Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
What is the eating habits for Brown Recluse? I got a small one but it runs away from a slightly larger cricket that I fed. In fact, the cricket seems to be chasing the brown recluse (no, its not attacking it). Despite the cricket's attempt in chasing, the brown recluse did not attack or bite the cricket. Its a very shy, cowardice spider. I got a black widow which has no problem eating a cricket 1.5 times larger. The black widow is not afraid too, just spun web to freeze the cricket and enjoy its feast. There seems to be so many info for Black Widows care sheet and other info, but lacking for the brown recluse. Let me know the eating habits/diet for brown recluse. I thank you in advance.
Thanks,
Legend4

I don't keep recluse or widow spiders but this seems pretty simple. Take a look at the physiology of the two spiders. The flat body shape and thicker legs indicate that it's more terrestrial than a widow. The widow spins those tangled crazy webs and have an overall non bulky body. They have the ability to manuver around the cricket in their web and wrap the sucker up while like you said, the recluse runs. Since it's running, I'm assuming that it doesn't have a silken retreat or web of any sort. I don't recall what recluse webs look like (shame) and I don't live in an area where they're common so I'm not too familiar. Maybe just go with the tarantula feeding rule of thumb. I actually just tossed a large cricket into a small widows web in my backyard and saw an interesting chase ensue (the widow won). I'm pretty tired....amazing what you can draw from an animal just by looking at it...I love doing that...anyways good luck with your spiders

Cool thanks

anytime