Tearose & Thyme

american house spider
parasteatoda sp (tepidariorum or tabulata)
2 individuals housed together, male and female
Thyme was 4.5mm in body length. I did not record a size for Tearose.
outdoors, USA (both)

They were housed seperately for most of their lives. Thyme molted early in the season and had stopped eating by the end of the season, at the end of his natural lifespan. Having read that these species tend to cohabitate, I put him in with a female. This may have extended his life by a few months; he did not hunt for himself and barely took water, but he would eat the female’s kills when she was done with them and drank enthusiastically. I never saw them approach each other or pair; they mostly seemed to ignore each other. He died of apparent natural causes some months later.