Help! Something is wrong with my Black Widow

[Spider Drummer]

I have a Latrodectus mactan. She is about 2 years old at most. I raised her from a tiny little speck that was so small you could hardly tell it was a spider at all. She has done great so far and is by far my favorite spider in my small collection of 20. Her name is Speck because of the above fact.
Recently I noticed a major change. I fed her but after a while night with the cricket she did not eat. That is very odd for her. So I took the cricket out and noticed her trying to walk around on the web but she was having a lot of problems with stability and keeps jerking her abdomen around almost like she has to do that to move. Her movement is very jerky, unstable and odd.

She's not in molt or premolt that I can tell. She usually gets this brownish hue to her when she does but her color is nice and black and her hourglass is a brilliant red. I'm very worried that something is majorly wrong. It's been three days. I have increased her water a little and taken off the vented top and replaced it with fine mesh screen to give her more air flow. I crushed a cricket and put it right on the web with her and she did feed from it but is still having the same symptoms. Any thoughts or advice is totally welcome. I really don't want to loose her if it's avoidable at all.
Thanks for your help!

 

[IntermittentSygnal]

Might be her time.

@darkness975

 

[fcat]

Pictures and/or video so someone like @darkness975 can weigh in?

 

[Godsmack1934]

I had one and she started doing that in the last few weeks I had her mostly with the not eating because she got super reclusive and spent most of the time sitting still. I really hope everything works out for you and your spider.

 

[darkness975]

I have a Latrodectus mactan. She is about 2 years old at most. I raised her from a tiny little speck that was so small you could hardly tell it was a spider at all. She has done great so far and is by far my favorite spider in my small collection of 20. Her name is Speck because of the above fact.
Recently I noticed a major change. I fed her but after a while night with the cricket she did not eat. That is very odd for her. So I took the cricket out and noticed her trying to walk around on the web but she was having a lot of problems with stability and keeps jerking her abdomen around almost like she has to do that to move. Her movement is very jerky, unstable and odd.

She's not in molt or premolt that I can tell. She usually gets this brownish hue to her when she does but her color is nice and black and her hourglass is a brilliant red. I'm very worried that something is majorly wrong. It's been three days. I have increased her water a little and taken off the vented top and replaced it with fine mesh screen to give her more air flow. I crushed a cricket and put it right on the web with her and she did feed from it but is still having the same symptoms. Any thoughts or advice is totally welcome. I really don't want to loose her if it's avoidable at all.
Thanks for your help!

The average life span for a female is 2 to 3 years.

I would bet old age is what is going on here.

 

[Spider Drummer]

Pictures and/or video so someone like @darkness975 can weigh in?

She is still alive so I will try to get a video of her in the morning. Thanks for helping!

 

[Spider Drummer]

The average life span for a female is 2 to 3 years.

I would bet old age is what is going on here.

I was surely hoping for the 3 years side of it. More if possible. When ya raise a critter from just days after it was"born" you have quite a deep love for it and that is definitely the case here. She was definitely sent to me before she had even left the web. When I got her with a shipment of some other spiders, I thought he sent me an empty vile. She was so small that if you took a ball point own and made a dot with the tip, that would be about her size. I had to smash the smallest fruit flies for her to eat. She did great with it too. Sorry, just walking down memory lane as they say. I'm really not ready to loose her. She is my only Widow. I have had others such as the Australian Red Back, Brown Widows and Red Widows. But she was the first one that I raised from such an early start. BTW the fellow I got her from was later shut down for importing issues and having unethical practice in sales and care. Basically a puppy mill for spiders.

If this is because of Specks age and she is going to pass soon then I would like to get another soon. I don't really want to have that missing enclosure in my set up. It would just be a constant reminder that she is gone. Does anyone know of a good place that I can get another?

Thanks for your help and I apologize for my long message

 

[Spider Drummer]

I had one and she started doing that in the last few weeks I had her mostly with the not eating because she got super reclusive and spent most of the time sitting still. I really hope everything works out for you and your spider.

Sorry you lost your Widow. That is the sad thing about true spiders. They are so cool and so much fun to have around but they just don't live as long as we would like them too.

Yesterday, I crushed another cricket and put it right where she rests on her web and she did end up eating it over night. She had water too but she's still doing that whole jerking thing and can't move very far.

Thank you for sharing!

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Sorry you lost your Widow. That is the sad thing about true spiders. They are so cool and so much fun to have around but they just don't live as long as we would like them too.

Yesterday, I crushed another cricket and put it right where she rests on her web and she did end up eating it over night. She had water too but she's still doing that whole jerking thing and can't move very far.

Thank you for sharing!

true spiders sadly with exception of an few species that I don’t know if are in the hobby don’t live long . 🥲
Velvet spiders live a little longer than widows?

 

[Godsmack1934]

Sorry you lost your Widow. That is the sad thing about true spiders. They are so cool and so much fun to have around but they just don't live as long as we would like them too.

Yesterday, I crushed another cricket and put it right where she rests on her web and she did end up eating it over night. She had water too but she's still doing that whole jerking thing and can't move very far.

Thank you for sharing!

It's good that she's eating atleast.

 

[darkness975]

Does anyone know of a good place that I can get another?

PM me if you want. I know some good places.

 

[Spider Drummer]

Pictures and/or video so someone like @darkness975 can weigh in?

Here she is moving around. Sorry about the noise. My tv was tuned up loud.

 

[Contingence]

Here she is moving around. Sorry about the noise. My tv was tuned up loud.

That terrarium looks absolutely soaked; widows typically do well in dry environments and have been documented to live for absurd lengths of time without any moisture intake at all. If you do plan on getting another one, even the amount of moisture in the substrate should be more than enough to keep her comfortable.
I'm sorry Speck is having such a difficult time; it's wild how connected to these little creatures we can become

 

[The Snark]

widows typically do well in dry environments and have been documented to live for absurd lengths of time without any moisture intake at all.

As in their native habitat includes all four deserts in the southwest inclusive of Death Valley. Most recently determined to be ectothermic which is coupled to their reproduction.

Latrodectus hesperus

animaldiversity.org

 

[Contingence]

... Most recently determined to be ectothermic which is coupled to their reproduction.

That makes sense. I should have specified that I was talking about L. mactans, but yeah L. hesperus is even more resilient in dry heat. Southern widow range corresponds pretty well with the chunk of the eastern half of the country that gets a steady stream of warm, moist air from the gulf -- which is not to say they need a lot of water to survive, just that they are more tolerant of humidity when the temperature is right -- while western widows thrive in the literal desert. L. variolus seems to be the only widow species that can survive in a cooler temperate environment, given its range.

 

[CRX]

Here she is moving around. Sorry about the noise. My tv was tuned up loud.

..Why is, her enclosure so wet bro? Is that all on the outside? I'm struggling to understand this.