Musical Spiders

[buggirl]

I need some help working out specifics of my project. I wanted to do a project on the the effects of music on spiders and their webs. I'm assuming that I need orb weaving spiders of the same species. Where do I get them? What is the best thing to put them in? What I wanted to do was to have 4 sets of spiders. All sets of spiders would be exposed to music except for 1 and that would be my control. The other 3 sets would be exposed to music non stop to a certain amount of days. The music would vary for each set based on ryhthm. How do I determine the difference of the web in the 4 sets? What would be the best way to do that?

[tdaly]

buggirl,

It looks like you have several questions. I will answer them one at a time.

1. Where to get spiders
The best place to get spiders is from a scientific supply company. Your teacher should have some catalogues you can look through. If not, you can find most of the catalogues on-line. Try http://www.wardsci.com. In the search window type "spiders." If they do not have the right kind of spiders, there are other companies to try. If you want, I can give you their names. Just a note: spiders are REALLY hard to keep alive long enough to do a science project on. The require lots of care. Probably ordere twice as many spiders as you think you want, because many of them will die.

2. Difference in the web
I would suggest observing the shape and design of the webs and the strength of the web. Also consider the color and size of the web. If you want to talk to a proffesional "buy-studier" (otherwise known as an entymologist) e-mail the WhizKids Foundation at. They are really good at finding researchers who are intersted in answering questions about students science fair projects!

If you have any more questions, just ask!

Good Luck!

[buggirl]

Thanks for the response. I sent an email to the email address you suggested. Hopefully I will get more answers.

What would you recommend that I put the spiders in? What species would you recommend? How often do I feed them? How long should I expose them to music? So many questions.....

Thanks!

[tdaly]

buggirl,

I do not know the answers to those questions. Check around on the internet. You will likely get more information when the entymologist contacts you. Also, you might try calling one of the scientific supply companies.