Silk Spinner's Spiderling Care

Welcome to the spiderling page where I will cover the following subjects: Spiderling Housing, Avicularia Spiderling Housing, Rehousing Spiderlings, Feeding Spiderlings, Spiderling Moulting, and Raising Pocilotheria Spiderlings together.

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Spiderling Housing

Tarantulas do not start out huge and hairy, they begin life much smaller than common house spiders and are often as small as 1cm in leg span, in some cases they can even be as tiny as 5mm. If you purchase a tarantula spiderling your new pet may be tiny, and will certainly be more delicate than an adult counterpart. Special care is required for these mini beasts.

If you put a tiny 1cm spider in a tank you will quickly lose it, either it will burrow into the substrate and never be seen or if there is opportunity to do so it will escape through an air hole. Also the larger the enclosure, the slighter the chance your spiderling will have to encounter prey, therefore a smaller enclosure is much better. It also provides you the opportunity to keep a close eye on the little creature’s progress.

I personally use two types of enclosure for spiderlings, splitting the containers between terrestrial and arboreal. For terrestrial I use delicups and for arboreal I use little jars. The aim being to create a small cosy environment that the sling will feel secure in.

For terrestrial slings I use two different sizes of deli cups – one for very tiny slings with about a 5cm circumference and 1 larger with about a 10cm circumference. I simply add a layer of substrate (about an inch is usually enough for small slings). This substrate should be a little moist (spiderlings dry out easier than adults so even species that prefer dry environments should be given a little extra moisture as slings). Remember do not saturate the substrate, just slightly moist is good. Spiderlings of 1cm are too little for a water bowl so I do not include one at this stage, this makes it doubly important to keep an eye on humidity so they don’t dry out. You should punch a couple of tiny air holes in the deli cup lid. For very tiny spiders poking a needle several times through the lid of the plastic deli cup is sufficient. If you like you can add a couple of fake plants leaves or a small stick to give the sling something to shelter under. For humidity I tend to use a dropping pipette rather than spray as for such a small creature a blast of water can come as quite a shock and can also startle the spiderling so it might attempt to make a dash for it.

The spiderling will be able to live in the cup until it outgrows it, at which point you can move it to a better sized enclosure, working your way from small deli cups to cricket tubs to medium plastic containers all the way to a final adult enclosure.

When the spiderling has a leg span of about 5cm you can think about adding its first water bowl. A water bowl should never be wider in circumference than the spiders leg span. Therefore I find something like a bottle cap makes an excellent first little water dish.

For arboreal spiderlings I personally find they benefit from a slightly larger enclosure when they are small than the terrestrial slings. I like to use jars that are about 500ml as a starting container. Several small holes should be made both in the lid and around the top half of the jar if possible to ensure good ventilation. In general you should include a good amount of substrate as many arboreal spiderlings prefer a terrestrial life to begin with, often burrowing then showing more arboreal tendencies as they grow. You should also add some kind of vertical climbing accessory such as a couple of small sticks or a small plastic plant. This set up should be kept relatively moist – but not saturated. A very light spray when needed is sufficient.

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Housing for Avicularia Spiderlings

For hardy species the tips above should serve you well, but some spiderlings are very delicate and require special care to make it to maturity. One of the most difficult types of spiderlings to raise are Avicularia, these have a high sensitivity to moisture levels – too much moisture will easily kill them, but at the same time they will die if you let them get too dry. You have to maintain a delicate balance of good ventilation and humidity. Even a slight drop in the humidity for a small amount of time can kill them.

For avicularia spiderlings I will describe my personal method for housing them. I find they do best in a vented glass tank right from the start. Custom Aquaria make a miniature version of their tall arboreal vented tanks. These are about 15cm high by about 5cm square click here for example. I put a good layer of substrate in and add vertical plants. I know these enclosures may seem a little big for 1cm specimens to start out in, but my experience shows they do fine. They are very good hunters and will find their food in there (I usually add a couple of tiny crickets at a time to increase their chances of catching them). I find that these offer sufficient ventilation. I keep the substrate moist – finding this is okay as the spiderling (particularly if an avicularia species) will stay toward the top of the enclosure and create a web domain to live in (this is the benefit of the slightly larger container for these, you can maintain a moist substrate to help the humidity but the spider is able to stay a distance above it). I find one light spray to the enclosure either daily, or every other day is adequate and they grow nicely. For when the spiderling is very small I put a little cling film around the lid to prevent escape (make sure not to cling film over the mesh vent even a tiny spiderling should not fit through that).

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Rehousing Spiderings

Spiderlings are exceptionally fast moving. Even the spiders that as adults are general slow coaches can move it was spiderlings, and the ones that are fast as adults are super fast with turbo boosters as spiderlings.

The first tip is to be careful when opening the lid of a spiderling enclosure. It is not uncommon for a spiderling to bolt. If it does so it can be gone in less than a second. I remember opening a p. cambridgei enclosure when I was relatively inexperienced and the thing shot off instantly. I searched for an hour for the tiny creature to no avail. Luckily for me, a while after that I felt a tickle on my arm, little devil had been hitching a ride all along – but it’s very easy not to be lucky enough to rediscover an escapee.

As always prevention is the best cure. Therefore spiderling rehousing is best done in the bath tub. Put the plug in to prevent mishap and if you can block the over flow. It should be remembered tarantulas can and do climb bath tubs. The tub merely provides a large area for your where you can see the spider if it runs and recapture it before it disappears under furniture, not an escape proof environment (unfortunately).

You can provide extra security by working in the bath tub with your new and old enclosure inside another larger tub. One with a lid with a smaller opening you can work through adds even extra security. Be sure to have the lid handy just in case. Another tip is to place a little screwed up paper towel in the corners of the larger tub – a bolting spiderling is basically dashing for cover. Therefore it keeps going until it reaches a hiding place. The kitchen towel serves as this hiding place and can cause it to stop running and hide, giving you a chance for easier recapture.

Where possible putting the spiderlings new enclosure in the bath tub and then placing its existing enclosure inside the new enclosure before coaxing the sling into the new enclosure with the soft end of a small paint brush is preferable. Use the lid of the new enclosure to help prevent escape. Placing it over the half of the enclosure where you are aiming the spiderling into is helpful. Spiderlings forced into the open will nearly always panic and bolt. They do tend to stop dead though if they run into a barrier such as the lid. It should be noted it is not full proof. If you are particularly worried, place the old enclosure in the new one with the old enclosure top off. Place the new enclosure lid on and leave over night, with luck the spider will move itself – this doesn’t always work though, some don’t like change at all. But if it does work you can simply use tongs or tweezers to extract the empty old enclosure once the spiderling has settled in the new one.

If you cannot place the old enclosure inside the new one, do the best you can by getting them either side by side or by gently tilting the old enclosure toward the new one and encouraging the spider to walk (or run if the spiderling has its way) from the old enclosure into the new one. Placing the lid of the new enclosure over the far half will again discourage the spiderling from sprinting into the new enclosure and straight up the other side and out.

In any case have a catch tub (with removable lid) to hand. If the worst comes to the worst and your spiderling does bolt and keep running, be ready with the catch tub to catch it. Take care not to injure the spider in this process.

Once recaptured hopefully your catch tub will fit in the new enclosure, if it does carefully place it in and remove the lid, then leave a while with the new enclosure lid sealed for the spider to emerge into its new home. Once it has settled in a hiding spot, you can remove the catch pot with tongs or tweezers.

However you accomplish spiderling rehousing for the faster species it can always be a tricky event where you can never completely predict how it will turn out. Often the spiderling will graciously trot from one container to the next and that will be that. Other times you will be facing a tiny little speed demon attempting to go on the rampage. The best you can do is prepare for every eventuality and be ready to recapture an escapee. Whatever you do, do not work in an area where there is furniture close by that a spiderling can run under, don’t have too many spectators/helpers as these can be more obstructive than useful and can prevent you from concentrating, and remember if there is a possibility for escape available to the spiderling it might well attempt to make use of it.

Good luck.

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Feeding Spiderlings

Spiderlings love food, particularly the fast growing species, and they have veracious appetites. Some of them would eat every day if you let them. I would not advise daily feeding however you should feed growing spiders generously – I would suggest two or three times a week as a general guide.

Finding food for miniscule spiderlings can be tricky, particularly if you have a really tiny sling that is only 0.5mm in leg span. Luckily crickets come in pin head size (also known as micro crickets), which accommodates even the smallest slings. The only problem with micro crickets is they tend to dry out very quickly, which means they don’t last long in the dry containers they come in when purchased. I find adding a couple of fresh green lettuce leaves to the tub can help them last longer. Of course if you feed them they will grow, and quite quickly.

Choosing the right size food for your spiderling important. Too large a cricket could overpower the spiderling, and even possibly eat it. I find choosing a cricket that is no bigger than the size of the spiderling’s body length works well.

One thing that is extremely important is not to leave live crickets in with your spiderling unattended. If the spiderling moults it is likely any live crickets in with it will eat it while it is soft and vulnerable. Always watch to see if your spiderling takes the cricket. If it has not done so within about 15 minutes take the cricket out. (this goes if you are using any other sort of live food as well). Another reason to do this is if an uneaten cricket dies in the spiders small enclosure, this will cause mould to grow which can kill the spiderling.

If you find yourself unable to provide very tiny crickets, you can try crushing the head of a slightly larger cricket and offering this to the spiderling as food. Spiderlings will often pick up dead crickets and feed on them. You can also try things such as cricket hind legs or even a piece of diced cricket if you feel up to that icky task. Also removing the jumping legs of a slightly larger cricket before offering it can help the spiderling to overpower it. The important thing to note about these methods is not to leave either live or dead crickets in the enclosure for long periods with the sling. Dead cricket parts will grow mould if left uneaten, or might attract flies. Both are unwanted.

You should find your spiderling eats well (apart from if it is coming up for a moult). Some spiderlings such as Brachypelma smithi grow pea shaped fat abdomens. This is literally how they grow so them being fat as small specimens is okay however care should be taken not to overfeed.

You will find some species are exceptionally slow growing and will take several years to make maturity, others will grow like weeds and will reach maturity in as little as two years. Arboreal spiderlings in general tend to grow faster than the terrestrial spiderlings.

As the spider grows the food size should be adjusted and as they reach the juvenile stage feeding should be slowed down to once or twice weekly which will be adequate for them as adults.

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Spiderling moulting

Spiderlings are growing into adults, therefore they moult more regularly than their adult counterparts. The fast growers will moult every couple of months, the slow growers can vary but still more often than the adults. For small spiders moulting tends to be faster than for the large adults and they seem to recover faster as well.

When adult spiders moult they can take months to prepare for it, becoming less active as the new skin grows and often going off food, becoming sluggish and hiding away more. Then when they do moult it can take nearly a day in some cases longer, and they can take over a month to be ready to feed again afterwards.

For spiderlings the process is the same as for the adult, but quicker. Their premoult stage varies in length from about a week to about a month sometimes longer though, and during this stage they show similar symptoms to the adults. The actual moult will usually be quick and uncomplicated. As always this is not always the case, sometimes spiderlings do die stuck in moults, and if they are very small there will not be much you can do if this happens. Fortunately most spiderling moults are over within an hour or less and most (providing the humidity is adequate) go perfectly needing no interference from you. It is important not to disturb a moulting spiderling as you can easily injure it. Also leave it along when it has finished, it will be tired and soft and you could easily stress or hurt it.

Food should not be offered for at least a week to ensure that the spiderlings fangs have hardened enough not to be damaged by taking food.

All being well, you will soon see your spiderling (now a little further in its development) return to its usual activities and feeding regime.

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Tips for Raising Groups of Poecilotheria Spiderlings Together as a Community (not advised for other types of spiderlings)

Some Poecilotheria tarantulas can tentatively be raised together as a group/colony. This really only works for siblings that have not been separated so please do not attempt to put non nest mates together.

It should be noted that all spider groups are experimental at best and there is no guarantee for success. If you attempt to do this, you must accept the risk that some spiderlings might get eaten. You can reduce the risk by ensuring the following.

Firstly don’t allow the Poecilotheria spiderlings too much room. Keep them together in a snag container. This will prevent them from separating themselves and leading solitary lives – if this happens they likely to try and eat each other when they encounter one another. Therefore the container should be small enough to encourage them to build a nest together and share it. Keep an eye out for any spiderling that does separate itself from the others or purposely avoids them – take that spider out.

The second important thing is food. If the Poecilotheria slings are well fed they are less likely to try and eat each other for food. Therefore feed a group of Poecilotheria generously ensuring there is plenty for all.

Also species should be considered as not all Poecilotheria do well together. I have personally found it can be successful with P. regalis and P. formosa, it is less likely to be a success with P. ornate or P. striata.

As the spiderlings grow monitor them. See if they are staying together or if they are attempting to maintain distance. Any sign of them attempting to maintain distance is a sign you should split them up or else risk one fat spider.

Personally I have kept Poecilotheria together until they are juveniles, at this stage I make the personal choice to split them as I do not wish to run the greater risk that they will start to become territorial as they enter maturity. If you are brave you can take it further and see how it progresses, but to do so runs a larger risk for your spiders so I would suggest it is best to split them up.
 
Although spiderling Poecilotheria communities are experimental, they can be really interesting to watch – especially if you are treated to witnessing them hunt together as a pack. Just remember to be viligent, provide lots of food and have spare containers ready in case you need to split them up before you planned.

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Spiderling Conclusion

Raising a tiny fragile spiderling into a beautiful adult specimen is one of the best parts of the tarantula hobby. Watching the progression and growth process is rewarding and fascinating and should be savoured. Some species will treat you to some wonderful colour changes during the journey.

Enjoy your spiderlings. Enjoy your spiders.