Tegenaria agrestis

[Andy]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post since this is actually not a tarantula :O

Well I have caught 6 now and only 1 is a female. Wel my brother caught the female actually, I caught all the males, thing is I want more females. Where should I look?

Thanks

BTW I live in the UK

[TheNothing]

theres an Other Arachnids section ;)

[JPD]

Are you certain that you have been catching T.agrestis?

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=47806&highlight=hobo

[danread]

Andy,

Since you are in the UK, it is going to be one of Tegenaria duellica, T. domestica, T. saeva, T. atrica, T. agrestis, T. silvestris, T. picta, or T. ferriginea. It is unlikely you have T. atrica as they are quite uncommon in the UK, and tend to be found in undisturbed habitats. Without a microscope and a good key, you arent going to be able to tell which is which, but since you are in the UK, it is most likely that you are finding Tegenaria duellica, T. domestica, or T. saeva. At this time of the year it is very common to find mature males wandering round the house in search of females, which is why you often tend to find them trapped in the bath. If you want to find females, try looking in garden sheds, garages, in the eves of roofs etc. These species make large conspicous sheet webs so they are very easy to find. Try throwing a cricket into the web to coax the spider out. Any females you catch at this time of year are probably already mated, so if you keep any they will probably laid an egg sac in your care. To keep them set them up in a large pet pal with some branches roundthe edge to act as a frame for the web. They make quite fun pets and are voracious predators when hungry.

Cheers,

[luther]

I kept a UK house spider (dont know the latin name) in a tall mason jar for about a year, feeding it small crickets and any insects I found in the house. It was a great web builder and a frequent feeder. It helped my wife get over her fear of spiders, since she became used to it's company. My kids were pretty fond of it too.

I highly recommend them as pets.

http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/attachment.php?attachmentid=29678&stc=1