Is my whipspider holding an egg sac?

[PineapplesDen]

Hi everyone, first time poster here. Sorry if this is a FAQ but I'm kind of worried right now.

I bought two whipsiders (damon medius) about a month and a half ago. The store assured me that one was female and the other one was a male. I've kept them in the same enclosure since the day i brought them home.

This morning I noticed a weird little green-ish ball on the underside of the abdomen of the one I thought was the male, which made me worried. Upon doing some research i read that longer pedipalps that extend beyond the "knees" don't necessarily mean the animal is male so I'm wondering if it might be a pregnant female. After looking at many pictures, I'm relatively sure it is an egg sac but my inexperience keeps me from being 100% on it.

I'd love if someone with a bit more knowledge on the matter (these are my first whipspiders) could help me identify if this is indeed an egg sac or if it's something else.

Thanks in advance!

Sorry bout the ugly pictures, I had just misted the enclosure.

 

[The Mantis Menagerie]

I have a Damon medius with eggs, and hers do not look like that. This is my first amblypygid, though, so it may be that the eggs start out looking like the blob on your amblypygid's abdomen. The black cluster seems to have round objects in it, so it could very well be a new egg sac.

 

[PineapplesDen]

I have a Damon medius with eggs, and hers do not look like that. This is my first amblypygid, though, so it may be that the eggs start out looking like the blob on your amblypygid's abdomen. The black cluster seems to have round objects in it, so it could very well be a new egg sac.

Yeah the round objects give me hope that it's an egg sac, I guess i'll have to see how it develops.

 

[schmiggle]

That's not quite how they look in other pictures I've seen, but they're in the right place. Usually they cover the whole underside of the abdomen.

@wizentrop @Banshee05

 

[wizentrop]

This eggsac is a dud. The problem is that the female doesn't know, and will keep carrying it around for months, even if the eggs don't develop. I usually remove these immediately when I spot them, but this is not easy for the unexperienced, and you can potentially hurt your amblypygi in the process.

 

[PineapplesDen]

This eggsac is a dud. The problem is that the female doesn't know, and will keep carrying it around for months, even if the eggs don't develop. I usually remove these immediately when I spot them, but this is not easy for the unexperienced, and you can potentially hurt your amblypygi in the process.

Thanks for the reply! That's definitely interesting and I can't say I've ever heard of a dud egg sac before, but then again I'm very new to the hobby.
I'd love if you could elaborate on it a bit. Mainly on a) how/why it happens and b) if it is dangerous to my animal. I'm still a bit concerned and wondering what the best course of action is from here.
Thanks again!

 

[wizentrop]

It happens when the female is unmated but have a load of eggs to get rid of (occurs in other animals as well), or when the eggs are fertile but something causes them to stop developing. One bad egg can rot and spread bacteria/fungi to the other healthy eggs and kill them all. In your case it looks like something disturbed the female while she was extruding the sac, so it is only partially out with some dead eggs inside. The eggs will eventually go bad and catch mold, then the female will discard them - but this can take some time.

 

[The Mantis Menagerie]

While we are on this topic, do my female's eggs look healthy?

 

[pannaking22]

@The Mantis Menagerie I think yours look good.