Newer photo of Anansi! Finally!

I took photos on the 2nd of this month. Here she is with a crumb of dirt on her back. It remained there until she lunged at a cricket. She is 2 inches long now (leg span measurement). I haven't yet held her since her last molt.

Brachypelma smithi spiderling

Spider Identification Help... Common Topic

I have a couple of new spiders in my collection. One of them survived. Here are two photos of it...

unidentified white spider

unidentified white spider
sorry this shot is SO yellow!

It is TINY... the leg-span width (not length) is about as wide as my thumbnail is long... if that helps at all.

So... any idea what it is? I gave it a small cricket... hoping it could manage. It did, the cricket was drained dry by morning! It's a pretty lil thing.

I caught it in our garden in front of the house. (Gosh, do you think it could be a GARDEN spider??) I couldn't find it in my Field Guide.

Here is the other spider...

the other spider

I can't be confident I've identified it from the field guide or online searches. This one was caught in a web at the top of the inside of a porta-john. My Husband caught it for me, ain't he sweet?! And so I named it Johnny. heh

This one liked to play dead a lot. I'd think it was dead, but when I'd pick up the container, it would start moving around again. It liked to get into this odd position where it would hang with all it's legs forward (or up). Very strange. Any ideas as to the species?

Thanks all!

Substrate & Hide Update

Thanks for all the great advice everyone! I went ahead and used the paper towel roll, but she has pretty much avoided it altogether. I'm considering scattering some new dirt over it before giving up and removing it, though. Today she did touch the TOP of it with one pedipalp while holding her lunch. That's as close to it as I've seen her get. In fact, she's been spending a lot of time on the walls of her new home since I added the hide.

I haven't yet added any of the organic soil I got. Now my paranoia involves the high moisture content in the baggie... and how to get rid of it without just leaving the dirt out in the open (for other bugs or ants).

Food & Water

I fed Anansi another large cricket today, while my best friend was here. Shortly after she snatched the cricket, I dropped some water (I often use a medicine dropper for this) onto her dirt, close to a corner. It puddled up a bit at first, as usual. After holding on to the cricket for a while, she usually lays a very thin web before eating. This time, she let go long enough to take a slow drink, I guess. She left the cricket under her abdomen. It was a little weird, but I guess she was thirsty.

Anyway, there you have it. Update posted.

More with the Eating

I took Anansi (and a cricket) over to a friend's house with me this evening. So... she ate another large cricket. At this rate... I don't think it will be long before another molt. I had decided not to force feed her... not to make her grow too fast. I just have a lot of crickets right now. Or something.