- Joined
- Nov 25, 2011
- Messages
- 4,226
I've been hunting down info on breeding Latrodectus and was curious to what experiences those of you on here have had? I went through these two threads
http://arachnoboards.com/ab/showthr...g-white-widows&highlight=latrodectus+breeding
http://arachnoboards.com/ab/showthr...reeding-advice&highlight=latrodectus+breeding
and learned a lot, but was more curious of a few of the simpler aspects to start off. Is there a recommended way to introduce the male to the female, or is it as simple as stick him in there and he does his thing? I know that if the male announces himself improperly there's a decent chance he could end up a meal and seeing as how I only have one male of one of my species, I'd like to keep him intact if possible. The females of some species seem more aggressive than others (L. hasselti sound fairly aggressive, especially considering that they eat the males >90% of the time), whereas other species seem much more laid back about the process. Of course there's some variation within a species, but that's another thread for another day.
I have a mixture of tropical, pan-tropical, and temperate species right now, and I was wondering if anyone exposed the more temperate species to cool temps for extended periods of time before attempting to breed them or to get a female to drop a sac. I know in the threads copied above, Buthus talked extensively on how he had to expose certain species (L variolus for example) to cooler temps for a few months to simulate winter conditions in order to get them to breed and thrive. I do also have L. pallidus, but my slings are very small now so I'm not worrying about breeding until I can at least sex them. Do these more temperate species need a cool down period every year, or is it more just to get them to breed? Some species seem to grow larger when they have a cool down period, but that's not something I'm looking to try right now.
Has anyone had issues with regards to temps, or is this mostly speculation at this point?
Also, many Latrodectus seem to do best in a dry(ish) environment, excluding tropical species such as L. bishopi, though the threads above mentioned keeping them at fairly high humidity (70-75%). I've noticed that mold growing on prey remains or the skewer pieces I put in for them to build their webs on doesn't really affect them, but I was curious to other people's thoughts/experiences with that as well.
I know that in the end, I could just ask the people that have sold/traded me some widows in the past, but I figure this thread could really serve as a good pool of information for anyone else who's interested in the future, not just on breeding, but maybe a bit on care as well
http://arachnoboards.com/ab/showthr...g-white-widows&highlight=latrodectus+breeding
http://arachnoboards.com/ab/showthr...reeding-advice&highlight=latrodectus+breeding
and learned a lot, but was more curious of a few of the simpler aspects to start off. Is there a recommended way to introduce the male to the female, or is it as simple as stick him in there and he does his thing? I know that if the male announces himself improperly there's a decent chance he could end up a meal and seeing as how I only have one male of one of my species, I'd like to keep him intact if possible. The females of some species seem more aggressive than others (L. hasselti sound fairly aggressive, especially considering that they eat the males >90% of the time), whereas other species seem much more laid back about the process. Of course there's some variation within a species, but that's another thread for another day.
I have a mixture of tropical, pan-tropical, and temperate species right now, and I was wondering if anyone exposed the more temperate species to cool temps for extended periods of time before attempting to breed them or to get a female to drop a sac. I know in the threads copied above, Buthus talked extensively on how he had to expose certain species (L variolus for example) to cooler temps for a few months to simulate winter conditions in order to get them to breed and thrive. I do also have L. pallidus, but my slings are very small now so I'm not worrying about breeding until I can at least sex them. Do these more temperate species need a cool down period every year, or is it more just to get them to breed? Some species seem to grow larger when they have a cool down period, but that's not something I'm looking to try right now.
Has anyone had issues with regards to temps, or is this mostly speculation at this point?
Also, many Latrodectus seem to do best in a dry(ish) environment, excluding tropical species such as L. bishopi, though the threads above mentioned keeping them at fairly high humidity (70-75%). I've noticed that mold growing on prey remains or the skewer pieces I put in for them to build their webs on doesn't really affect them, but I was curious to other people's thoughts/experiences with that as well.
I know that in the end, I could just ask the people that have sold/traded me some widows in the past, but I figure this thread could really serve as a good pool of information for anyone else who's interested in the future, not just on breeding, but maybe a bit on care as well