Mantisplace.com - Spiderlings care sheet

Spider care information

General all around care sheet with tips and tricks.
Captive Bred Jumping Spiders are found all over the world!

So many customers want to know so much about their
new pets that we thought it would be beneficial to post a Tips & Tricks page to help them. This
is good for newbie's and oldies alike, if you have a tip or trick that works for you be sure to tell
us about it. If it sounds useful, you may see it here. A word about jumping spiders that may help you put
their needs into perspective are Common Sense. When you are wondering about the care and
surrounding of what your mantis may need, always remember to think about the conditions our
Great Maker placed them in. A good ideal is to find out where the species originated from.
When you find out the country they live in, then you can easily find out the weather conditions
they thrive in. Mostly they survive in the same conditions we do, we need water and food, they
also need water and food. We need night and day and they need night and day. We need a safe
shelter and they do to. So when you are considering what you will set up for them, just think about
their life outdoors and what conditions present themselves therein. If you do this whatever you
decide will be right. There is no one perfect housing condition. One will work just as well as another.
If you find that what you have is not just right, do not be afraid to change it. As long as you follow
the requirements I have outlined for you, you will do great !

Clutch Care
The baby spiders ( slings) are usually taken care of by the mother Some species lay any where from 10 to 50 eggs.
Spiderlings( Slings ) are what the young spiders are called.

Eggs
Spray or mist the container with warm water every few days, but do not spray on the egg sac area.

It is important for the eggs to have moisture just like they would outside. The Ooth will also need air,

do not put it in a container that is not ventilated. This will cause mold to develop and will destroy the eggs inside.
Mantis Place has cloth covered lids that are ideal for egg incubating. They let in air, while
keeping baby nymphs inside and their feeder food too. Keep the container in a warm spot, on top of
the TV, refrigerator or even near the back of your computer, just remember the warmer a container is kept the more

times you will need to mist it. The eggs does not need any extra light. Whatever light is in the room is fine.
In approximately 2 to 4 weeks most eggs will hatch. Some exotic species take longer.
Sometimes people worry when an egg sac does not hatch when they expect it to. They may be afraid
that it is not fertile. A lot of them will slice open the sac to see if the eggs are inside it. Sure
enough they are. A note of caution here, This is not a good practice, the only reason to open
a sac is to see if it has already been hatched. If it has hatched already there will be no eggs
inside, and this should only be done when the time for hatching of the species has elapsed.
A female spider will produce eggs and
egg sacs whether fertilized or not. This is her purpose and this she will do with or with
out a mate. Most egg sac silk are easily to see thru & see the eggs. As the eggs age

you should be able to see them change color.

Nymph Care, Feeding, Housing
After 12 hours mist the nymphs with warm water. I like to use Distilled water for my mantis,
as most tap water has chlorine and fluoride added to it. The chlorine will dry them out and
they do not have teeth, so they do not need the fluoride. It is a good idea to mist them every
12 hours during their first 2 weeks of life, there after once a day for most species. Be sure
to find out the conditions the species you decide to raise need. You can just type their origin
into google or some other search engine to check on that areas climate. Duplicating their
climate will ensure a better environment for your pets. Some need more heat than others
and some need more water than others, please remember that all living creatures need water
at some time or other. If you are unsure, just spray the enclosure near the mantis and if it
is thirsty it will drink. Some people use sphagnum moss for extra moisture in their enclosures
and some people use our humidity foam.

Feeding

After about two weeks you will need to offer them some fruit flies, the Melanogaster fruit fly is
sufficient for most nymphs. But depending on the species you many need springtails. They will be hungry and eager

to eat at this time. Do not wait
for them to hatch to order your flies, as you need to have a culture producing to feed your
new arrivals. After their first molt (where they shed their exoskeleton) they may be big
enough to eat the larger fruit fly, the Hydei, from there they will move on to house flies
and small crickets, then to larger flies called Blue Bottle and larger crickets, moths and worms.

Housing

After a week or two depending on the species you have chosen, you may have anywhere from
10 to a hundred slings. If your spider is a species native to where you live, once it is established
and has started to eat, you may release it outside if the weather is consistent with the spides
natural environment. If you plan to keep it you will need to provide a container suitable for the
spider to live in. If you have a non native species you may not release it into the environment,
they must be kept inside as pets. Some people leave them together until they are reduced to
a manageable size, since they will eat each other. Unless you want this to happen you will have
to separate them by the time they are into their 3rd or 4th molt. Make sure the containers
you choose are the proper size for the species of spider you have selected. The proper size is
three times their height and at least twice their height for the width. Remember most
spiders are not communal species and need to be seperated, and all will eat each other
if given the chance, so it is a decision you must make when deciding on how many to keep in
one container.

Containers
The container you choose is important to the spiders survival, I try to simulate the natural environment
it lives in. Depending on their color and environmental conditions, their container will be decorated
mostly to match it's natural environment. This
is all done with plastic flowers and leaves. I also like to put a branch or some tall stems for the
flowers for the spiders to move around on. They spend a great deal of time upside down, and molting almost
always is done hanging. So it is very important to have something for them to cling to while they are
molting. The container will also need some screening for air exchange. The screening should be suitable
to keep the feeder food inside. Depending on the spiders food size requirements, some screening may
need to be very tight weaved, while other screening can be loosely weaved.
Speaking of feeder food, if feeding crickets to your mantis make sure that they eat the crickets
, crickets can and will eat the spider if you are not careful. If you have other insects do not be
afraid to offer it to the spiders. They eat a variety of insects and supplementing their diet is
entertainment for you and good for them. They like moths, bees, yellow jackets, grasshoppers,
katydids, dragonflies & damselflies plus many other insects. One note, some insects like the crickets
eat other insects and this could be a danger to the mantis, such as the dragonfly and damselfly.
So check on insects you plan to feed your mantis if you are unfamiliar with what they eat. Also
Mantis Place offers a honey/pollen powder to coat your feeder food in for optional nutrition, and
food for your crickets and flies.

General nymph care Instructions:
Each day the nymph will need water and food (depending on species) desert species
do not require much water.
Try to figure out the size of food, by the size of spider. 1to 3rd instar nymphs need fruit flies

& some bigger species need house flies at 2nd instar. Look at it this way, go by the size of the spider
claws. Use a feeder it can hold easily in its claws. Give it one or two of the feeders each day. If it
appears still hungry maybe increase the food or go for bigger food.
The spider will molt 6 to 10 times during its lifetime. This is a critical time for the spider. It will
not want food. Some will stop eating a few days before molting. You can water it during this time by
misting in front of it, but take away any food it strikes at and misses or does not eat in 20 minutes.
Make sure the container they are in is a nice size as they are growing some only grow for the space allowed

and do not reach their full potential if in to small an area.

After it molts give it a good
day to dry its skin. Do not bother it during it's pre and post molt time.