Wild Caught Wolf Spider

[SarahRua]

I live in Bastrop,TX. My daughter and I caught a spider, either tigrosa grandis or tigrosa georgicola. I'm hoping it might be a gravid female. We'd like to keep it, at least for a while, but we've never kept pet spiders before. I'm getting a little terrarium for it. Right now it's in a tupper container with holes in the lid, soil (very sandy, insecticide free) some leaves, a damp sponge, and a paper towel tube to hide in. Is this enough for a spider? I haven't found any crickets around my house yet, but I've got a near infinite supply of junebugs. Can they eat junebugs? The petstore where I purchased the terrarium also sold me a half dozen superworms, just to get us started. Hopefully she'll eat them. What advice can you give a pair of novice spider keepers? Since we're now quarantined we have to mostly make due with what we have and what we can find. I live in a rural, heavily wooded area.

 

[Veles]

I live in Bastrop,TX. My daughter and I caught a spider, either tigrosa grandis or tigrosa georgicola. I'm hoping it might be a gravid female. We'd like to keep it, at least for a while, but we've never kept pet spiders before. I'm getting a little terrarium for it. Right now it's in a tupper container with holes in the lid, soil (very sandy, insecticide free) some leaves, a damp sponge, and a paper towel tube to hide in. Is this enough for a spider? I haven't found any crickets around my house yet, but I've got a near infinite supply of junebugs. Can they eat junebugs? The petstore where I purchased the terrarium also sold me a half dozen superworms, just to get us started. Hopefully she'll eat them. What advice can you give a pair of novice spider keepers? Since we're now quarantined we have to mostly make due with what we have and what we can find. I live in a rural, heavily wooded area.

depends on the size of the spider, but i would personally recommend 40x40x40 cm container, basic substrate (which you can buy, the layer of the substrate should be around 10 cm tall), a bit of bark for hiding, some leaves and a wet cotton ball/bottle cap filled with water for hydration.

something like this would do great, just remember to poke small holes on the lid for ventilation

feeding should be done once or twice a week, either with bought or wild-caught insects.

 

[SarahRua]

Thank you. She seems to be settling in, occasionally venturing out of her little house. I'm going to add more dirt tomorrow because a friend said she might want to burrow. She hasn't eaten yet that I can tell. Tomorrow I'll remove the superworm so it doesn't hurt her. One friend said they can injure wolf spiders.

 

[SarahRua]

Anybody want to weigh in on species or gender?

 

[Veles]

Thank you. She seems to be settling in, occasionally venturing out of her little house. I'm going to add more dirt tomorrow because a friend said she might want to burrow. She hasn't eaten yet that I can tell. Tomorrow I'll remove the superworm so it doesn't hurt her. One friend said they can injure wolf spiders.

Take out the worm ASAP and wait a couple of days, 5 i would say and then try feeding again. She needs time to adjust

 

[Tortuga]

Definitely female, definitely gravid.

Those species look really similar to me as well and I kept T grandis. I posted a pic of a confirmed T grandis for reference. @loxoscelesfear any thoughts? I'm guessing T georgicola.

 

[Veles]

Definitely female, definitely gravid.

Those species look really similar to me as well and I kept T grandis. I posted a pic of a confirmed T grandis for reference. @loxoscelesfear any thoughts? I'm guessing T georgicola.

pretty gal, do you know how large she is?

 

[SarahRua]

" pretty gal, do you know how large she"

Around 44mm, which is crazy huge for either of those species. One of my vet friends now thinks she's a Hogna Carolinesis with darker coloration, just because there aren't any reports she could find of any of the Tigrosa varieties getting this big.

 

[mantisfan101]

That’s huge for a true spider, but that is definitely a tigrosa. I find these all the time during summer and they’re relatively straightforward- large enclosure if you want to watch them hunt, small enclosure and they’ll basically act like a normal T. Feed once a week, these guys will eat just about anything, but will often times take down lively prey(roaches and crickets) with more vigor.

 

[Tortuga]

pretty gal, do you know how large she is?

I never did measure her unfortunately. The bottle cap in the pic is from a 2 liter bottle of sprite if that gives you an idea.

@SarahRua, my T grandis dropped 3 eggs sacs over the course of a summer, at least 100 babies per sac easy and they can climb acrylic, just to give you a heads up. I covered the top of my enclosure with nylon womans stockings to prevent little escapes.

 

[Veles]

I never did measure her unfortunately. The bottle cap in the pic is from a 2 liter bottle of sprite if that gives you an idea.

@SarahRua, my T grandis dropped 3 eggs sacs over the course of a summer, at least 100 babies per sac easy and they can climb acrylic, just to give you a heads up. I covered the top of my enclosure with nylon womans stockings to prevent little escapes.

View attachment 338382

big girl, the biggest wolfs we have here are l. tarantula and l. singoriensis, both of which are 60-70 mm all around

 

[loxoscelesfear]

I agree with previous posts: T. georgicola. Check the underside of the adomen. georgicola has three broad lines that converge @ the spinnerets.

 

[SarahRua]

It's hard to see her underside. Especially now!

How long is it for an egg sac to hatch? How long do they typically live on her back? I'm not set up to keep the spiderlings, and besides my husband would divorce me (he's really unhappy about this right now, but my elder daughter is so happy he's willing to ignore the spider.) I'll probably have to release her once the siders are independent. I was never going to be able to keep her once work starts up again anyway, we have to travel too much, but it looks like we're going to be unemployed for a while, so I might as well enjoy this time.

I have a large mesh laundry bag with a zipper. I thought I'd put the whole cage in there to prevent escapes.

 

[Veles]

It's hard to see her underside. Especially now!

How long is it for an egg sac to hatch? How long do they typically live on her back?

The eggs hatch in one to two weeks, and 4 to 22 days later, the mother perforates the egg sac either part way or all the way around the seam by rotating the sac with her legs as she makes tiny holes in it with her chelicerae (mouthparts). Within three hours of this, spiderlings crawl out of the sac through the holes made by the mother, climb up onto her abdomen , and remain there for days or weeks, depending on the species.

and besides my husband would divorce me (he's really unhappy about this right now, but my elder daughter is so happy he's willing to ignore the spider.)

grown ass man afraid of spiders?

I'll probably have to release her once the siders are independent. I was never going to be able to keep her once work starts up again anyway, we have to travel too much, but it looks like we're going to be unemployed for a while, so I might as well enjoy this time.

you could likely keep her even then, a well fed spider can go on for weeks without food

 

[SarahRua]

Charlotte, our tigrosa georgicola, has done a bit of interior decorating, and eaten a couple of mealworms. Still no spiderlings. Any idea how long it takes them to hatch?

 

[SarahRua]

It took 35 days, but Charlotte's spiderlings are finally out of the eggsac. Next question is, is there anything different I should be feeding them right now? I've been giving her mealworms mostly, along with the occasional crickets caught in our yard. Hard to tell if she's eating, I've only seen her doing it once, but the crickets are gone and there are a few husks from the mealworms, so I suppose she is.

Also, how many days from when they hatch to when those spiderlings are ready to live independently of their mother? I'm going to have up release Charlotte and her babies at that time.

 

[Duke of Doom]

Separate them as soon as they become independent unless you want some heavy cannibalism

 

[The Snark]

It took 35 days, but Charlotte's spiderlings are finally out of the eggsac.

There's just something adorable about moms in their weird 'fur' coats.