black widow slings

[dfudd]

my son and i last week-end caught a black widow and with it the three egg sacks that were in it's web. my son took the adult home with him. the sacks stayed with me, and the next morning there were 100-150 slings in the bottle with the sacks. my questions are (and i'm sorry i have not taken the time to do a search - so the answers i seek are probably here somewhere): how do i care for these? what to feed? will a crushed, small roach or cricket be acceptable as food?
i'm really more into t's, and i don't know what i'd do with a bunch of black widows, but i would like to keep them for a while and observe them as they grow.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/foolrunner/widows.jpg

 

[Rizzolo]

widow slings

I am certainly no expert, but have kept widows for a while and have a bunch of slings (L. Hesperus) right now. The concensus (from information I have gotten) is that you should just leave them together in the container for a while, maybe give them a little moisture every once and a while, and let them cannibalize for a while. When they are big enough to deal with, try to separate them into different containers. I have tried to feed my slings pinhead crickets and large or small drosophila. They don't seem to want to eat anything while together in their communal home. However, watching them for a few weeks, i can see that some of them are getting bigger, lots bigger, while some are staying small, so i figure they are eating each other. As soon as i can spare a few hours, i will try to separate them. I suspect that they will start eating once separated. I base this on previous experience with very small slings that i have obtained from others. Even very small slings, when in their own home, will eat readily, even substantial size crickets if they are partially disabled and placed in the web. If there is any movement, the widow is on it. A short while ago, i fed week-old crickets (without disabling) to a set of 6 really young slings. By the time i got to the sixth jar, the first four had all captured their prey. Within about a minute, every one had its cricket. They fatten up really fast and will molt quickly if fed often. Good luck! I look forward to hearing your experience.
Oh yeah, i am not sure how best to separate them, but heard someone say to use a chopstick. They will grab onto it and you can drag them out and drop them into jars. When you lift the lid, they go crazy because they think this is their big chance to throw out a parachute, catch a breeze and float away. They don't all rush the opening the way a T would though. I figured that I would put the container in the bottom of a styrofoam cooler, so that as i fish them out, i will be able to see if any escape. I understand that they are not dangerously venomous until they get older, of until they mature. if they start to run, I can always squish them. I am not too worried about them escaping because they are indiginous here anyway and most of them will probably not survive. However, i have to assure my spouse that I am not letting them loose.