Southern Black Widow Egg Sac Inquiry

[Amerikanvandel]

Hello!
New to the site as I have a few questions regarding black widow egg sacs.
Back story... I live in an HOA community that has a clubhouse & pool. I discovered a black widow several years ago in one of the skimmer baskets at the pool and I collected her and she lived with me for 3 days shy of 2 years when she died. In that time, she never made an egg sac so I assume that she was a virgin widow?
After discovering her, I have found and collected many many widows from the pool area and I have kept a few along the way, the ones I didn't keep, I released at a nearby pond where they would be well fed and able to find suitable places to live out their days!
Currently, I have 3 widows, one of which has produced an egg sac that I just extracted from the mother's enclosure and sadly, it got dented. Where it was dented, it looks wet but the eggs inside, or, some of the eggs inside, kind of topple around inside the sac when the jar is tilted from side to side. My questions are,
1. Is it possible that some of the eggs will still hatch and come out of the sac?
2. Where the dent is wet looking, is that membrane or just broken eggs?
3. Should the eggs inside the sac be moist & clumped together or dry enough to topple about when the sac is tilted?
I keep the widows outside on a covered patio, with heavy but light colored curtains and a ceiling fan to keep patio cooler on these stifling days, should I mist the jar with the sac to keep the humidity up inside the jar or will the natural humidity be enough as to not dry out the sac?
Any help will be greatly appreciated, this is the first egg sac I have decided to keep...by the way, the egg sac was with the mother for 11 days and as of today, 2 days in a separate enclosure but not in the same condition it was with the mother since I dented it while extracting it. The sac is kept at the same temperature and location as the others, just an fyi.
I look forward to any response, advise, opinions... I can't conclude any thoughts or facts of my own since this is a first for me.

 

[Charliemum]

OK never kept widows unfortunately they aren't in my country or I would have a few lol. Usually the sac is left to hatch out with mum, as far as I know she keeps it suspended and turns it as she needs to.
If it is damp then it is most likely from eggs being smooshed. It is very difficult to get hold of something so small without damaging the inner sac even in t's let alone something so tiny.
Idk about them moving inside when you move the viv it doesn't sound good but as I said I am no expert haven't even kept them this is all just info I have collected on a sp I like.

Ooo I know who can help @darkness975 this is your house not mine can you help please

 

[Amerikanvandel]

Thank you for the feedback, charliemum! I do agree that some were smooshed, I had to keep re-snagging it because her web is incredibly strong so it took a few pulls and when I got it to where I could safely grab it, I only had chopsticks so I grabbed it as carefully as I could without pinching it together.
I think I was a bit premature in extracting it too soon, none of the spiderlings have hatched yet so they are still little balls rolling around inside the sac. ha!...no pun intended!

 

[viper69]

Grow them up and release them upon any of the controlling Nazis that frequent HOA community boards!

Nice to see someone who rescues these.

 

[Charliemum]

I

Thank you for the feedback, charliemum! I do agree that some were smooshed, I had to keep re-snagging it because her web is incredibly strong so it took a few pulls and when I got it to where I could safely grab it, I only had chopsticks so I grabbed it as carefully as I could without pinching it together.
I think I was a bit premature in extracting it too soon, none of the spiderlings have hatched yet so they are still little balls rolling around inside the sac. ha!...no pun intended!

I think it's usually around 30 days till they hatch but I could be wrong, I always go by incubate till there's no debate. It won't hurt to keep the sac and see if any do hatch out.

Don't worry about it even pro breeders end up with casualties, sometimes it can't be helped.

N lol was funny intended or not

 

[Amerikanvandel]

Well... she has decided to replace the one I took! The new egg sac is much smaller and without the infamous point! It looks more globular, like a jelly bean.
I think I might leave this one with her longer, maybe let them hatch first but before they chew their way out!
I will keep ya posted on the damaged goods!
I appreciate the views and likes and as long as I have these widows in my life, I am sure I won't be a stranger to this site!
Vandel

 

[darkness975]

Well... she has decided to replace the one I took! The new egg sac is much smaller and without the infamous point! It looks more globular, like a jelly bean.
I think I might leave this one with her longer, maybe let them hatch first but before they chew their way out!
I will keep ya posted on the damaged goods!
I appreciate the views and likes and as long as I have these widows in my life, I am sure I won't be a stranger to this site!
Vandel
View attachment 480303

Welcome to Arachnoboards.

You don't want to mist the egg sacks. That could rot them.

Give this thread a read. I go into details about how I care for my Latrodectus spp. Adults and slings.

southern black widow inquiries

About two weeks ago, I removed my lawnmower cover and underneath was a southern black widow. After getting several false positives over the last couple of years, I was truly surprised when one decided to take up residence in my yard- and for the first time in 40 years that I know of! After...

arachnoboards.com

 

[Amerikanvandel]

Welcome to Arachnoboards.

You don't want to mist the egg sacks. That could rot them.

Give this thread a read. I go into details about how I care for my Latrodectus spp. Adults and slings.

southern black widow inquiries

About two weeks ago, I removed my lawnmower cover and underneath was a southern black widow. After getting several false positives over the last couple of years, I was truly surprised when one decided to take up residence in my yard- and for the first time in 40 years that I know of! After...

arachnoboards.com

Thank you so much for sharing that thread, very insightful and interesting!
I have kept several widows throughout the last ten years and through observation alone, I have become very familiar with their behavior and habits, that is up until now!
I have never kept an egg sac and I currently have 3 egg sacs and 5 egg sacs that I just found in my raised flower garden (behind the brick wall and in crevices on the front of the bricks)! The egg sacs I found are all torn and have large holes in them. A black fuzzy worm like dude did flee from one sac when I set the sac down. Lots of tiny eggs rolled out and onto the brick but I didn't really acknowledge it until I scooped up all the "empty" sacs to put in a specimen bottle and noticed a tiny egg with legs!!
I decided to drop all the empty sacs into the enclosure that will be for the 3 sacs of slings, in case more of the eggs hatch from the broken ones.
I extracted one egg sac and thought I ruined it but turns out the slings are alive and well! They are 20 days into gestation so I expect they will be emerging soon...
A second widow decided to spin her an egg sac, too and then one day later the one I just took an egg sac from made another one! The two newer sacs are very small compared to any other egg sac I've seen and they are not "pointed", one is jelly bean like and the other is round and really dark compared to any of the sacs I have "in-house".
The second widow (#2) to spin an egg sac is odd. She and another (#3) I caught very close to each other at the pool, they are both smaller than average and both are not very good at catching food. #3 is even missing one of her pedipalps.
#2 has been very shy since I brought her home, usually hiding in a tight ball underneath the wood I put in the enclosure but since her egg sac, she is more relaxed in her web but I caught her rubbing her body against the wood and going to the floor of her enclosure and pressing herself down into the sand and wiggling around in it. It is the weirdest thing I have ever seen a widow do! I will try to post the video, it is pretty long since I didn't edit it.
It's very odd and funny to watch I just wish I knew what she was doing!
Any ideas?
If I can figure out how to post a video, it will be a new post. I will then try to tag you or share with you... newbie, remember?

 

[darkness975]

I caught her rubbing her body against the wood and going to the floor of her enclosure and pressing herself down into the sand and wiggling around in it. It is the weirdest thing I have ever seen a widow do!

That is how they create the trip lines for their webs.

See this video for a clear view of what they look like: