We randomly divided the remaining 40 or so spiders per species equally into two groups and fed them either one of two solutions over 10 days: a protein solution (P) or protein deprived solution (N). The protein solution used to experimentally increase protein intake was identical to that used by Blamires et al. , i.e. a mixture of 10g of a 10% albumin solution with 6g of sucrose in 60ml of water. The protein deprived solution was 8g of sucrose in 30 ml of water. We fed the spiders by placing a measured droplet of solution onto their chelicerae using a 20 μl micropipette (see ). As protein and carbohydrates contain approximately similar energy densities (~4kJ g-1), solutions of similar energy concentrations were fed to all spiders. After completing the feeding experiment we re-weighed all of the spiders and any that lost > 20% of their mass during the experiment (i.e. one A. keyserlingi, two L. hasselti and P. graeffei, and five N. plumipes) were not used for any of the subsequent experiments.