I've had a female phidippus regius for a few months now, and have kept several before, though this is the first time this has happened.
She started building a nest a few weeks ago. Initially I thought it might be an egg sac, but as time went on, it seemed to thin out and I thought maybe she was just taking an extra long time molting. The day before yesterday the nest was very thin, and I didn't see anything going on inside except her walking around, so I figured it was all clear.
But no. This evening when went I went to see if she had come out so I could feed her, she wasn't there anymore, but the nest had been built back up quite a bit, and I could see babies walking around inside. Just a small handful visible right now. She was on the other side of the enclosure, and I was able to feed her.
I'm worried because I don't really know how quickly to expect the babies to start coming out, and I don't really want them getting out into the enclosure because it's larger than normal and I don't think I'll find and catch them very easily, not to mention they would definitely be able to escape the top of the enclosure. I have covered the top with fine mesh for the night just in case, but tomorrow I would really like to move them to a more secure enclosure if possible. I will go with putting the whole thing inside a butterfly enclosure if I have to, but that doesn't sound ideal.
The sac could be easily moved as it's built inside a small loose piece of hollow wood, and I wouldn't have to touch the sac itself at all. I'm not sure if mom needs to be moved with them for now - if so that's no problem. I don't know if they still need her, and if they do I'm unsure if moving them would stress her out too much to care for them anymore or something like that.
I'm also a little worried because I did pick up the entire piece of wood they are in a couple of times to verify what I was looking at, and to catch a stray food item I didn't want to leave in there unsupervised. The sac is probably fine, but I don't know if I disturbed the mom too much...though, when I went back about 30 minutes later she still had food in her mouth in the same spot on the opposite side of the enclosure, and she didn't move the whole time I was trying to get the top covered. Now I'm just letting them all be for the night.
Anyway, insight or advice would be really appreciated. Thanks!
She started building a nest a few weeks ago. Initially I thought it might be an egg sac, but as time went on, it seemed to thin out and I thought maybe she was just taking an extra long time molting. The day before yesterday the nest was very thin, and I didn't see anything going on inside except her walking around, so I figured it was all clear.
But no. This evening when went I went to see if she had come out so I could feed her, she wasn't there anymore, but the nest had been built back up quite a bit, and I could see babies walking around inside. Just a small handful visible right now. She was on the other side of the enclosure, and I was able to feed her.
I'm worried because I don't really know how quickly to expect the babies to start coming out, and I don't really want them getting out into the enclosure because it's larger than normal and I don't think I'll find and catch them very easily, not to mention they would definitely be able to escape the top of the enclosure. I have covered the top with fine mesh for the night just in case, but tomorrow I would really like to move them to a more secure enclosure if possible. I will go with putting the whole thing inside a butterfly enclosure if I have to, but that doesn't sound ideal.
The sac could be easily moved as it's built inside a small loose piece of hollow wood, and I wouldn't have to touch the sac itself at all. I'm not sure if mom needs to be moved with them for now - if so that's no problem. I don't know if they still need her, and if they do I'm unsure if moving them would stress her out too much to care for them anymore or something like that.
I'm also a little worried because I did pick up the entire piece of wood they are in a couple of times to verify what I was looking at, and to catch a stray food item I didn't want to leave in there unsupervised. The sac is probably fine, but I don't know if I disturbed the mom too much...though, when I went back about 30 minutes later she still had food in her mouth in the same spot on the opposite side of the enclosure, and she didn't move the whole time I was trying to get the top covered. Now I'm just letting them all be for the night.
Anyway, insight or advice would be really appreciated. Thanks!
