TangledMess
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2022
- Messages
- 1
Hi all,
I am new here, and I have never kept a spider, but I live in Florida, so I have plenty of opportunity to encounter cool spiders outside. There was a large Golden Orb Weaver (nephila clavipes) living on my porch, and I really enjoyed having her there for the past few months. I even blocked the door she had her web attached to, so that she could be undisturbed. She had a male move in with her lately, so they may have mated, but she has not eaten him. I named them Wilma and Fred ;-).
This past Sunday, in the late afternoon, I was checking on my spiders through the window, and saw that Wilma had disappeared. I went out to the porch through the other door, and saw her lifeless on the floor with a spider wasp next to her. I know this is all part of nature, but she had practically become my pet at this point, and I could not bear the thought of her getting eaten alive by a wasp larva. So I picked her up and took her inside when the wasp had briefly disappeared (it kept returning for hours, looking for its prey).
So I put poor Wilma in a box with a humidity pack (gecko egg incubation substrate wrapped in moist paper towel) and did some research. Apparently the species of wasp that attacked her only lays her egg on the spider after dragging it to its burrow, so she should not have a parasite egg inside her yet. I was wondering if the paralysis would be permanent, and found conflicting information in forums, but there was one scientific article that suggested spiders could recover from a sting like that „within a few hours to two months“ https://www.reed.edu/biology/342_old/assets/readings/EofAB_Libersat_wasps.pdf
Wilma has started to move her legs a little the next day, and today she seems to move them yet a little more, but she can not stand on them yet. It has been almost 2 days since the sting now. She did drink a drop of water I gave her from a chopstick. My plan is to keep observing her and give her a chance to get better, but I am ready to euthanize her with nitrogen gas if she stops improving.
My question is: has any of you rehabilitated a spider after an attack like that? What would you do for hydration? She seems pretty well nourished, so she can probably go without food for a while, but I guess she needs water. If she recovers well enough, I have feeder insects (I keep geckos).
Hoping for some advice. She is a beautiful spider, and I would like her to get a chance to lay her eggs (assuming Fred finished the job).
I am new here, and I have never kept a spider, but I live in Florida, so I have plenty of opportunity to encounter cool spiders outside. There was a large Golden Orb Weaver (nephila clavipes) living on my porch, and I really enjoyed having her there for the past few months. I even blocked the door she had her web attached to, so that she could be undisturbed. She had a male move in with her lately, so they may have mated, but she has not eaten him. I named them Wilma and Fred ;-).
This past Sunday, in the late afternoon, I was checking on my spiders through the window, and saw that Wilma had disappeared. I went out to the porch through the other door, and saw her lifeless on the floor with a spider wasp next to her. I know this is all part of nature, but she had practically become my pet at this point, and I could not bear the thought of her getting eaten alive by a wasp larva. So I picked her up and took her inside when the wasp had briefly disappeared (it kept returning for hours, looking for its prey).
So I put poor Wilma in a box with a humidity pack (gecko egg incubation substrate wrapped in moist paper towel) and did some research. Apparently the species of wasp that attacked her only lays her egg on the spider after dragging it to its burrow, so she should not have a parasite egg inside her yet. I was wondering if the paralysis would be permanent, and found conflicting information in forums, but there was one scientific article that suggested spiders could recover from a sting like that „within a few hours to two months“ https://www.reed.edu/biology/342_old/assets/readings/EofAB_Libersat_wasps.pdf
Wilma has started to move her legs a little the next day, and today she seems to move them yet a little more, but she can not stand on them yet. It has been almost 2 days since the sting now. She did drink a drop of water I gave her from a chopstick. My plan is to keep observing her and give her a chance to get better, but I am ready to euthanize her with nitrogen gas if she stops improving.
My question is: has any of you rehabilitated a spider after an attack like that? What would you do for hydration? She seems pretty well nourished, so she can probably go without food for a while, but I guess she needs water. If she recovers well enough, I have feeder insects (I keep geckos).
Hoping for some advice. She is a beautiful spider, and I would like her to get a chance to lay her eggs (assuming Fred finished the job).
