# Wolf Spider Babies??



## Explosions (Dec 21, 2010)

I've had a female wolf spider for about a month and a half. It's been by itself, but now it has an egg sac! Could it just be a dud or does it take that long for her to make eggs? I'm really new to spiders, so I have no idea what to do about it if it's not a dud (spider abortion time?  ). Any info about wolf spiders and how long it takes for anything baby related would be great!


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## loxoscelesfear (Dec 21, 2010)

let her keep her egg sac.  (if fertile) once hatched the babies will ride on her back for a few weeks.  removing the egg sac stresses the spider out.


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## Explosions (Dec 21, 2010)

Is there any way to know if it's fertile? I really don't want a billion babies running around, and I would have no idea what to do with them. She's been by herself since before Halloween, would they be fertile after that long or is she just making an egg sac for kicks?


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## loxoscelesfear (Dec 21, 2010)

it can be fertile.  they can produce several fertile eggs once they have mated.  it could be a blank sac too.  if you get babies out of the deal just collect them up as they disperse and put in separate container. if any get out of her tank they wont last long due to dessication.  they dry up quickly.  egg sacs hatch in a month or so.  once babies are present feed her well  she will be hungry and thirsty.  keep us posted.  any pics of the spider?  what species do you have?

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 1


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## Explosions (Dec 21, 2010)

Ok, thanks! I don't know what species she is, just that she's pretty big and from mid Missouri. My boyfriend found her and now she's got a 5 gallon aquarium to live in. We were super excited when we saw her digging and making a web in one of the corners between her log and the glass because we thought it meant she was finally settling in. Imagine our surprise when we came back from a weekend trip and we couldn't see her at all, then when she did come out she was carrying an egg sac! When you say she will be really hungry, does that mean she won't eat while she's carrying them? 

Sorry for the awful pics, I don't have a real camera. These are from when we first caught her and were trying to figure out what she was. She's in the bottom of a 32 oz soda cup.

Reactions: Like 1


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## davisfam (Dec 21, 2010)

We'll post a longer description on what to do tomorrow but for now, just leave her and the egg sac alone.

Your set-up sounds just fine for a Mama Wolfiie and when he said, "She will be hungry" it's probably because Wolfiies carry their young on their backs for a certain amount of time before the slings "pop off" to go about in the world all alone. All of our Mama Wolfiies most def. still ate while carrying the egg sac.

You'll be fine with everything, no worries!

Reactions: Like 1


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## loxoscelesfear (Dec 21, 2010)

some possible candidates for species.  but pic is really blurry...
http://bugguide.net/node/view/342816
http://bugguide.net/node/view/212753

http://bugguide.net/node/view/409985#695643


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## Explosions (Dec 22, 2010)

Yeah, sorry, like I said I have no real camera  I'll see how my phone does tomorrow.

She looks a lot more like the first 2 than the last one. She's mostly dark brown with a single lighter brown stripe down the middle and the same light brown around the top of her body. Her butt is solid dark brown and her legs are kinda... brindled? Not really striped but not solid. And she _doesn't_ have the spiky hairs like this Carolina.


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## Vespula (Dec 22, 2010)

I have a wolf spider who layed an infertile sac. I'd had her about as long as you have had yours before she layed it. Hopefully you'll get some babies!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Explosions (Dec 22, 2010)

I got a slightly better picture (macro function = win) but she's crammed herself down in her hole, so you still can't see much of her.


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 22, 2010)

i think you have the same wolfie i got, and mine is carrying around a sac too...i caught her in north carolina....im not sure if mine is a hogna carolinensis, or a hogna aspersa....but im still waiting on babies...does she look like mine?


http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=197560


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## Explosions (Dec 22, 2010)

Yeah! That's pretty much my spider if she were less blurry


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## davisfam (Dec 22, 2010)

First of all, the specimen in catfishrod69's thread is NOT a H. carolinensis. The specimen looks very much like our 2 unidentified Wolfiies; we'll hopefully have an ID for them soon but until then.. the search continues, LOL! :? The reason we don't think the specimen is a H. carolinensis is due to it's lacking orange chelicera and black around the the "knees" ventrally as these are two characteristics of the H. carolinensis species. Also, this species usually has completely dark ventral aspect of the front 4 legs. 

Second, as far as burrowing, burrowing Wolfiies create a vertical silk-lined burrow, usually with a turret at the entrance. The spider uses this burrow as a protected retreat, emerging when in the mood for a meal. After all of our WC Wolfiies begin to feel "at home", they won't hang out in their burrows as much and will often be out just roaming around their 'homes'.

Third, Mama Wolfiies not only carry their egg sac with them until the eggs hatch, but after hatching the mother spider carries her young for about a month before the spiderlings move off on their own in the world. If you don't want the egg sac then I would just let your Mama Wolfiie and her egg sac go free because Mama Wolfiies are extremely attached to their slings; some Wolfiies such as some of the Paradosa species, let their slings eat her alive for a first meal, talk about some real love, LOL!  


*Here is a document with information on the H. carolinensis;*

http://www.americanarachnology.org/JoA_free/JoA_v6_n1/JoA_v6_p53.pdf


_Other Information_:

  "Hogna carolinensis females are 22 to 35 millimeters in length, and the males are 18 to 20 millimeters. The carapace is a dark brown with scattered gray hairs that are typically not arranged in any discernible pattern. The abdomen is similarly colored, with a somewhat darker dorsal stripe. The legs are a solid color."
  "Hogna aspersa females are 18 to 25 millimeters in length, and the males are 16 to 18 millimeters. They are similar to H. carolinensis in body color but have a distinct narrow line of yellow hairs on the carapace in the vicinity of the eyes. The legs are banded with a lighter brown color at the joints. The males are much lighter in color than the females, and only their third and fourth pairs of legs are banded with a lighter color."

_(Source: http://ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/wolf-spiders)_


*Resources/Links:*

http://cumuseum.colorado.edu/Research/Objects/oct07_wolfspider.html

http://bugguide.net/node/view/27062

_Take a browse at all of these Wolfiies and I'm sure you'll be able to pick out one that looks closest to your new Wolfiie:_

http://bugguide.net/node/view/1967/bgpage

Reactions: Informative 1


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 23, 2010)

hmmmm....well you think they might be hogna aspersa then?  awful hard to find anything about stuff you find around home, but get one from china, and bam, you got page after page.....im gonna try and get a some more pics, and good underneath pics, after the slings are big enough to be sorted out....thats if it hatches....



davisfam said:


> First of all, the specimen in catfishrod69's thread is NOT a H. carolinensis. The specimen looks very much like our 2 unidentified Wolfiies; we'll hopefully have an ID for them soon but until then.. the search continues, LOL! :? The reason we don't think the specimen is a H. carolinensis is due to it's lacking orange chelicera and black around the the "knees" ventrally as these are two characteristics of the H. carolinensis species. Also, this species usually has completely dark ventral aspect of the front 4 legs.
> 
> Second, as far as burrowing, burrowing Wolfiies create a vertical silk-lined burrow, usually with a turret at the entrance. The spider uses this burrow as a protected retreat, emerging when in the mood for a meal. After all of our WC Wolfiies begin to feel "at home", they won't hang out in their burrows as much and will often be out just roaming around their 'homes'.
> 
> ...




---------- Post added at 03:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:43 PM ----------

well we may never know what they are for sure....but hopefully we do...



Explosions said:


> Yeah! That's pretty much my spider if she were less blurry


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## davisfam (Dec 23, 2010)

catfishrod69 said:


> hmmmm....well you think they might be hogna aspersa then?  awful hard to find anything about stuff you find around home, but get one from china, and bam, you got page after page.....im gonna try and get a some more pics, and good underneath pics, after the slings are big enough to be sorted out....thats if it hatches....


Honestly, if you do end up having the same species as our unidentified Wolfiies (and from the photo, there is quite the resemblance between them), then we have NO idea on what to tell you, sorry. We have done hours and hours of research trying to identify our two unidentified Wolfiies along with help from friends but have come up with nothing. :wall: We have a few people who have offered to take a look at it but we're still waiting to hear back from them with their conclusions soo, we have just been playing the 'waiting game' thus far. We'll let you know if we come across any new information that may prove helpful in finding an ID for our Wolfiies! 

- If you haven't looked already, we have a thread in this forum with pictures of the two unidentified Wolfiies we are referring to in this post. It might be more helpful in comparing spidiies and there are also pictures of our specimen's dorsal (underneath) side.

Quick question; Why can't you snap a photo of the Mama's underside instead of waiting for her slings to hatch and then grow to be of larger size?!


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## revilo (Dec 24, 2010)

hi davisfam,

are there some specialist/taxonomist people take a look on your spiders ?

merry christmas, oli


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 24, 2010)

yea i understand completely....but its just hard to believe that they are unidentified...with all the people on this site, and all the knowledge from everyone....yea i would like to get a shot at her underside, but see she has webbed herself inside of a big leaf, and all i can really do is take and rip open the front webbing and look at her inside to see whats happening, she doesnt come out at all...i dont wanna stress her by removing her and the egg sac completely, then putting them back....thanks for your help also



davisfam said:


> Honestly, if you do end up having the same species as our unidentified Wolfiies (and from the photo, there is quite the resemblance between them), then we have NO idea on what to tell you, sorry. We have done hours and hours of research trying to identify our two unidentified Wolfiies along with help from friends but have come up with nothing. :wall: We have a few people who have offered to take a look at it but we're still waiting to hear back from them with their conclusions soo, we have just been playing the 'waiting game' thus far. We'll let you know if we come across any new information that may prove helpful in finding an ID for our Wolfiies!
> 
> - If you haven't looked already, we have a thread in this forum with pictures of the two unidentified Wolfiies we are referring to in this post. It might be more helpful in comparing spidiies and there are also pictures of our specimen's dorsal (underneath) side.
> 
> Quick question; Why can't you snap a photo of the Mama's underside instead of waiting for her slings to hatch and then grow to be of larger size?!




---------- Post added at 04:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:28 PM ----------

also i have this wolfie i caught too...it is about 1 1/2 or so...his underside is black....i dont know if it is the same species and just looks diff because of age or sex.....hes also really cool....


http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d29/catfishrod69/DSCF3445.jpg









davisfam said:


> Honestly, if you do end up having the same species as our unidentified Wolfiies (and from the photo, there is quite the resemblance between them), then we have NO idea on what to tell you, sorry. We have done hours and hours of research trying to identify our two unidentified Wolfiies along with help from friends but have come up with nothing. :wall: We have a few people who have offered to take a look at it but we're still waiting to hear back from them with their conclusions soo, we have just been playing the 'waiting game' thus far. We'll let you know if we come across any new information that may prove helpful in finding an ID for our Wolfiies!
> 
> - If you haven't looked already, we have a thread in this forum with pictures of the two unidentified Wolfiies we are referring to in this post. It might be more helpful in comparing spidiies and there are also pictures of our specimen's dorsal (underneath) side.
> 
> Quick question; Why can't you snap a photo of the Mama's underside instead of waiting for her slings to hatch and then grow to be of larger size?!


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## Explosions (Dec 24, 2010)

Sorry for no replies, I've been away visiting family (yay holidays!) Thanks for all the help, we are just going to let her be and see if the egg sac hatches or not. If it does we're going to figure out a way to let them go once they start climbing off of her. That might not even be a problem now though. We accidentally turned off the breaker for our heater and it's been freezing for a few days in my room. Steve is moving, but slowly. Hopefully we didn't kill her


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## Silberrücken (Dec 24, 2010)

catfish, 2nd Wolf looks a lot like a Schizocosa sp

---------- Post added at 09:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 PM ----------

davisfam, your PM's are full, I'm trying to reach you  :wall:


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 26, 2010)

yeah it does...thanks man...



Silberrücken said:


> catfish, 2nd Wolf looks a lot like a Schizocosa sp
> 
> ---------- Post added at 09:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 PM ----------
> 
> davisfam, your PM's are full, I'm trying to reach you  :wall:


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 26, 2010)

well i got a christmas present from my wolfie...a bunch of little babies...heres the pic....i threw a cricket in and she nailed him...also shes out and about now, not hidden....i was curious how the babies eat though...do they get off and then back on after eating? and should i feed her more often now? maybe once every three days?


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 26, 2010)

you caught her around your house right....just keep her warm and she should be fine....theres probably a good chance the sac is fertile...i caught mine in north carolina at the end of october, early november....and i brought her back to ohio, now i got lots of babies....whats you weather like there?



Explosions said:


> Sorry for no replies, I've been away visiting family (yay holidays!) Thanks for all the help, we are just going to let her be and see if the egg sac hatches or not. If it does we're going to figure out a way to let them go once they start climbing off of her. That might not even be a problem now though. We accidentally turned off the breaker for our heater and it's been freezing for a few days in my room. Steve is moving, but slowly. Hopefully we didn't kill her


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## Explosions (Dec 26, 2010)

Our weather is normally really cold this time of year, but I caught her around mid/late October and of course she's been warm in my room. Then I left to visit some relatives and my boyfriend turned off the breaker that was running the heater. So it got down to the mid 20s/low 30s and now it's warm again. She was very sluggish when we came back and her egg sac was blue. Now it's warm in the room again and she's perked back up. I just didn't know if it would have shocked her/killed the eggs. The egg sac is bluish black now and looks like a weird tiny golf ball!


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## davisfam (Dec 26, 2010)

Once the baby spidiies are born they climb onto their Mama's back and stay there until they are fully developed; living off their egg yolks (from their egg). This could take weeks. They go everywhere with their Mama, including hunting, etc. If one sling falls off, Mama Wolfiie will stop what she is doing until it is back on top! It's such a neat process to watch but it might take a couple weeks until the slings are big and strong enough to hunt on their own, without Mama. 

Just keep her well fed as normal and keep a close eye on the slings making sure that if they decide to scatter from Mama while your sleeping that they cannot escape thru any holes in their current 'home'. Not a fun situation, at all. 

Wolfiies are *SUPER* MAMA's.. LOL! 

Congrats on the Christmas babiies and GOOD LUCK! :]

Here is a GREAT article on Wolfiies that might answer a few more of your questions;
http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/wolfspider.shtml

Reactions: Informative 1


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## loxoscelesfear (Dec 27, 2010)

Look at that litter of wolf pups.  Holy cow.  That is a much better pic and even though she is covered w/ kids I can tell that is _Hogna aspersa_.  No doubt about it.  If you can keep the youngins' going until early spring you can release them.  aspersa is native to Ohio.


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 28, 2010)

well in my opinion, they should be fine, i would imagine that the sac being all dark now should mean the babies are almost ready to hatch....



Explosions said:


> Our weather is normally really cold this time of year, but I caught her around mid/late October and of course she's been warm in my room. Then I left to visit some relatives and my boyfriend turned off the breaker that was running the heater. So it got down to the mid 20s/low 30s and now it's warm again. She was very sluggish when we came back and her egg sac was blue. Now it's warm in the room again and she's perked back up. I just didn't know if it would have shocked her/killed the eggs. The egg sac is bluish black now and looks like a weird tiny golf ball!




---------- Post added at 04:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:37 PM ----------

ok now....the prob with the babies stay on the mamas back for a while.....well it has been 3 days, and now there are about a 100 babies all over the place....and there doesnt even look like there is less on her either....i kinda thought they would stay on her for about a month or so....yeah i did see some fall off and come runnin back up her leg...i even had to take a needle and prod one towards her....but i cant believe after 3 days they are already climbing off....



davisfam said:


> Once the baby spidiies are born they climb onto their Mama's back and stay there until they are fully developed; living off their egg yolks (from their egg). This could take weeks. They go everywhere with their Mama, including hunting, etc. If one sling falls off, Mama Wolfiie will stop what she is doing until it is back on top! It's such a neat process to watch but it might take a couple weeks until the slings are big and strong enough to hunt on their own, without Mama.
> 
> Just keep her well fed as normal and keep a close eye on the slings making sure that if they decide to scatter from Mama while your sleeping that they cannot escape thru any holes in their current 'home'. Not a fun situation, at all.
> 
> ...




---------- Post added at 04:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:40 PM ----------

hogna aspersa..works for me...yea im hopin that theyll keep goin...what should i feed them you think? i doubt small roach nymphs...def not FFF, i got some now, but im not dealin with those again....thanks



loxoscelesfear said:


> Look at that litter of wolf pups.  Holy cow.  That is a much better pic and even though she is covered w/ kids I can tell that is _Hogna aspersa_.  No doubt about it.  If you can keep the youngins' going until early spring you can release them.  aspersa is native to Ohio.


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## Silberrücken (Dec 28, 2010)

I offered my tiny slings mini-mealworms. They loved it, and all the slings shared! This was very cool to watch! :clap:  Mama was given a medium-sized mealworm to 'keep her busy', then I would drop a few mini's in at a time, til I could see all the slings feeding.

What's also very cool is, the bigger slings would grab a worm, and a few minutes later there would be about 5 or 6 feeding on the worm. Needless to say, none went hungry!  

S.


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## loxoscelesfear (Dec 28, 2010)

Offer pieces of squished cricket.  They will eat freshly killed bugs.  I keep them in small deli cups, a few spiders per/container.  Light misting every few days is key as they do succumb to dehydration easily.  In a few weeks the spiderlings will begin dispersing from momma and you just collect them up at the pace that they leave mom.  No special temperatures required.  Room temp is fine.  A little cooler is probably better since the spiders grow up on the forest floor.


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 29, 2010)

well i thought about giving the mom one cricket, then another after she has killed it....to help feed the slings....only prob is that the slings can climb plastic, unlike the mother...so they are all over the sides and bottom of the lid...and if i tap the top to scare them down, the mother goes nuts.....might have to keep them all in together until they all get off of the mommie, then try and get them all out at once....also mt green lynx sac looks like it is getting ready to pop open too...can see little green specs in it...so this is gonna be fun....atleast its not my lasiodora parahybana....that would be alot more babies to try and keep...thanks



loxoscelesfear said:


> Offer pieces of squished cricket.  They will eat freshly killed bugs.  I keep them in small deli cups, a few spiders per/container.  Light misting every few days is key as they do succumb to dehydration easily.  In a few weeks the spiderlings will begin dispersing from momma and you just collect them up at the pace that they leave mom.  No special temperatures required.  Room temp is fine.  A little cooler is probably better since the spiders grow up on the forest floor.


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## Cowgirl (Dec 21, 2016)

I can say this not many people post on here. I have a wolf spider and she had a egg sack and carried it for two months then it hatched two days ago so I have 20 little wolf spiders. They are awesome looking and now momma is eating a lot more. I plan on separating them when they climb off her back and keeping a male so I can breed her back when she comes in heat. I live in upstate New York. Here is a good pic of her and the little ones.


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## RepugnantOoze (Dec 22, 2016)

Will you be selling the slings once they are of age??


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## Cowgirl (Dec 24, 2016)

Yes I'm planning on selling them when they get a little bigger. They have already climbed off their mothers back and are in the little trees. I just gotta figure out what they eat seeings they are really small and they won't be able to eat the crickets so I'll have to find something smaller.


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## RepugnantOoze (Dec 24, 2016)

Quite interested! Please keep us posted!


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## Cowgirl (Dec 24, 2016)

I will keep you posted


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## Breanna bella (May 25, 2017)

Explosions said:


> I've had a female wolf spider for about a month and a half. It's been by itself, but now it has an egg sac! Could it just be a dud or does it take that long for her to make eggs? I'm really new to spiders, so I have no idea what to do about it if it's not a dud (spider abortion time?  ). Any info about wolf spiders and how long it takes for anything baby related would be great!


I have a wolf spider that has an egg sac now. I'm freaking out. What do I do? She hasn't even dug a hole for the last few weeks I had her.


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## Cowgirl (May 25, 2017)

Breanna bella said:


> I have a wolf spider that has an egg sac now. I'm freaking out. What do I do? She hasn't even dug a hole for the last few weeks I had her.


It's ok when they breed the male wolf spider will leave its geniality (private part) in the female so that way she will get bread and she will have more then one egg sack and if he's lucky he will do that and run before he becomes her dinner. My wolf spider has had 2 egg sacks.


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## aaarg (May 28, 2017)

Cowgirl said:


> Yes I'm planning on selling them when they get a little bigger. They have already climbed off their mothers back and are in the little trees. I just gotta figure out what they eat seeings they are really small and they won't be able to eat the crickets so I'll have to find something smaller.


if you haven't separated the spiderlings out, they're gonna eat each other.  
you can feed them pinhead crickets or flightless fruit flies, if you have access to either of those.  maybe itty-bitty mealworms.  your photo looks like they're a _Tigrosa_ species, so they should be pretty good eaters even at a young age.  


i didn't realize this thread was 7 years old, and was getting really uneasy about everyone's use of _Hogna aspersa_ because i'm a nerd.


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