breeding mexican widows

[Tony]

I pickup up a couple locally, and they grew FAST
I ended up with 3 girls, one boy...Tried introducing the male... Too much work, I had no time...So I left him in there leaving him to the Gods.. Hoping he would breed before she got him...
I had heard male deaths in NA widows was due to confined habitation in captivity so he had little chance.
well he is hanging out having a grand old time after 4 days in a 32 oz deli cup....
!

 

[Joogvanhedel]

Yes my male lived for one week with his female... (now 2 / 3 months later, still no cocoon :-( )

 

[pannaking22]

Most widows tend not to eat the males if they're well fed. The only species I know of that consistently eats the males is L. hasselti. I've been able to keep various North and South American males together for the female for long periods of time without them being eaten.

 

[NYAN]

Most widows tend not to eat the males if they're well fed. The only species I know of that consistently eats the males is L. hasselti. I've been able to keep various North and South American males together for the female for long periods of time without them being eaten.

I just paired my hasselti and only one male was eaten. I read that’s you’ve been able to keep some cool exotic species, which is awesome.

 

[pannaking22]

I just paired my hasselti and only one male was eaten. I read that’s you’ve been able to keep some cool exotic species, which is awesome.

Sometimes the hasselti males will survive too, but the mating behavior is usually what does them in. While mating, they swing their abdomen forward so it's basically in contact with the female's fangs, presenting themselves as a protein snack to help nourish the eggs.

Yep, I've kept several species of widow, it's one of my favorite groups. I've kept all the North American species, several Central and South American species, and a couple OW species. My favorite was probably L. curacaviensis. Need to get my hands on some L. menavodi at some point though.

 

[NYAN]

Sometimes the hasselti males will survive too, but the mating behavior is usually what does them in. While mating, they swing their abdomen forward so it's basically in contact with the female's fangs, presenting themselves as a protein snack to help nourish the eggs.

Yep, I've kept several species of widow, it's one of my favorite groups. I've kept all the North American species, several Central and South American species, and a couple OW species. My favorite was probably L. curacaviensis. Need to get my hands on some L. menavodi at some point though.

It sucks that they aren’t offered anymore really. That’s cool you were able to keep some. Curacaviensis is gorgeous.

 

[pannaking22]

It sucks that they aren’t offered anymore really. That’s cool you were able to keep some. Curacaviensis is gorgeous.

Yeah it seemed like there was a brief heyday of widows a couple years ago but then they've almost all disappeared. You can still get hasselti and all the common North American species (bishopi being the rare one), but most others are getting hard to find. I haven't seen any cura offered for quite some time now.

I think part of the captivity issue is that widows seem to genetically bottleneck more quickly than a lot of other spiders, so you run into more dud egg sacs and higher mortality rates of the slings.

 

[NYAN]

Yeah it seemed like there was a brief heyday of widows a couple years ago but then they've almost all disappeared. You can still get hasselti and all the common North American species (bishopi being the rare one), but most others are getting hard to find. I haven't seen any cura offered for quite some time now.

I think part of the captivity issue is that widows seem to genetically bottleneck more quickly than a lot of other spiders, so you run into more dud egg sacs and higher mortality rates of the slings.

We need more demand I say. Get some imports in. I saw menvodi a few months ago being sold.