Keep the soil moist during dormancy, no water tray needed during dormancy. Spiders shouldn't be a problem I wouldn't think.

Slightly moist and preferably by a window if possible. Where in PA? We used to live in the Reading area.

I've never heard of spiders bothering any kind of plant. The only beef I have with them is that they spin their webs all over my plants to steal bugs that should be going into the traps. It also makes the plants look less attractive, in my opinion. But I never deliberately kill any spider -- I just wash away the webs to encourage them to move elsewhere.

It's nice to read someone else leaves spiders alone. I would rather have spiders than a host of other multi-legged kind.

Spiders give me the "Willies". Just saying!