Mating Q's Latrodectus Menadovi

[Steven]

My little male just molted today,... i can see clearly his pedipals have becomen "boxinggloves",... is this a sign he's ready to go ?
he's about 2mm Bodylength.
This is my first attempt to mate Latrodectus,..
so i just want to be sure

Female is adult and well fed,... so should i give it a try ?


I was told male Latrodectus can mate twice if you get them out fast and the female doesn't eat him. Is this true ??? if it's true,...it would be great !



thanx

 

[Wade]

In MOST Latrodectus, depite the common name "widow spiders", the female-eating-the-male phenomenon is largely an artifact of captivity, resulting from a combination of underfed females and placing the male inside a small rearing container with the female. If he's trapped in the container with nowhere to go afterwards, he's likley to get eaten, but if he's got room to roam, he may be fine. Perhaps putting her container, with the lid off, inside a larger container and introducing him that way may work. As long as she's well fed and he has room to get away, he should live to breed annother day.

There are exceptions to the rule, however. Some populations of the brown widow, L. geometricus, have males that willingly sacrafice themselves in the mating process. I only have experience with our native US widows, so I don't know wether L. menadovi is different or not.

Wade

 

[Steven]

thanx Wade

i'll try it with the container in another one

 

[El Johano]

2 mm in bodylength seems too small. They get the "boxing gloves" a couple of moults (not sure how many :? )before they are adult.
I've never had a L. menavodi female eat the male, the males have been living peacefully with the females until they died of old age.

 

[Steven]

Hey Johan

what BL do the males need to be then ?


(Ow yeah,... i did find a male at a local fair ,... only 1 little bugger,... and we need him to pleasure 2 females )

 

[El Johano]

Hey Johan

what BL do the males need to be then ?

That's the problem, they can differ a lot in size depending on how much they have been eating, it can be hard to tell when they're ready.
Did it have "boxing gloves" before the moult? If it didn't, it need to moult again (not sure how many times, I bad at keeping records )

(Ow yeah,... i did find a male at a local fair ,... only 1 little bugger,... and we need him to pleasure 2 females )

I'm glad you found one
I haven't tried to mate one male with several females, but I think it is possible.
Good luck!

 

[Kugellager]

Here is another important thing to note with Latrodectus males of nearly all species.

Once they mature out the might only eat once or not at all. After their last molt they will only live (If not eaten) about two months possibly slightly longer before they die. it seems there only duty in life is to mate with a female.

John
];')

 

[El Johano]

Here is another important thing to note with Latrodectus males of nearly all species.

Once they mature out the might only eat once or not at all. After their last molt they will only live (If not eaten) about two months possibly slightly longer before they die. it seems there only duty in life is to mate with a female.

John
];')

True, they rarely catch their own food when mature, but I've seen males eat from crickets caught by the female
Another thing about mature males is that they seem more restless, they move around alot (in search for a mate) if they haven't found a female yet.

 

[Nikos]

Here is another important thing to note with Latrodectus males of nearly all species.

Once they mature out the might only eat once or not at all. After their last molt they will only live (If not eaten) about two months possibly slightly longer before they die. it seems there only duty in life is to mate with a female.

John
];')

John is absolutely right. I have experienced the same with l.menavodi and l.variolus.
The males once matured never ate and died after a month or so.

So Steven if your male is refusing food suggest to go for it.

 

[Steven]

My male is still eating good,... so is the female
i better wait a bit

easier to judge with pictures

la femme

the little dude

and also thanx to Nikos :worship:

 

[Nikos]

They look like they are about to explode!!!!!
Since the male is not yet mature I would feed less the female...just in case

And when the male will reach adulthood then I'd go full speed ahead with female feeding and then mating.