|
Fishing Spider Care and Rearing Spiderlings
Many people ask me how to keep these spiders, before they decide to purchase any from me. I could not find much information on the web, so I thought It would be a good idea to have a section on keeping fishing spiders in captivity, from my own experiences. For many years I have studied one of the smaller British species, so I have some experience of this type of spider. When the first of my spiders I reared were adult I placed the male into the females enclosure, it was the female which approached the male, with front legs straight forward and she was making a rocking movement, but when they touched the male which is also a large spider stood up on back legs, and they both fought with there legs, at such a speed there legs were just a blur, I wish had my camera ready, no harm came to ether spider.
I placed lots of crickets in the tank, hoping the female would not eat the male, so I was disappointed that two weeks later he got eaten, most of my males lived with the females for just over a week. I had another pair in a larger tank with logs for the male to hide, but he to got eaten, Probably because the male has no where to escape easily in captivity, having read on the web, that scientist have studied many of the mating of this species, and have discovered that the females sometimes eat the males before, during or after mating.
It could be a nutritious meal for the female as in all cases the male was completely eaten and it ensures the male do not fertile any other females. I also think this is a male sacrifice, as I cannot believe the male which is a large spider, does not know that it is going to be killed during mating.
Only a few days after eating the male my first female created an egg sac, hoping she was fertile I decided a different approach to hatching the egg sac, after my earlier failures last year. I kept the female in its container, brought from a spider supplier, size 9 ½” x 7 ½” x 3” I melted large holes through the lid, and used coconut fibre substrate slightly moist, with a fairly wide shallow water dish so she can dip the egg sac. The other end of her container I had placed a shallow tray across the width of the container, filled with wet moss, I did not try moss last time, the moss was kept very wet by poring water into the tray and spaying every day. The container was placed into the hottest area of the vivarium under a red light, keeping the inside very humid.
The female spent most of her time with her egg sac pressed against the moss, only occasionally would she dip the egg sac into a separate water dish, could be for a drink or keeping the egg sac from drying out. After two weeks the egg sac became darker in colour and more rounded in shape so I had an idea that it was filling with spiderlings. I cut out a sheet of fine black nylon netting and placed under the lid of the container, the type used for making insect cages, and then it was just wait and see, if there will be any 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.
|
