jdjn13
Arachnopeon
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2016
- Messages
- 20
Hello everyone. I'm relatively new here...created the account ages ago but not really used it.
A bit of back story. I've always had a phobia of spider, so does my wife. (She's worse than me). We have two young children who we don't want to have a fear of spiders. I love nature in general whether it's birds, reptiles, inverts or fish. Our house, garden, garage is crawling with spiders so I've been doing what I can to educate my children and grow out of my irrational fear (I feel it's irrational because the spiders we have in the uk can't harm me. It would be somehwat less irrational if I was in Aus with widows and funnel webs!!!).
My daughter who's 3 asked if we could keep a spider as a pet and "watch him grow big". So I got an old sweet tub, put lots of ventilation holes in it and filled with some dry mulch and leaves from the garden. I found some bark to use as a hide and caught a juvenile house spider that was chilling on my garage window.
Currently it's about 2cm leg span, and over the past two days he/she has set about webbing all over the enclosure floor. It also chills under the bark. I did a search of the forum and couldn't find out much information about care requirements for this species. About two hours ago I fed him/her for the first time. I dropped a ant (lasius Niger, black ant) I found in and it was fascinating to watch our little pet pounce on the ant as soon as it hit the floor of the enclosure.
Has anyone else kept this species? If so, have you got any tips to help us succeed in our keeping of this little spider. I'm excited to see it grow, and hopefully in the process get over my fear, help my children not to fear them but instead be fascinated by them. I hope to one day keep T's...this is my starting point.
A bit of back story. I've always had a phobia of spider, so does my wife. (She's worse than me). We have two young children who we don't want to have a fear of spiders. I love nature in general whether it's birds, reptiles, inverts or fish. Our house, garden, garage is crawling with spiders so I've been doing what I can to educate my children and grow out of my irrational fear (I feel it's irrational because the spiders we have in the uk can't harm me. It would be somehwat less irrational if I was in Aus with widows and funnel webs!!!).
My daughter who's 3 asked if we could keep a spider as a pet and "watch him grow big". So I got an old sweet tub, put lots of ventilation holes in it and filled with some dry mulch and leaves from the garden. I found some bark to use as a hide and caught a juvenile house spider that was chilling on my garage window.
Currently it's about 2cm leg span, and over the past two days he/she has set about webbing all over the enclosure floor. It also chills under the bark. I did a search of the forum and couldn't find out much information about care requirements for this species. About two hours ago I fed him/her for the first time. I dropped a ant (lasius Niger, black ant) I found in and it was fascinating to watch our little pet pounce on the ant as soon as it hit the floor of the enclosure.
Has anyone else kept this species? If so, have you got any tips to help us succeed in our keeping of this little spider. I'm excited to see it grow, and hopefully in the process get over my fear, help my children not to fear them but instead be fascinated by them. I hope to one day keep T's...this is my starting point.