Dark Fishing Spider - Tumblr Posts

I've seen people say fishing spiders really don't live long but ive had my fishing spider, Pebble, for nearly a year and she's still not even mature.

Here are some photos from this morning

I am almost 100% certain she is an immature dark fishing spider (dolomedes tenebrosus) which get very large so she still has a lot of growing to do.

My late dark fishing spider, River, was super large (she is actually my profile picture)

Sometime in the next few months I am going to build a large enclosure for Pebble to continue to grow in.

When I originally brought her home she was much smaller and has moved enclosures several times

(this is how I learned top opening enclosures simply do not work for me when it comes to arboreal spiders)

Originally I was going to put her into one of my spare 6.5 gallons (which are kind of ugly since they are old and scratched up) but I thought it would be good to build an enclosure that is suited more for arboreal spiders that may sit near the top of the enclosure so that is why I decided I would rather build her one over the next few months

I am excited to see Pebble continue to grow and move into her new enclosure once I build it

Usually I avoid handling my spiders, especially the fast ones, because I am worried that they will run off and I won't be able to get them back

Sometimes though, my spiders have other plans

I was checking on Pebble and lifted up the branch she had been sitting on to try to take some photos (I did get decent photos)

And she just walked onto my hand

She say there for a solid minute or so before going back in her enclosure

Terrible photos but I saw Pebble catch her prey for the first time today

She always catches it when I'm not looking

Pebble when I got her a year ago

Vs

Pebble now

It's hard to tell in these photos but she has grown a lot

She is my favorite spider I have atm