widows

ballpython2

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
1,670
I'm new to widows and I'm interested in these spiders now so I wantd some information on them so i can decide if I want to add these to my collection of spiders. Currently I have 14 tarantulas.

Questions:
1 - do they molt like tarantulas do?
2 - do they go off of feed?
3 - how long do they live?
4 - how much are they for sale in the hobby?
5 - does anyone who own one or more of these spiders keep anti vemon on hand?
6- are they fed crickets as a staple diet?
7 - how long (weeks, months etc) does it take to reach adult hood?
8 - what tempeture should they be kept at?
9 - do they come in other colors beside black?

If anyone has any caresheet links I'd be glad to read them all..thanks for everyones input.
 

KUJordan

Arachnobaron
Old Timer
Joined
Nov 22, 2005
Messages
344
Answers:
1.- They molt hanging upside down in their webs. They molt easily with a good meal and slightly higher humidity than normal.

2.-not sure what you mean by this question, but when a food item is in their webs they simply go over to it and, suspended, they use their back legs to "comb" silk out of their spinnerets and over the prey-wrapping it up very tightly with their insanely sticky and strong silk.

3.-a good healthy, unbred, female will live up to 3 years.

4.-many of us have widows for sale, including myself. i have 7 species for sale and they range from $7 to $35 for adult/subadult females.

5.-I don't keep any AV. I realize they are highly toxic, but for the US species you can get AV easily enough at the hospital. My overall feeling is that there is really no instance where a responsible keeper should be envenomated. They aren't like snakes- they can't jump or "strike".

6.-They are fed any organism that is their legspan or smaller. I feed mine roaches because roaches are free to breed and they reproduce like crazy. Even squashed/dead food will work for widows...I just use a long set of tongs and tap their webs with it and they come take it from the tongs.

7.-depending on the amount of food they eat about 4 months for a female and about 3 or so for a male, in my experience.

8.-all mine are kept at "bug" room temperature...~ 82F

9.-yep...white, red, brown, red and black, orange/yellow and black...only widows that are black are "black widows." Whatever color the species is, they're called the "(color)" widow. There is only one true "black" widow and that's Latrodectus revivensis from the deserts overseas...

Hope this all helps!
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
I'm new to widows and I'm interested in these spiders now so I wantd some information on them so i can decide if I want to add these to my collection of spiders. Currently I have 14 tarantulas.

Questions:
1 - do they molt like tarantulas do?
2 - do they go off of feed?
3 - how long do they live?
4 - how much are they for sale in the hobby?
5 - does anyone who own one or more of these spiders keep anti vemon on hand?
6- are they fed crickets as a staple diet?
7 - how long (weeks, months etc) does it take to reach adult hood?
8 - what tempeture should they be kept at?
9 - do they come in other colors beside black?

If anyone has any caresheet links I'd be glad to read them all..thanks for everyones input.
2 - this q is in regards to premolt fasting, i think? if so, the premolt fast so so short it is hardly noticeable

3 - they are longer lived for true spiders, as jordan said... but i caught a gravid female L. hesperus "western black widow" who made 13 eggsacs and lived for ~3.5 years in captivity. i feel like i could have stretched her out even farther if i had started with the intention of making her live for a long time. the last two years i had her i would only feed her when she got raisin-assed but the first year and a half i probably fed her almost every week. i strongly think that the more you feed a simple animal the faster it will grow (and die)
 

spydrhunter1

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Mar 16, 2005
Messages
641
3 - I strongly think that the more you feed a simple animal the faster it will grow (and die)
I agree and keep the widows, scorpion and tarantulas I keep on a "starvation" diet. It sounds more cruel than it actually is, I only feed my animals biweekly. It assures the animals are hungry and eat readily. I'm sure in nature they don't catch prey every day or even every week.
 

ballpython2

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
1,670
I agree and keep the widows, scorpion and tarantulas I keep on a "starvation" diet. It sounds more cruel than it actually is, I only feed my animals biweekly. It assures the animals are hungry and eat readily. I'm sure in nature they don't catch prey every day or even every week.
Thanks everyone for the responses.

I forgot to ask one question....What does everyone keep their sub adult / adult widows in? jars right?

I don't think a critter keeper would work because they can slip right through those bars even of the smallest critter keeeper correct?

Also can someone visit my myspace page and tell me if the background I have of a true spider is in fact a black and yellow widow?..if it is Does anyone on this AB board have these for sale?? If its not a widow spider can someone tell me what it is and if anyone on this board has them for sale thank you all very much for the information. I love this color...below is the link to my, myspaca page:

http://www.myspace.com/nosocomephobia
 

cacoseraph

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
8,325
I agree and keep the widows, scorpion and tarantulas I keep on a "starvation" diet. It sounds more cruel than it actually is, I only feed my animals biweekly. It assures the animals are hungry and eat readily. I'm sure in nature they don't catch prey every day or even every week.
you feed more often than i do =P

Thanks everyone for the responses.

I forgot to ask one question....What does everyone keep their sub adult / adult widows in? jars right?

I don't think a critter keeper would work because they can slip right through those bars even of the smallest critter keeeper correct?

Also can someone visit my myspace page and tell me if the background I have of a true spider is in fact a black and yellow widow?..if it is Does anyone on this AB board have these for sale?? If its not a widow spider can someone tell me what it is and if anyone on this board has them for sale thank you all very much for the information. I love this color...below is the link to my, myspaca page:

http://www.myspace.com/nosocomephobia
i use jars or other small once upon a time airtight containers

look up Argiope aurantia or A. argentata or A. trifasciata
one of those is stunning black and yellow. i can't do myspace at work, but i am going to guess it might be one of those
 

8+)

Arachnolord
Old Timer
Joined
Feb 21, 2007
Messages
645
you feed more often than i do =P



i use jars or other small once upon a time airtight containers

look up Argiope aurantia or A. argentata or A. trifasciata
one of those is stunning black and yellow. i can't do myspace at work, but i am going to guess it might be one of those
Yep it's auranta. Not impossible, but impractical to keep. They make large Orb webs, so they are hard to enclose. Also they are seasonal, I believe. You'd have to breed every year to have more the next spring.

They are beautiful, though!
 

buthus

Arachnoprince
Old Timer
Joined
Jun 8, 2006
Messages
1,381
Argiope aurantia actually keep well from my experience. I built tall enclosures.. 14"w x 24"h x 6"deep ...glass with top and bottom open (screen). I put a wood frame the same size within. The Argiope built beautiful orbs and usually took it down eveyday to get ready for a new web. Using screen for the entire enclosure works great ...probably better.
 

Mr. Mordax

Arachnoking
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Joined
Oct 22, 2006
Messages
2,301
I don't think a critter keeper would work because they can slip right through those bars even of the smallest critter keeeper correct?
I keep my L. hesperus in a critter keeper with no problem. The bars are narrow and she's fat. I haven't known widows to "squeeze" the way some inverts do (there's no way I could successfully keep centipedes in keepers).

I don't remember what everyone else said about your MySpace page, but it's an Argiope spider (I think someone else said that) -- not related to widows.

This website has some good information on different species of widow.
 
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