Why is my tegenaria domestica not moving much?

[BurntToast]

Hi. I am creating an account here just so I can ask this question. While I have done my best to do extensive research on my pet spider, usually the most help I can find is for tarantulas. I feel I would be doing a disservice to my spider, who is not a tarantula, to accept this information at face value.

My pet spider is a female tegenaria domestica, or barn funnel weaver. I found her in my house last March, so she is at least 11 months old, but I don't know how long she was alive before I found her. She is usually quite lively, especially at night but even during the daytime she would move around in her habitat.

About a day or so ago, however, she has become quite sedentary. She rarely moves, and when she does she just stops, and sometimes rests in awkward positions that are not normal for her. I recently dropped some small ants (much smaller than her) in her enclosure because I have not found any bugs to feed her in the last month or so. Here in southern Maine bugs are hard to find in winter. At first I believed that the large number of ants had stressed her out and caused her to play dead - she barely reacted when I poked her. As a result I began slowly killing the ants when I am able to do so without disturbing her. (I considered relocating her temporarily but I do not want to risk harming her in case she is molting, as I have read that spiders should not be touched during the shedding process.) However after drastically reducing the number of ants in the enclosure (almost all of them are dead) she has not gone back to normal behavior. So my question is this - what is she doing, and what can I do for her?

Is she dying? Is she sick? Is she injured? Is she molting? Is she playing dead? If she is not dying, what can I do to help her? If she is, what can I do to make sure she is comfortable at the end?

Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for your response. I am quite worried for her as I have read that female TD's indoors can live for up to seven years and I would love to spend as much time with this fascinating creature as possible. I have also attached a photo of her and her habitat. Thank you.
Sorry if this is not formatted properly or posted to the correct forum, I am new here.

 

[BoyFromLA]

I am not so familiar with this spider at all, but I can tell right away, the enclosure, it looks very wet. If I were you, I would keep it in dry environment.

 

[BurntToast]

I am not so familiar with this spider at all, but I can tell right away, the enclosure, it looks very wet. If I were you, I would keep it in dry environment.

Hi! Thank you for taking the time to reply. I didn't expect to get one so soon!

Her enclosure is dry - in hindsight I definitely should have clarified that knowing my terrible camera quality - sorry about that. And looking at the pictures I definitely see it now! However I make sure that it does not get wet or damp, I fill her water dish (a bottle cap) using a syringe in order to avoid that.

Thank you for your concern

 

[gorybmovie]

Might help if you can show photos of her enclosure from the side and if possible, get a clearer photo of her. If you're camera isn't great, don't zoom in too much or it will make the pic blurry. Especially since she is lethargic, I would make sure there are no prey items in her enclosure since she is not in a state to fight back.. Avoid ants since they can bite your spider. I would also get rid of that water dish. It's a small enclosure and she can easily drown in that. A light misting on the side of the enclosure every other day is more than enough water

 

[darkness975]

Hi. I am creating an account here just so I can ask this question. While I have done my best to do extensive research on my pet spider, usually the most help I can find is for tarantulas. I feel I would be doing a disservice to my spider, who is not a tarantula, to accept this information at face value.

My pet spider is a female tegenaria domestica, or barn funnel weaver. I found her in my house last March, so she is at least 11 months old, but I don't know how long she was alive before I found her. She is usually quite lively, especially at night but even during the daytime she would move around in her habitat.

About a day or so ago, however, she has become quite sedentary. She rarely moves, and when she does she just stops, and sometimes rests in awkward positions that are not normal for her. I recently dropped some small ants (much smaller than her) in her enclosure because I have not found any bugs to feed her in the last month or so. Here in southern Maine bugs are hard to find in winter. At first I believed that the large number of ants had stressed her out and caused her to play dead - she barely reacted when I poked her. As a result I began slowly killing the ants when I am able to do so without disturbing her. (I considered relocating her temporarily but I do not want to risk harming her in case she is molting, as I have read that spiders should not be touched during the shedding process.) However after drastically reducing the number of ants in the enclosure (almost all of them are dead) she has not gone back to normal behavior. So my question is this - what is she doing, and what can I do for her?

Is she dying? Is she sick? Is she injured? Is she molting? Is she playing dead? If she is not dying, what can I do to help her? If she is, what can I do to make sure she is comfortable at the end?

Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for your response. I am quite worried for her as I have read that female TD's indoors can live for up to seven years and I would love to spend as much time with this fascinating creature as possible. I have also attached a photo of her and her habitat. Thank you.
Sorry if this is not formatted properly or posted to the correct forum, I am new here.

They don't live that long. In the wild the cold would have killed it off by now.

In the future don't use ants as feeders. They are voracious and can fight back with jaws and stingers. You can get a handful of small crickets from a pet store to feed in winter.

 

[BurntToast]

Might help if you can show photos of her enclosure from the side and if possible, get a clearer photo of her. If you're camera isn't great, don't zoom in too much or it will make the pic blurry. Especially since she is lethargic, I would make sure there are no prey items in her enclosure since she is not in a state to fight back.. Avoid ants since they can bite your spider. I would also get rid of that water dish. It's a small enclosure and she can easily drown in that. A light misting on the side of the enclosure every other day is more than enough water

Hi! Thanks for reaching out. I've attached the requested photos, you can see her resting almost on her side here. She still moves occasionally but overall very inactive. Could you clarify what you mean about the water? It was my understanding that spiders don't like moist or damp enclosures. Thanks a lot!

 

[gorybmovie]

Hi! Thanks for reaching out. I've attached the requested photos, you can see her resting almost on her side here. She still moves occasionally but overall very inactive. Could you clarify what you mean about the water? It was my understanding that spiders don't like moist or damp enclosures. Thanks a lot!

Spiders have book lungs underneath their abdomens so if they crawl into a bowl, they can drown (I've attached a picture so you can see what I'm talking about). Get a spray bottle, set it to mist, and spray once (away from the spider) on the side of the enclosure every other day to provide water and humidity. If you have enough ventilation in the enclosure, it should evaporate within 30 minutes or so. Your spider will drink the droplets from the side of the enclosure.

Here are a couple videos that demonstrate how to mist the enclosure. They're not for your species, but the process is the same. This one is for jumpers. She mists and talks about water at 7:30. She does mention that some people use a water dish with a cotton ball in it, but that can cause bacteria build-up so you don't want to do that.

.

This video is for tarantulas but this guy uses a syringe to mist the side of the enclosure. You mentioned that you use a syringe, so this video came to mind.

Spider's don't like it damp but they do require water and humidity especially if they are getting ready to molt. In order to molt, they release a fluid that separates the exoskeleton so they can shed it. Your spider's abdomen looks full so she's likely not hungry. Spiders become lethargic and will turn to their side or their back when they are getting ready to molt. I'm guessing that is all that is going on, so I'd leave her be.

If after a few days, she still hasn't eaten and you want to offer her something, you can give her a freshy killed feeder and see if she takes it. My spider didn't eat for two weeks before a molt. Afterwards, her fangs hadn't hardened yet, but she was hungry so I cut a mealworm in half and squeezed the innards out. She was attracted to the exposed innards and snacked on that while she strengthened up. Hope that helps.

 

[Caveternal]

Hi, Iv have aTegenaria Domestica they have anyways been my favorite species. I was wondering how the turn out was. I have one now that is a slow eater. Iv have her in a 10 gal with large rocks and soil patches with drift wood. I added crickets and they hid so I thought it wasn't that many but turns out when I added the 2nd bunch before going out of town I later noticed there were to many and she stressed for a while. She didn't buid back a web. She just ended up living under drift wood.
She is eating now though. On crickets.

If anyone has any tips on where to look to find these spiders please let me know. I had found one in a laundry room that was sick and didn't make it, the yellow gold pattern on the abdomen grabbed my interest asking with there characteristics but It seems they're hard to find and I'd like to hike around in the woods if I knew the best places. I wish I knew the best trees to look among any tios appreciated.