widow questions

[Pulk]

how would you recommend thinning down a fat female? (just going a long time without any food, or having a minimal diet?) there's nothing wrong with her, it just doesn't look as good as a nicely proportioned one.

i have a male that just molted, about 2 cm counting legs in their normal semi-stretched out position (you know what i'm talking about). how can you tell a) when it's ready to breed and b) if it's geometricus or hesperus?

what happens if you put a geo male in a hesp web or vice versa?

does feeding a female soon beforehand decrease the chances of her eating him?

how long would you wait to be sure that a widow isn't gravid?

how likely is a geo/hesp hybrid?

what's the average number of geo slings per sac?

buthus mentioned in the latro pics thread feeding slings ants. are you sure that's ok? i have lots of ants.

sorry. thanks

 

[P. Novak]

how would you recommend thinning down a fat female? (just going a long time without any food, or having a minimal diet?) there's nothing wrong with her, it just doesn't look as good as a nicely proportioned one.

i have a male that just molted, about 2 cm counting legs in their normal semi-stretched out position (you know what i'm talking about). how can you tell a) when it's ready to breed and b) if it's geometricus or hesperus?

what happens if you put a geo male in a hesp web or vice versa?

does feeding a female soon beforehand decrease the chances of her eating him?

how long would you wait to be sure that a widow isn't gravid?

how likely is a geo/hesp hybrid?

what's the average number of geo slings per sac?

buthus mentioned in the latro pics thread feeding slings ants. are you sure that's ok? i have lots of ants.

sorry. thanks

Just don't feed her. She is either gonna molt or if she is WC could drop a sac.

Just give the male a couple of days and then introduce him, I'm no expert with L.geometricus so I can't tell you the difference, but if it was female there would be very noticable differences. Look up each species on google.

THere could be a chance for hybridization? Why do you think it's a geometricus male though?

Yeah that goes for most if not all spiders, of course there are the females that are ALWAYS hungry. I wouldn't worry about her eating him too much.

I would wait a couple of weeks, they usually drop pretty fast. I'm pretty sure other Latrodectus spp. don't drop as fast.

It could be very possible I belive, since they are both in the same Genus. Again why do you think it's a geometricus male??

As long as they aren't army, red, or any other ants that could hurt the slings, why not? Also, make sure they weren't around any pesticides.


I'm pretty sure buthus will drop by soon with even more detailed answers then mine.

 

[cacoseraph]

i believe geo males are considerably smaller

as for when mature male... can't use palpal bulbs as easily as with tarantula. in tara world palpal bulbs visible = mature male. in widow world, males start developing their complex reproductive organs in the palp in instars *before* ultimate... though seeing a spider with swollen pedipalps almost certainly means it is male and getting close to or is mature. er, i think. for big true spiders i think that is er, true


edit: ants are good fighters sometimes. they make ok feeders but they can fight back very effectively.

a well fed female is good. letting the male have a very easy way to escape is good. letting the male approach the females webbing from FAR away from the female is good.


if the widow molts she might lose sperm. don't know. i don't know if females can molt post maturity. i thought all true spiders had male and female ultimate molts into sexual maturity and no more molting... but some females can molt again. thta really surprised me.


widows are generally pretty fecund little dudes. brown widow sacs are in the low to maybe mid hundreds if i remember correctly. you can always let a massive number of babies eat each other down to more manageable numbers, though this might heavily skew sex ratios. i don't know.

 

[Pulk]

looking at other people's pics, I'm pretty sure it's a male... the problem is whether it's a geo or a hesp. and you guys think if the female is well fed i should just let him go in right now? (once i know what sp he is, of course)

to clarify - i'm wondering what -will- happen if a geo male goes into a hesp web OR vice versa, and i'm wondering how likely that is in the wild - as one of my widows is kind of a hesp-like geo.

ants & pesticides - people come fairly often to spray for ants... but there are still live widows where they spray. i guess i'll make them a last resort.

thank you

 

[buthus]

Post a pic of the male and we can take a look.

X-breeds are possible, but I have great doubt that geometricus and any of the black clads could mate and successfully produce young.
I have attempted to x-breed a few different species, and have had a few combos actually mate or at least go through what looked to be the mating process. Non have ever produced sacs.
I have done more experiments with male reactions by introducing males to different specie females and then pulling him out of the fire before anything could start. Most males do not react...they just hunker down knowing they are in the wrong flavor web. Menavodi and Laos males so far have proven to be the horniest of "interracial swingers".
Warning to all you curious types.. a successful x-breed mating will most likely only give you a exotic show and a fat female that will never produce a sac and will be rendered unmatable even with her own species.

Widows love ants when they are slings. Hesp slings can often be found in webbing above ant trails eating their share of them. I have fed adult widows large ants and termites ...they LOVE termites.
If you feed tons of slings ants, you will probably eventually witness at least one situation where the ant wins... ants are tough. I highly suggest disabling the ant and placing it directly into the slings webbing. BTW...slings that Ive only fed ants to stayed healthy, but growth rate was slow.

If you are forced to (or choose to) feed your widows local insects, stick to prey you find under rocks and stuff... like earwigs, termites, centipedes, sowbugs, beetles, etc. Unlike crickets and roaches, those tend not to wander around as much getting into mans poisons.