L.revivensis(IDiQ) - epic love fest!

[buthus]

Raised one brood of these from sac. I powerfed a couple fems to beat the males to the punch so I could hopefully keep the line going.

I have not had the time to sit and snap off shots all night so to get those primo shots, but at least i was able to document the event somewhat decently.

I wasnt sure about the maturity staus of my males and ran a bunch of "dry" test...just letting each male hang out in her web to see if he will start the dance. I placed 5 males in this way without any reaction, so I had to concluse that i was dead wrong regarding the males maturity. Here's some pics of the unsuccessful attempts first... and a couple beauty shots.

another attempt ...and i know this male was mature here, but even after leaving him in with here for over 5 hrs, he just wouldnt get into the groove.
I played with the temps and lighting (lack of) and still nil sexy action...

Ok, moving on to the more juicy stuff.
Even though I mated these in an open face enclosure, because of her heavy webbing and fairly thick love chamber, I ended up really having to work to get anything decent ...and many were taken thru the plexy glass from the other side.
Fully open photo "enclosures" coming soon ...full access to walk arround and get the shot thats hot and NO more shooting thru glass or acrylic ...that would be the ticket.

Ok... so I left him in with her overnight, because i am not desperate for another male ...other fems are not ready and i have more males.
Still going at it...

And the day after that..
He has her wrapped up so tight! This girl not only turned out to be easy...but also very kinky... the kind of girl I like!

And the day after THAT...

He is still in with her today ...4 days later. :clap:

 

[Rizzolo]

ahhh to be young again!

great shots! Can't wait to see if you get some egg sacs!

 

[buthus]

Thanks


Here (sling_cup-lid shot above) is a good example of a sling cup w/out a hardware cloth (look at the lid). With hesps (99.9%of my widow experience) they tend to drop down and construct webbing that ties the top and bottom of the cup ...this makes them great hunters for lively, uninhibited prey. The revs on the otherhand are a bit pathetic in that department ...tending to stay high up and concentrating on building their web/carcass "hut". This makes them poor hunters when it comes to prey that is running 'round the bottom of the cup. When they get larger they do expand outwards and down and are usually able to feed themselves, but I have converted over to using the mesh as much as I can. It does take a bit more time though ...but IMO it has proven worthy of my time. I can cut out long strips of the mesh using my band-saw and then cut off the squares as needed using a pair of snips.


BTW...your rev sub-adult looks like a good match to one of my subs ...heres a bad jar shot...but u can see her soon to be gone markings.

 

[Rizzolo]

yep, she looks dead on. the way they sit in the web is subtly different than hesps, etc. Also, my observations of their webbing activity is similar to yours. she is the first widow i have had that incorporates the debris in the web. i had her in small little cube and she scraped up every little bit of stuff to put up her sunshade (shrike screen?). but i had to hang disabled roaches in her web to get her to eat. timid too!

 

[Stylopidae]

Oh, my god...grape stems. That's brilliant :clap:

 

[Mechanical-Mind]

Congrats Steven! I can't wait to take a gander at some of their sacs.

I also have some L. revivensis (your strain too, I think) and I'm curious, how large is the female you bred (in terms of leg span)? I thought you had an image of her next to a ruler in a different thread, but I couldn't find it. Also, to anyone thinking it, I know to look at the epigynum of my females, but that's not what I what I'm after (in this case)! I say the former half jokingly.

Best regards,
-Matt

 

[KUJordan]

Steven, I hate you for your Latro displays.

But, that is great news that you got these to do the deed. I may need to snag some males from you in the future for my girls! I generally don't powerfeed, so I won't have any females ready for my males. Great pics as usual!

Matt- what are you even talking about!? ...I hope it doesn't rust the barrel?

 

[Arachnophilist]

Oh, my god...grape stems. That's brilliant :clap:

Thats what I was gonna say :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[buthus]

Congrats Steven! I can't wait to take a gander at some of their sacs.

I also have some L. revivensis (your strain too, I think) and I'm curious, how large is the female you bred (in terms of leg span)? I thought you had an image of her next to a ruler in a different thread, but I couldn't find it. Also, to anyone thinking it, I know to look at the epigynum of my females, but that's not what I what I'm after (in this case)! I say the former half jokingly.

Best regards,
-Matt

Sorry Matt, meant to find the pic a day ago...
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showpost.php?p=814315&postcount=227

Cheshire Oh, my god...grape stems. That's brilliant

You're way to easily impressed. :?
They work well for moving the girls around and they sit snug within jars. Only good for arids though ...even if you cook em well, the buds mold with any decent amount of humidity.

 

[Mechanical-Mind]

The following may very well be the most miserable image ever to find its way onto this forum, but my largest female molted out yesterday and I found this old geezer going to work on her this afternoon.

Latrodectus revivensis

I was just going to start a new thread, but A.) They're of the same blood as Buthus', B.) I don't have anything new, informational, or noteworthy to share (except that this pair has also been going at it for an extremely long time - 6+ hours so far), and C.) Did I mention the image is horrible?? Truth be told, I'm actually sorta satisfied with the result, given the conditions. Anyway, not trying to do any thread-hijacking, just pretty excited and wanted to share.

Best regards,
-Matt

 

[buthus]

Anyway, not trying to do any thread-hijacking, just pretty excited and wanted to share.

I always thought adding relevant info to a thread was called "thread-posting"? ...never heard it referred to as "thread-hijacking" before.

Thats very cool!

I think I'll me able to mate at least two more of these babes. I powerfed 3 of these and doubled up on normal feeds to a few more. The difference was actually incredible ...especially when looking at the slings that i fed once every week or two. The males flew past the females in growth no matter what ...though, now and then, I have found a few more "new" males within the hold-backs. My males also have seemed to sit around for awhile before last molt. This all should allow for a couple more pairings...maybe more.

 

[buthus]

Did anyone here get any of the revs that Gearheart had in stock a bit back? If you did (or know of someone) please contact me or join in here.

I am now (again) beginning to believe that my revs and treds are probably the same specie. Trying to find a description of L.revivensis...including and probably ..especially a good sac description.

Well, it brings further mystery to the deal, but at least I got some results. :Rockon:


You can see the male in the first image below. From what I thought I observed he hung around perfectly fine up until a day ago and then died. He is wrapped up now, so I suspect that she came across him and had a snack.

I want to (ought to) do a good sub-adult comparison ...since I have enough of both groups that are at diverse stages of growth.
VERY tempted to use one of the so-called rev males to mate my other tred..

 

[buthus]

Caught her wandering over to the dead male to finish her snack...


Like I said, I do not believe she killed her mate. I spotted him curling up and a few hours later, I saw him dead, but not wrapped up ...no sign of foul play. But, nevertheless, no waste of perfectly tasty protein here.

 

[Mechanical-Mind]

10 day turn around from mating to first sac. Temps were in the high 80s when bred and they gradually declined to about 65-70 (today) when she produced.

Best regards,
-Matt