How long until I should expect hatching?

Moriposa

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 15, 2019
Messages
6
Dark eggs observed ventral of D. variegatus female. Based on the dark shade im inclined to think they are farther along in their progress. How long should I expect to wait for the babies to hatch? Damon variegatus with eggs nov 9.jpg
 

Sikalisko

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 4, 2019
Messages
19
This site contains multiple pictures of D. diadema egg sacs of various stages, and info of how long it has taken for his eggs to hatch (it takes 3 to 6 months in general, apparently):
https://jordancadiot.wixsite.com/jordancadiot/2?lang=en

I assume yours is D. diadema as well, since D. variegatus is said to be rare in the hobby and only photos I've been able to find on internet are from different scientific sources or websites of amblypygid gurus who have probably originally obtained their animals for scientific research. If you manage to take pictures of the spination of pedipalp trochanters, it would be quite easy to identify whether you have D. diadema sold as D. variegatus or real D. variegatus.

I don't have personal observations of egg sacs of different ages but it seems like the eggs in your picture have already developed to some degree. The lighter coloured legs have already formed on at least some of the eggs, so maybe it won't take too long for them to hatch. I believe the egg sac will become more transparent and stretched before the whiplings are released though.

I would be really interested as well if someone with more experience of identifying different egg developmental stages could give more precise info :)
 

aphono

Arachnobaron
Joined
Mar 11, 2017
Messages
481
The word is there's no variegatus in the U.S. At least many claims of having variegatus proved otherwise or remained unproven as far as I know.

Another thing to consider- is this a recent acquisition? D. medius imports have been dominating the U.S. large ambypygi market for several years by now to the point they're the default answer however the seller labeled them as. Especially if the animal is of largish juvenile or adult size-other species are almost invariably sold as tiny captive bred babies. These(medius imports) used to be labeled as diadema/"Tanzanian whip spider" and occasionally as variegatus. As of lately I've been starting to see more correct labeling. or something strange as "Tanzanian whip spider, Damon medius". (medius are West African) A dorsal shot as mentioned above might help determine if she belongs to West or East African group and the trochanter pictures can help determine diadema or otherwise if she is indeed an East African sp.

They can be sensitive to disturbances while carrying their egg sacs, they can drop the sac if bothered or stressed. Would recommend not handling anymore. Also when you think they might be ready to hatch, add on another month or two. Or three. Better to be surprised than get concerned the eggs are seemingly taking way too long.. One sign of nearing hatch is when the sac seems to swell up and stretch.
 
Last edited:

Moriposa

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 15, 2019
Messages
6
This site contains multiple pictures of D. diadema egg sacs of various stages, and info of how long it has taken for his eggs to hatch (it takes 3 to 6 months in general, apparently):
https://jordancadiot.wixsite.com/jordancadiot/2?lang=en

I assume yours is D. diadema as well, since D. variegatus is said to be rare in the hobby and only photos I've been able to find on internet are from different scientific sources or websites of amblypygid gurus who have probably originally obtained their animals for scientific research. If you manage to take pictures of the spination of pedipalp trochanters, it would be quite easy to identify whether you have D. diadema sold as D. variegatus or real D. variegatus.

I don't have personal observations of egg sacs of different ages but it seems like the eggs in your picture have already developed to some degree. The lighter coloured legs have already formed on at least some of the eggs, so maybe it won't take too long for them to hatch. I believe the egg sac will become more transparent and stretched before the whiplings are released though.

I would be really interested as well if someone with more experience of identifying different egg developmental stages could give more precise info :)
Thanks so much for your reply! The site you recommended is great. I will try to upload more pictures to ID!!
 

Moriposa

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 15, 2019
Messages
6
The word is there's no variegatus in the U.S. At least many claims of having variegatus proved otherwise or remained unproven as far as I know.

Another thing to consider- is this a recent acquisition? D. medius imports have been dominating the U.S. large ambypygi market for several years by now to the point they're the default answer however the seller labeled them as. Especially if the animal is of largish juvenile or adult size-other species are almost invariably sold as tiny captive bred babies. These(medius imports) used to be labeled as diadema/"Tanzanian whip spider" and occasionally as variegatus. As of lately I've been starting to see more correct labeling. or something strange as "Tanzanian whip spider, Damon medius". (medius are West African) A dorsal shot as mentioned above might help determine if she belongs to West or East African group and the trochanter pictures can help determine diadema or otherwise if she is indeed an East African sp.

They can be sensitive to disturbances while carrying their egg sacs, they can drop the sac if bothered or stressed. Would recommend not handling anymore. Also when you think they might be ready to hatch, add on another month or two. Or three. Better to be surprised than get concerned the eggs are seemingly taking way too long.. One sign of nearing hatch is when the sac seems to swell up and stretch.

Acquisition from beginning of 2019, so recent. I will try to get more pictures for ID. The handling was only to transfer from a group container to a individual one. But thanks for the tip. She will get lots of R&R for the next few months.
 

mantisfan101

Arachnoprince
Joined
Dec 26, 2018
Messages
1,755
Probably 3-4 months. Can you get a dorsal shot of her so we can confrim if it’s a medius? If it is indeed a medius(which it most likely is since I’ve yet to see a diadema imported), make sure to keep it nice and wet. Cover up ventilation holes, flood the substrate, etc or else she will die. They need a lot of moisture and after the first molt in captivity, she should be good with less water. Keep us updated on how she goes; I’m excited to see what happens!
 

Sikalisko

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 4, 2019
Messages
19
Probably 3-4 months. Can you get a dorsal shot of her so we can confrim if it’s a medius? If it is indeed a medius(which it most likely is since I’ve yet to see a diadema imported), make sure to keep it nice and wet. Cover up ventilation holes, flood the substrate, etc or else she will die. They need a lot of moisture and after the first molt in captivity, she should be good with less water. Keep us updated on how she goes; I’m excited to see what happens!
Well Moriposa already mentioned that the they got the whip spiders in the "beginning of 2019" and this one has produced an egg sac which it didn't abandon right away. I think it's safe to assume that the whip spiders have been kept in proper conditions at this point. I remember reading from somewhere that taking care of egg carrying mother is tricky because the eggs will die if the moisture is often enough too high or too low. It sounds detrimental to cover up all the ventilation. It would be better to keep the relative humidity high but not 100%. How to achieve this depends on what kind of terrarium its being kept.
 

Sikalisko

Arachnopeon
Joined
Aug 4, 2019
Messages
19
Congratulations! And I agree with mantisfan101 that your whipspider doesn't look like it's D. medius after all, now that we can see the dorsal view with overall shape and colouration of the animal. D. diadema is now your best guess for the species.

You get quite a good confirmation by taking a pic (or just checking if it's too much hassle) of its trocanthers from the ventral side. It might be good idea to also confirm that it's lacking the ventral sac covers as well while you've flipped it over or managed to otherwise peek underneath.

There's a good picture on this site with a red arrow pointing on the anatomical feature what to look for (just ignore the German language or use google translator). I won't download and reupload the pic itself for copyright reasons, it would be pain in the ass to ask permissions to do so on every photo I want to link on random forums: https://vogelspinnenforum.ch/index.php/Thread/9988-Geisselspinnen-Damon-variegatus-oder-diadema/

This picture has also been posted on this forum somewhere but I couldn't find the thread on quick search. https://2img.net/h/i554.photobucket.../differencesdiademavariegatus_zpsc50b9910.jpg

It's very likely D. diadema, but just in case it starts to bug you whether it could be some other species that happens to have typical D. diadema colouration. You can never know, this might be one of those things that your brain just decides being more important than falling asleep on the night before some important meeting. So now you know how to do it, just in case :D
 
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