L.variolus - Happy Valentine's Day!

buthus

Arachnoprince
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Well...a little early for valentine's day, but I was thinking that it would be funny if all came together in time to pair these up on valentine's. It was up to the male(s). The female is small, but she has been this size for some time now..even after feeding the crap out of her.
5 or 6 days ago, two of the males molted... sudden surprise. One really looked (very) promising ...the other, almost as much, but a bit iffy.

anyway...lots of images, sorry if you have a putz connection. Heres the the little princess. She has been moved back in fourth into the mating enclosure several times ...all attempts til now - no goes.







Great to finally snap off some shots of a widow drinking. Most of the time, u just dont think of documenting the little moments. Wasnt thinking about that here..just shooting away. Nice.




Chow time





Waiting for the male to strengthin up after molting. Couple nights ago i opened his cup to check how he was reacting ...and he rushed the opening. He was so ready to leave. These tend to be homebodies like the girls ...and usually just as shy. Rarely have I had variolus go for it, male or female.

The man of the hour...


I decided to try him out ...just a test, because it was already around 5am when I discovered his frisky status.
He just sat there for about 20-25min (seems a common reaction) and I was tired and ready to pack him back up...but then he started to groove. I figured Id let him go for awhile and see if he will just go for it. I wanted to document it, but more importantly I wanted to supervise and make sure he got out alive ...only have a few of these boyz.








Big time redecorator. She came out of her web structure and followed him around a bit, but never agressively (that I witnessed).


There was a moment when he took a chance and checked her out. I really didnt want to mate them yet, for above stated reasons. But, didnt matter anyway... he was just looking over the goods.




Ok..talking about web structures. These variolus make some interesting structures. Of course being forced to deal with a acrylic box, changes things, but I do have to conclude that they are somewhat specialized for their woodsy enviroment. ...lots of interesting preditors to avoid. Best described as a mosquito net ..fairly inpenetratable and thick enough to hide the female from site. The male on the otherhand felt that it wasnt tight enough and proceded to lathe n'plaster it.


Pulled the male out around 6:15 ...about an 1.5 hrs of mostly home improvment. Give him time to dream about his new sexy girlfriend...




Next evening... around 3am. Finally caught up with other chores...time to reintroduce the male.
He flew out of the cup, right into her webbing and moved into her hidding spot to say hello. Then did a little more work on the house.






Not to much house work though.
First palp...
















2nd palp...
























All went down fairly quick ..actual mating was less than an hour. He did some more house work and visited her a few times ...may have mated again, but I didnt observe so. I did catch her (no pics) finally kicking him out ..sudden flurry and he was out the door. I collected him at that point.
 

buthus

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Messages
1,381
Sorry if you see no pics...my server must be down. :rolleyes:
 

buthus

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Messages
1,381
A valentine a bit belated, but :Rockon:



Ok... raised em to adulthood, mated a couple, got a sac ...now if I can get some slings out of the deal, I'd be confident that I could (..eh...hopefully) keep a couple variolus lines going.
 

buthus

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Messages
1,381
She ended up producing 4 sacs. Unfortunately, she died froma a tragic f-up of mine. :rolleyes: I had some sticks and roots siliconed solid (so I thought) in her jar and somehow part of it came loose and I guess when I was feeding her somehow she got crushed! :rolleyes: Lost 4 important favorates so far this year...via stupid accidents. I dont think Ive become more careless, but I do know that I have an overwhelming amount of widows and shat is bound to happen.


I had the 4 sacs in incubation... fairly steady 85-89F, but not a steady enough humidity...at leasts thats what I'm guessing.
Opened a couple of the sacs to watch them progress and found them dry/dead. Opened the next two and one had live eggs, but only a few and the other had underdeveloped slings.
Closed both sacs back up and tried to keep them warm and more humid, but the ones eggs all ended up drying out. Here's a dry sac...


The other sacs underdeveloped slings have been kept alive by tender lovin care.
This is where they are at today... still have not completely absorbed their "baby fat" and it will probably be a couple weeks or more before they start really moving around and feeding.


 
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