Velvet Spiders (Eresus)
These care guides are just that, guides, based on my experience with the species. Please be mindful of you local climate and house environment and adjust the care accordingly. Some individuals among a species may also vary in their care needs.
*please note my care may vary from others.
- Light: Velvet spiders are nocturnal as the areas they come from can be too hot during the day for them.
- Water: Mist the side or top of the enclosure 1x/week, fine mist is best for babies as there is no risk of the water drops being too big. Try to aim it away from the spider and their main web home. They are quite hardy to drought.
- Food: feed 1x/week. Must be live prey. They can be timid and wait for prey to approach their web home. *instar=size of jumper or how many molts.
- 1st-3rd instar eat Melanogaster flightless fruit flies (smaller variety)
- 3rd-5th instar eat Hydei flightless fruit flies (larger variety)
- 5th -adult eat crickets/meal worms/blue bottle flies
- 1st-3rd instar eat Melanogaster flightless fruit flies (smaller variety)
- Temperature: room temperature is perfect (20c). They are actually quite heat/cold tolerant. Make sure your lights do not heat the enclosure too much.
- Housing: I keep them in a 2oz sauce cup with pinholes punctured into it until 4th-5th instar. Then I move them to a 32oz deli cup with a filter (fruitfly) lid. Once adults they can go into a 8x8x8. They make a web home, a chaotic web like structure, usually with a tunnel. They will stay hidden during the day and wander out at night.
- Enrichment: light, and housing materials can add to your spider’s enrichment. I use wood, sphagnum moss, fake foliage, cork, and a bit of substrate to decorate enclosures.
- Handling: They do tolerate handling. They can still be fast and can still bite if they feel threatened.
