so a large cricket can easily feed 25-35 spiderlings. You can even separate the spiderlings into small groups and just smash a large cricket and put it in there and they will all feed off of it. If they have a lot of food available, the tendency for cannibalism is pretty low for quite some time. I actually HATE fruitflies and I dealt with them for quite a while when I first started in the hobby. I have completely abandoned them and am having about 10x better success with smashed crickets and roaches.

 

[gunslinger]

I guess I meant to small to kill most common feeders:8o
But thanks that does sound like a good idea. Crickets are easier to manage than fruit flies. I've read that before too, but it didn't come to mind.:?

So do you just seperate them out as they disperse from the mother? I've noticed some of them hop off, wander around a while, then later climb back on mamma, so I wasn't sure when to take em out.

 

[padkison]

I had a Hogna helluo with babies I picked up. Now that I think about it, I fed the babies squished roach nymphs. They turned on each other pretty quickly when I neglected to feed them.

 

[gunslinger]

Well, I've seperated 27 young so far. I'v started them as suggested on crushed crickets and cricket parts. I've seen a few munching already so we shall see

Im trying both communal and seperate as well as having placed a few in a 10 gallon with two millipedes that have the fungus gnat problem. Will be interesting to see how that turns out. Thanks again. Ill post some pics when i get a chance to take some.

 

[AviculariaLover]

I've raised wolf spiders before, only kept them for about a month before I had to leave for college and so released them into the garden.

What I did was when they started leaving the mother, I separated them into vials with some dirt in the bottom and holes poked into the top (I got ones with plastic lids that were really easy to snap on and off). I brought them outside with the cage in a bucket to do the transfering because they started ballooning everywhere. I only kept 35.

While they were still on the mother's back I ordered a ton of pinhead crickets online, it was pretty cheap. They ended up being nearly exactly the same size as the slings, arrived right when they started dispersing. I used a paintbrush to transfer a cricket into each vial, and it was the funniest thing, watching those little slings go after the crickets! For some it was a bit of a struggle but just about all of them ate, about five or six died throughout the whole month. I would put in a drop or two of water every day. Fed them every other day or so. I had the time of my life watching those little wolf spiders hunt, I really wish I could have kept them longer. They also liked to climb, and would web up the sides a bit, or around the top. They were tricky little things.

Have fun with your little guys!