Elaborate molt mat or????/

[Maxrpm]

For the past 2 weeks my G. rosea has been constructing what I think is a molt mat. I purchased her from Petco on May 1st of this year and assume she is wild caught because she is an adult and also missing one leg.

Do they usually go to this degree when making one or could this girl possible be gravid and i'm about to become a grandpa?? None of my other T's have went to this much work so i'm kinda at a loss here..

Sorry for quality of pic my batteries are dead for digital so had to take it with my Blackberry.

 

[xhexdx]

Looks like it could be gearing up to drop a sac.

 

[Pete d]

I just took my Rosie's egg sac away from her the other day with 150 eggs in it and this is exactly what it looked like when she was webbing... looks like shes gunna roll up an egg sac to me

this is what my rosie's web looked like:

 

[BrettG]

You might want to look at building an incubator,and getting a couple hundred deli cups just in case...

 

[Maxrpm]

Oh boy..

really wasn't expecting that..

Thanks

 

[Pete d]

You might want to look at building an incubator,and getting a couple hundred deli cups just in case...

wouldn't go out buying anything yet tbh.. you can get cheap incubators fine but they can have false eggsacs and you have no idea how many eggs shes going to lay.

you can keep them together until 2nd instar (molted twice) anyway and count them before cashing out on deli pots.

i suggest doing a bit of research into looking after the eggsacs and your T just incase.

try checking out this thread: http://atshq.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13014

 

[Maxrpm]

I just watched a video of robc's new incubator tutorial and will probably go pick up the stuff tomorrow just in case..

I'll wait on the deli cups till later.

Call of Duty Black Ops is gonna have to wait.. Time to crash course on being a T granpa

Man i'm more nervous now than when my own kids were born.. lol

 

[Wachusaynoob]

Can you post some more pictures?
I'm currently breeding my rosea and it's intriguing how they set these webs up- and there's not many pictures on here of them.

 

[xhexdx]

You know, you can always let the spider keep the sac...

 

[Maxrpm]

You know, you can always let the spider keep the sac...

But don't they have to be kept at around 80% humidity?

I really never wanted to ever breed my T's or any of my other critters but now that I possibly have a sac on the way i'm kinda excited and want to give them the best possible chance. I realize she would be a far better mom than I ever could be but being as she is not in her natural habitat the conditions aren't the same. I also heard G. rosea are notorious for destroying their sacs.



Here is a better quality picture.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[Pete d]

seeing as you're in the same situation as i was around a month ago ill give you a brief outline as to what i did.

basically you need to make sure theres not live food in the terrarium and that the water is kept clean becuase it can go mouldy.

leave her with the eggsac for 30days is what i did. it takes time for the eggs to develop before you can open the sac and the earlier you take them away from her the less chance they have of surviving. if shes a good mother then she'll regularly turn the eggsac over to stop the eggs from sticking together.

the disadvantage to her keeping it is that if she gets too hungry or is tempted by a stray cricket/roach then they can be known to eat their own eggsac.

when you do finally take it away from her keep her well back as she'll get very defensive. and reward her with some food aswell.

lift the sac from the cage with some prongs (its strong enough to stay together if you grab a corner) you need to open the sac very carefully which can take time if you want to stop damage. and cut it open with a pair of nail scissors. then you need to keep the eggs warm and in a humid place. best way to achieve this is an incubator and a wet paper towel. (this is the setup i currently have)

eventually the eggs will turn white and grow legs and this is when you need to separate them. VERY carefully because theyre extremely fragile. do not pick them up with your bare hands.

put them in small containers with a little bit of sub in the bottom and feed them 1-2 pinheads a week untill they get a bit bigger. the rest is trial and error. feel free to ask if you have any questions and good luck!

 

[tarantulagirl10]

Oh wow, that's a rather largish bum she's got. I'd say she's going to drop a sac.

 

[xhexdx]

eventually the eggs will turn white and grow legs and this is when you need to separate them.

Not sure where you heard/read this, but you're wrong.

From eggs they molt into eggs with legs (also called postembryos), then 1st instar, then 2nd instar. 2nd instar is where they would need to be separated to prevent cannibalism and also when you would begin to feed them.

 

[Pete d]

Can you post some more pictures?
I'm currently breeding my rosea and it's intriguing how they set these webs up- and there's not many pictures on here of them.

unfortunately i dont have many of her web
(see my pic above)

but heres some of her eggsac/eggs

Not sure where you heard/read this, but you're wrong.

From eggs they molt into eggs with legs (also called postembryos), then 1st instar, then 2nd instar. 2nd instar is where they would need to be separated to prevent cannibalism and also when you would begin to feed them.

yeah sorry... grow is completely the wrong word. you are of course right my mistake

 

[Maxrpm]

Now whats going on here?? She's cutting out what i assume is the sac webbing but it's all wadded up and she has pulled substrate onto the top of the web that she constructed the sac web. She randomly takes off and starts webbing on the other side of her enclosure and then webs back and just sits there for a bit. She has lost half of her girth in her abdomen and she just seems like she is really exhausted...

Hope that all makes sense..

Here's a pic.. not the greatest but didn't want to disturb her trying to get a perfect pic.

 

[Ictinike]

Now whats going on here?? She's cutting out what i assume is the sac webbing but it's all wadded up and she has pulled substrate onto the top of the web that she constructed the sac web. She randomly takes off and starts webbing on the other side of her enclosure and then webs back and just sits there for a bit. She has lost half of her girth in her abdomen and she just seems like she is really exhausted...

Hope that all makes sense..

Here's a pic.. not the greatest but didn't want to disturb her trying to get a perfect pic.

If she looks as you state half her girth and she's doing what you say (and the picture most likely confirms), she's already laid the eggs and is now wrapping them up into the sac.

At least based on your description and the image it looks and sounds as such..

Good luck!

 

[Maxrpm]

She lost her girth before she had the sac web completely cut out. I don't know where the eggs are. Thats the confusing part. I was watching her for a long time and the substrate was originally under the sac web and on top of the web that she constructed the sac web on

 

[Ictinike]

Hmm.. Maybe I'm missing something..

They way they go about making a sac is as such..

She spins up a bowl shaped web on the ground, much like your second image (the really good one)

She then will position herself over and the eggs will come plopping out on top of the bowl webbing..

She'll then web over them a few times to seal them in and then finally take the webbing from the bowl webbing mat she made initially and rip those down and wrap up the eggs almost like making a burrito, to say it like that, lol..

She'll continue a bit to web over the mass then keep pulling the sides of the bowl down ultimately coming out with a round or egg shaped sac that she'll roll around to keep the eggs from sticking or sitting idle..

The substrate your seeing may be from those areas of webbing she had in the bowl and it's just being included into the sac itself..

 

[Maxrpm]

Well that might explain it then.. Can you see the eggs through the top layer of webbing before she cuts it down?? If not I came upon her while she was cutting it down and I just assumed they cut it out, laid the eggs then rolled it up..

I might have actually missed the laying of the eggs and she put down the top layer of web over the eggs..

Wow I love this hobby.. so much to learn and fascinating..

She now has it rolled into a ball..

Thanks

 

[Ictinike]

Well that might explain it then.. Can you see the eggs through the top layer of webbing before she cuts it down?? If not I came upon her while she was cutting it down and I just assumed they cut it out, laid the eggs then rolled it up..

I might have actually missed the laying of the eggs and she put down the top layer of web over the eggs..

Wow I love this hobby.. so much to learn and fascinating..

She now has it rolled into a ball..

Thanks

Yep I believe you missed the eggs being laid.. Watch this video of RobC's T rolling up the sac shortly after laying the eggs. You can see the T pulling back the webbing she laid earlier on top of the eggs and kinda folding over the edges and then she'll roll it to kinda seal up the webbing and make it a round sac..

This is what I believe you were seeing and show in the last photo..

[YOUTUBE]D7yrRsIQW5w[/YOUTUBE]