Spiders belong to the order of arthropods that are voracious. They do not pose a danger to people and pets, do not cause harm, and do not cause problems. On the contrary, these creatures are of great use in the apartment; they catch midges, mosquitoes, flies, bedbugs, and cockroaches.
They are predators by nature, so insects form the basis of their diet. An exception is the horse that lives in the countries of Central America; it prefers to eat the green part of the acacia. But it is still worthwhile to carefully familiarize yourself with the feeding habits of these creatures.
What do spiders eat in the apartment?
Many people like to breed various exotic creatures in their apartments, which include house spiders. They belong to the species Tegenaria Domestica.
And in order for them to feel comfortable and develop normally, it is important to first consider the main features of the content.
When studying what domestic spiders eat in an apartment, it is worth noting that their diet is practically no different from the menu of their wild relatives. The owners often feed them with insects, scale insects, snails, caterpillars, small vertebrates, reptiles, and amphibians. But large animals are fed with small rodents.
House spiders that enter through windows, doors, and cracks eat the following insects:
- cockroaches;
- mole;
- moth caterpillars;
- midges;
- mosquitoes;
- fruit flies;
- butterflies;
- os;
- bees
Often many arachnids are found in apartments with complete unsanitary conditions and the presence of many pests. Small spiders eat all living creatures that may live in the apartment.
Nutrition depends on the size of the insect. For example, small predators are able to eat fruit flies, caterpillars, and mosquitoes.
Medium-sized inhabitants can only feed on insects - they catch flies, bees, and wasps. If a large victim gets caught in the web, the spider unravels it and releases it. He does the same with bedbugs, because they emit an unpleasant odor.
Basic diet of indoor arthropods
Most of the existing species of spiders are predators. The diet of arthropods consists of 90% protein foods of animal origin. The victim is usually a smaller insect. Tropical spiders, growing an order of magnitude larger than specimens living in the middle zone, are capable of dealing with rodents, reptiles, and amphibians.
The remaining 10% of the diet is a vegetable “snack”. In apartment conditions, the predator is not able to find this source of food, so it feeds exclusively on beetles that have fallen into the web.
What does a medium-sized spider in the wild :
- flies and small drosophila midges;
- wasps, hornets, bees;
- beetles, including larvae, caterpillars;
- butterflies;
- locusts, grasshoppers;
- crickets;
- snails
If the spider’s habitat is water, crustaceans and fish fry will become victims.
One of the giant representatives of the family, the tarantula, is not averse to feasting on birds (hence the name of the species). But the animal is difficult to catch and digest, so the spider’s main menu is insects, including relatives.
Who eats spiders?
Spiders don't eat bedbugs. The reason is the release of a caustic enzyme by the victim, upon sensing which the weaver unravels and releases the “fragrant” beetle.
Without food, the spider survives for 1 month. This time interval is enough for the midge to inadvertently fall into the nets placed by the predator. To fully exist, the arthropod weaver must eat at least once every 7-10 days. Given favorable living conditions, spiders live on average 2 years.
What spiders eat cockroaches?
Human dwellings are inhabited by individuals identical to wild specimens. They enter the house through open windows, doors, and crawl into wall cracks. Here the spiders become food:
- cockroaches;
- moth larvae and butterflies;
- mosquitoes;
- flies;
- weevils;
- centipedes.
Bed bugs are also on the spider menu. However, the arthropod weaver is not able to rid the room of pests. The reason is that the insect places its nets in secluded corners that humans never approach. Blood-sucking bugs, on the contrary, prefer to live as close as possible to the warm-blooded inhabitants of the home.
If by chance a bee, wasp or butterfly gets caught in the web, the weaver will deal with the careless flyer. A large number of spiders in an apartment is a sign of unsanitary conditions. Without stable food sources, several individuals cannot coexist in one room.
Despite the presence of poisonous jaws, domestic spiders (with the exception of exotic individuals) do not attack large insects caught in placed webs. The victim escapes from the trap on its own or is freed by the predator.
Nutrition method
Many people are interested in how spiders eat insects, small vertebrates and other creatures, or rather, how they catch the prey and what they then do with it. Arachnids are known to weave webs from spider webs, which they use for fishing. The predator itself sits on the central area of the net and waits until it catches an insect. But he determines its presence by the vibration or vibration of the web.
Some species of predators do not spin webs; they explore the surrounding area, wait, and then attack. Others may weave not nets, but funnels near a hole or shelter.
The behavior of predators may differ - some can envelop the prey in a web and wait until it stops moving, others attack it immediately. But initially, a toxic substance is injected into the trapped insect.
Spider nutrition has some features:
- they lack complete digestive organs. The food is digested from the outside, after which the insect absorbs the liquid mass through the mouth.
- Carnivores have no teeth in the oral cavity. They grind food using chelicerae, pedipalps similar to tentacles.
- Some spiders can only suck up liquid food, others crush the shell and bite through the skin.
- Digestion of amphibians and rodents takes longer. The predator eats a mouse, frog, or snake gradually, it turns the victim over, constantly injecting a new portion of saliva.
What not to feed spiders
We have found out what spiders eat, but now it’s worth considering what food they should not give. Despite the fact that predators are omnivores, there is information that they can eat even small birds, but it is still worth taking a responsible approach to their diet.
It is not advisable to feed amphibians and rodents. Of course, they can consume these creatures, but health problems may arise afterwards. For example, after eating a small mouse or frog, your pet may experience indigestion and may eventually die.
Do not include domestic cockroaches in your spider's diet. These insects are nutritious and useful for predators, but there is still a chance that they are poisoned, and after the spider eats an insect with poison, it will quickly die or be sick for a long time. For this reason, you should not let your pet go hunting for this animal.
It is not recommended to use for feeding bugs that were caught on the street. The fact is that they can also be poisoned. Often, street dwellers carry dangerous diseases that can also affect spiders. If you are worried about your pet and do not want to lose it, you should not feed it this food.
If food supplies are depleted, and it is not possible to go to a pet store, then your pet can be fed with street insects. But they should be collected away from roads, preferably outside the city. Before feeding the creatures, you should carefully inspect and rinse.
You should not freeze them for future use, because some insects do not die when frozen, and the spider may not want to eat a stale product.
As for frogs, newborn mice, this food is difficult for spiders. They can use it for several days. During this time, it will have time to decompose in a warm terrarium and become filled with corpse poisons. Still, if you want to see how a predator will deal with an animal, you should make sure that it is healthy, and its size should not be larger than a spider.
It is not recommended to give your pets other predatory insects - scolopendras, mantises, and other spiders. They can attack your pet, and in the end it will not be clear who will act as food - the victim or the spider.
What do spiders eat at home?
Not bred, but true house spiders (Tegenaria Domestica) eat house flies, fruit flies (drosophila), mealybugs and larvae. Spiders specially bred in captivity adhere to the same rules as in the wild - to be interested in commensurate food items.
The right diet
The feeding insect should ideally fit into the range of 1/4 to 1/3 the size of the spider itself. Larger prey can complicate digestion and even frighten the spider . In addition, a large insect (fed during the pet's molting) injures its unhardened integument.
Growing spiders (1-3 days old) are given:
- fruit flies;
- young crickets;
- mealworms (newborns).
The diet of adult spiders (depending on the species) includes:
- exotic cockroaches;
- grasshoppers;
- crickets;
- small vertebrates (frogs and newborn mice).
Small insects are given at once in “bundles”, 2-3 pieces each. The easiest way to feed arthropod pets is cockroaches: at least they are not known to engage in cannibalism, like crickets. One spider needs 2-3 cockroaches for a week.
Important! It is not recommended to use domestic cockroaches as food - they are often poisoned by insecticides. Insects from the street are also not a very good option (parasites are often found in them).
If you run out of food insects and have to catch “wild” ones, be sure to rinse them with cold water . Some craftsmen freeze caught insects, but not every spider will eat a thawed product that has lost its taste. And parasites do not always die when frozen.
Another word of caution is to avoid feeding your pets carnivorous arthropods such as scolopendra, other spiders, and insects like praying mantises. In this case, “lunch” will be an easy snack for those who are planning to satisfy their hunger.
Purchase (procurement) of feed
Provisions for spiders are purchased from pet stores, poultry markets, or from people specially engaged in breeding live food. If you want to save money, grow food insects yourself, especially since it is not difficult.
You will need a glass jar (3 liters), at the bottom of which you will place fragments of egg packaging, bark, newspaper scraps and cardboard: a colony of marbled cockroaches will live here. To prevent residents from escaping, apply Vaseline to the neck, or better yet, cover it with gauze (pressed with a rubber band).
Drop a few individuals in there and feed them table scraps: cockroaches grow quickly and reproduce their own kind.
How often should you feed a spider?
Due to the fact that the spider feeds slowly, its meal can last for several days; it is not fed often. Adults kept at home must be fed once every 7-10 days, young animals – 2 times a week. Before breeding, the frequency of feeding is increased.
Sometimes there are individuals that are unable to tame their appetite. This is a dangerous phenomenon that can lead not to obesity, but to rupture of the abdomen, which causes inevitable death.
The degree of satiety of the pet should be determined by the owner. If his belly is 2-3 times enlarged, then he needs to be driven away from the prey. It would be better to remove her remains from the terrarium.
Eating at home
Despite the obvious name, birds appear on the spider menu randomly. Since tarantulas are predators by nature, their diet should consist of live food.
While at home, young spiders eat various insects (flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, locusts, crickets, etc.).
An adult tarantula should be offered:
- frogs.
- small mice.
- chicks.
- caterpillars, mealworms.
- fish.
- little snakes.
Important: the size of the food should be 2-3 times smaller than the pet . Since tarantulas are more active at night, they should be fed after dark.
What else can you feed tarantulas, and what should not be offered to the spider, a specialized store will tell you.
Since tarantulas are overly passive, after feeding they are able to remain motionless for a long time. It is not recommended to overfeed the spider due to its low activity, otherwise health problems cannot be avoided.
The optimal frequency of meals for an adult tarantula is 2 times a week. Young animals need food more often - every 2-3 days. It is important to take into account the types of spider.
The pet's position "lying on its back" and the absence of any activity indicate the beginning of molting.
Since restoration of the tarantula’s internal organs occurs during this period, it is advisable to temporarily postpone feeding it with live food to avoid possible damage. It is recommended to offer food to the spider 5-6 days after the complete shedding of the external skeleton.
Portion sizes for feeding spiders
When feeding spiders, you need to consider the serving size. It should not exceed 1/3 of the predator’s body volume. The insect that is used for food should be 1.5-2 times less than the length of the spider's body.
A large dinner can be very frightening for a young individual, she will experience fear and stress. And she is unlikely to be able to handle a large portion. But still, some owners do not pay attention to this; they give their pets an insect that may be larger than them.
If the spider is hungry and in an aggressive mood, then it will quickly deal with the victim. But in a well-fed predator, such a volume of food will cause great fear.
How much does a tarantula spider cost?
These exotic animals are not that cheap, as some of the species cost a lot of money. You can purchase a tarantula spider in various ways: via the Internet or through an advertisement, or by going to a pet store. Depending on the type, you will have to pay from 100 to 10 thousand rubles. Moreover, females are always more expensive.
When choosing a pet for yourself, you should pay attention to a number of factors, including age. It is better not to buy too large individuals, as they may be old. Secondly, you should pay attention to the shell. If they are damaged or have wrinkles or cracks, it is better not to take such individuals, as they may turn out to be sick. It is not recommended to buy spiders before or immediately after molting, since it is not possible to determine how active the animal is.
