- Joined
- May 27, 2017
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- 1,336
I thoroughly debated whether or not to make this thread. I lost my adult (now known female) Dysdera crocata, and have around 30 eggs I now have to care for myself and hope I can properly care for. I made a very stupid mistake and I wanted to just forget about it and act like it never happened. But while the first part of the mistake was my own stupidity, the second part was because I didn't have the immediate resources to realize that I shouldn't have done what I did. So if I weren't to share this, it would be all the more likely that someone else would make this mistake as well. I think it's important to put this information out there so that anyone caring for Dysdera crocata don't make the same stupid mistake I did.
Roughly two weeks ago, I came across a massive and very angry Dysdera crocata and took it home. I set it up in a decent sized enclosure with a couple inches and substrate and two small isopods (one of which was eaten right away, the other of which disappeared shortly after), and left it completely alone since. The spider burrowed the first day shortly after eating, sealed off the burrow, and had been in it ever since.
Yesterday night after getting home from work, I made my first mistake. While checking on my other inverts, I for some stupid reason decided to dig out the burrow a little bit. I honestly don't know what I was thinking and can't think of any reason why the heck I would have ever done that. But I did. I came across a very thick patch of webbing, pulled it out, and continued my search. After realizing she must have burrowed even further into the enclosure than I thought, I left it alone because I finally realized I shouldn't be bothering her.
So I went back to mess around with some of the substrate I dug up and made my way back to the particularly thick, dirt covered webbing. I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but after playing with the webbing a bit, it tore open slightly and much to my surprise, I realized there was eggs inside! Not only did I stupidly dig up her burrow, I stole her eggsac and tore it open. Now because the eggsac was torn open and she was nowhere to be seen in the enclosure, I thought the best move would be to make an incubator and set the eggs up in that to attempt to raise them myself (Probably also a stupid idea, but I think this is minor compared to having dug up the burrow in the first place). But it was already very late and I didn't have an actual plan, so I set the eggsac aside in a deli cup and went to bed.
Fast forward to earlier today, and I set up a scaled-down incubator like the ones used for tarantula eggs and got to work opening the sac. I couldn't seem to find the spot I ripped open yesterday, but didn't think much of it and went to tear a new hole in the sac. While tearing it open, suddenly the adult spider comes rushing out of the eggsac, off the incubator, off the table, and onto the ground where she scurried away to some unknown location.
I searched for about an hour but was unable to find her. I'm going to try looking again tonight, but am not optimistic.
MORALS OF THE STORY:
Roughly two weeks ago, I came across a massive and very angry Dysdera crocata and took it home. I set it up in a decent sized enclosure with a couple inches and substrate and two small isopods (one of which was eaten right away, the other of which disappeared shortly after), and left it completely alone since. The spider burrowed the first day shortly after eating, sealed off the burrow, and had been in it ever since.
Yesterday night after getting home from work, I made my first mistake. While checking on my other inverts, I for some stupid reason decided to dig out the burrow a little bit. I honestly don't know what I was thinking and can't think of any reason why the heck I would have ever done that. But I did. I came across a very thick patch of webbing, pulled it out, and continued my search. After realizing she must have burrowed even further into the enclosure than I thought, I left it alone because I finally realized I shouldn't be bothering her.
So I went back to mess around with some of the substrate I dug up and made my way back to the particularly thick, dirt covered webbing. I'm sure I don't need to tell you, but after playing with the webbing a bit, it tore open slightly and much to my surprise, I realized there was eggs inside! Not only did I stupidly dig up her burrow, I stole her eggsac and tore it open. Now because the eggsac was torn open and she was nowhere to be seen in the enclosure, I thought the best move would be to make an incubator and set the eggs up in that to attempt to raise them myself (Probably also a stupid idea, but I think this is minor compared to having dug up the burrow in the first place). But it was already very late and I didn't have an actual plan, so I set the eggsac aside in a deli cup and went to bed.
Fast forward to earlier today, and I set up a scaled-down incubator like the ones used for tarantula eggs and got to work opening the sac. I couldn't seem to find the spot I ripped open yesterday, but didn't think much of it and went to tear a new hole in the sac. While tearing it open, suddenly the adult spider comes rushing out of the eggsac, off the incubator, off the table, and onto the ground where she scurried away to some unknown location.
I searched for about an hour but was unable to find her. I'm going to try looking again tonight, but am not optimistic.
MORALS OF THE STORY:
- Absolutely positively DO NOT dig up your spiders!!! I shouldn't need to say this and this is common knowledge, but everyone has their stupid moments (as very clearly pointed out here), and it's important not to forget such an important rule!! This whole scenario would have never happened, and I would never have been minus a pet had I actually been thinking.
- Apparently Dysdera crocata actually seal themselves inside the eggsac with their eggs, so if you find an eggsac but no spider (and they're fairly large eggsacs given the spider's size. That alone should've alluded to her being in there), LEAVE IT ALONE. She is in there with the eggs. I didn't see her the first time I opened the sac, and I can only assume the first hole I tore open was resales by her, explaining why I couldn't find it the next day. Until now, I've never known of a spider that sealed itself in the actual eggsac, and there was little information about these guys in general when I searched so this wasn't something I had known or expected when opening the sac.