# Anyone ever raise wolf spiders?



## ArmadilloPup (Dec 22, 2021)

Only biology and invertebrate nuts allowed, no "squish it!" people!

At work I was tossing something out and found a small wolf spider and her egg sac. She was tucked into some thick webbing and once I broke that, she ran away. But then I found an actual egg sack underneath the webbing. Once I transferred the eggs to the cup with some forceps, it was easy to coax her into the cup. She has been sitting on her egg sac since, which is now a little more exposed without the webbing she was also wrapped into. Naturally, we've named her Charlotte.

We're into the frost season here, so would she and the babies die if I relocate her outdoors because I broke her outer layer of protection? Do I set her up with a small terrarium until spring? I'm not sure of species but I do know she is some type of wolf spider (fuzzy, moves in scary little spurts, has a stripe). She is so small compared to all of the "rabidosa" spiders I see in the summer, she's barely an inch and has striped legs.


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## ZEROPILOT (Dec 22, 2021)

@Tom might have some experience with these.
Got any crickets handy?


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## ArmadilloPup (Dec 22, 2021)

Not at the moment. But I was already going to the city tomorrow for some shopping, and of course I am mostly using that as an excuse to look at pet stores


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## Tom (Dec 23, 2021)

Armadillogroomer said:


> Only biology and invertebrate nuts allowed, no "squish it!" people!
> 
> At work I was tossing something out and found a small wolf spider and her egg sac. She was tucked into some thick webbing and once I broke that, she ran away. But then I found an actual egg sack underneath the webbing. Once I transferred the eggs to the cup with some forceps, it was easy to coax her into the cup. She has been sitting on her egg sac since, which is now a little more exposed without the webbing she was also wrapped into. Naturally, we've named her Charlotte.
> 
> We're into the frost season here, so would she and the babies die if I relocate her outdoors because I broke her outer layer of protection? Do I set her up with a small terrarium until spring? I'm not sure of species but I do know she is some type of wolf spider (fuzzy, moves in scary little spurts, has a stripe). She is so small compared to all of the "rabidosa" spiders I see in the summer, she's barely an inch and has striped legs.


I honestly don't know the answer to any of your questions. We have occasional night freezes in winter here too, and our wolf spider population is very healthy and abundant. I've never tried to raise them in captivity, but I would imagine you are going to need some tiny tiny insects to get them started. In warmer weather I use aphids that I find outside for starting tiny mantids and spiders, but I bet you could get a wingless fruit fly culture from Josh's Frogs. I'm not sure if even those would be small enough. I start baby Tarantulas on pinhead Blatta laterals roaches, but baby tarantulas are already pretty big relatively speaking.

Let us know what you learn.


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