Hungry like a wolf

[WithCerberus]

Here is a female Arctosa wolf spider that I recently found. She is about 2 cm and very fat. I have been finding lots of males and females running around. I'm hoping she is preggers. Anyways enjoy the pic of her chowing down on a large fly.

peace,

Bobby

 

[Anthony]

That is a very clear and nice picture. Have you bred any ?

 

[WithCerberus]

Thank you for your compliments. No I haven't bred these guys. I am hoping that she will lay an eggsac though. If she does i am crossing my fingers that they will be easier to raise than my D.triton slings.

peace,

Bobby

 

[Bungholio]

Very nice lady that you have!

 

[WithCerberus]

yay for eggsacs!

Well, it turns out she was preggers. I peeked inside her burrow today and saw this. I am very excited about raising these babies.

sorry about the crummy pic, it was through the plastic at a wierd angle.

peace,

Bobby

 

[insect714]

Congrats....

:clap: :clap: Congrats on the eggsac. Hope all works out well for you with this project....:clap: :clap:

 

[WithCerberus]

some better pics

peace,

bobby

 

[Anthony]

Good for you, this is a fine opportunity i hope you post updates and results. The best of luck

 

[WithCerberus]

Grumpy lady

A few pics of my expecting mother. Enjoy

peace,

Bobby

 

[jonnysebachi]

nice pic, its like she's daring you to touch

 

[Tegenaria]

Shes a cool looking dudette!

 

[WithCerberus]

her new terrarium

a pic of her new home. I put this together for my orchid and thought it might make a good home for her too. She does seem a lot calmer in this tank than the other one.

peace,

Bobby

 

[Stefan2209]

Size?

Whoa,

slow down a moment! What´s that spider for a size?

I thought Arctosa spec. would´nt get as big as it seems from the last pic, is it just a very small container or is that creepy really near a hand-full? :?

Confused (and amazed) Greetings,

Stefan

 

[WithCerberus]

She is almost 2cm in body length so she is definately not a handful.

Peace,

Bobby

 

[WithCerberus]

I do believe I made a boo boo with my ID...

Well, Stefan, your questioning sent me back to the keys. Specifically this one, Lycosidae. I seem to have been a little careless with this one. Instead of Arctosa she is actually Schizocosa. Both genus have a long dorsobristle on tarsus one. My mistake :8o This is actually a fortunate turn of events though since I have been able to find much more info on Schizocosa natural history
Peace,

Bobby

 

[WithCerberus]

eggs falling out...

I noticed the other day that a few eggs had spilled out of the sac. I am not sure if she is getting anxious and wanted to check on the eggs or if she is just being rough with the eggsac but about 10 eggs fell out. I thought that these eggs were goners but I found this when I checked on her this morning...

... one of the little guys is developing outside of the eggcase! I am pretty excited about this and moved it to a smaller container to keep tabs on it. The mother is also carrying the eggsac in her chelicerae like a pisaurid now. Do wolf spiders do that when they are about to open the eggsac?

peace,

Bobby

 

[Tegenaria]

Thats really cool Bobby!

 

[Aubrey Sidwell]

Wolf spiders will carry thier young on their abdomen for a while after they have hatched. If you had left the spiderlings with her they would have devoloped and latched on. Her only job is to defend them until they are old enough to defend themselves. Obviously no harm done but watch what she does with the rest.

 

[WithCerberus]

Icelos, thank you, but i realize that wolf spiders care for their young in that way. These spiderlings that I have removed from the larger tank are not able to walk or latch on to anything yet. Since the larger tank is full of live moss and other plants I didn't want to lose track of these guys. Plus it is very interesting to get a better view of their development.

Bobby

 

[WithCerberus]

well, some bad news... She stopped carrying around the eggsac last night and had not picked it up by this morning. i opened the eggsac because it had started to look a little funny and none of the eggs had developed in the way the spilled ones did and they seemed to be covered in mold. Bummer. At least I have the 5 that developed from the spilled eggs though. I hope those little guys make it.

peace,

Bobby