Latrodectus Hesperus (The Black Widow)

[Dessicata]

i doubt true latrodectus have become part of our ecology, i think maybe some steatoda grossa could have, and they probably just identified it wrongly, you know what TV programmes are like. I just dont honestly think that anyone with a DWA (who must prove they are good with animals, get references from vets, have their houses checked over, animals living conditions, make sure they are escape-proof, etc) would be irresponsible enough to let more than one get out.

 

[Code Monkey]

Originally posted by Dessicata
I just dont honestly think that anyone with a DWA (who must prove they are good with animals, get references from vets, have their houses checked over, animals living conditions, make sure they are escape-proof, etc) would be irresponsible enough to let more than one get out.

I think you skip two possibilities. One, widows travel very well with things like lumber, so there's no reason why they couldn't have been introduced accidentally. Two, you seem to have little grasp of the human condition. We have a wild population of B. vagans in Florida here in the U.S. simply because someone wanted to see if they could establish them in the wild. People do all kinds of stupid things and it would not be hard at all for someone to have illegally obtained widow eggsacs from a friend overseas.

 

[Dessicata]

yeh i suppose, but i would kind of feel better off thinking they are just S. grossa

Not linked to this topic, but, for roaches as feeders (i saw you started a thread a while back) would B. Cranifer or B. fumigata (deaths head and cuban burrowing respectively) be ok for feeders (i can get cultures of these along with lobster roaches, but as they can climb, id rather opt against...)?

 

[Code Monkey]

I don't know a thing about the fumigata, but death's heads are a good and common feeder roach. Not as prolific as false deaths heads and larger, but good all the same.

 

[deifiler]

i can get you a 'fake black widow' it looks just like them, minus the red marks, though im sure your friends wont notice when you show them. You'll still be able to impress everyone with it

 

[Grael]

Originally posted by deifiler
i can get you a 'fake black widow' it looks just like them, minus the red marks, though im sure your friends wont notice when you show them. You'll still be able to impress everyone with it

lmao im ok ill impress them with my T.s anyway when Nova sheds out of her cute little skin and into her gorgeous big body ^_^

 

[Dessicata]

in case you didnt notice, there was sarcasm in deifilers post, maybe pointing toward the fact that you shouldnt try to impress people with your animals....

 

[deifiler]

by the way people - has the 'black widow's classifcation changed? Last I remeber it was down as Latrodectus Mactans

hmm maybe I'm out of date :/

 

[Kugellager]

deifiler, in the US there are five species of widows.

L.hesperus-Western Black Widow-West of the Mississippi River
L.mactans-Southern Black Widow-Southeastern US
L.variolas-Northern Black Widow
L.geometricus-Brown Widow-Found in FL prob introduced
L.bishopi-Red Widow-Endemic to Florida

There are also several other species of Latrodectusworldwide 5- 10 at least.

Expanding on what Code Monkey said about the possibility of there being a viable population in the UK. If a female were to come over somehow by accident or on purpose and ws already fertile..she could produce a dozen egg sacs each with 100-200 slings in each. I currentyl have a female L.hesperus that has produced 21 egg sacs since last May...all but two 'hatched'. Admittedly my buy room is ideal conditions. In the wild 6-9 egg sacs is the norm.

Inbreeding, though not ideal, is not as big of a problem in invertebrates as it is in higher animals. In theory, one mated female could potentially produce 1000's of first generation offspring that spread by ballooning on the wind. The spiderlings can be carried for miles this way.

I would say the best bet for Latrodectus surviving in the UK would be L.variolas as the climates in the NE US and the UK are the closest.

John
];')

 

[Grael]

Originally posted by Dessicata
in case you didnt notice, there was sarcasm in deifilers post, maybe pointing toward the fact that you shouldnt try to impress people with your animals....

why not? i wanna show off my baby i can i dont see how that would be doing any harm to her if someone is looking at her is it now?

 

[Code Monkey]

The dark side has taken over and I must post the following:

Grael, you seem to not understand why it is people keep harping on your language. Well, here's an example; you posted

i wanna show off my baby i can i dont see how that would be doing any harm to her if someone is looking at her is it now?

That "sentence" has absolutely no meaning in English or any other language due to the complete lack of any punctuation. The reader is left to fill it in themselves. Among the many possible translations:
I wanna (want to) show off. But of course you do, so don't we all.
My baby, I can. You can do what exactly, and who are you calling your baby?
I don't see how. And neither does anyone else.
That would be doing any harm to her if someone is looking at her. That's quite a sensitive something you have if someone looking at her does her harm.
Is it now? Is it now what?

Learn to write clearly or stop blowing up every time someone calls you on it. Even without the netspeak most of your posts are gibberish that leave us scratching our heads trying to understand what it was you posted.

 

[Grael]

Originally posted by Code Monkey
The dark side has taken over and I must post the following:

Grael, you seem to not understand why it is people keep harping on your language. Well, here's an example; you postedThat "sentence" has absolutely no meaning in English or any other language due to the complete lack of any punctuation. The reader is left to fill it in themselves. Among the many possible translations:
I wanna (want to) show off. But of course you do, so don't we all.
My baby, I can. You can do what exactly, and who are you calling your baby?
I don't see how. And neither does anyone else.
That would be doing any harm to her if someone is looking at her. That's quite a sensitive something you have if someone looking at her does her harm.
Is it now? Is it now what?

Learn to write clearly or stop blowing up every time someone calls you on it. Even without the netspeak most of your posts are gibberish that leave us scratching our heads trying to understand what it was you posted.

people still dont need to be so patronising like he was.hey i already said my english isnt the best ok forgive me we all have flaws you know.....

 

[Code Monkey]

Originally posted by Grael
people still dont need to be so patronising like he was.hey i already said my english isnt the best ok forgive me we all have flaws you know.....

I'm not here to forgive you of anything. It's not that your English isn't the best, it's that you flat out don't care that people can't understand you. Plenty of people have problems with English, many of them don't even use English except online, they still make an effort to be clear. Your attitude is, "I'm just going to type whatever the hell I feel like without any proofreading or forethought, and if people can't understand it, screw'em. If they've got the temerity to actually say something, well, I'm going to let them know it's their problem, not mine!"

You annoy me because I've "deciphered" enough of your posts to know you're not an idiot, and yet you go out of your way to appear like one.

 

[Grael]

Originally posted by Code Monkey
I'm not here to forgive you of anything. It's not that your English isn't the best, it's that you flat out don't care that people can't understand you. Plenty of people have problems with English, many of them don't even use English except online, they still make an effort to be clear. Your attitude is, "I'm just going to type whatever the hell I feel like without any proofreading or forethought, and if people can't understand it, screw'em. If they've got the temerity to actually say something, well, I'm going to let them know it's their problem, not mine!"

You annoy me because I've "deciphered" enough of your posts to know you're not an idiot, and yet you go out of your way to appear like one.

Ive already stopped usuing netspeak...hey in trying my best im trying ok bear with me!

 

[deifiler]

Originally posted by Kugellager
deifiler, in the US there are five species of widows.

L.hesperus-Western Black Widow-West of the Mississippi River
L.mactans-Southern Black Widow-Southeastern US
L.variolas-Northern Black Widow
L.geometricus-Brown Widow-Found in FL prob introduced
L.bishopi-Red Widow-Endemic to Florida

There are also several other species of Latrodectusworldwide 5- 10 at least.

Expanding on what Code Monkey said about the possibility of there being a viable population in the UK. If a female were to come over somehow by accident or on purpose and ws already fertile..she could produce a dozen egg sacs each with 100-200 slings in each. I currentyl have a female L.hesperus that has produced 21 egg sacs since last May...all but two 'hatched'. Admittedly my buy room is ideal conditions. In the wild 6-9 egg sacs is the norm.

Inbreeding, though not ideal, is not as big of a problem in invertebrates as it is in higher animals. In theory, one mated female could potentially produce 1000's of first generation offspring that spread by ballooning on the wind. The spiderlings can be carried for miles this way.

I would say the best bet for Latrodectus surviving in the UK would be L.variolas as the climates in the NE US and the UK are the closest.

John
];')

Cheers! I understand all of that, I knew about the different widows, like L. hasselti is the Australian Red Back widow. I didnt know that the species like 'brown widow' are classed as 'black widow' thats all. Cheers anyway

 

[Kugellager]

deifiler,

For that very reason you just mentioned, most of those who study Latrodectus sp. refer to them as 'widow spiders' and not Black Widows...

The average person only knows of the female black widow from TV, basic knowledge textbooks or legend and does not realize that there are more than one species. I didn't even consider that myself nor did I know what a male widow looked like until I started keeping them...You never see pics of the males or other different looking species in the general literature that most people read.

I find them to be a very interesting species and, if basic safety is followed, relatively easy to keep. I think they have a worse reputation than they deserve. That said they are still potentially dangerous and those who are considering keeping one should think it through before getting one.

John
];')

 

[deifiler]

Yeah I understand exactly what you mean! that's why I was suprised when someone refered to something other than the mactans (what i've always known as a 'BLACk widow) as a black widow

Yeah I saw a female mactans that was displayed in scenario of a bathroom - a toilet bowl was sealed with glass lid at a spider show years back. They had a lot of other latrodectus species there though all were for educational value and not for sale

John do you keep any other true spiders? I was looking into some argiopes or nephila species, and was after some more opinions on them

 

[Kugellager]

The only other true spider that I have kept for any length of time was several species of Phidippus from Florida, where I used to live, and Phidippus regius that I found out here. I had the P.regius for about year.

I have on occasion kept random spiders I found around my yard or while hiking but never did any ID on them. Probably 90% of my true spider knowledge is with the L.hesperus.

John
];')

 

[Spiderman937]

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[Bongo Fury]

404 not found on that link.

It's ten years old.