southern black widow inquiries

[darkness975]

Ok, looks like something went on. After 90 minutes in her enclosure, he started touching her with his long legs, then moved in. For the next hour or two, he was all over her. She didn't move. Now, he has moved away. Leave him, or move him to the other female?

If she was already mated and laid sacs she likely won't again. Usually they break off an appendage to prevent other males from mating.
I'd say feed the other girl and swap the male into her enclosure.

 

[JonIverson]

Ok, that's exactly what I did earlier. It looked like he wanted to escape, so I moved him into the other female enclosure. Both females were fed yesterday, so hopefully all good there. Should I watch and, once they couple, wait until he moves away again and then move him out into his own or ?

 

[darkness975]

Ok, that's exactly what I did earlier. It looked like he wanted to escape, so I moved him into the other female enclosure. Both females were fed yesterday, so hopefully all good there. Should I watch and, once they couple, wait until he moves away again and then move him out into his own or ?

Honestly you're better off just leaving him in there. It's not like hes going to really feed much anymore anyway, rather just leave him in there and increase the chances of successful mating rather than having him waste away by himself.

 

[JonIverson]

Left him in with the other female overnight. Today I awoke to see them both moving around. It's like she's trying to stay away from him. When he goes into the web, she goes to the bottom and looks for ways to escape. He keeps touching her with his long legs, but she keeps moving away. Not sure it's going to go with this pair. Of course, being a newbie, could all be part of the ritual. Like I said before also, she's only half the size of the other female. Larger since she ate a couple of days back, but still not full size.

 

[darkness975]

Left him in with the other female overnight. Today I awoke to see them both moving around. It's like she's trying to stay away from him. When he goes into the web, she goes to the bottom and looks for ways to escape. He keeps touching her with his long legs, but she keeps moving away. Not sure it's going to go with this pair. Of course, being a newbie, could all be part of the ritual. Like I said before also, she's only half the size of the other female. Larger since she ate a couple of days back, but still not full size.

Is she mature ?

 

[JonIverson]

Is she mature ?

Good question, not sure how I would know for sure.. if going by color, she has identical coloring to the larger female with no extra spots, etc.

 

[darkness975]

Good question, not sure how I would know for sure.. if going by color, she has identical coloring to the larger female with no extra spots, etc.

At this time of the year she probably is. Well monitor it and see. If the sparks don't fly with them then you could always take him out for a week or so and try again.

 

[JonIverson]

I took him out. Every time I looked, I would see him touching her with his legs and she'd keep running away. Will try after the next feeding of her in a week. I hope he eats something too. The only coupling I'm confident about is with the first female. She never ran and they were in contact quite a lot. Keeping my fingers crossed and I'll be keeping an eye out for egg sacs.

 

[darkness975]

I took him out. Every time I looked, I would see him touching her with his legs and she'd keep running away. Will try after the next feeding of her in a week. I hope he eats something too. The only coupling I'm confident about is with the first female. She never ran and they were in contact quite a lot. Keeping my fingers crossed and I'll be keeping an eye out for egg sacs.

Sounds like a good plan

 

[JonIverson]

Much to my surprise, another female found under a log this evening. This one is between the largest and smallest in size. She readily accepted an earwig and is eating it now. I'll try introducing her and the male in the next day or two.

I must say that I really didn't expect to find any more. Temps are in the upper 40's at night now. We just had heavy rain yesterday and that may be a factor. I noticed that I found the male and the other female after the last sustained rain we had a couple of weeks back.

Looks like I need to build yet another heated enclosure

 

[darkness975]

At least you have plenty of earwigs.

 

[JonIverson]

At least you have plenty of earwigs.

This time of the year, I find more of those than anything else here. At least a dozen a night. I was thinking the widows might avoid them as they produce a slight odor when alarmed or captured, but that doesn't seem to make any difference come meal time. They will eat them either fresh or thawed if I wiggle one in the web.

 

[darkness975]

This time of the year, I find more of those than anything else here. At least a dozen a night. I was thinking the widows might avoid them as they produce a slight odor when alarmed or captured, but that doesn't seem to make any difference come meal time. They will eat them either fresh or thawed if I wiggle one in the web.

Yes that odor.

If you notice they carefully wrap them up first then go for a bite and let the venom take effect.

No more odor when your entire insides are turned to liquid.

 

[JonIverson]

Today's intro of the male to the newest female didn't seem to go well. I noticed that when he went near her, he almost immediately went scurrying away to the edge of her enclosure trying to escape. She also lunged at him and flexed her body up and down a few times. I don't think she was ready to mate and I removed him back to his enclosure.

 

[darkness975]

Today's intro of the male to the newest female didn't seem to go well. I noticed that when he went near her, he almost immediately went scurrying away to the edge of her enclosure trying to escape. She also lunged at him and flexed her body up and down a few times. I don't think she was ready to mate and I removed him back to his enclosure.

Yeah it sounds like she's not ready yet. It seems you had the best luck with the first female.

 

[JonIverson]

Yes, it seems the original and largest female was most cooperative. She let him move in and and do his business without resistance. The other two, so far, seemed to reject him. I had one heater go out yesterday and had to repair it. Couldn't wait since it's going to get much cooler this week.

With the amount of earwigs I've collected, those alone would be enough to get them through the winter, but I've also picked up crickets and some small beetles too.

I still debate whether or not I'm going to try raising young during the winter. The big factor will be trying to keep fruit fly colonies going. Even with the heating pad, only the first 3-4" of any cup used is going to be 68 F and above. If I can get the other females interested in the male and they copulate, I'll hold off on trying to raise any spiderlings until late spring.

 

[darkness975]

Yes, it seems the original and largest female was most cooperative. She let him move in and and do his business without resistance. The other two, so far, seemed to reject him. I had one heater go out yesterday and had to repair it. Couldn't wait since it's going to get much cooler this week.

With the amount of earwigs I've collected, those alone would be enough to get them through the winter, but I've also picked up crickets and some small beetles too.

I still debate whether or not I'm going to try raising young during the winter. The big factor will be trying to keep fruit fly colonies going. Even with the heating pad, only the first 3-4" of any cup used is going to be 68 F and above. If I can get the other females interested in the male and they copulate, I'll hold off on trying to raise any spiderlings until late spring.

They could still survive that.

 

[JonIverson]

Found yet another male this evening perched on the side of the house. It just rained yesterday and the last one was found just after a rain too. Unfortunately, I'm out of materials to make any more heated enclosures so will have to divide and separate the one with the existing male. I'm probably rescuing him from oblivion as temps are supposed to be close to 0 C tonight.

Quick question. I notice that the current male doesn't seem all that interested in using the existing Y branch I placed in the enclosure. It's right in the center of the enclosure and I will have to remove it since I'm going to use a divider, but should I now add two separate Y's to each side or just drop an artificial leaf in each side? It's going to be a lot more work to add the Y's which is why I was asking.

 

[darkness975]

Mature males don't really make webs of their own they mooch off of the female's web. So a leaf or random stick is fine.

 

[JonIverson]

Thanks. The divider was a success and I simply decided to share half of the center Y branch on each side. Heaters are doing their job as the room dropped into the upper 50's today while the enclosures stayed between 68-73 F. With two males and three females, if there isn't copulation success now, there never will be, lol! The original male got away from me while I was modifying the enclosure. He's pretty fast and was already hiding behind some nearby furniture. All taken care of now.

I just hope I don't encounter any more guests outdoors as I no longer have the room for any more custom enclosures! I never expected to find the five that I did find since August. I knew widows were around, but not in my area. Big surprise.