Need Spider I.D. quick Pic Inside

[ChrisNCT]

Hello. I need to know if I can feed these to my s'lings before I throw them in.


I live in CT, USA. Just found today. This one measures about 3/8" legspan. They are brown and have a shell like back. Here is what I have noticed by watching them.....

They are extremely fast! They "play" dead. If you mess with them, they tuck their legs in and play dead. The pedipalps or front thingies are very large!

Any idea if these are safe to throw in my 3/4" -1" T slings enclosure?

[Stormcrow]

They're safe. Not a toxic species to regard cautiously.

[alex21]

Hey,

what kind of spider is that on the pic? it looks really cool. I'd like to have one of those. Does anybody know where I can get some or buy some?

[FryLock]

a Steatoda most lightly S.bipunctata could be a light S.grossa too.

[Elizabeth]

A Steatoda (yeah, looks like one to me, too) is not a worry to humans, but even though it is smaller than the Ts, I would worry that it would turn the tables on the T because of it's ability to snag prey with web and web action. I just saw yet another of the cobweb spiders outside our front door with beetle that was easily 5x it's size, dead in the web and being feasted on! Webs make catching larger prey that much easier, apparently. Think about it...

[Stormcrow]

Strong points, I have not kept any Steatoda species but they are found frequently around, been too engrossed by their more venomous sisters Latrodectus. But I have witnessed Widow's spray a sticky glue-like silk without or without access to a cobweb. Something that would absolutely entangle any other invertebrate whether it be a tarantula, scorpion, or anything similar. (What an awesome defense or predacious mechanism I might add.) Steatoda could be likewise be capable of this tact but for the most part, cobweb spiders are most efficient in the lair of their expansive silk. But a lumbering Steatoda forced to wander without cobweb is easy pickings for a tarantula because the spinnerets need proper steady aim. And I have caught this species before and they are not as adept as Latrodectus. Do as you please at your own risk or leave these spiders alone or acquiant yourself to a new pet.

[Atrax robustus]

I'd heard Steatodia were best avoided and described as 'mildly venomous' esp. S.nobilis. any info on this would be good.
AR

[JPD]

I'd heard Steatodia were best avoided and described as 'mildly venomous' esp. S.nobilis. any info on this would be good.

True.

As far as feeding them to other things.....I put one in with one of my L.hesperus adult females thinking it would make an interesting snack for the widow.......well, the widow became the snack on that occasion!

[Stormcrow]

Yeah, I have occassionally fed common true spiders such as these to my Widows and scorpions (never weavers, jumpers, or wanderers such as wolf and lynx, etc), mainly due to convenience and to see my pets tackle a fellow predator. Steatoda being a cobweb spider is definitely highrisk if allowed to establish a web in any invert terrarium environ. That poses the greatest danger. Haven't had any spiders turn the tables on my Latrodectus yet mainly due to the fact I had introduced them directly into Widow's web. Scorpion simply snatch the spider as it crawls by and envenomate immediately. This species is quite plentiful and feel as a responsible arachnophile, I should try keeping one as a pet sometime.

[Malhavoc's]

I've been bit by them serveral times and it did as much as a wolf spider bite.. not even a bite... as for feeding them they work great as grass spider feeders and find themselves tangled up extremely quickly when dropped right into the [sticky part] of an orb weavers web.

[mactans]

Grass Spiders make awesome pets, they don't so much as pounce but mug their prey and haul it off to their funnel retreat to be consumed.


>D

[Malhavoc's]

and if that doesnt work they spin around it in the tribal death dance!!!
Gotta luv the way the web larger prey..

[mactans]

Tribal death dance? LoL! That's an amusing way of putting it. There isn't anything they won't tackle ensnared in their sheet of web.

[Malhavoc's]

Ever seen them try and take down a large japanese beetle...oops off topic.. so did what was the outcome of using that spider as a feeder [if you did]