Female Black Widow had babies HELP!!!

[Widowman10]

Incidentally, since you know widows, have you ever had L. pallidus? Just curious, as this species interests me.

yes! check page 5 of my picture thread! (link in signature)

 

[jess578]

Quick question: what kind of habitat do you keep them in so that you can safely open and close it without the threat of a million babies flowing out in a giant wave of tiny venomous adorableness?

 

[Widowman10]

Quick question: what kind of habitat do you keep them in so that you can safely open and close it without the threat of a million babies flowing out in a giant wave of tiny venomous adorableness?

hahaha, i usually do a snap lid so i can crack it open. no screw tops for me when slings are involved.

 

[Widowman10]

alright, HERE is the page with some info on care of sacs & slings. hope you all enjoy. if i missed some questions or can add anything, please let me know. thanks!

 

[Great Basin Ben]

I can also confer from a friend/breeder of Black Widows, who breeds them for the medical industry, that IN CAPTIVITY, what has been described, is indeed, how they behave. The mother will in fact kill any offerings, and then simply "back off" in order to apparently allow the slings the opportunity to feed. Whether or not this is defined as "maternalism", the mother does indeed seems to exhibit very maternal tendencies, when rearing is performed in captivity. At a given inevitable point, cannibalism will incur, and this is when slings should be seperated, and housed in individual vials. If you get the right vial, and rack set-up, hydration, is as simple as placing the rack into a sealed 10 gallon, and spraying... feeding the littlest ones, can be the real chore, but flightless fruit flies seems to ultimately be the easiest way to go...

Although the (4) females I'm currently keeping have not yet laid egg sacks, I too, am looking forward to LOTS of little widows in my very near future as well. Best of luck, and keep us up to speed, hopefully with some pics!

Take care,
Ben.

 

[Widowman10]

i have yet to see anything published on this. or have i yet observed this. latros, in nature, are not sub-social. they don't go out and catch food to feed their slings. their "maternal care" ceases after weaving the sac and guarding it. again, slings might "opportunistically feed" off the mothers kill sometimes. ok, i've seen that.

yes, that's a great idea for humidity GBBen!

and with *tiny* slings, sometimes FFF aren't the best option. even the FF seem too big and fast and the slings will sometimes shrink back.

 

[Nikye]

Does anybody know how to setup an incubator

 

[Owinlovesfalsewidows]

Female Black Widow had babies HELP!!! What does a baby spider like this eat?

I separated her from her egg sack about 1 month before they hatched. Now I have about 200 s-lings crawling around. The thing is they are so tiny what do I feed them? prekilled crickets and roaches? pieces of meat? I am lost but I want them to thrive. So far all I have done is wet a piece of tissue and put it in there so they can drink. Please help any advise is appreciated

Flightless fruit flies are my go-to for very small spiders and I'd recommend putting the babies (separated,they're cannibals) into a little pill containers until they're big enough to be moved into something like a deli cup