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Fishing Spider Care and Rearing Spiderlings
On the 03/04/10 exactly one month after the male got eaten I was rewarded with hundreds of spiderlings.
The netting is ideal you can see the spiderlings and when lifting the lid it prevents them from escaping, as they can move very fast, the first and second day of hatching the baby spiders changed there skin, only after the skin change they start to feed. After a few days I moved the female, which was covered in baby spiders spinning there webs, out into another container, she was not aggressive and even took a cricket from my fingers in her new enclosure, I love it when they do that, they do have fairly good eyesight, so they don’t climb up you fingers thinking you as food like a tarantula. I think she is now preparing herself for another egg sac, from the amount of crickets and mealworms she is eating.
Getting back to the spiderlings, as they have changed there skin they are ready to feed, I separated some in separate containers, but this was taken too long, so now I have separated them in larger containers in groups of 10 and 20, and probably hundreds still in the main nest. With lots of micro crickets in the containers hopefully there will not be too much cannibalism. It was not a good idea to leave the large water dish in the main container, as I found out, I lost a few; the spiderlings will drown until first skin change, so I have used a shallow water dish with a very wet kitchen towel. What makes these spiders exciting to keep is the many different set ups that can be used, they will hunt above and below water and not just insects, and they can also catch tadpoles, newts and frogs. An adult female does eat a lot of insects, so they are quite active.
I am asked often if female adults can live together, so I tried with two large adult female’s, I soon got a answer they squared up to each other stood up and fought first with there legs and then it was fangs against fangs, to me it looked more like who is the strongest for the territory than a fight to the death, the British spiders I have seen around a ponds always have there own territory space. After there first scuffle they backed off, and then went looking for each other again. Even after there fighting I picked up one female with my fingers to separate them with out a nip, these spiders are so friendly towards us and yet so aggressive to each other, I am going to try and film the fighting.
I enjoy keeping these spiders as much as my tarantulas, its a shame they only live for 2+ years. I hope in the future to set up a tank full of water and logs. Andy Newman© 15/04/10.
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