Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I noticed a small 1/4" spider in one of my roach bins (lobster roach). Anyways, its small and fast and I tried killing it a couple times last night and couldnt catch it. ARGH!

Anyways, that same bin had a female who had an egg sac protruding the other night and last night I looked for babies and there were none! I know for a fact that this would be the females first brood (I think that is what you call it) so there should be at least 20 babies, but none! Could that icky spider have eaten them??? What can I do? The bin is very large and I have 2 inches of pine shaving substrate on the floor along with egg crates glued together. So finding the spider would be almost impossible. Unless he/she comes on top of the egg flats like last night. Both times I missed it though, trying to squish it.

I have occasional grain larvae and beetles in with the roaches but they live together fine. They feed on the same things etc. However this spider I am sure doesnt eat chicken mash and kitten/puppy food ground up!

Anyone have ideas on how I can get the spider out of the bin? SHould I not even worry about it? Do you think it ate the babies that are missing? PESKY SPIDERS!

I think I killed the spider. I saw it crawling on the shavings so I quickly scooped up the small amount of shavings around and under the spider and dumped them on the floor. As soon as the spider emerged I squished it. Sorry I am NOT a spider person at all.

The spider was tiny, probably a baby I am guessing. Problem with that is, what if MOM and other babies are in the bin? Wouldnt I notice them??? What are the chances of that happening? How can I find out without making it a HARD chore? Should I just leave things be?

I am afraid they will feast on all the babies and hinder the production in that bin. Assuming there are any left. Someone has to have experience with this?

Actually, you wouldn't have 20.. but more like 200.. maybe more so yeah you'd notice them. Its possible either the one spider you found at all the other babies in the sac.. its been known to happen.. its also been known to happen for the female to cannabilize entire groups of hatchlings.. Or.. your roaches got ahold of them and liked them. Roaches will eat a lot of different things.. including other insects... small spiders would be no match.
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Lucien

1.0 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)
2.1 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzard and 1 het Blizzard)
0.1 Savannah Monitor
13 rats
12 Gerbils
2 Dogs
3 cats
1 Albino Corey (fish)

ok, two things.

one, if you stomped the crap out of the spider, how do you "think" you killed it. in my expiriences, stomping the crap out of something generally does the job, especially with bugs.(and no, i'm not attacking you, just stating what i saw)

2: if you're sooooo worried about more spiders, take the roaches out and clean the enclosure. wash it out, put new bedding etc.
problem solved.

Lobster roach babies tend to hide very well. I would suggest that if you want to find them, you can spray the substrate lightly with water, then place an opaque plastic lid or egg crating or cardboard on top of your pine substrate. They usually congregate in very dark, moist & closed-in conditions. I sort of doubt that the spider ate them, as they tend to be very fast & agile substrate burrowers.