black widow

[agkistrodon99]

so lately have been finding a few Latrodectus mactans and the other day a very small Latrodectus variolus. but i was looking for spiders and looked in a web and saw a small orange dot upon closer inspection it looks like a small widow about 1mm in size i caught her and looked up pics but brown widows and black widows i have seen this size look the same can post pics after work what is your guys thoughts?

 

[darksidemxer]

i am curious to see pics, i have TONS of widows in my garage lol

 

[agkistrodon99]

ok so i got a not bad pic first one is the lil girl in question 2nd is one i just caught and i tryed but couldnt post a pic of the big girl

 

[darksidemxer]

Huh looks like a widow to me. Ive got a few that look similar in my garage and always assumed they were.

 

[Smokehound714]

Looks like L variolus. Beautiful widows

 

[agkistrodon99]

sweet i was hoping it was L variolus not the question is what do i feed a widow that small leaf hoppers and fruit flies?

 

[darksidemxer]

You would be suprised what they can take down. Ive seen ones smaller than that take down adult mole crickets.

 

[agkistrodon99]

the littler of the 2 from the pics can eat adult crickets?????? the medium one in the pic above and the big girl i got both eat voraciously!

 

[The Snark]

It is nothing short of phenominal what the Latrodectus and Steatoda clades can do with their webbing. If they can wrap it, they can eat it. I once saw a Hesperus busily wrapping a roach easily 10 times her size. She just took her time, relying on those ropes that are far stronger than steel cables.

 

[agkistrodon99]

yea the big girl i have can take down anything but tomorrow will be the day we see what that lil baby can do on a small cricket

 

[darksidemxer]

In the wild man they do some amazing things lol. Just because it is a big meal dont mean they arent gonna take it down. Its s long slow process but facinating to watch. Even more interwsting was i watched a jumpers prey get into the widows web and the jumper actually beat the widow and claimed his meal. Lol i got a 30x60 shop and the things u see spiders do in there is crazy.

 

[agkistrodon99]

the bigger one from the pics i posted is molting right meow!!!!:biggrin:

 

[Widowman10]

uh, that top spider is not a Latrodectus... looks like a Leucauge venusta...

 

[agkistrodon99]

after i looked up Leucauge venusta i agree with widowman10 so i released him/her to spin big webs near my house lol i feel like a noob

 

[Biollantefan54]

I once found a widow web by a wood pile, couldn't find the spider but I found some things it had caught and ate. It had a few crickets here and there but then I seen a bess beetle. It had a bess beetle in its web lol. It was HUGE!