Urgent - unexpected egg sac

[Colette]

So I had what I was sold as a male P regius. He made himself a dense web nest thing at the top of his viv where he stayed about a week. Then disappeared. Finally found him dead on the floor - not moved in over 48 hours so confident he really is dead.

Went to clean out the viv and realised his nest had a hard lump in it. I carefully removed it and turns out it's an egg sac! Looks like I got a female P audax by mistake.

I'm going to try keeping the sac but I have no idea what I'm doing. Please, any advice appreciated!

 

[chanda]

Just put the egg sac and what's left of the nest back in the enclosure, leave it alone, and hope for the best. It is possible that the eggs are not fertile in which case nothing will happen. If they are fertile, it is still possible that the young will not survive - while jumping spiders do not typically require the care of the mother when they first hatch out, they do remain in the nest for the first week or two - and will retreat to it even after they've begun venturing out on their own. Perhaps you could compensate for the lack of the nest by giving them a loose ball of gauze or some dried plants or something that they could use for cover if/when they first emerge. Once the young are venturing out on their own, feed them small fruit flies, aphids, or other tiny prey. They should be able to take down prey up to or even slightly larger than their own size. You may also want to separate the young at that point so they don't start munching on each other. Mist the enclosure lightly from time to time to keep the humidity up and (once the young have hatched) provide drinking water - but don't overdo it. You don't want it to be too wet.

Good luck!