Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a small spider (bout half a centimeter, legs kinda spread, abdomen is much smaller) in the front top corner of my vivarium. The spider doesn't have a large web, more of cuz a collaboration of random strands (taking up about an inch and a half of each side of the corner, its pretty small) that seem to be catching escapee fruitflies pretty well. I haven't seen it move anywhere else in the cage, and I'm pretty sure my frogs could down it pretty easy, they can take pinheads so...should I be worried about anything? Should I take it out? My gut feelings are that he won't move, is harmless, and is catching all the flies that escape and go right into the wine bottles, but just want to get a second opinion.
-Sean

I'm in the same quandary with an identical situation to yours in one of my pumilio tanks. While I've read warnings from people about spider bites on frogs, I've never come across anectdotal or documented evidence of this actually occurring. I suppose that the most practical advice is "better safe than sorry." In my case, after getting a closer look at my invader, it appears to be a very small black widow, or close relative, so I'm going to remove it. I like spiders, and although most all species are venemous to one extent or another, I prefer that black widows remain in the crawl space where I'm not about to go to annoy them.

I've introduced spiderlings along with field plankton, but on only one other occasion did a spider survive for any length of time. This was a delightful little white crab spider species that stitched some leaves into a tent, turned green to match them, and lived quite a while on stray fruit flies in my paludarium. Since it just stayed in one place and didn't wander around, I simply enjoyed it. One day, it was simply gone, so I assume one of the galacs found it.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

Yeah, he may have crawled out, but if I see him I'll remove him. Thanks for the advice. On the topic of introducing: I've introduced springtails that pretty much exploded into a large population, then my frogs sent them back to just a subterraineal life. They're there, but aren't as abundant as before. Anny suggestions of insects to introduce? Sow bugs I've heard worked well. Anything else my frogs may feed on and will keep a strong population?
-Sean