Spider questions

[Stylopidae]

I have a small lycosid that hasn't been accepting food for about a week. It took a mealworm per day for a while, but hasn't been eating for a week or so.

I think it's in premoult since it's only about half grown but I can't find any information on how long that will last.

I also have an orbweaver (araneus, I think) that isn't rebuilding it's web. I've only had it a couple of days and it took two mealworms launched into the web but other than that, it didn't re-spin the web last night. I've heard that there is some difficulty keeping them in captivity but haven't heard anything beyond that.

Can someone point me in the right direction? I'm thinking about removing it from the tank and keeping it in a different container during the day since I think they need to think they're building their webs in a different location every night, but this is all based on speculation and I'd like to have something more solid than that.

 

[Natco]

I have been keeping Lycosa on and off for most of my life. Many times mine have stopped eating. Sometimes they molt, some times they just seem to take a little break, and then they start eating again, and some times they produce eggs. Occasionally they just slowly wither away. As I'm sure you know these generally are not terribly long lived spiders. I would just continue to offer it food every few days, and keep a close eye on it. Good luck.

 

[Stylopidae]

Thanks, natco

It moulted last night. I'm going to try feeding it tomorrow