black widow help

[baboon man8]

anyone know how to really keep these happy? i found one while i was doing community service. i stared at it for 3 hours straight. i believe its a female.i found in a school yard. why they call it western spider? its actually found more in the east coast.

 

[Widowman10]

anyone know how to really keep these happy? i found one while i was doing community service. i stared at it for 3 hours straight. i believe its a female.i found in a school yard. why they call it western spider? its actually found more in the east coast.

wrong forum east coast? sounds like latrodectus variolus or mactans to me.

widow happiness = a jar with a stick, and a LOT of food! hahahaha

 

[problemchildx]

This would probably get best answers from the true spiders forum.

But I think they make intricate webs so maybe put some safe flora in there with a few thick sticks and some stuff she can use to make a hide/web?

Good luck! I could never have one of those

 

[baboon man8]

they have pretty shiny black. :drool: i do have little kid in the house should i let it go?

 

[P. Novak]

wrong forum east coast? sounds like latrodectus hesperus to me.

widow happiness = a jar with a stick, and a LOT of food! hahahaha

I believe L.hesperus is west coast.

 

[problemchildx]

they have pretty shiny black. :drool: i do have little kid in the house should i let it go?

I don't think it's a problem unless the cage isn't secure. Also, maybe you could get some pics to confirm if it's a widow.

 

[Widowman10]

I believe L.hesperus is west coast.

DOH!!!!!!!!!:wall: :wall: :wall: dang i'm tired...
hahahahahaha! sorry, what i MEANT to say was L. mactans or L. variolus... geez :wall:

 

[Widowman10]

they have pretty shiny black. :drool: i do have little kid in the house should i let it go?

not at all! if they get settled in a good cage, they aren't prone to try and escape, so you should have no problems at all. none of mine try to get out. none of my hundreds

 

[WyvernsLair]

IF she starts laying egg sacs, you will have to remove them and freeze them. Allowing them to hatch in her cage - if that cage is not FULLY sealed up - those babies will get out... trust me on that.

A glass canning jar, a plastic snack jar,... etc. with a couple small holes for air and a cricket a week will make her happy. I would put in a few sticks to allow her some structure to base the web off of. I would not put in anything else. You want to leave as much clear space as possible for when you have to go in and wrestle an egg sac away from her... too much clutter from an elaborate setup makes it difficult (& more dangerous for you). Be aware, that widows typically don't live much past 18 months.. and this time of year is when adult females are usually dying off from old age. The only time I was able to get a female widow to live beyond 2 years was one that was never mated and never produced egg sacs (they do take a huge toll on the spider).


As for the type of widow...

Western half of the United States (i.e. west of the MS river) is L. hesperus (western widow)

Northern half of the Unitied States is L. variolus (northern widow)

Southern half of the United States is L. mactans. (southern widow)

There is NO Eastern widow. People may mistakenly call the Northern widow the eastern widow because while it's found across the northern part of the US, the eastern portion (east of the MS river) is where they are more prominent/common.

Southeastern part of the United States (i.e. the sourther parts of the gulf coast states) is L. bishopi (red widow) and L. geometricus (brown widow). Red widow is more or less found in Florida, but I believe there were reports of it extending it's range out along the coastlines of the gulf states. Brown widow is not native but has been extending it's range northward from Mexico....whether it will ultimately spread further northward from the gulf coast region, hard to say - depends on how rugged they are with cooler temps I guess.

 

[Widowman10]

IF she starts laying egg sacs, you will have to remove them and freeze them. Allowing them to hatch in her cage - if that cage is not FULLY sealed up - those babies will get out... trust me on that.

A glass canning jar, a plastic snack jar,... etc. with a couple small holes for air and a cricket a week will make her happy. I would put in a few sticks to allow her some structure to base the web off of. I would not put in anything else. You want to leave as much clear space as possible for when you have to go in and wrestle an egg sac away from her... too much clutter from an elaborate setup makes it difficult (& more dangerous for you). Be aware, that widows typically don't live much past 18 months.. and this time of year is when adult females are usually dying off from old age. The only time I was able to get a female widow to live beyond 2 years was one that was never mated and never produced egg sacs (they do take a huge toll on the spider).


As for the type of widow...

Western half of the United States (i.e. west of the MS river) is L. hesperus (western widow)

Northern half of the Unitied States is L. variolus (northern widow)

Southern half of the United States is L. mactans. (southern widow)

There is NO Eastern widow. People may mistakenly call the Northern widow the eastern widow because while it's found across the northern part of the US, the eastern portion (east of the MS river) is where they are more prominent/common.

Southeastern part of the United States (i.e. the sourther parts of the gulf coast states) is L. bishopi (red widow) and L. geometricus (brown widow). Red widow is more or less found in Florida, but I believe there were reports of it extending it's range out along the coastlines of the gulf states. Brown widow is not native but has been extending it's range northward from Mexico....whether it will ultimately spread further northward from the gulf coast region, hard to say - depends on how rugged they are with cooler temps I guess.

why would you freeze the eggsack? i would just get it out, put it in a small jar, let them cannibalize, then you have another big fat latro and getting the eggsack away from the female is not too hard- just give her a really big cricket to feed on and take away the sack while she's busy. just get some long tweezers or pincers. and they will live a little longer, as you say, if you don't power-feed them, let them throw sacks, etc... enjoy your widow!

 

[WyvernsLair]

why would you freeze the eggsack? i would just get it out, put it in a small jar, let them cannibalize, then you have another big fat latro

In my experience, novice keepers of widows usually don't want to deal with eggs/babies at all nor do they want to dump the sac outside where they can spread. So the humane thing is to just freeze the sac for a few days then throw it away. Right now I have about a hundred mactans babies just hatched and waiting on 2 other sacs to hatch... the sacs and mother had been found in a garage and the owner was totally freaked (even more so when they found out the one sac hatched ultimately a couple days later). Thankfully, a coworker was able to save the spider and sacs and bring them to me. I'm lucky enough that I live in an area where the ranges between the matcans and variolus come together. Where I work - all northerns; a few miles down the road and further south, all southerns LOL.

 

[Widowman10]

In my experience, novice keepers of widows usually don't want to deal with eggs/babies at all nor do they want to dump the sac outside where they can spread. So the humane thing is to just freeze the sac for a few days then throw it away. Right now I have about a hundred mactans babies just hatched and waiting on 2 other sacs to hatch... the sacs and mother had been found in a garage and the owner was totally freaked (even more so when they found out the one sac hatched ultimately a couple days later). Thankfully, a coworker was able to save the spider and sacs and bring them to me. I'm lucky enough that I live in an area where the ranges between the matcans and variolus come together. Where I work - all northerns; a few miles down the road and further south, all southerns LOL.

:} lucky! all i've got are hesperus!! i've got 5 sacs that just hatched on me about a month ago. are you going to let them cannibalize, or have you already separated them out?

 

[Brian S]

There is NO Eastern widow. People may mistakenly call the Northern widow the eastern widow because while it's found across the northern part of the US, the eastern portion (east of the MS river) is where they are more prominent/common.

L variolus is also common here in MO,KS which is West of the MS River

 

[WyvernsLair]

L variolus is also common here in MO,KS which is West of the MS River

If you read, I said that the northern widow was found in the northern half of the united states. I did not say it was only found east of the MS river. variolus tends to be more common east of the MS river when compared to populations west of the river.

 

[WyvernsLair]

:} lucky! all i've got are hesperus!! i've got 5 sacs that just hatched on me about a month ago. are you going to let them cannibalize, or have you already separated them out?

Haven't decided yet. I've tried different methods over the years. It's a pain in the butt to separate them out and does not guarantee success. the viability of the babies does not seem to stabilize until they get through at least 3 molts and after that there seem to be far fewer deaths. So, no matter what you choose, there is usually a significant death rate involved. lol. I'm probably going to let them have at each other for a month and then decide if I want to allow them to continue to cannibalize or separate them at that point.

 

[Widowman10]

Haven't decided yet. I've tried different methods over the years. It's a pain in the butt to separate them out and does not guarantee success. the viability of the babies does not seem to stabilize until they get through at least 3 molts and after that there seem to be far fewer deaths. So, no matter what you choose, there is usually a significant death rate involved. lol. I'm probably going to let them have at each other for a month and then decide if I want to allow them to continue to cannibalize or separate them at that point.

that's what i've doing, and been having some pretty good success. i'm far happier with the results that way.

 

[baboon man8]

i will post a pic soon!

 

[What]

Southeastern part of the United States (i.e. the sourther parts of the gulf coast states) is L. bishopi (red widow) and L. geometricus (brown widow). Red widow is more or less found in Florida, but I believe there were reports of it extending it's range out along the coastlines of the gulf states. Brown widow is not native but has been extending it's range northward from Mexico....whether it will ultimately spread further northward from the gulf coast region, hard to say - depends on how rugged they are with cooler temps I guess.

Just FYI L. geometricus is established in Southern California also. I doubt if the ones in the southeast are spreading from Mexico. They were most likely brought from another country(African or Asian in origin) via ships or aircraft.