Wolf Spider Doesn't Eat

[Sunastar]

I have what I think is a wolf spider that a neighbor gave me a few months ago. When I first got her she ate everything I tosses into her house (2.5 gal tank). She went through small crickets at about two a day. After a few dozen I picked up large crickets and she went through four or five at about on ever other day. In the last month she hasn't eaten a thing. She even bats away crickets, large or small. She looks fat and happy, but I wonder if she's pining for the fiords.

Also, she occasionally walks around her house and "scratches" at the glass like she wants out. The tarantulas and jumping spiders I've had in the past hardly ever even seemed aware that they were in any kind of enclosure, much less tried to "claw" their way out.

Any advice would be be most appreciated.

I've attached a couple of pics:

Thanks

Tom Dillon
Lakewood, Colorado

 

[padkison]

My wolf spider did not eat for a few days prior to molting (and for a few days after molting). Not sure about a month of not eating.

 

[Scorpendra]

well, she looks pretty...round, so it may just be an extended premolt period. i'd just keep an eye on her for the time being, in case her abdomen shrinks.

 

[Naude]

I think you might have been over feeding that spider.

 

[LeilaNami]

I think you might have been over feeding that spider.

maybe just a bit

 

[Taceas]

Yeah, it looks a tad overfed to me as well.

I know with my wild caught Dolomedes tenebrosus females when they get really round like that, they'll go off feed and lay an egg sac of infertile eggs. They've both molted in my care and I can't ever seem to find a male, so I'm pretty sure they're infertile anyway.

I'd say she's coming up on something. She may molt or she may surprise you with an egg sac being she's wild caught. After that, I'd feed her one cricket/roach every week. I've found it maintains them well without being too much.

She is a beautiful thing, I like the chestnut chelicerae with the overall charcoal hue.

 

[Down-Under]

Lol! That spider is fat! Dont feed her for a few days... then try agian.

 

[Sunastar]

Thanks for all the input. She seems healthy enough; drinks a bit of water now and then; swats at whatever bug is crawling around. So, I guess she got her fill for the year. :-7 Her enclosure sits on my home office desk, so I shold notice any changes.

Misty sez: She is a beautiful thing, I like the chestnut chelicerae with the overall charcoal hue.

She is a beauty isn't she. When the light hits her eyes just right, they "glow" a pale blue.

Tom Dillon
www.Sunastar.com

 

[Sunastar]

She finally ate something! She still doesn't show any interest in crickets or whatever kind of bug it is I find around the house, but she sure did like the flies I tossed into her house. I guess she just likes a bit of variety in her dining.

Tom Dillon
www.Sunastar.com

 

[Bastian Drolshagen]

hi, may I ask why you continue feeding a spider as fat as this one?

 

[KUJordan]

She scratches around at the glass because unless H. carolinensis is in the pre-egg laying stages, they are strictly wanderers. Depending on her size, I'd say she's gravid- being wildcaught and all. She'll dig a burrow lightening fast (most likely in the corner of the tank) and a few days later she'll drop a sac. After that the youngins'll climb onto her back and then later she'll make little "spokes" radiating from the top of the burrow chimney. This is when to get prepared for the little ones to go off on their own- it'll only be 2 weeks or so.

Anyway, this is just what will happen if she is in fact gravid. She may just be related to John Candy...

 

[Sunastar]

I figured she *has* to eat something after two months. I've never had a wolf spider before and the tarantulas (male) and jumping spiders I've had in the past were wild caught and I let them go after a few weeks.

She *is* a little fattie isn't she.

Tom Dillon

 

[Sunastar]

I've had her since early November and the closes thing to a burrow she's built is a "pad" of silk in a corner of her tank (2.5 gal).

The "scratching" at the walls is pretty rare, and it temps me to release her, but with a few feet of snow in the yard I think she has a better chance of surviving if she stays inside.

She hasn't molted, made an egg sac or dug a burrow. The soil in her tank is from the ground around the house and I don't use any pesticides, but maybe she needs something easier to dig. I kinda doubt it though.

Tom Dillon
www.Sunastar.com

 

[loxoscelesfear]

no need to panic

no need to panic when spiders don't eat-- could be typical pre-molt behavior or the animal is just full.

 

[Naude]

Maybe she is bored and that's why she ate the flies. I had two of them a while back and when I fed them they liked to wander around the house while eating so one day I just didn't put one of them back and it stayd in the house for months, I fed it whenever i saw it though then it just disappeared when summer arrived. definately the best spiders I have ever kept