a. versicolor sac pulled too early? help plz

Alice

Arachnoangel
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hi all,

so my versicolor female decided to built a sac about 5 months (!!!) after the mating. i have no idea when exactly she built it, as she hides away a lot and i didn't see the sac until i tried cleaning the tank and she bit into the tongs:(.

it must be at least two weeks, maybe three weeks since she built it though.

i took it away from her, because i was too afraid she might eat it after such an (unintended) disturbance :wall:.

i opened it, and inside are around 100 PERFECT eggs. not a single one dried up, black or gone bad - all yellowish and round. but no sign of legs yet. :(

i put them in a mechanical mom: tupperware, ventilation holes, wet vermiculite at the bottom, the eggs in a paper towl hammock and a weak heat mat underneath. my bf agreed to gently turn the eggs when i'm at work (we work different hours).

so can anyone tell me what the chances are? am i going to lose all those slings or do i have a chance to incubate them successfully?

i could kick myself - but i really didn't think she's build a sac after all this time. wasn't really fat either :wall:
 

cacoseraph

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tarantulas use deferred reproduction. the sperm is held inactive by the female until she actually makes the eggsac. i believe i read about a G. aureostriata that made a viable sac 3 years after mating.

try to keep the eggs as sterile as possible and not burst any. remove any eggs that look like they are going bad as soon and careful as possible. you could even try to incubate them seperately or something to try to maximize yield... but like the proverbial barrel of apples, one bad egg *can possibly* ruin your whole crop.

good luck, it most certainly can be done but it takes a little bit of effort
 

Alice

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yes, i know that they are able to produce sacs long after a mating. i just wasn't expecting her to built one at all. i thought the mating went wrong:wall: as they only mated once very shortly before she tried to eat him.

well, i'll try my best, temps and humidity seem fine so far.
 

Alice

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anyone else any idea? how moist do you think i should keep the eggs? due to the heat mat, moisture is pretty near 100% and the walls of the deli cup are slightly moist with condensation. the eggs are not wet though.
 

ShadowBlade

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walls of the deli cup are slightly moist with condensation. the eggs are not wet though.
Yeah, just make sure no water droplets are on the developing eggs. Bad news there...

Of course its possible they'll survive, make sure they're moved a bit as they develop, keep in high humidity, and warm temps. As you're doing.

-Sean
 

Alice

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Update!

whopee! this weekend, the versi eggs got legs! that's at least a step in the right direction.

so far, none of the eggs have gone bad. {D wow, i've never pulled a sac so early...

what do you think, how long before they molt again and enter the mobile state?
 

Talkenlate04

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Wow good news! Congrats. You now are past the hard parts. I would say you will have mobile little babies in about another few weeks.

I know the excitment, I am staying up all night watching my B. Smithi make her egg sac. At the rate she is going it will be done around 12pm. 17-20 hours we shale see, but I dont intend to sleep, I have never seen this they always do it when I am at work or gone to the beach or something. This is great.
 

Alice

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thnx for the encouragement - i really hope this turns out well. do you think 2-3 weeks should see them into 1st instar?

it's really difficult right now, i have to go home in my lunch break (not leaving me any time to eat) to move the eggs with legs, as my bfs not here this week... but what don't you do for healthy slings... ;)
 

Talkenlate04

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You dont have to rotate them anymore now that they are eggs with legs. Just keep an eye out on the humidity, and watch them grow.
 

Alice

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really? but they are not mobile, and tend to stick together if i do not rotate them at least every 6 hours... so far, i have managed to keep them from sticking together, but they certainly would without movement. when i leave them for more than six hours, they become uh (sorry, my english...:eek:)... i don't know, they just stick together slightly. so i thought i should continue rotating them...
 

Talkenlate04

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Your humidity must be really high, but thats not that bad of a thing when they are eggs with legs. Whatever works, if you can get back every 6 hours keep doing what you are doing it got you this far!
Any pictures?
 

Alice

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yeah, my humidity is really really high (around 100% actually), but this way i never had eggs dry out. ok, it's more work, but usually my bf and i work different hours, so up until now it was np to rotate them every few hours.

it's only this week that he's not here, and a week without lunch will certainly do me good before bikini season starts ;). but maybe i'll just let the vermiculite dry out a bit...

pics tonight, though my cam is a bit crappy, don't know if i can get a clear image of something so small...
 

Talkenlate04

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Ok I do have to say this though 100% is to much..... now that you have eggs with legs you should back off a bit on the humidity. They are officially alive and 100% humidity is stiffling for any living creature.... I would shoot for 75-80% now. Your humidity now is why they are sticking together.

When I pull sacs I am shooting for 75-85 the whole way though. To achieve 100% humidity that means you are giving up air flow and that can kill your babies just as fast as not enough humidity.
 

Alice

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hm the airflow is pretty good actually. i heat the incubator from below, that's why the air is very humid, but ventilation is still fine. i will take your advice though and dry the vermiculite out a bit! thx a lot!
 

recluse

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I have pulled several sacs at around 20 days with no problems.
 

cacoseraph

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You dont have to rotate them anymore now that they are eggs with legs. Just keep an eye out on the humidity, and watch them grow.
i was kind of under the impression that rotation should continue until the spiderlings are spiderlings.

why would you say you don't need to rotate them anymore?
 

tarantulas.com

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rotation

I would definitely agree that some rotation of 1st and even 2nd stage nymphs is beneficial. If left without rotation the nymphs can easily clump together. Once stuck in a large mass the center nymph will often die (or do they stick together because the nymph died?)...anyways: Once you have a dead nymph it usually molds, or can become covered with mites. This growth will spread around the ball o' nymphs eventually killing them all. I generally give them a swirl once or twice a day, and make sure that there are no clumps.
 

Alice

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i plan on moving them at least once a day as well. they wiggle about, but are not really mobile, so i guess they will benefit from a bit of rolling around.
i also will continue to change the paper towels at least once a day. so far, i have not have any mold or mites or anything with this method. hope my good luck continues :}
 
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