Latrodectus Hesperus (The Black Widow)

Grael

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ok the black widow is most probably the first spider i was interested in and i was wondering can u actually "own" 1? in the UK if so how would 1 go about getting 1 do u need a lisense etc?

thanks for ur replies
 

Wade

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This thread will probably be moved to the "other arachnids" forum as soon as one of the moderators sees it, but anyway...

I don't know anything about what laws you may have to deal with, but if you're asking about how hard they are to keep, I can tell you they are super easy. I keep widows in 32-oz deli containers with a few sticks in there. Not even any substrate. I feed them 1-2 crickets a week, and that's about it, although I do occasionally mist the webbing to let them drink if they want to. They don't need it to be espesially moist, however and widows in general (and L. hesperus in particular) seem to get most of their moisture from their prey.

L. hesperus is the western black widow, common in the western half of the US. On my coast, L. mactans (the southern black widow) is the most comon but L. variolus (the northern black widow) is also fairly common.

Wade
 

Grael

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thanks wade i read they only live about a year and half how long u had urs?

ops sorry about not posting on the other arachnids forum >_<
 

Wade

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A year and a half is probably a typical average for wild collected adult females, but the total lifespan can be up to three years. My personal best is probably right around 2 years.

Wade
 

JacenBeers

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I have also keot numerous black widows in the past. I do not have any right now but when summer rolls around I will be heading out to my "BLACK WIDOW SPOT" to capture some more. They are very common here in Kamloops and I have a spor on my university campus down this old spooky stairwell where many many black wodows lurk. I have never misted them and I feed them about two cricketrs a week like Wade does. THey get very very fat and they are a beautiful animal. One time I had one who exploded because it popped its fat abdomen on a dried up cricket leg that it had left over on the bottom of its jar. I keep them in large Mason jars.
 

Henry Kane

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I have a female L. hesperus that I acquired just over 2 years ago. I received it just before it lost it's last immature markings. She's still eating and doing her thing.
I have a couple more as well and an egg sac (a-la Kugellager) that should be hatching within a week or so.

I'm sorry I don't have any info regarding where to get them in Wales. Good luck on your search Grael.

Atrax
 

Grael

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Originally posted by Atrax
I have a female L. hesperus that I acquired just over 2 years ago. I received it just before it lost it's last immature markings. She's still eating and doing her thing.
I have a couple more as well and an egg sac (a-la Kugellager) that should be hatching within a week or so.

I'm sorry I don't have any info regarding where to get them in Wales. Good luck on your search Grael.

Atrax
lol i know i cant get them in wales but i know they r quite poisenus and im not sure if u need a lisense here to own a animal that is considered quite dangerous..........ill have to ask at my pet store thanks for the help people :)
 

Kugellager

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I currently have 3 L.hesperus. One is a female which Atrax received egg sac #21 from. They make 6-9 egg sacs in the wild. The other two are sub-adults produced from several of the egg sacs I kept. One is a female and the other I believe will molt out to a male as its juvenile striping is not nearly as colorful as the other sub-adult widow. I have had the female for about a year and the sub-adults since hatching in late October/early November.

As everyone else has stated they are very easy to care for. Their venom, although potentially dangerous, rarely does more than cause nausea and a headache in most healthy adults. They are not aggressive by any means and I find them relatively easy to deal with when having to move them to a new container or removing an egg sac.

I have several pics of my very fertile female and several juveniles at this link.

http://www.arachnopets.com/arachnoboards/showthread.php?threadid=4898

They are very common out here and are infesting in some areas. Found a mature male in my coat closet last fall...not an escapee. :D

John
};')
 

Arachnopuppy

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I wonder if it has been thought of to commit suicide by having a black widow bite you. Is it true that black widow venom is fatal? I don't know that much about them.
 

Grael

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Originally posted by lam
I wonder if it has been thought of to commit suicide by having a black widow bite you. Is it true that black widow venom is fatal? I don't know that much about them.
i heard the venom is very dangerous but they dont inject much so it cant do much damage

i think they only kill with small children and weak adults....
 

Grael

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Originally posted by Kugellager
Grael, the danger of the venom is potentially true but rarely kills.

If you check out the LD50 table:
http://web.singnet.com.sg/~chuaeecc/venom/rpotent.htm

You can see that the venom is fairly potent, but the amounts that would be injected are very small.

John
cool thanks :)

think theres gonna be a very low chance of me gettin 1 tho seeing as they arnt any in the wild here and some1 would of had to have them imported here from the US and bred them here....unless i get them imported from the US which would most probs cost a bomb and a low chance of the spider surviving the trip...
 

Wade

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Oh, I bet you can find them. There's plenty of invert hobbyists in Europe and some of them have access to some pretty amazing stuff. Latrodectus is so common and abundant here that I can't believe that they're not established in the hobby over there. I bet somebody in, say Germany sells them. Also, I thought there was a Latrodectus sp. in Europe?

Again, though, legal issues are annother matter.

Wade
 

Grael

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seems i cant i need a lisense to own which takes a lot of money and hassle :( oh well ill have to stick with my A Geniculata for now
 

Code Monkey

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As testimony to how hardy they are, I have a juvenile female that I raised from an egg sac. A little over a month ago when I went to feed her she was curled up on the bottom of the jar in what appeared to be the death curl. "Oh damn, I wonder why she died?" I stuck the jar on a shelf in the closet and forgot about it.

Yesterday I was digging around looking for empty sling vials for my new ones and happened to pick up that jar - there she was alive. No food, no water, nothing for a month, but today she's happily munching on a cricket 4X her size.

*****

As for the license issues, if you can find a private hobbyist that raises them, you can probably circumvent that little problem ;)
 

Grael

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yea but code if somepme reports me for owning it i can be banned from owning any animal for years or the rest of my life and most probs pay a big fine :( well i was thinking about breeding in a year a two after i get to know a lot more maybe if i get a breeder lisense i can own it :)
 

Dessicata

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you dont need a breeders license, you need a DWA license, could set you back £300, and that is per year. I wouldnt mind getting one, so i can get a horned adder, but i doubt it'll happen. It would be quite irresponsible of you to get a black widow, if you have others in the house younger than you, or indeed anywhere near your house...what would you do if it escaped? Wouldnt you feel a tad remorseful if it happened to escape, and kill a child?
Best sticking to the t's
 

Richard_uk

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Does the dangerous animals licensing apply to black widows? I thought this license was for larger animals such as wild dogs, Big cats etc. It seems there is a whole host of venemous creatures that can be owned without a license, Scorpions, dart frogs etc.
I am curently trying to expand my scorpion collection (wouldn't mind getting a black widow too!) and would like to find out more about this license. Anybody know where to apply for one?
Also, getting back to the black widow subject! I recently watched a TV program about non native animal species that had gone wild in parts of our country. Listed was some scorpions (i think everyone knows that one!) Some species of giant toad and.....Black widow spiders!
 

JacenBeers

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Do all these licensing restrictions and such only exist when shipping or selling black wodows or would they get pissy at me for having a bunch in jars in my bedroom?
 

Dessicata

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dunno about US law, but here in the UK we need dangerous wild animal (DWA) licenses for stuff like that, including buthids, etc.
 
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