Mother T's that eat their egg sac

Tremors

Arachnopeon
Joined
Oct 30, 2010
Messages
29
Would you name a few of the better known species of Tarantulas who's females are known to eat their egg sac at the slightest bit of disturbance.
 

Poxicator

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 16, 2007
Messages
354
T. blondi are known to do this but its possible for many species to do so
 

briarpatch10

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 21, 2010
Messages
67
Hey JC. I have a P. Metallica that I HOPE is gravid. I paired her on Thanksgiving and have noted some strange behavior. She isn't eating as much and staying hidden more. I am not giving up hope because I know people that paired P. Regalis and didn't think that it did anything but months later she laid a sack. All that I know is that P. Metallica is prone to eat their eggsacks. Pull it at like 7 days.


I found this...dont know for sure though
 

Jmugleston

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 31, 2007
Messages
1,578
I think there may be much more to female spiders consuming an eggsac than just disturbances.

If a collector says I've had species X that has eaten every one of her eggsacs, how will you know if it was because she was stressed/disturbed, too dry, too old, if the keeper was a bonehead, or if there were other confounding variables not yet accounted for?

Many factors may cause a female to consumer her eggsac. Disturbances may be one of them. Though one must consider that in nature disturbances are common. (I realize captivity and nature are very different, but a proper hide in captivity may make a female less susceptible to stress from being disturbed).

Just thought I'd put this out there before people start listing species they've personally had issue with. As an example, I've had very little problems with Theraphosa sp. eating their eggsacs. In contrast to what was listed above, I've had females carry infertile eggsacs for over a month and then drop them outside their burrow uneaten.
 

Stan Schultz

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jul 16, 2004
Messages
1,677
Would you name a few of the better known species of Tarantulas who's females are known to eat their egg sac at the slightest bit of disturbance.
None that I know of, or rather all.

Mother tarantulas who detect that some or all of the eggs in their eggsac are spoiling, or that the eggs have dried into a brick, will either try to eat (destroy) it as a means of avoiding attracting ants and predators, or throw it outside their burrows (in nature), or discard it to the farthest reaches of their cage (in captivity) in an attempt to rid themselves of the garbage.

As long as the eggs are developing normally, most will carry and defend the eggsac full term.

Why do you ask?
 
Top