Why Would A T Distroy Its Eggsack???

[Blackwidow69]

:? :8o I got a good one for everyone... why would my T take care of her eggsack for a month and then distroy it to not find any trace of it??? She was not botherd and all conditions met and she was well fed to boot.. Anyone got any ideas as this is a first for me.. Never had probs befour.. :?

 

[MrDeranged]

Hey Andrea,

Sometimes when a sac is bad, T's have been known to eat them. It may have looked like everything is good, but maybe there was some kind of signal to the mom that it was going bad so she ate it. Sorry to hear it.

Scott

 

[Blackwidow69]

Bummer!!!!!

:? =D Thanks Scott.. Shes doing ok but am bummin the eggsack is gone ...oh well i have more due anyways il try her again few months from now...

 

[Wade]

Scott may be correct, many T's will make infertile sacs and eat them later.

However, I think viable sacs are also eaten at times as well. We can only speculate what is going on in the "mind" of a spider, but if the spider feels insecure and that the sac is in danger, eating may make the most sense, as strange as it seems. Making an eggsac costs the spider a lot metabolically. If she feels threatned, eating the sac may be a way to recoup some of those losses. After all, in the wild, if her burrow is invaded by a predator, she may have to flee. Rather than leaving the sac to the intruder, she eats it herself. This behavior (eating the young in times off stress) happens with many other animals as well, including some mammals. In captivity, a number of things can make a spider feel insecure, such as too much light, vibrations (cage being moved, or even footsteps on the floor), the presence of unwanted prey animals in the cage, etc. Some tarantulas are prone to this no matter how carefully planned their habitats, while others don't seem to be phased by anything. Aboreals are generally less prone to destroy sacs, which makes sense, since animals that live in trees are more accostomed to their homes moving about some (wind in the trees). Again, however, just guessing here.

It's dissapointing to lose a sac like that. One thing I lerned after years of keeping and attempting to breed reptiles and inverts is the meaning of the old saying "don't count your chickens before they hatch".

Wade