What to feed L geometricus?

[Tavyn]

Hello,

Im a high school biology teacher in Sarasota, FL and one of my students brought me a spider that I think I have identified as a L. geometricus.

I am keeping her in a 1 gallon hexagonal aquarium tank with a lid. I sealed the edges of the lid so there is no way she's getting out. (I say she because the student says when they found her she had an egg sack and web in the corner of their screened in porch.) They destroyed the web and eggsack but brought me the spider. Can't say I blame them, I'm not sure I'd be happy about a widow and babies in my porch either. Anyway, my students love me enough to bring me presents like this.

Ive got some rocks, moss and a nicely branched twig in there with her and she has webbed the place all up in the last two days. As a biology teacher I have a breeding colony of wild type fruit flies that my students do cross breeding and genetics experiments with.

I just wanted to check and make sure that fruit flies will work as food for her.

If not can you offer other suggestions? I think shes too small for crickets so probably has to be something smaller and flighted.

Thanks for the advice.

[chris_vegas]

last one I kept ate almost anything I fed her, including crickets twice her size. She struggled with a large ant one time, I thought the ant might kill her for a bit, (they just scrapped whenever they ran into each other)...but she just wasn't hungry, didn't go well for the ant when she did get hungry.

[jsloan]

I just wanted to check and make sure that fruit flies will work as food for her. If not can you offer other suggestions? I think shes too small for crickets so probably has to be something smaller and flighted.

Fruitflies would be on the small side for an adult L. geometricus. Go ahead and try them, but this spider can handle larger prey, including crickets.

Sorry to hear the student destroyed the original web and egg sac. I hope it wasn't from a misplaced sense of panic, because the chances of being bitten by one of these spiders is small. L. geometricus is not as aggressive as some of its widow counterparts when it comes to biting.

This would be a great opportunity for you to educate your class about these spiders ... and spiders in general. What a terrific way to introduce them to a marvelous group of animals!

Next, you're going to have to get a class tarantula ... :)

[buthus]

Use a tweez and place prey (such as a killed cricket) into the webbing. Even tiny slings will feed on large prey.

[Widowman10]

what to feed a widow? yes.

a full-grown adult will pretty much take down anything smaller than twice her size. crix are easy, cheap, accessible. my food of choice when natural stuff isn't readily available (say, wintertime). you might watch out for more eggsacs, b/c chances are if she already produced one, more will be on the way pretty soon. FF are way too small for an adult. slings they work fine for. have fun with your new pet!!

[tom]

Of course this spider will make a great classroom teaching aid, It should be also recognized as on of the the most recognized species of Latrodectus in the world next to L.mactans. We are in the USA, lucky to have L.varilous,L.mactans. L.hesperus,L.geometricus,and L.bishopi as valid species. I also agree that some females can make up to ten eggcases in a series especially these wild caught female spiders.Feed this spider on a variety of insects remember they are not immune to their own venom and very often can overpower another Latrodectus just as easily as any prey item.Egg cases hatch generally within a month after being produced , keep them seperate from the mother if possible.Cheers, Tom