# Keeping brown widows.



## reverejack (Jul 31, 2013)

Anyone here keep latrodectus geometricus? I used to have one, there not aggressive at all and make great pets (also live quite some time).


Thats her in my hand. This is a handling video of the spider: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8wKjpy8LBM
Cute, eh?


----------



## Dr Acula (Jul 31, 2013)

I kept one that I had found in my yard a LOOOOONG time ago. They really are awesome pets, especially when feeding time rolls in. She happened to be heavily gravid, and double clutched, so ended up letting her go with her sacs. I've still got slews around my house so I might just snatch one up today 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


----------



## reverejack (Jul 31, 2013)

Wow, mine was gravid too. Died about a few months after laying them.
It was pretty fun to watch her dash across the cage for a fly.Saw some eggs in a bridge... Might look for the mother later on.


----------



## StAugBob (Aug 12, 2013)

*Hi! I have been keeping a female for about 6 months.*

The female I had laid 10 egg sacs.  The first slings all escaped in my garage as the container was not capable. Transferred her to 10 gallon aquarium after that. Really enjoyed watching and feeding her.  Got to see her make an egg sac and also watched another egg sac hatch on the same day. Then I fed her a katydid I found in the yard and she was dead the next day.  Don't know if Katydid was poison or if I over fed or it was just her time.  Anyway out of the other 9 egg sacs all hatched and I now have 4 widows left after all the slings finished the Cannibalism. The largest one now has 3 giant egg sacs.  Is it possible they have slings as I don't think there are any males?  Also mine are very dark compared to yours.


----------



## Munch (Aug 12, 2013)

When I was 9 years old I caught one in the mailbox, and kept it for a short while. Amazing animals. (Darn God is good)


----------



## Smokehound714 (Aug 13, 2013)

These have completely extirpated the L. hesperus from my property..  They're actually a bit of a problem, unfortunately, as beautiful as they are..

  It's a shame, because Hesperus get enormous.  I used to see females with abdomens larger than a quarter.


----------



## Ciphor (Aug 13, 2013)

Smokehound714 said:


> These have completely extirpated the L. hesperus from my property..  They're actually a bit of a problem, unfortunately, as beautiful as they are..
> 
> It's a shame, because Hesperus get enormous.  I used to see females with abdomens larger than a quarter.


Lets keep it on topic.There are many threads on the impact of brown widows on other native species, this is not one of them.


----------



## Widowman10 (Aug 13, 2013)

Ciphor said:


> There are many threads on the impact of brown widows on other native species, this is not one of them.


haha, very true ciphor 



they can make for some fun critters to observe. good first widows, especially due to their proclivity to ball up and fall when they sense a threat. 

they seem to come in all shapes and sizes too! 

https://sites.google.com/site/widowman10/different-color-morphs-of-geo

Reactions: Like 1


----------



## StAugBob (Aug 13, 2013)

Widowman10, Do you think my egg sacs have slings?  Total 3 sacs so far.  Also unless hiding well only have 3 widows left.  The one with the egg sacs must have eaten one.  Will more than one female share a tank in separate corners?


----------



## Ciphor (Aug 13, 2013)

Widowman10 said:


> haha, very true ciphor
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I got a black morph. Was kinda disappoint, because I have like 15 black widows and really wanted a nice brown one for a change of pace. lol oh well.


----------



## Smokehound714 (Aug 13, 2013)

Ciphor said:


> Lets keep it on topic.There are many threads on the impact of brown widows on other native species, this is not one of them.


 I was going to mention I have kept these before, yeesh.  Don't worry, i wont demonize the little buggers.

  What always interested me the most, was that geometricus aren't as shy as hesperus, despite the common claim.  Any widow will ball up when touched, most of the time, but i've noticed that geometricus is more tolerant of disturbance.  The claim that they're more shy is totally bogus, IMO.. I have always considered them more bold..   Hesperus, for example, generally flee upon sensing footsteps, but geometricus don't seem to care.   

  I had a pair of females about a decade ago, both lived a bit over five years, I didn't breed either of them.


----------



## Widowman10 (Aug 14, 2013)

Ciphor said:


> I got a black morph. Was kinda disappoint, because I have like 15 black widows and really wanted a nice brown one for a change of pace. lol oh well.


haha, always figures 

also StAugBob, geos drop more dud sacs than the native blacks do, so it's hard to tell. wait it out a few more weeks and see if it starts turning dark. dark = slings


----------



## The Snark (Aug 14, 2013)

Can I jump to a conclusion here? I read that, evolution wise, animals that are rigidly fixed into a given coloration are generally very old and basically an extension into the modern world of a animal that has it's heyday many aeons ago. Contrarywise the animals that demonstrate significant coloration changes are up and coming on the evolutionary ladder, often crowding out the older ones. ???


----------



## Widowman10 (Aug 14, 2013)

hmm, not a bad idea! 

while the blacks exhibit very little variation in color and patterns, the geos go crazy and have more outfits than a middle school girl.

that would also explain their expansion into many different areas of the world and their tendency to set up shop and stay.


----------



## Ciphor (Aug 14, 2013)

The Snark said:


> Can I jump to a conclusion here? I read that, evolution wise, animals that are rigidly fixed into a given coloration are generally very old and basically an extension into the modern world of a animal that has it's heyday many aeons ago. Contrarywise the animals that demonstrate significant coloration changes are up and coming on the evolutionary ladder, often crowding out the older ones. ???


It would be a hard conclusion to prove. There are so many evolved animals that do not exhibit much variation in morphology (chimps, dolphins, bears, crows, etc.). If you refined it down a little to arthropods, it would make a slightly better case, but not by much. The most advanced, evolved species of spiders are wolf spiders (Lycosidae) which do not have much variation in morphology, quite contrary, they are very similar even across various genres. Most of the variations you see across one species are based on region. As an example: South western species are lighter in color, and Northern species are darker in color.

What I have noticed is the smaller true spiders which exhibit a large spectrum of variance in patterns and colors in any given region, tend to be very successful breeders. Some examples of overly successful breeders which are also highly invasive and exhibit a wide range of colors and patterns are: European cross spider _Araneus diadematus_, Common house spider _Parasteatoda tepidariorum_, Brown widow _Latrodectus geometricus_ & False black widow _Steatoda grossa_. This is all without mentioning, _Latrodectus hesperus_ the western widow has a very wide range of variation, maybe even wider then the brown widow which really only exhibits different shades of the same color.


----------



## Widowman10 (Aug 14, 2013)

don't forget though, the geo ranges just as widely (if not more) in adult size as hesperus. which is impressive as hesperus do vary quite a bit in size.


----------



## Smokehound714 (Aug 14, 2013)

True, i've seen some large geos.  Seen some huge males, too.  Didnt know the males could get so big.


----------



## spiderman5471 (Dec 14, 2013)

reverejack said:


> Anyone here keep latrodectus geometricus? I used to have one, there not aggressive at all and make great pets (also live quite some time).
> View attachment 119242
> 
> Thats her in my hand. This is a handling video of the spider: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8wKjpy8LBM
> Cute, eh?


are you out of your mind what if she decided to bite your hand you would have to go to the hospital for antivenum can you teach me how to properly take care of my brown widow thx kasey


----------

