Empty the egg sack and return it to the female.

[keeper2013]

I've heard of people removing the egg sack, take out the eggs, stuff with cotton and return it to the female. Why????

 

[Hobo]

Because people feel bad that sometimes the female will appear to look frantically about for the missing egg sac?
I don't know. I'm not sure. I read the same thing when I started out too.

I've done it a few times in the beginning, usually they just get rid of it by the next day. One kept it for a while.
Now, if I take a sac, I don't bother giving the empty part back. They seem to "get over it" faster that way IME, if that's what people are worried about

 

[catfishrod69]

Basically what Hobo said. I removed a sac from a P. irminia female, and gave her a adult male dubia. The next day he was a big bolus. She carried that bolus around for atleast 4 days.

 

[keeper2013]

Thanks guys. When I pull it, I think I'll put a fake one back to see what happens. Don't think it can hurt.

 

[Poec54]

When I pull it, I think I'll put a fake one back to see what happens.

I don't know that that will fool them. Not going to feel or smell the same.

 

[pyro fiend]

I don't know that that will fool them. Not going to feel or smell the same.

dont give newbies any bright ideas..i remember some people trying to give wooden eggs with leather shells back to constrictors. sounds more like baseballs to me but ppl did it... i can forsea a newbie using water absorbing balls to try and memic the eggs -.-

 

[Poec54]

dont give newbies any bright ideas.

I'm not. I'm saying don't bother. Spiders lose sacs in the wild, they move on.

 

[Exoskeleton Invertebrates]

This is the first time I ever heard about this. Why would you give her an empty sac? It's bad enough in captivity that we take the sac away from the female, in the wild they loose it to a fight with another predator, bad sac, eat it, or simply bad mothers. I would take the sac when the time is right and let the female be herself she will adjust quickly of not having the egg sac anymore.



-Jose

 

[je2000]

It's a spider, not a cat who lost her kittens. I guess it'd be interesting to see how it treats a fake sac, but if you're worried about its "emotions" then well, you have nothing to worry about as they don't have any.

 

[Poec54]

I don't agree. I think they have simple emotions, nothing as sophisticated as a mammal's, but when a basic urge is denied (hunger, thirst, shelter) they feel stress, and when that urge is fulfilled, the stress is gone and they're content. A lot of our emotions are driven by those same things.

 

[keeper2013]

It's a spider, not a cat who lost her kittens. I guess it'd be interesting to see how it treats a fake sac, but if you're worried about its "emotions" then well, you have nothing to worry about as they don't have any.

May not be emotions as we know them, but maybe when you're more experienced and pull some sacks you will see how they defend it. It's one of the best ways to be attacked and bitten. You might not call it emotion.

---------- Post added 11-29-2014 at 05:23 PM ----------

dont give newbies any bright ideas..i remember some people trying to give wooden eggs with leather shells back to constrictors. sounds more like baseballs to me but ppl did it... i can forsea a newbie using water absorbing balls to try and memic the eggs -.-

You have something against newbies? "Don't give them any bright ideas" ?? This is the reason this board has such a bad reputation on other boards. "Newbies" post on other boards about how when they ask a question they get rude and condescending replies.

---------- Post added 11-29-2014 at 05:29 PM ----------

It's a spider, not a cat who lost her kittens. I guess it'd be interesting to see how it treats a fake sac, but if you're worried about its "emotions" then well, you have nothing to worry about as they don't have any.

Could you point us to the article that you got your information from. There is a very fine line between a stress reaction and an emotion. I would like to read the article.

 

[Poec54]

May not be emotions as we know them, but maybe when you're more experienced and pull some sacks you will see how they defend it.

They definitely don't want to let go of the sacs. I've had some tug-of-wars with my females. But once the sac is gone, I don't think they dwell on it like a mammal would.

 

[catfishrod69]

Try taking sacs away from Heterothele gabonensis. The sacs are half the size of a dime. I had the edge of a sac in my tweezers, and a female latched onto the other side with a death grip. But she was dangling in mid air. I tried for a good 30 minutes to get that sac out of her grip.

They definitely don't want to let go of the sacs.

 

[pyro fiend]

You have something against newbies? "Don't give them any bright ideas" ?? This is the reason this board has such a bad reputation on other boards. "Newbies" post on other boards about how when they ask a question they get rude and condescending replies.

it was simply a joke... i myself am a noob... iv been roaming these boards for years.. you gota have a thick skin and a sense of humor to stick around.. im on many other forums roaming. and all are the same way. noob questions always get bashed whether its a coral forum a T forum or a betta fish forum.. you always get a third degree...

 

[je2000]

When I said emotions I guess I meant more along the lines of human emotions.

We might be talking semantics. I won't find any paper about spider emotions because they probably don't exist. Their brains just don't support it. Instinct and emotions are two different animals.

Higher mammals like dogs, don't get sad about being blind. They develop emotional responses to abuse that caused their blindness. But, as Poec said, they get over it.

A dog that has been blinded and is in a healthy environment simply thinks "Oh, it's dark all the time now." And they adapt. However if they were blinded by a certain event, like abuse, will avoid it.

This could get into quite the philosophical discussion. Can we agree that the spider brain is incapable of higher emotions? More instinctual responses. Take the sac, it gets pissed. That's an emotion for sure.

 

[keeper2013]

it was simply a joke... i myself am a noob... iv been roaming these boards for years.. you gota have a thick skin and a sense of humor to stick around.. im on many other forums roaming. and all are the same way. noob questions always get bashed whether its a coral forum a T forum or a betta fish forum.. you always get a third degree...

No you're wrong there. I am on many boards also and I don't see the replies there like I do here when a newbie, or anyone for that matter asks a question. There is only one board that is mentioned as not a good place for a new guy to ask a question. The very first question I ever ask here was met with rude replies by some. No-one should have to have thick skin to ask a question.

 

[pyro fiend]

No you're wrong there. I am on many boards also and I don't see the replies there like I do here when a newbie, or anyone for that matter asks a question. There is only one board that is mentioned as not a good place for a new guy to ask a question. The very first question I ever ask here was met with rude replies by some. No-one should have to have thick skin to ask a question.

well then you must be on some happy go lucky, everyones perfect forum. heck iv had my head ripped off for using plants in cichlid tanks even, when i already had them in the tank for months with no issues [they just tear them up and uproot]. so you cant tell me noone gets bad comments in other forums.. in todays society we have people who just like to be trolls as well. plus those who are constantly annoyed hearing the same Q's because noone uses the little search function. sure. they shouldnt rip at your gills and make you all mad. but you cant be a jellyfish online. some people have made names many times on all sites just to be a-holes..

i was kidding and your rearing up. iv been in the hobby less then a year. sure i keep other animals but im just as clueless as others as new.. heck i had a pannic attack when my avic wouldnt eat and i didnt know what premolt looked like irl.. just like other 'newbs'..sure some members here are worse then others. some go out of their way to even avoid new members because of this..

 

[Poec54]

There is only one board that is mentioned as not a good place for a new guy to ask a question. The very first question I ever ask here was met with rude replies by some. No-one should have to have thick skin to ask a question.

Here's the thing: I don't think it's asking too much that a new tarantula owner, or soon to be, does some online research first, and then asks much better questions here. Meet us halfway. If you can't make that much effort, can you really expect to be spoon fed Tarantula 101 basics by someone else? That could dominate these forums and what incentive is there for the experienced collectors and breeders to come back? They're answering the same entry level questions day after day, lots of cutesy stuff, and they stop coming here. Look at old threads. We've lost a number of really knowledgeable people over the last 5 and 10 years. People that had info that we need. They got bored.

There's a balance between new and experienced people. You need new blood, but you need a lot of people with experience in husbandry, breeding, and taxonomy. They're the backbone of a site. Without them, you don't have much. I've helped many beginners here, and I've also been disappointed by some that have made zero effort on their own, and expect to us to regurgitate the same entry level info for each of them. That's not being considerate to us. Show us you care about your spider, and show us you respect our time. We're volunteers, and sometimes we get frustrated by people jamming up these forums with things that they could have found online in a matter of seconds. That's not how we want to spend our spare time. We're here to learn from others, and to help those truly interested in keeping and breeding these animals long term. A good indicator is how much homework someone does up front on their own. Are they're truly fascinated and interested, or did they buy a spider on a whim, and probably won't keep it long? Don't expect us to drop everything to continually answer rudimentary questions that the person could have found out themselves in the time it took them to ask it here. Be respectful of our time. Show us your commitment. Then you'll be welcomed with open arms. We were all beginners ourselves.