Looking for something, and I need some help

[cacoseraph]

but when kept in full capacity their shedding process is one hundred percent
with no broken limbs. also how long did your widow lived when thinner?

i had a WC adult female L. hesperus for 3 years. she was already knocked up when i got her and she made something like 13 eggsacs, but the last 5 or so where pretty pathetic. i fed her moderately well


i expect you could eggrave a hesperus in 6 years if you were careful

 

[Widowman10]

1. Okay...can I put some subtrate in there too? Or would that be a mistake with how little they'd be?

doesn't really matter. dirt grass whatever, they will eat some brothers and sisters in due time anyway.

And...are you saying I have to open the sac?

no no! the sac will noticeably darken when the babies are about to hatch. just leave it be. they will break out when they are ready to see the world and fend for themselves. just put the sac in a jar, and most likely overnight you will see a change from a dark sac to hundreds of new little babies!!

Okay, let me get this straight so far (I'm really sorry for my naivity regarding widows and widow babies. I have always just been more into tarantulas...): I get a big deli cup, I found one that has been used for tarantulas (it's clean, so no worries....it's 1025ml and I exchanged lids so there are no holes...is that a good size?). I put grass in there,

sure, any size jar will do. the bigger the better for cannibalization IMO. bigger jars are better b/c they can spread out a little and don't get all bunched up. they are like adults, except little mini versions. capable of webbing, eating, etc.. grass works fine.

and then put the eggsac(s) in and then let the kids eat each other untill they are big enough to eat a pinhead cricket and easily seperate...right? Or, am I still doing this wrong? LOL...I am really sorry about all this...I just want to make sure I do it right.

2. I'll probably just house all three together just in case...but I'm wondering if the other two are even fertile, because when the mother was around, I only saw her tending to the one. Well see what happens.

if i were you (which i'm not ) i would do 3 separate jars. if all 3 were fertile, and all 3 hatched, you have potential to have 500 widow slings all in one tiny jar.

And...so now I need to find some sort of bottom opening container for when these grow up?

yes it works better for cleaning and feeding.

What kind of container would this be? I feel so lost...

a set of matching cups in the simplest design works great.

And, is there a good website or something that I could look at? That may help keep me from asking you so many questions.

website i don't know off the top of my head. you might be able to search for "latrodectus care" or something. questions are fine

Thank you so much for all your help and advice!

no problem! my pleasure, it is fun!!


PHEW! I THINK THAT IS EVERYTHING!! let me know if there are any questions i missed or if there is anything else!!

 

[Widowman10]

sling and adult care. cage designs

ok, so instead of posting pics :8o, i'll just describe in detail.


FOR HATCHING SLINGS: in an airtight jar (and remember, this is just my PERSONAL preferred method, many other people probably do it a different way...): find a jar (with good securing lid), about peanut butter size, and put about 1" of grass covering the bottom. gently lay the eggsack on the grass a couple of days before hatch time (the closer to hatching the better). babies should pop out within a week give or take a few days. the slings will make their webs and disperse to different places throughout the jar. they will be fine for about 3 or so weeks without food or water because they will cannabilize. they will molt and start getting bigger and needing food and water and this is when i separate them. separating is tricky and time consuming, so be prepared.


FOR ADULTS: there are many methods that work, and i have used both fairly equally.

method #1: the display cage. the display cage is one with substrate and a few branches for decoration and web attachment. consists of a clear jar, a secure lid, some dirt, and as said earlier some branches or things for web to be attached to. position branches securely in dirt. make a small hole in the jar near top of substrate for easy feeding and easy cleaning. obviously make a small patch for your access hole.

method #2: the practical/easy cage. the easy cage IMO is best for storing many spiders. i use the 2-cup design. i take 2 identical cups, and cut the bottom off of the 2nd cup. i then fashion a cheap lid to fit over top the cup with the bottom cut off. the cups fit inside each other for a nice secure seal, with a lid. feeding and cleaning are essentially idiot proof. you can just take the cups apart (the inside cup has the spider and all the webbing attached to it), and pick up leftovers from the bottom of the bottom cup. also easy feeding as you just pull the cups apart and drop food in and put them back together. this does not disturb the spider at all, and makes a nice neat area for them to drop everything: straight down. it is basically a cage with a bottom that pops off, except a lot quicker IMO. i might write an article with pictures if i get around to it someday... or if someone wants to buy a widow, i can design a cage and send it too...





and again, Rain Flower, sorry for hi-jacking the thread... :8o

 

[What]

but when you keep them in full capacity their shedding process is one hundred percent perfect with no limb broken. also how long did your widow
lived when thinner

I have had no issues with the molting process but that may be because I keep my widows a bit more humid than most.

As for the lifespan. I have had mature female widows that were WC live over 2 years in my care and I have had slings I raised from sacs live about a year so far and they are almost mature.

If you observe widows in the wild, away from humans, how often are they full to capacity 100% of the time? Almost never in my experience, in the wild I see many widows who live for over 2 years as mature females, yet in my garage the widows who are full to capacity typically live ~4 months at maturity.

I am a firm believer that we over feed our inverts. I hardly ever feed an invert more than once every other week. As long as they have water they are fine. I have let some widows go for up to a month with no food and they have lost almost no body mass. My T's and true spiders hardly ever have molting problems and it prolongs their life, so I will continue with my techniques.

 

[Widowman10]

I am a firm believer that we over feed our inverts. I hardly ever feed an invert more than once every other week. As long as they have water they are fine. I have let some widows go for up to a month with no food and they have lost almost no body mass. My T's and true spiders hardly ever have molting problems and it prolongs their life, so I will continue with my techniques.

i would tend to agree that most people overfeed their spiders. especially widows. i remember a story of one guy who left a widow on a closet shelf and completely forgot about it. she sat there for 6 months with no food and no water, and was absolutely fine. hungry and thirsty i bet, but fine. they can go incredibly long times w/out food, and widows, a long time w/out water (at least hesperus).

 

[Pulk]

CHDB, please check your PM's.

 

[DrJ]

Widowman10, Thanks for answering all those questions! :clap:

You really did answer a lot for me. I don't think I have any questions for now...maybe later though.

Okay, one more...Would an adult ever use a water dish if it were available? And, after the three week mark, what do you feed them? Make that two questions!

Thanks again!

 

[Widowman10]

Widowman10, Thanks for answering all those questions! :clap:

Okay, one more...Would an adult ever use a water dish if it were available? And, after the three week mark, what do you feed them? Make that two questions!

Thanks again!

adults don't really need much water. at all. they don't need much to begin with, and will get any and all water from their prey. if you really want to, lightly misting the web every other week will be fine. but a water dish will just get in the way and clog things up, very unneccessary.

after the 3-ish week mark, feed them anything their body size. fruit flies work wonderfully!! i think you can get them at petsmart or places like that, but they are the perfect size! leafhoppers if it's summertime and you can find them. i use leafhoppers a lot b/c i don't buy anything that way

any more?? :}

 

[DrJ]

Thanks so much! I don't think there are anymore questions on my end...haha! You must love questions, though! Makes me wish I did have more! Seriously, though, thank you for taking the time to answer all those questions.

 

[Widowman10]

Thanks so much! I don't think there are anymore questions on my end...haha! You must love questions, though! Makes me wish I did have more! Seriously, though, thank you for taking the time to answer all those questions.

no problem . and yes, i like to share knowledge/answer questions

 

[fishwithoutabik]

this is such an all encompassing thread

Ok, rather than start a new one, I figured I would tack onto this one. How big do widows get? does anybody have a picture with something that would show scale? Where can I buy one/some?

 

[Pulk]

typically the largest legspan is 2" for the biggest species (hesperus & revivensis).
you can find lots of pictures of them by searching the True Spiders & Other Arachnids forum... this thread may be helpful.
you should be able to find widows where you live, go out at night with a flashlight and look under crevices. if not, there are probably a lot of hobbyists who will send you some cheap.

 

[dragonblade71]

Rain Flower: “I'm so excited about them, although I thought I was gonna wet myself when I did the cage transfer... It went rather well actually. I opened the deli cup, and used tweezers to put the tissue she was on in her new home Though I kinda freaked out and shut it with the tissue in there and now I'm scared to get it out. Haha”

As Steve Erwin used to say…..: “Danger Danger Danger!”

As many of you know, the Australian red back spider is a close relative of the black widow. The females look very similar too. I was getting out a motorbike from a shipping container close to Halloween last year and there was a red back crawling on the bike. When I got the bike on the grass, the spider had disappeared into the bike. I searched for it but to no avail. I then got on the bike and rode around a farmland property knowing that a red back spider was somewhere on the motorbike.