I've got two Portia fimbriata, one male, one female. I've read that in the wild they will supplement their carnivorous diets with nectar from flowers and in lab tests they prefer drinking from paper sweetened sugar water to plain tap water. About a week ago I started giving them sphagnum moss soaked in a solution with honey and glucose mixed together to ensure that if the spider does get dehydrated, the sugars won't crystalize in their digestive tract, blocking everything up. The solution is about 5% honey 10% glucose syrup and 15% inverted table sugar.
Ophelia, my female, really seems to enjoy it, but she is also much more competent at hunting and manoeuvring too. Photos are of her drinking from the sugar solution and stopping to look up at me.
Antonio, my male, doesn't seem to like it as much, though I have seen web trails leading up to where I put the moss in. I'll try with some real flowers with lots of nectar in them soon.
Ophelia, my female, really seems to enjoy it, but she is also much more competent at hunting and manoeuvring too. Photos are of her drinking from the sugar solution and stopping to look up at me.
Antonio, my male, doesn't seem to like it as much, though I have seen web trails leading up to where I put the moss in. I'll try with some real flowers with lots of nectar in them soon.
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