Reluctant Widow Mother
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2021
- Messages
- 70
@darkness975 I can't remember if I properly thanked you on this forum or not, but I put everything together and Patty Black has lived happily in her enclosure all these months, turning into an actual, factual adult female Latrodectus hesperus. She had a run-in with a snakefly that was pupating inside the bamboo. It took her left front leg and despite two more molts, it never re-grew. She's still a lovely widow.
During the past few weeks, I have rescued four adult females and one male from my mother's property. They now live in similar enclosures. I love the fact that the space between the infrastructure and the top of the enclosure keeps the spiders from climbing the plastic. An added lid makes the enclosures essentially escape-proof, at least for the females. I think the tiny male could fit through the holes I made, but he isn't dangerous, so it doesn't matter much. No one has tried to bootstrap their way to the lid, so I could probably leave the tops open and they wouldn't escape; however, the lids are necessary for my peace of mind. I used a soldering pen with a small tip to make the holes in the lids.
Current Latrodectus specimens:
1) Patty Black - caught as a hatchling on the patio
2) Portia - caught on the back porch
3) Eve - caught under the eaves
4) Barbie - caught on a covered barbecue
5) Cher - caught under a chair
6) Sonny (male) - was in Cher's web, so why not? (I saw "Ken" in Barbie's web, but missed him. Darn.)
7) A hatchling of Barbie's. It will be interesting to see if it is male or female.
Here's a video of the enclosure. The rest of the enclosures are similar. Since I've run out of bamboo lattice, I've ordered some "fairy ladders" to use for future enclosures. I hope they do the job.
Link: New Enclosure for Juvenile Black Widow Spider - YouTube
Recent pics of Patty Black, showing her missing leg. She had to put a huge hole in her own web to drag the cricket under the apex of the ladders, where she feels comfortable. You can see the stump of her leg and the beginnings of a hole she's making so she can take the cricket back to her lair.
Here she is taking the cricket through the hole she made:
Random widow pics and videos:
1) Barbie's hatchling. He / she was about the size of a D. melanogaster fruit fly in this pic. He / she has molted and grown a bit.
This is Cher. It's the clearest photo I've ever taken of a female widow's epigynum.
This is Sonny:
Sonny with a fruit fly. I'd forgotten how small the males are. I think with this reference it will be easier to sex hatchlings in the future.
This is Barbie:
Fertile egg sacs neutralized in freezer:
Cher's empty egg sac (hatched, showing hole where hatchlings emerged):
Next two pics: headlamp and other tools for live-capture:
Cher finishing an egg sac, link: Western Black Widow Working on Egg Sac - YouTube
So, I guess I'm not so reluctant, anymore. In fact, I plant to hatch a fertile egg sac outside on my mother's property to collect a few hatchlings.
TTFN
During the past few weeks, I have rescued four adult females and one male from my mother's property. They now live in similar enclosures. I love the fact that the space between the infrastructure and the top of the enclosure keeps the spiders from climbing the plastic. An added lid makes the enclosures essentially escape-proof, at least for the females. I think the tiny male could fit through the holes I made, but he isn't dangerous, so it doesn't matter much. No one has tried to bootstrap their way to the lid, so I could probably leave the tops open and they wouldn't escape; however, the lids are necessary for my peace of mind. I used a soldering pen with a small tip to make the holes in the lids.
Current Latrodectus specimens:
1) Patty Black - caught as a hatchling on the patio
2) Portia - caught on the back porch
3) Eve - caught under the eaves
4) Barbie - caught on a covered barbecue
5) Cher - caught under a chair
6) Sonny (male) - was in Cher's web, so why not? (I saw "Ken" in Barbie's web, but missed him. Darn.)
7) A hatchling of Barbie's. It will be interesting to see if it is male or female.
Here's a video of the enclosure. The rest of the enclosures are similar. Since I've run out of bamboo lattice, I've ordered some "fairy ladders" to use for future enclosures. I hope they do the job.
Link: New Enclosure for Juvenile Black Widow Spider - YouTube
Recent pics of Patty Black, showing her missing leg. She had to put a huge hole in her own web to drag the cricket under the apex of the ladders, where she feels comfortable. You can see the stump of her leg and the beginnings of a hole she's making so she can take the cricket back to her lair.
Here she is taking the cricket through the hole she made:
Random widow pics and videos:
1) Barbie's hatchling. He / she was about the size of a D. melanogaster fruit fly in this pic. He / she has molted and grown a bit.
This is Cher. It's the clearest photo I've ever taken of a female widow's epigynum.
This is Sonny:
Sonny with a fruit fly. I'd forgotten how small the males are. I think with this reference it will be easier to sex hatchlings in the future.
This is Barbie:
Fertile egg sacs neutralized in freezer:
Cher's empty egg sac (hatched, showing hole where hatchlings emerged):
Next two pics: headlamp and other tools for live-capture:
Cher finishing an egg sac, link: Western Black Widow Working on Egg Sac - YouTube
So, I guess I'm not so reluctant, anymore. In fact, I plant to hatch a fertile egg sac outside on my mother's property to collect a few hatchlings.
TTFN
Last edited by a moderator:
