Loxosceles reclusa sling care

[TheWidowsPeak]

Hello all,

A few days ago I was contacted by a friend that their landlord was going to use a pesticide fogger in their storage shed due to a fairly large population of brown recluse. She called me and asked if I wanted her to catch me some before that happened. Well she brought me 5 eggsacs and a juvenile male.

The eggs are at the EWL stage now but will soon be official slings. I have searched and I can't find much info on the captive care of baby loxosceles. I have been breeding and keeping both tarantulas and widows for a few years now and I have lots of experience with those as slings but I wanted to see if anyone on here has much experience or advice for raising them from 1st instar to adulthood.

I'm assuming plastic vial with a bit of crumpled toilet paper in the bottom will work for individual containers. But I was curious about their communal habits as slings and adults for that matter. And good solutions for bulk enclosures etc. thanks in advance.

 

[RoachCoach]

Mine did well not preying on each other until I got them packaged seperately. I didn't get farther than that though. I managed to feed them all(30+) buffalo beetle larva in 8 oz tupperware(each) with crumpled up paper towel. All but about 5 died, then those 5 lasted about a year in my care. If you need any good info Richard S. Vetter's book "The Brown Recluse Spider" is pretty invaluable. It won't give you any husbandry tips, but for your knowledge on the species you intend to care for it's great. HMU if you have any questions. I'm one of the few weirdos on this board that chose to raise them.
Edit: I had to look back into my history and yes I lost a few to cannibalism. here's the link with my proud female mom https://arachnoboards.com/gallery/femalebrlings-jpg.74727/

 

[TheWidowsPeak]

Thanks for the info, I actually have already read that book, definitely fill of good info.
So upon closer inspection it looks as though the babies I have hatched so far are actually sac spiders of some type. They are still just in their first instar but I count 8 eyes there and the arrangement matches sac spiders.

 

[RoachCoach]

Good eye. It's very hard to get a viable BR egg sack away from where it is as they tend to glue them with web to the sruface they are on. I've ruined a few egg sacs that way. Actually always. I've only had success breeding them and leaving the egg sac in my possession. If these were floating egg sacks they are liekly orb weavers or something of that sort. Congrats to the owner though in not having an infestation of recluses. Be sure to tell them not to gas that area. Those are all harmless beneficial spiders.