Thinking about new enclosure ideas

[spider pest]

This is the first that I've posted in a little while. Bad weather timing in the fall more or less ended my exploring for the year. I'm eagerly awaiting spring and trips to the NJ pine barrens. In the meantime, I've been thinking about my enclosures, particularly for wolf spiders.

I find that no matter how well I set them up in terms of soil quality and depth, good hiding spots, humidity, and access to water, they are up against the sides of the enclosure looking for a way out quite often. Even the ones that are comfortable enough to burrow. I feel like this has to be stressful for the spider.

I've read that wolf spider territories in the wild can be limited by topographical changes. Any ideas on achieving something like this on a small scale that still provides good visibility? I try not to move things around in the enclosure too often or overfeed or bother them, but I do like to sit and observe them. I'd really like to try and simulate their habitats a little better. Going in this direction, I'm going to start collecting soil from the sites that I visit and weighing it before putting it in the oven to get an idea of how much moisture to add once it's sterilized. I want to try to excavate an intact burrow as well.

Would love to hear your ideas. I want to limit the spiders' exposure to clear walls as much as possible. I'm almost wondering if I should start by drastically reducing the vertical space between the soil surface and the lid. Any thoughts?

 

[revilo]

hi,

your idea with the natural soil is the right way, but why so complicated ?!
first it's not necessary to sterilize the soil in the oven - i never do this and i always use natural soil from outside since years and never have probs !
in the oven you "kill" the soil, every useful microorganism !
because moisture : simply trust your senses ! feel with your hands how "wet" the soil is - but don't forget that this is correlated on month of year and not equal whole year !
than i recognized that you didn't mentioned light...
all lycosids are "sunprayers" ! give them a good halogenspot to take a "sun"bath when ever they want ! in case your container CANT overheat so give them access to natural sunlight !
third thing is that not every lycosids are living in burrows. so this species which are not, change location from time to time. they are walking arround at nighttime looking for prey and hide only at the day - this is a natural behavior.
they are often active in the night searching for better crevices and/or better hunting-grounds.
and : when lycosids recognize that they are watched, they are getting nervous - sounds ridiculous, but really they don't like this...

hope this helps...

bye, oli

 

[spider pest]

Hey oli,

I appreciate the response. You may be right about the soil, but I don't know if the risk is worth the benefit of the "good" microorganisms and things like chiggers, which are present in some of areas where I collect spiders.

I didn't mention light because my spiders are in a room which gets good natural light throughout the day. Supplementary lighting isn't a bad idea though.

I was referring to burrowing lycosids primarily. Those are the larger species in my area.

As for the the watching, I don't know...my jumping spiders definitely notice when I enter the room, but the wolves pretty much go on as if I'm not there. I also don't get extremely close to the sides and top of the enclosures, so I'm not sure that it's a problem.

 

[revilo]

hi again

yeah, sterile enclosures or not - a very controverse discussion since many years...
in the past, before maybe 15 years, i was only using sterile substrates, wood, stones,...everything i was cleaning with hot water and in the oven.
but since around 7 or 8 years i use a lot of natural materials inside my containers without cook them and figured out that this is better by many reasons.
but it's really a controverse discussion and when you don't feel comfortable with this so it's not the right thing for you.
bad things like for example mites, i was never getting by using this natural materials - but by feeding my spiders with buyed drosophila from comercial breeders...
but i don't know what chiggers are ? funny word i think please teach me...

no, watching is not really a problem...
simply i recognized that my wolfes often sit at one spot for hours when i watch them from my couch (they cant recognize me than). but when i get up and sit down straight before the container, they start walking after a few seconds to minutes. i observed this so often that i think it's really because i look inside so close...but with yours this was just a guess...

burrowers. hmm, o.k. true burrowers really don't walk so much. sometimes they walk around in the container, but most times they are really only sitting in or around the entrance of burrow.
they only walk often when they are not comfortable with the burrow they can build in the offered setup.

how deep you fill the soil in ? my experience is that 15 cm are neccesary in most cases.

bye, oli

---------- Post added at 01:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:43 PM ----------

p.s.:

which genus you speak about ?

 

[spider pest]

hey revillo,

I definitely understand why some people are OK with using fresh natural soil. I'm on the fence. However, even if the risks are slim, they are still present. It's not much extra work to sterilize it, and I won't have to worry that something nasty might be lurking in my enclosures. "Chiggers" are trombiculid mites. They bite and are present in some of the areas where I collect spiders.

It isn't that my burrowers won't burrow and walk around instead. Even if they spend much of their time in the burrow, they all hang out up against the sides of the containers to some degree. Those big eyes can see through plastic, and even if they're somewhat comfortable in the enclosure, they want out. I'd like to limit this where possible.

I've experimented with different soil depths. I will give them as much depth as possible based on the container. Going forward I will go for more depth, especially since I won't have to purchase coco soil.

The wolf spider genuses that I've personally found most interesting to keep are several different hogna sp and geolycosa sp. I do like how energetic the smaller sp can be, but the larger ones are wonderful to observe.

 

[revilo]

hi,

thanks for your detailed explanation, so i'm able to understand better (english for dummies - perfect ! LOL)

o.k. with the hognas i don't see the problem like with the geolycosa, because
hogna is not a true burrowing genus !
only your h. carolinensis seems to be building deep burrows and behave like a true burrower - but ask for example davidfam, he know more about the species native in usa.
my experience with hogna (and presumed undeterminated "hogna" spp.) is that they stay for a while like satisfied in the container and than a time comes where they walk around every night and searching for escape.

reason for this behavior is that in nature they don't stay whole live in one burrow !


but for geolycosa (if adult) it's unusual...
only idea i have is to try different temperatures, humidity, optimate air circulation (wolfes prefer good one), offer good, bright light !

bye, oli