What a FATTY, geeze! =)

[davisfam]

Umm.. soo, I think my L. mactans might just explode here soon.. LOL!

Check this FATTY out, HA!

 

[Silberrücken]

LOL, she is! She's also beautiful! :clap:

I have a very fat L. geometricus that has produced 7 sacs so far, the last one she is guarding ATM. I need to take some pics, huh? :wall:

Do you have any good info as to how long these live? I can't find accurate info, it's all contradicting... :?

I haven't seen the little Black Widows around here for a few years now. The geometricus have taken over!

Great pics of your lovely girl! I hope she produces a sac soon, otherwise she looks ready to pop!

I am currently working on a project, one that will allow members to see all my pics. Every site I try has something or another limitations on pics and videos, soooo... I created a Facebook account that will be used only for these! :clap: (even that only lets certain-sized vids, but unlimited photos-I can deal with that, LOL!)

Updates to come soon! And hope you will post pics of your Black Beauty with her new eggsac! (she IS gravid, right? She looks it...)

Have a great weekend, everyone! S.

 

[Widowman10]

hey Silberrücken, there's some info at the very bottom of this page about lifespans:

https://sites.google.com/site/widowman10/widows/comparison-of-the-north-american-widow-species

i expect that they can live even a little longer given some periods of coolness, or kept at an overall lower temperature.

 

[zonbonzovi]

What a curious abdominal pattern...is mactans patterning variable or is this an abberation?

 

[Widowman10]

seems to be a fairly common pattern. the southern mactans are a little more colorful.

 

[buthus]

hey Silberrücken, there's some info at the very bottom of this page about lifespans:

https://sites.google.com/site/widowman10/widows/comparison-of-the-north-american-widow-species

i expect that they can live even a little longer given some periods of coolness, or kept at an overall lower temperature.

Yes, winter periods are key, also I gotta suspect nightly cool downs as they would be experiencing out in nature. ..something most "bug rooms" dont have.
When I had a good variety including tropicals and hot desert species the ones that held on longest were the individuals that I put outside for a few winter months. We tend to forget how cool deserts become at night and/or during winters. With the tropicals, its a bit more curious thing, but I believe constant temps, over feeding and maybe captivity in general just speeds up there life cycles. Cool temps could be thought of as "sleep" for them... and we all need a bunch of down-time during our lives.
Non-gravid widows that are kept fat because of over-feeding will die in half the time. I also tend to believe a variety of feeders is key ...more not so high fat/protein feeders such as isopods and earwigs. But, its good to remember that with less feeding they need more water ...so light misting to give them droplets on their web is a good thing.

 

[Widowman10]

Yes, winter periods are key, also I gotta suspect nightly cool downs as they would be experiencing out in nature. ..something most "bug rooms" dont have.
When I had a good variety including tropicals and hot desert species the ones that held on longest were the individuals that I put outside for a few winter months. We tend to forget how cool deserts become at night and/or during winters. With the tropicals, its a bit more curious thing, but I believe constant temps, over feeding and maybe captivity in general just speeds up there life cycles. Cool temps could be thought of as "sleep" for them... and we all need a bunch of down-time during our lives.
Non-gravid widows that are kept fat because of over-feeding will die in half the time. I also tend to believe a variety of feeders is key ...more not so high fat/protein feeders such as isopods and earwigs. But, its good to remember that with less feeding they need more water ...so light misting to give them droplets on their web is a good thing.

yep, you make some good points. they do have slightly different venoms, and do feed off of different food sources in the wild. and some people do make the mistake of not lightly misting every once in awhile. i tend to not overfeed them, so i make sure i mist every week or so. they usually drink pretty good.

 

[Kathy]

Wow, that one is a porker all right!!!! I am finding so many black widows lately - maybe because I reduced the scorpion population? I went out last night and found 6 different webs with a baby widow.

 

[KnightinGale]

Nice page Widowman. I got completely distracted reading that whole thing.
Nice Mactans too. I wonder what her size actually is?

 

[Silberrücken]

Thank you's to Widowman10 & buthus!

Yes I do feed my geo a variety of different feeders... crickets, bottleflies, moths, a few D. hydei here and there, and very small larva I find in the woods. She gets waterdrops on her web every 3 days. Very good info from both of you!

Widowman10, I will definitely look at that info! I have been wanting to find some valid data on these pretty girls! :clap:

 

[davisfam]

Silberrücken: And hope you will post pics of your Black Beauty with her new eggsac! (she IS gravid, right? She looks it...)

Naah, we don't think she is gravid due to her being a juviie when we found her a few months ago. Just a BIG FATTY! LOL! And as always, thank you very much for the kind words, muchoo appreciated! Can't wait for your updates! :]

buthus: Non-gravid widows that are kept fat because of over-feeding will die in half the time.

VERY true information but considering her last meal was 8-9 days before this medium sized cricket, I don't think we're overfeeding her. She was just a hungry girl We feed her a decent sized meal in the middle of each week, if not every 8-10 days. Thanks for the good facts concerning Widows, it's appreciated! :razz:


zonbonzovi and Kathy: THANKS! She has beautiful markings and has kept most of them thus far. I just love these spidiies! Check out our other posts previous to this one concerning this species for juviie and more sub-adult pictures along with a video of this gal feasting a little over a month ago! LOL! If you do decide to keep one, you won't regret it Kathy!

Widowman10: As always, your information is MUCH appreciated! Thanks for answering those questions, this is YOUR specialty species, after all.. we're the Wolfiie lovers, LOL! I am still learning when it comes to Widows!

 

[Silberrücken]

That's cool that she's a Juvie! Are you going to breed her when she matures? That too would be very cool, to watch the complete hatch-to-adult process! :clap:

Check your Inbox soon, please, I will leave you a PM.

S.

 

[Canth]

VERY true information but considering her last meal was 8-9 days before this medium sized cricket, I don't think we're overfeeding her. She was just a hungry girl We feed her a decent sized meal in the middle of each week, if not every 8-10 days. Thanks for the good facts concerning Widows, it's appreciated! :razz:

That really isn't all that much time in my opinion. When I kept my variety of widow species, I fed them about twice a month, maybe once. And I kept they're abdomens healthy in size, much like I'd find them in the wild.

 

[davisfam]

That really isn't all that much time in my opinion. When I kept my variety of widow species, I fed them about twice a month, maybe once. And I kept they're abdomens healthy in size, much like I'd find them in the wild.

Hmm.. well, I guess since it's our FIRST time owning a spidiie of this species, each day will be a learning experience, huh?! LOL!

P.S. Previous to this photo, our gal's abdomen has NEVER been even close to this large.

Thanks!

 

[davisfam]

That's cool that she's a Juvie! Are you going to breed her when she matures? That too would be very cool, to watch the complete hatch-to-adult process! :clap:
Check your Inbox soon, please, I will leave you a PM.
S.

Thanks! I am not sure but I think she is now in the "Sub-Adult" stage but please, correct me if I am wrong because I am still learning when it comes to this species. We do not plan on breeding her once she becomes a MF due to it being our first experience with a Widow. We would much rather document and learn.. but maybe next summer, who knows!

And I could be wrong about this but I think "WidowMan10" has documented the entire life-cycle of the Widow.. not sure if he has pictures or videos! I'll have to ask him when I get the chance! :]

 

[Silberrücken]

I'm still learning too, so don't feel alone in that aspect!

You're right, Widowman10 would be the one to have such documention! Hopefully he can provide us with some links, as he did for me earlier in this post. (Thank you, Widowman10!!!)

I found that page quite interesting and fascinating as well. As you, I have little experience with these pretty spidies. Waiting for my Girl's sac to hatch so I can see the li'l tiny ones!

See? That reminds me... must look that page again to see what the Gestation time is...

S.