Egg sac help for my Rosea

[katmakeup]

I came home on Tuesday night to find that my Rosea, Sally, had laid an egg sac. I read a lot of the forums on this site and have tried to keep it moist and warm in her cage. Nor have I bothered her other than changing the water and wetting a little bit of the substrate.

However, for the past 24 hours she has ignored the egg sac. It seems to have withered and reduced in size and flattened out a bit. She is currently in her hide with a bit of a barrier of webbing around her and hasn't rotated it in a while.

I haven't mated her with anyone, but got her as an adult about 5 months ago from a pet store. I would really like to preserve and hatch the eggs if possible. PS, I can't keep the slings once born, so any ideas on what to do with them would be great.

1. Is the egg sac a dud?
2. How can you tell if it's a dud?
3. Should I feed her?
4. How often should she be rotating it, etc?
5. What should I do if the eggs are viable? I can't keep them, so any ideas would be great.

Please help! Thank you!

 

[grayzone]

usually id assume that its a "phantom" sack due to you not pairing it, but it IS a rosie that was purchased from a LPS..
It is likely WC (wild caught) and COULD have mated in the wild prior to capture.

Given the fact that your t has discarded the sack for so long, id assume its no good anyways (even IF it wasnt a "phantom sack" that is) and it will likely produce no viable slings.
Try incubating if you want, but you will likely not get anything other than experience.
At least you know you have a girl

you can find all the answers to your questions here > http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?14037-Grammostola-rosea give the thread a good read, then come back asking any questions still remaining

 

[katmakeup]

Hi Grayzone:
Thank you so much for the response. I read the thread you sent, thank you.

Okay, so if the sac isn't viable, I will remove it. Can I feed her now? Or should I leave it in there to see if she will eat it? The sac is still in the same position and she has ignored it now for two+ days.

 

[Skeri]

If she has been completely ignoring it, I would remove the sack and open it to check if it is viable. If your not sure if it is viable you can post pictures and i'm sure we'd all be willing to help. If it isn't discard it. If it is, you can incubate it. If you don't know how to do that I can point you in the right direction. After you remove the sac offer her a cricket or whatever your feeder is as you normally would and if she doesn't take it just remove it and try again in a couple days

 

[Stan Schultz]

... I came home on Tuesday night to find that my Rosea, Sally, had laid an egg sac. ...

What Grayzone said is effectively correct except that there may still be a few viable eggs left among those that didn't make it.

Visit Care and Husbandry.... Be sure to read the whole thing, but pay particular attention to the part entitled "Breeding in Captivity." You should seriously consider opening the eggsac as described in that webpage just to see what's happening. If you see a bunch of yellow, translucent beads, there's still a chance you could hatch a few if you take precautions not to let them dry out. Put the opened eggsac in a small container and return them to Momma's cage for the moment. Then, make a major effort to get to your favorite neighborhood department store to buy the parts detailed under the heading "The Nefcy Incubator." Set up the incubator and follow the remainder of the instructions. If the eggs turn dark brown or black you should very carefully remove them with a teaspoon.

As an aid to knowing how to care for any resulting babies you can read those books suggested in Stan's Rant, AND ESPECIALLY THE SWAGERLE BOOK!

Best of luck.


Enjoy your little 8-legged Momma!

 

[katmakeup]

Hi Skeri and Pikaia:

I took the eggsac out and opened it. There were still some viable eggs, which I believe are viable and fertilized. I put them in an incubator and fed Sally two crickets which she immediately ate!

Thank you so much for your responses and the links! I am still trying to figure out how to post photos, but I will keep trying!

Kat and Sally