california widows?

[chuck]

i just bought a few black widows from Malhavoc. He/She?They had native species, and he/she/they live(s) in cali. Is there just one species of widow in cali, or am i not that lucky enough? Anyone know which species do live in Cali to help narrow down my search?
thanks

 

[JPD]

L.hesperus would be the only Black Widow species residing in Cali. (that's not to say that you couldn't find a transplanted L.mactans or L.variolus).
L.geometricus (Brown Widow) is now known to reside in California as well. And don't forget the most famous Latrodectus.........L.schwarzeneggeris. That was stupid....sorry.

 

[conway]

And don't forget the most famous Latrodectus.........L.schwarzeneggeris

i think i found him..

http://www.geocities.com/beansace/untitled.JPG

 

[chuck]

well i was just reading one of Kug's old threads and learned a little about how to tell the difference btwn a few species. saw some great pics too. so when i went to my room to see which pic one looks similar to my widow i find AN EGG SACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wtf do i do?
how long till they hatch?
do they produce dud sacks?
will she allow me to take the sack with no struggle? this is my first widow and i'm still scared of the bite.

 

[JPD]

They can incubate anywhere from 8-30 days. The spiderlings are incredibly small so my advice to you, unless you want to deal with several hundred babies is to remove it with a pair of tweezers and either burn it or freeze it. If you do decide to keep it, place it in a seperate container with airholes made with a push pin or none at all. Once the eggsac darkens, you can open it up and watch the action. If you remove it and don't open the eggsac, they will perish eventually.
As far as aggression at removal...just be careful. Mom will likely run up to the eggsac initially, however, once she realizes that you mean business, she will usually beat a hasty retreat. Keep a close eye on mom because when you do start pulling on the eggsac to remove it, you will likely pull some of the webbing out as well which mom can easily maneuver across although it is unlikely.
Widows spiders are very gentle creatures and rarely bite unless provoked or threatened. With that said, you should still never get so comfortable with them that you forget how powerful of an envenomation they can bring on.
Best of luck....and enjoy....they make wonderful captives!

 

[chuck]

so if i do decide to keep them, i would have to open the sack for them? if i do keep them i'll let Darwin take care of them...survival of the fitest, let them thin their numbers down themselves. thanks for the help...just need some help from good ol' liquid courage. :}

 

[JPD]

Liquid courage....yes!
If you leave the eggsac with the mom, she will open it....I found this out the hard way. I hadn't checked in on my L.hesperus due to packing and moving etc...After getting situated in our new place, I began to notice tiny white spiderlings around the shelves that I keep all of my widows. I went through all of my widows and found that one had indeed made an eggsac and there were still quite a number of babies scattered about. What to do.....plenty of jumping spiders in our area so I have been doing a catch and release with the jumpers hoping that they will eliminate any of the remaining babies that I have not been able to track down.
In any case, widows are amazing creatures and should be respected not feared. They are a joy to feed because their techniques used to capture prey can be likened to a calf roper at a rodeo.
I have had direct contact with several of my adult females without incident although I don't recommend it at all. Anyway, have fun!

 

[biznacho]

I prefer to feed the ones in the backyard and leave it at that. I have no interest in bringing them inside voluntarily. A very cool creature to watch eat.

biznacho

 

[yeR_NarKoTiK]

i had to keep a black widow for a science project in 9th grade and i kept her longer as a pet til she had her eggsac, and i just stuck her outside under a bucket where i'd found her ... faaaaaaar from the house =) theyre a great species, only agressive when you play with their eggsacs or corner them. ive got a picture of her somewhere, her abdomen was the size of a skittle... newhoo im rambling lol

 

[chuck]

just found a couple of beetles hanging onto the screen outside my window so i cought them and thru them into the widows tank. one fell to the dirt and another wasnt as lucky and fell onto a twig. once it moved she was on it. i always thought they would bite then wrap it up in web. but this poor thing is still struggling in a cocoon. do the mothers capture food for their soon to be hatched young? if so, does she know i took her sack from her?