House Spider attacks G. Rosea

[Jeremy D. Hoge]

Thank you all for not closeing this thread. I have also made the same mistake but with no negitive outcome. I've linked this to a few other forums so others can learn from this before they make the same mistake. Again, thanks for posting and leaving it up.

[Jay Howdle]

I'm glad its left up also, I once fed a small house spider to one of my sons T's & little lad went toatlly balistic at me, screaming at me ''what do you think your doing, you flipping idiot'' then starting to cry & scoop aout the house spider. I had no idea why he should behave in this way, as many of you know he's usually a polite boy!! After his explanation I still took it as a pinch of salt but now after reading this I fully understand & no longer underestimate my 9 year olds knowledge of T's.
Anyways Peter, any news on her? Let us know hows she's getting on.
Fingers crossed,
J x

[Peter Lacey]

Anyways Peter, any news on her? Let us know hows she's getting on.
Fingers crossed,
J x

Thanks for asking.
I observed her yesterday, she's moving around enough to suggest she'll survive. Not quite herself but she has come out of her burrow. I don't want to disturb her so I decided to leave her water in the enclosure - its the opposite end to her burrow - even though I can see a few of those little mites (only at the water bowl). This morning before 8am I observed her in her burrow and I looked out for the death curl. That's not the case so I'm happy with the outcome so far. Fingers crossed as you say.
With tropical fish I found the easiest way to remedy simple issues like tank cleaning or water disturbances was to follow with some live food (Daphnia & River Shrimps), the fish soon forgot their woes with a good munch session. Unfortunately I don't think spiders work the same way.
As a sub-note the captured Stone Spider made short work of the cricket it found in its tub! The search for the species has also led me to find that a number of spiders in the UK can give a bite to humans, something I only thought the Wolf Spider capable of. Watch this space.

[Colin D Wilson]

The search for the species has also led me to find that a number of spiders in the UK can give a bite to humans, something I only thought the Wolf Spider capable of.

Ooooohh

Tegenaria gigantea
Atypus affinis
Dysdera crocata
Segestria florentina
Drassodes lapidosus
Araneus quadratus
Pholcus phalangioides

To name but a few Peter.

[Mark Pennell]

That....i would have liked to have witnessed......no video camera handy there by any chance to share Mark?

I have it on old style 35mm, I see if I can find it and scan it for you.

Cheers
M

[James Box]

Peter, definitely hoping your G rosea makes it through. hopefully she wasn't actually bitten, just scared. time will tell, i guess...though if you've seen signs of life a good long time after the "incident", i guess that's a good sign, as i'd expect death very shortly after a bite.

hope your stone spider proves an interesting pet!

[Peter Lacey]

Thanks James. My daughter has already named the Stone Spider "Dr Evil", you gotta smile.
I may keep it for a little while for observation but as these are roaming spiders I think it would be unfair to keep it in captivity too long.

Here's a good list of UK bite reports:

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/insects-spiders/spiderbites/index.html

and here's some useful links on the Stone Spider:

http://www.britishspiders.org.uk/html/bas.php?page=ukmap&taxon_key=NBNSYS0000008642

http://www.xs4all.nl/~ednieuw/Spiders/Gnaphosidae/Gnaphosidae.htm

http://greatbritishspiders.tripod.com/id70.html

http://www.pbase.com/madpiano/image/32429978

http://www.canadianarachnology.org/data/spiders/26926

[Louise~Nichols]

And here's the critter that gave me a good *chomping*! LOL (Although it still doesn't compete with the worst T bite that I've had)

[Peter Lacey]

To conclude
The G. rosea is back to form. I fed her a small cricket yesterday as she seemed to be showing signs of a full recovery and earlier in the day proved her strength had returned by pulling twigs around the enclosure as well as exploring her ground.

Apart from the lesson of not feeding spiders to tarantula I've also learned how important it is to observe food introductions. I've always had to hand an 18" pair of tweezers (they'll come in handy when I finally jump into the world of arboreals) and a 12" long 1cm sable haired brush. The brush came in very handy when seperating the spiders and ushering the Stone spider out of the Ts enclosure. The brush has been a great addition as its also used to help with cleaning and I've seen them used quite a bit for persuading T's to move when rehousing.
After the bite she spent a couple of days under her cork. We left her completely alone but could observe her through a small window in the substrate. She didn't take up the death curl but hardly moved, sometimes seemingly merely stretching her legs. Considering she's quite a busy T this was quite different to how we normally found her suggesting she was either bitten or at least traumatised by the attack. I had considered removing the water tray as there were a few mites in there but as her substrate is dry the mites were restricted to the tray which is at the opposite end of her enclosure, so I let it be.

Thanks for all those who have commented and hopefully this serves as a good resource for those who find themselves in similar circumstances.

PS: I realise the spider in question isn't a house spider, I thought this was a generic term rather than attributed to a species. So I guess the thread title is in error, maybe the admin wants to change this.

[James Box]

Peter, i'm happy to hear your rosea made it through! resilient little thing