I recently got a wolf spider (Rabidosa rabida i think) and she’s not eating anymore. She ate fine and seemed to be doing well and then i noticed that shes been running from her food rather than eating. She leaves a bunch of web drag lines all over her enclosure too.
I’ve been looking all over the internet trying to tell if she’s getting ready to molt (but she’s been like this for 2 weeks) or at the end of her life (she seems really small for her to be fully grown imo).
She wandered into my basement. I have cats and dogs that i didnt want to kill her and I had a tank prepared anyway so I’ve been taking care of her. Ive had her for a few weeks and she’s eaten well before this. I thought she might be molting but im worried that she mighr starve herself before she can.
I’d be concerned with her being Wild Caught that she may be beginning to refuse food because of stress in captivity. What is the enclosure like? Temps? Humidity? Enclosure size?
Though the possibility of just beginning the molting process may be the reason she’s not eating- or (again I’m not an arachnid keeper and not fully versed in their biology or care, so I’m taking this info from what I know of commonly kept species like Tarantulas) that this “she” is a “he” and may be nearing the end of his lifespan.
Males in my knowledge of other spider species do not live anywhere near as long as females, basically they molt until they reach maturity and seek out a female, mate, and die or they never mate and die, or they get eaten by a female while trying to mate.
I don’t believe this would happen, spiders can endure months of not eating and be fine as long as they stay hydrated… but complications in molting can occur if their husbandry is not up to par, in which these complications are almost always fatal.
I don’t know many arachnid keepers here but I believe @caron has kept or keeps T’s, she may be able to offer insight.
I have only kept 1 wolf spider that I am almost positive was wild caught (purchased off MM). When they are WC, as yours is, there is no way of knowing the age of the spider. My wolf spider lived about 6 months I believe before it passed away.
My advice to you is to keep the substrate moist to aid with shedding. Since it is running away from its food and webbing, it is probably getting ready to molt. My advice is to leave it alone for awhile. Molting is not an easy process for any arachnid. A live cricket running around is stressful/dangerous to a fragile molting spider.
@jawramik Jennifer kept a WC female for awhile. It had an egg sac full of babies. Maybe she can shed some light on the subject as well……
Thanks! I have her in a 10 gallon tank with a few inches of substrate, rocks, leaves, and bark for her to climb and hide under. Her behavior was normal for the week and a half i had her before this pattern started, but that’s been in the back of my mind. Id hate to have caught her to ensure se survives the winter just to kill her from stress.
Thank you! Ill leave her be except to mist her cage and fill her water dish then. Ive looks everywhere online and keep getting conflicting information so i was really starting to panic.
Generally when spiders start refusing food, it means one of two things: either they’re getting ready to molt, or they’re nearing the end of their life cycle. Hopefully yours is just preparing to molt, but do be aware that wolf spiders do not have long lifespans. In most species, males might live 5-6 months, and females usually live around 6-18 months. Since you found your girl in your basement, there’s really no way to know how old she is.
Just curious, how often are you feeding her? Most wolf spiders are voracious eaters who will enthusiastically eat whenever the opportunity arises, but if you’re feeding her too often, it’s possible she’s just not hungry.
Ive read that they should be fed anywhere from a few days to once a week. But normally i go off of when her abdomen shrinks and/or she posts up next to the cricket container lol.
Actually the best thing you could have done for your spider is to have released it back into the wild where it came from. That’s always the best thing to do for any wildlife, unless it’s injured and you feel the need to help it out. Jennifer’s spider was injured and carrying an egg sac……
If this spider dies instead of molts you will probably blame yourself….
