Spider ID please?

[LuiziBee]

About a week ago this little guy crawled out of my boyfriends book & he stomped it.
I put it in it's own mini ICU as it death curled & a week later it's healthy & eating well.
I'm fairly certain it's a terrestrial/hunting spider because it chases it's food around.
Any clues on care or anything? I just want to keep it for a little longer & when it's warmer outside I'll release the little cutie.
How often do you feed true spiders?

---------- Post added 04-01-2013 at 06:57 PM ----------

Also, I live in Nashville, TN. Never seen this kind of spider before.

 

[Ciphor]

Species Herpyllus ecclesiasticus - Eastern Parson Spider. This is a ground spider that prowls around and hunts for its food. That one is definitely a gravid female. If you keep her, expect an eggsac soon. They will eat pretty much anything of an appropriate size with the exception of undesirable stuff like ants, millipedes, isopods, etc. They really like eating other spiders, and other spiders are likely 70% of this spiders diet.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/646643/bgimage

 

[LuiziBee]

Species Herpyllus ecclesiasticus - Eastern Parson Spider. This is a ground spider that prowls around and hunts for its food. That one is definitely a gravid female. If you keep her, expect an eggsac soon. They will eat pretty much anything of an appropriate size with the exception of undesirable stuff like ants, millipedes, isopods, etc. They really like eating other spiders, and other spiders are likely 70% of this spiders diet.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/646643/bgimage

Awesome! Thank you so much! How can you tell she's gravid? I did feed her pinhead cricket last week. Don't think she's just very fat?

 

[Ciphor]

Awesome! Thank you so much! How can you tell she's gravid? I did feed her pinhead cricket last week. Don't think she's just very fat?

I can't really explain how I know shes gravid, but lets just say I've looked at enough prego spiders to know one when I see one

Trust me though, shes gravid. The getting smashed and being death curled is worrisome though, hope her eggs are ok.

 

[Silberrücken]

You could also give her a small watercap of water, she will drink from it when she needs. I agree with Ciphor, she does look gravid. Good luck with her, glad you rescued her.

 

[LuiziBee]

I can't really explain how I know shes gravid, but lets just say I've looked at enough prego spiders to know one when I see one

Trust me though, shes gravid. The getting smashed and being death curled is worrisome though, hope her eggs are ok.

Haha okay. I trust you. Maybe her eggs saved her from being smooshed. I guess only time will tell. I'm surprised she's alive at all.

---------- Post added 04-02-2013 at 01:12 AM ----------

You could also give her a small watercap of water, she will drink from it when she needs. I agree with Ciphor, she does look gravid. Good luck with her, glad you rescued her.

Like a bottle cap? Is that okay for her? She's pretty small... Don't think she'll drown?

 

[Scar]

A little bottle cap with some clean aquarium pebbles in it will do the trick. That's what I use for little crickets. Fill the cap to the top with pebbles and water.

 

[LuiziBee]

A little bottle cap with some clean aquarium pebbles in it will do the trick. That's what I use for little crickets. Fill the cap to the top with pebbles and water.

Alright. I'll try that. Thanks!

 

[LuiziBee]

Species Herpyllus ecclesiasticus - Eastern Parson Spider. This is a ground spider that prowls around and hunts for its food. That one is definitely a gravid female. If you keep her, expect an eggsac soon. They will eat pretty much anything of an appropriate size with the exception of undesirable stuff like ants, millipedes, isopods, etc. They really like eating other spiders, and other spiders are likely 70% of this spiders diet.

http://bugguide.net/node/view/646643/bgimage

You were right! She's laying her sac right this moment!

If I disturb her will she eat her sac?

Do I need to feed her more, less, or anything at all?

Should I keep the humidity up in the enclosure? That'll be hard to do without much disturbance.

Thank you!


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[Curious jay]

Let the users with more experience with trues confirm/correct me if I'm wrong here....

Humidity and such shouldn't need any alteration as its native the sack should do the job by itself.

IME I've never had a true spider eat a sack.... Instead they just lay more, more and more.

Looks like a fixed sack so I imagine the female will still eat.

But wait for others to come through with better help lol.

 

[LuiziBee]

Let the users with more experience with trues confirm/correct me if I'm wrong here....

Humidity and such shouldn't need any alteration as its native the sack should do the job by itself.

IME I've never had a true spider eat a sack.... Instead they just lay more, more and more.

Looks like a fixed sack so I imagine the female will still eat.

But wait for others to come through with better help lol.

Haha okay. Thank you!

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[jecraque]

Neat rescue, thanks for sharing! Hope the boyfriend learned his lesson.

No idea what caring for baby gnaphosids would be like, but do let us know how she does!

 

[LuiziBee]

Neat rescue, thanks for sharing! Hope the boyfriend learned his lesson.

No idea what caring for baby gnaphosids would be like, but do let us know how she does!

Yeah. He said he felt bad. And I keep telling him we're about to be grandparents and showing him pictures of her and making him watch when she does cool stuff. Showing him she's a beautiful, delicate creature.

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[Ciphor]

Let the users with more experience with trues confirm/correct me if I'm wrong here....

Humidity and such shouldn't need any alteration as its native the sack should do the job by itself.

IME I've never had a true spider eat a sack.... Instead they just lay more, more and more.

Looks like a fixed sack so I imagine the female will still eat.

But wait for others to come through with better help lol.

Your absolutely correct mate. No need to change anything in the enclosure Luizibee. Just wait for them to hatch. Mom will continue to eat, and may have more stored sperm, so feeding her may or may not result in another eggsac. True spiders are much more like machines then T's. When they get ahold of some sperm they go to town on making babies. I've never known a true to eat their own eggsacs, Pirate spiders (Mimetidae) will eat other spiders eggsacs however.

 

[LuiziBee]

Your absolutely correct mate. No need to change anything in the enclosure Luizibee. Just wait for them to hatch. Mom will continue to eat, and may have more stored sperm, so feeding her may or may not result in another eggsac. True spiders are much more like machines then T's. When they get ahold of some sperm they go to town on making babies. I've never known a true to eat their own eggsacs, Pirate spiders (Mimetidae) will eat other spiders eggsacs however.

Great news. Thank you very, very, very much for all your help.