Thibodeaux the Wolf Spider got a nicer home.

ratluvr76 · Aug 17, 2014

So bil got me a 3 gallon sun tea/ juice container. One of those with a spigot at the bottom. I cut the spigot off and filled that hole with hot glue and drilled 1/32 inch holes all around it and on the lid, which screws on. I also drilled 8 holes below the soil line to use for injecting water into it to help keep humidity up. I planted some pathos in the back and constructed a small hide for it, put a power aide lid with some decorative low end gem stones in it for water and VOILA... A terrarium fit for a... Wolf king? lol.

Hope you like it. He just ate that huge (to him) mealworm so. I probably won't feed him again until late next week possibly the week after depending on abdomen size at that point. :love:

ratluvr76 · Aug 17, 2014

p.s. I'm still stuck with my IPad for pics so, sorry but not really great quality.

ratluvr76 · Aug 19, 2014

Well, Thibodeaux is doing well. I left him alone completely for roughly 24 hours and seems to have dug himself a little den beneath one of the pothos leaves. He is just chilling. He looks very healthy and his abdomen is shrinking kind of fast. They must have fast metabolisms? Anyway, there's the update.

On a side note, I keep referring to him as a him but based on the absence of a bulb on his pedipalps.. Maybe he is a she? With luck I'll get a sac.

Smokehound714 · Aug 21, 2014

It's a female. Male wolf spiders have the bulbs while immature. (as do agelenids)

ratluvr76 · Aug 21, 2014

Smokehound714 said:
It's a female. Male wolf spiders have the bulbs while immature. (as do agelenids)

thank you Smokehound. If I were to locate a male, how difficult would it be to breed them do you think? Could they live together in the same enclosure? (somehow I doubt it.)

Smokehound714 · Aug 21, 2014

ratluvr76 said:
thank you Smokehound. If I were to locate a male, how difficult would it be to breed them do you think? Could they live together in the same enclosure? (somehow I doubt it.)

No, the female will only tolerate his presence if she's receptive. after they mate, she will kill him if he's still around.

ratluvr76 · Aug 23, 2014

hhmm.. I think i'll have to look around a bit and see if I can get some more info. Like, how would I know he's mature since the bulbs on his palps are visible before maturity? how would I find out if she is receptive? off to google. LOL

ratluvr76 · Sep 22, 2014

well, I have bad news. :/ Despite the fact that the enclosure I had Thibodeaux in had a screw on lid, had really.. REALLY small ventilation holes.. and no visible avenues of escape, I can not find him anywhere in his enclosure. :/ I have looked all around and under the leaves of his pothos.. there are only 4 big leaves of it in there, I looked under his pile of dead grass he used to sit in, and dug around gently in the soil in there, he is no where to be found.

this sucks, I loved that little spider.

ratluvr76 · Sep 23, 2014

happy news after all!!

Thibodeaux did not somehow get out of the enclosure.. She is officially a confirmed female.. complete with an eggsac.. yayy!!..

Dizzle · Sep 23, 2014

ratluvr76 said:
Thibodeaux did not somehow get out of the enclosure.. She is officially a confirmed female.. complete with an eggsac.. yayy!!..

Lol, awesome ratluvr! My wolf spider is also female, at least I think so. Someone just saw a spider crawling across the floor at work and yelled "Whoa huge spider!" Of course, they made to crush it underfoot but someone else cried my name so I came to the rescue! Lol, picked it up (easily 1" to 1.5" legspan) and moved it outside but right before I let it go I noticed swollen pedipalps! By the time my brain processed that I just released a potential mate for my wolf spider he was long gone. Oh well :/
Anyway, congrats on the sac and good luck!
P.S....any pics? (hungrily eyes thread..)

ratluvr76 · Sep 23, 2014

Dizzle said:
Lol, awesome ratluvr! My wolf spider is also female, at least I think so. Someone just saw a spider crawling across the floor at work and yelled "Whoa huge spider!" Of course, they made to crush it underfoot but someone else cried my name so I came to the rescue! Lol, picked it up (easily 1" to 1.5" legspan) and moved it outside but right before I let it go I noticed swollen pedipalps! By the time my brain processed that I just released a potential mate for my wolf spider he was long gone. Oh well :/
Anyway, congrats on the sac and good luck!
P.S....any pics? (hungrily eyes thread..)

Here you go lol. Pic quality sux but it's the best I can do for now.

Dizzle · Sep 23, 2014

sweet! may your days be filled with many many lycosids

ratluvr76 · Sep 26, 2014

The egg sac!

Here's Thibodeaux with her egg sac. She's denned herself in amongst the roots of her pothos. Very exciting times in the house here. Baby wolf spiders expected. Bonnie and Clyde (G porteri) have a hot date tonight too lol.

Akai · Sep 26, 2014

man thats really cool. i caught a wolf spider last spring and raised it up the entire summer. boy they sure can eat. dont the babies ride around on their mother at their earliest instars? i let mine go at summers end when i determined it was a male. how long do they live?

Dizzle · Sep 26, 2014

Akai said:
man thats really cool. i caught a wolf spider last spring and raised it up the entire summer. boy they sure can eat. dont the babies ride around on their mother at their earliest instars? i let mine go at summers end when i determined it was a male. how long do they live?

The wolf I have right now I caught earlier this year right when spring began as well and boy can they grow fast! How big was yours when you let it go?

Ratluvr, thanks for sharing the pics! I am excited for you and perhaps kind of jealous, admittedly. I really want to successfully breed wolf spiders and/or jumpers. Do you plan to keep any slings or let them disperse?

Edit: just read your comment about your G porteri's as well, congrats! Make sure to play some baby making music

(jk...)

ratluvr76 · Sep 26, 2014

Provably play a little smokey Robinson haha. Nah. I don't know for sure how long they live. I think 2 years or so? No I'm going to release her when they start dispersing actually. Let her live the rest of her life in her own spidery way. I really just want to see them ass piled up on her. Let her rear this sac in general piece since with me feeding her and caring for her she won't have to worry about predators or lack of food or water etc.

Dizzle · Sep 26, 2014

Yeah that's usually my approach with true spiders I keep as well. Take care of em for a while, observe, try and get them to produce a sac. And then leave them be to live out the remainder of their lives in the wild. I think its best especially if your true spiders were wild caught from near where you live.

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Akai · Sep 26, 2014

it was pretty leggy. maybe 4 inches. he ate everything and anything. he literally wolfed everything down. pun intended. lol

Dizzle · Sep 26, 2014

Akai said:
it was pretty leggy. maybe 4 inches. he ate everything and anything. he literally wolfed everything down. pun intended. lol

lol, nice. 4 inches that is big! They certainly are voracious eaters.

ratluvr76 · Oct 7, 2014

I think I'm going to release Thibodeaux back into the wild. She ate her eggsac which tells me she's not happy in there. I don't want her to eat another eggsac so I'm going to release her into the split leaf philodendron I have outside one of the bedroom windows. My hope is that she will live out her days there.

I will miss her.

Thibodeaux the Wolf Spider got a nicer home.

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