Black Widow

[Ecstasy]

I was messing around in my storage closet today and I found a black widow with two egg sacs. I'm trying to find out if anybody is interested in the black widow because if not I'm going to move it far away, but I figure if somebody is looking for black widows then I'll happily work something out with the person.

 

[Amoeba]

Why are you going to move it?

 

[Ecstasy]

Because it's right by my storage closet and right where I walk because the door opens from that corner and I park my 4-wheeler right there as well and if the spider ends up on my 4-wheeler I'm going to kill it then because I don't want to get bit while I'm out riding in the woods. So I'm going to move it or get rid of it. Then the last thing I need on top of all that are babies.

 

[catfishrod69]

I wouldnt be too worried about the lone female. Its the 400-500 babies going to pop out of those sacs i wouldnt want on my 4 wheeler. But what you should do is get a large deli cup, pokes some air holes in the top, add a little substrate, and something to climb on, and toss that female in. They are very easy to care for, and awesome spiders to keep. If it were me, i would keep the girl, and relocate the sacs.

 

[Ecstasy]

I wouldnt be too worried about the lone female. Its the 400-500 babies going to pop out of those sacs i wouldnt want on my 4 wheeler. But what you should do is get a large deli cup, pokes some air holes in the top, add a little substrate, and something to climb on, and toss that female in. They are very easy to care for, and awesome spiders to keep. If it were me, i would keep the girl, and relocate the sacs.

I guess I could do that, but I'm not particularly too fond of spiders(go ahead and laugh). Until I started keeping scorpions I was actually scared of spiders. So I'd really rather not keep one as a pet, though I have to admit she's quite nice looking. Are there really going to be 400-500 babies popping out of those sacs? I don't like to kill anything so I'd feel bad about relocating the sacs and them all end up dying.

 

[catfishrod69]

I see. Yeah there should be atleast 200 i would figure out of those sacs. You could always find a long abandoned barn or outhouse, and her and her sacs in it.

 

[Ecstasy]

I'll have to see if I can find something, as it stands I live in a brand new sub-division.

How good can they climb, like smooth plastic? I'm going to take a stick and wrap the web and the sacs and put them in a plastic container and go drive somewhere to release them.

 

[catfishrod69]

They cant climb smooth plastic. But they will eventually web up to the top. But since you are just relocating, there wont be a problem. Im pretty sure she is a Latrodectus mactans. I catch alot of these females in NC every year. Good luck.

 

[Widowman10]

Im pretty sure she is a Latrodectus mactans.

you would be correct. looks like she's about to pop again too!

 

[catfishrod69]

Haha gotta love those triple clutches. A buddy of mine got one, and she laid 6 sacs. He said everytime he fed her up, she would drop a sac. I also gave him one that was the biggest girl i ever seen, and she had a sac that was atleast 4 sacs combined, and then after it hatched, she laid 3 more. lol.

you would be correct. looks like she's about to pop again too!

 

[Ecstasy]

you would be correct. looks like she's about to pop again too!

You've got to be kidding me. I don't want all those little slings near my 4-wheeler or near my storage closet either. Since I'm not familiar with spiders, how long until they pop? I mean how long on average does it take. That means I have to find the male and get rid of him.

 

[catfishrod69]

Well it really depends on how long ago they were laid. Whenever i find females that already have sacs, they take anywhere from a week to 4 weeks to hatch. But the most likely thing is, you have more. Where there is one in its natural habitat range, there will be more. When i was night hunting in NC, i would find about 6 each night, and that was just checking around the sides of the house, in the exact same spot every night.

 

[Ecstasy]

I'm going to have to resort to natural things to keep them away from the house and my bike then.

I really hope they don't pop tonight while I'm at work.

 

[catfishrod69]

What sort of natural things? Best thing to do, is to keep everything around the house cleaned up, so they dont have any places to stay. But they will always find ways. Especially under porches/stairs. I wouldnt worry too much, the babies will stay in the nursery web until they start to venture off on their own, which could take a week or two.

 

[Ecstasy]

Well where she is right now is in the corner under my carport by my storage shed. I know it looks messy there but it's cause I cut the grass the other day and I was blowing with the leaf blower and some of the stuff wouldn't go and then they have little concrete chunks there.

 

[catfishrod69]

Yeah that will happen. Most likely you will never find a way to get rid of them. You could just keep relocating them, deal with them, or learn to ship and offer them on here for free with price of shipping.

 

[Widowman10]

they could take anywhere from 25-40 ish days to hatch. usually when the sac looks dark it's getting close. and a female can produce many many sacs with just one encounter with a male. i bet you anything that you've had widows around for years and just never noticed...

 

[Ecstasy]

Yeah that will happen. Most likely you will never find a way to get rid of them. You could just keep relocating them, deal with them, or learn to ship and offer them on here for free with price of shipping.

I used to sell scorpions, so I could sell the widows but I don't know how much of a market there is for them that's why I was trying to see if anybody was interested in owning any. I'm not going to try to get rich off it but if somebody else will enjoy then might as well.

they could take anywhere from 25-40 ish days to hatch. usually when the sac looks dark it's getting close. and a female can produce many many sacs with just one encounter with a male. i bet you anything that you've had widows around for years and just never noticed...

It's a brand new house, I moved in the house in October though the house was built in June of 2011.

 

[SC Tarantulas]

Are there really going to be 400-500 babies popping out of those sacs?

From what I have read those sacs can produce between 400 - 700 spiderlings each. The good thing is that they will cannibalize other sac mates and drastically reduce the numbers (not encluding any other predators. I guess thats why they have so many babies

 

[Widowman10]

for sac numbers, check this out:
http://sites.google.com/site/widowman10/widows/comparison-of-the-north-american-widow-species


ah, and you moved in recently. cool. they do like domestic places, but i still bet they were in your yard (or what area it was before it was your yard)