help with Latrodectus plz

[Gemein]

I was sitting at work the other day and a customer (who I know from frequent visits) came in with a container, which has one of those little guys in it (female by the looks of it) and simply left it with me. I have no idea how to care for these little guys, or good sources of food. I've left him where he is for now and chucked in a few crickets. Can anyone give me any suggestions please on proper caring for them?

Thanx in advance

 

[Venom]

Well, first off, if you aren't a fairly competent ( and confident ) keeper of spiders and pretty adept at safe hands-off husbandry, I would suggest you consider not keeping the widow. They aren't a spider for novices. That said, if you decide to keep it they have pretty simple care requirements. You can use any closeable container of between a pint and 1.5 gallon capacity. Just arrange a handful of twigs/ sticks in there as anchors for the spider's web, poke a couple dozen SMALL holes in the lid and/or top of the sides ( if container is plastic ), allow it to build a bit of a web, and then introduce prey once or twice a week.

You can mist (occasionally) to provide water, though IME with Theridiids this really isn't necessary, as they get fluids from prey if you feed regularly, and spraying can cause prey remains to mold, which will require a cleaning ( not something you want to have to do in a widow enclosure ), which will mean you either have to A.) use (loong) tweezers/ scraping tool to get the mold out while the spider is in the enclosure, or else B.) you transplant the spider, clean the enclosure while the spider is in a temporary holding container, and then reintroduce it into the cleaned enclosure. This will probably involve destroying the web and having the spider rebuild it. Neither option is something you want to have to do, so I'd recommend just feeding it regularly so cleaning won't be required.

Another thing you'll encounter is that widows tend to live near the top of their enclosures. This can pose a problem as that is usually where the lid is, and you don't want to open the lid and have a widow an inch from your fingers, or worse yet, climbing out of the jar! One way to take care of this is to put the airholes in the bottom of the jar, and stand it up so the lid is the bottom of the enclosure. This way, when you tip the jar to drop in prey, the spider, which WAS at the top, is now at the bottom and safely away from your hands. Also, since widows often cut prey remains out of the web and let it drop on the ground, these scraps will be on the removable lid, making removal of these remains easy.

As far as temperature goes, room temp is fine. Ambient humidity is also ok. These are tough spiders, and don't need high humidity. Handling is obviously out of the question. Also, don't underestimate the speed of even a fat widow. They may not be good runners/ walkers, but they are agile and quick climbers and can clamber up their webs or a stick with alarming speed. Bottom line: BE CAREFUL.

 

[Stylopidae]

Be careful if she's gravid. Widow babies are tiny and could easily escape out of the airholes.

If she lays a sack, either sell it to a dealer before it hatches or destroy it as soon as she's done laying it. You don't want widows all over your house.

 

[Gemein]

wow Vemon that was much more information than I had ever expected. Thank you so much! I am an experience tarantula keeper; however; all species are different so I'm going to say im a noobie at this one. The idea where you mentioned the airholes at the bottom, to asure the lid doesnt have the widow stuck to it is a great idea. I will not EVER attempt to handle one of these guys. The venom is far to petent!. Let's hope to hell she doesnt have an eggsac either lol I will cry. I wasnt aware they had much speed, but either way, I will not test it hehe

Thnx Again

 

[Ganoderma]

if worried about babies escapign through the lids airholes, place vaseline aroudn the top. worked great when i was breeding widows.