Spider Food

Cellar spiders wrap up their eggs in a silk sac, and then carry the eggs with them in their mouths. They carry them to protect the eggs and to make sure they can be mobile with them in case of a quick get a way that they must do. What people don't realize is that the spiders never let the egg sac leave their mouths, which means they do not eat anything for about 2-3 weeks. So when the eggs hatch and the mom can let go of the empty egg sac, you can imagine that she must be pretty hungry!
One of the easiest things to feed the spiders that I catch are small house flies. I'm sure you've seen them before, either flying in circles on a porch or in the middle of a room. Because these flies fly in circular or square patterns, it is really easy to catch them. I hit them out of the air with my hand which paralyzes them for a few min, then pick them up by a wing and throw it in with my spider.
I put in one of the flies I caught today and within a minute the mama spider had detected the fly and had wound it up with her silk, eager to have the first meal since her 2-3 week fast. The newly born baby spiders watched with excitedness as their mom attacked the victim and happily ate it.
I put in a second fly a few hours later and the same thing happened with the mom eating it and the children watching. In a few days the little spiders themselves will be trying out different catching and trapping techniques learned from their mom. Hopefully I can catch enough food for all of these spiders! 39 mouths is quite a lot to feed!