Oops! She did it again. PLEASE ADVISE

[Joy]

One of my N. coloratovillosus has just made an eggsac and laid her eggs. Unfortunately she laid the eggs OUTSIDE the eggsac, and is now clutching what appears to be a ball of empty webbing. She did this exact same thing the last time I mated her a few years ago. None of the eggs developed that time, but this time I caught her while the eggs were still fresh and swimming in liquid. I removed them carefully to a hammock incubator and am now incubating them in hopes of salvaging something from the wreckage.

My question: the eggs were so fresh that they actually moistened the paper towel of the incubator when I placed them in it. I recall Tony saying he made the mistake of moistening the paper towel once while incubating some Avic eggs and many of them molded. Should I leave the lid off the incubator until the paper towel dries? Or would this run too great a risk of dessicating the eggs? I would greatly appreciate the insights of those who have experience using this method and of the Arachnopets kingdom in general.

Joy

Interesting note: my other N. coloratovillosus female, mated at the same time as this one, is currently making her eggsac, too. I hope she will take a more responsible approach to motherhood!

 

[Gillian]

Ooopps! Someone needs glasses..=D
Peace,
Gillian

 

[pronty]

Originally posted by Gillian
Ooopps! Someone needs glasses..=D
Peace,
Gillian

Hmm.. I wonder who makes 8 lens glasses... =D
...And how do they stay in place with no ears or nose?

Joy, good luck hatching those eggs!

 

[MrT]

Joy,
It looks to me as if the T was laying its eggs in the middle to the sac, but they ran off. Like the silk was on a rise or hill.


As for the wet eggs, all I can think of, is to keep rolling them till they dry off. Can you remove the wet eggs to a dry paper towel, gently roll them till the liquid is gone, then place them back in the incubater?

I used a nylon paint strainer for a hammock with my eggs. It worked great. I never had to change it, it never got moldy, and I hatched out 98% of the eggs.


Ernie

 

[LaRiz]

Joy,
Well, that sucks.
What I would do is scoop up as many as the eggs and liquid I could, put it in a hastily made paper towel, or even a coffee filter "eggsac" and use the mech. mom method of incubation. I don't know if paper towel would be a good choice for your "sac" though. It seems like the heavy webbing of an eggsac resists permeation of liquids.
I incubated an Avic. versicolor eggsac once, turning it 2 a day that resulted in about 60 offspring. I just had to check on it often to get all the black and non developed eggs out.
I would turn it as many times as I could during the day. I would say the first couple of days is crucial to turn them. When a tarantula lays the eggs, constructs the eggsac, and processes it, do the eggs absorb the liquid, and does this help with fertilization and egg nourishment?
john

 

[Steve Nunn]

Originally posted by Joy
One of my N. coloratovillosus has just made an eggsac and laid her eggs. Unfortunately she laid the eggs OUTSIDE the eggsac, and is now clutching what appears to be a ball of empty webbing.

Hi Joy,
I've had success transferring eggs from one sac to another, stored eggssac(already used), but in my case the eggs were about 3 weeks old and they were "sterile". I see from the photos that there is some substrate mixed in there, probably better to go with LaRiz and Mr T's ideas.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Phillip]

I hate when that happens.

Had a female T gigas do that on me a couple of years ago. Best of luck on saving some of them. Hopefully your luck will go better than mine did when it happenned.

Phil

 

[krystal]

joy--
that is such a sad, sad picture. best of luck trying your hand at the creation of the synthetic egg sac!

 

[Joy]

After reading through everyone's replies, I now see clearly what I should have done! By putting the eggs on paper toweling, I am sure I removed any chance of their being fertilized. It's my understanding that fertilization doesn't take place until they've been in the eggsac some time--something like 24 hours, I think? If instead I had put them in my old C. crawshayi eggsac (the finest silk of all IME and no urticating hairs), there MIGHT have been a chance for them. At present they look fine, but I suspect it will play out the same way as last time with the eggs just sitting there, not spoiling but not developing either.

Thanks so much to everyone for responding. I appreciate it more than I can say. The other coloratovillosus eggsac looks good so far; I'll keep everyone posted on it and the abandoned eggs.

Joy