Keeping wild pet spiders

[Connor]

Hey guys. I'm new to this and just want some advice. I recently picked up a redback spider while on holiday. I thought it would be fun keeping one and letting it go before I went home, but now she lives in a small tank next to my bed. She's literally doubled in size since I got her around a month ago. She lives off beetles, ants, moths, grasshoppers, small gecko's and other spiders that I can get hold of. Her web she's constructed to be able to maintain catching an eating these prey I put in her enclosure is basically an ultimate death trap. Although the tank is 15cm long and 10cm wide, her abdomen is around the same size as a 5c coin, and she is slowly getting bigger. She fits fairly nicely inside, however, as she's been growing, she seems to making her web bigger each time and now it has taken over the whole tank. I'm just wondering is it time to upgrade and get a bigger enclosure, or should I just leave it as this one is working well for her? I'll try and put a photo of her growth procession up soon, she's one pretty girl.

 

[longqi]

I dont know much about spiders except that they have more limbs than I am comfortable with
[Lobsters and crabs have a similar number but at least they are edible so they can be excused for giving me more to chow down on]
Only thing I would comment on would be feeding it geckos
This is a reptile lovers site and many people may be a bit upset about that
Plenty of other prey to give it

 

[sharky]

I'm with longqi....geckos?

I fed my girls 2-5 large crickets every 2-3 day (depending how hungry they were) I kept them in seperate tanks. Each measured 20x20x40 (Lxwxh) They were happy in there until they got bigger and mum made me relese them :evil:

Ypu can make the enclosure bigger but remeber, redbacks are commonly found in small and tight spaces so you don't have to get a HUGE one

 

[Bananapeel]

I have mine in 30x25x35 lwh
They don't eat geckos.
i vary their food around a bit, including, flies, crickets, moths and the occasional other bug that I think would be edible for them. And feeding occurred similar occasions to Sharkyy.
she has a pretty nice web built but my house spider beats it by far, his web is incredible!
i screwed timber to 2 sides of the tub so she can climb (couldn't climb plastic) and build a web. There are also branches, soil, leaves, a couple of slaters and things living in the bottom. I occasionally spray her with water to keep a bit of moisture.

 

[sharky]

I have mine in 30x25x35 lwh
They don't eat geckos.
i vary their food around a bit, including, flies, crickets, moths and the occasional other bug that I think would be edible for them. And feeding occurred similar occasions to Sharkyy.
she has a pretty nice web built but my house spider beats it by far, his web is incredible!
i screwed timber to 2 sides of the tub so she can climb (couldn't climb plastic) and build a web. There are also branches, soil, leaves, a couple of slaters and things living in the bottom. I occasionally spray her with water to keep a bit of moisture.

+1 That would be the ideal set up, can you post a pic of it?

AND!...Have you posted a pic of your MD yet BP.....I'm impatiently waiting to see!!!!!

 

[Lachie3112]

Ah this thread makes me want to keep a large huntsman I found the other day. Pity I released it into the garden.

 

[damian83]

Ah this thread makes me want to keep a large huntsman I found the other day. Pity I released it into the garden.

Yeah I love huntsman too

 

[Bananapeel]

Same!!! I'm looking for a social huntsman but they're too hard to find!

- - - Updated - - -

+1 That would be the ideal set up, can you post a pic of it?

AND!...Have you posted a pic of your MD yet BP.....I'm impatiently waiting to see!!!!!

i only have a few pics of the spider on me with the set up kind of visible so I'll drag them up again. And I made a thread in australian snakes called pic of the MD. only one average pic but I need more. He pooped today! Lol

 

[JrFear]

Asian house gecko?
then feed as many as u want!

 

[Bananapeel]

First three pics are of 2 different black house spiders. Absolute killer feeders.
Last 5 of one redback. Quite shy but very friendly when im around her. you can kind of see what i've done. in both the enclosures, 2 bits of timber have been cut and screwed on adjoining sides in the enclosure.

In the redbacks enclosure I have drilled out some holes on either end and posted sticks through for her to build a web with. there are diagonal sticks in both enclosures and random other junk.

 

[nintendont]

. Quite shy but very friendly when im around her.

So you cant have a conversation but you can pat it without getting bitten?

 

[Bananapeel]

Yeah pretty much ^^^ no der. Well she runs as soon as she here's a noise but when she sees me opening the lid she comes running to the top of her web. Probably just wanting food or to kill me but I like to pretend she loves me! Haha. She hasn't bitten me yet... well out of the few times she has managed to get onto my hand while I'm fiddling with something and the lids off.

 

[scorps]

Feed as many Asian house geckos as you like, there just as protected as cane toads, introduced pests to Australia

 

[Sleazy.P.Martini]

^^^ +1. I also don't know where people get the idea red backs don't eat geckos. In fact we were recently shown the even eat anteresia lol

 

[longqi]

In Brisbane how many native geckos exist??
Could wrong identification lead to native geckos being used by mistake??

IMO better to avoid feeding geckos

 

[Bananapeel]

We don't get Asian house geckos in vic as far as I'm aware so they can't be fed.
Even if I lived in Brisbane I'm sure I'd find enough bugs to avoid feeding geckos.
I dont think there are that many native geckos that could be mistaken for a house gecko? Correct me if I'm wrong. They are quite identifiable and make really annoying noises. Plus if there were some easily mistaken ones I'm sure after catching them, they could be told apart and released unless you don't know much about reptiles then it could be hard.