Black Widow Spinning Egg Sac!

[Sarah.Eileen]

I caught this little mama, Lilith, in our shed about half a year ago - she's been thriving and has produced several egg sacs! (It's been fascinating learning about this species and how it can store sperm!)

The other day I was able to get a video of her spinning an egg sac - wild!

 

[menavodi]

Very nice. Latrodectus is a very interesting species. Do you know if it is a L. hesperus or a mactans?

 

[Sarah.Eileen]

Very nice. Latrodectus is a very interesting species. Do you know if it is a L. hesperus or a mactans?

I'm not nearly well-educated enough to know for sure, but since I'm in Virginia, my best guess is L mactans?

 

[menavodi]

I'm not nearly well-educated enough to know for sure, but since I'm in Virginia, my best guess is L mactans?

Yes, if she is from your area. L. hesperus live in other parts of the US. Have fun with your babies! I did breed them for very many years. A L. menavodi built 20 egg sacks in one year. Every cocoon had about 100 little ones in there.

 

[Arachnoclown]

One of my favorite spiders to breed.

 

[Sarah.Eileen]

One of my favorite spiders to breed.View attachment 53979

Awesome! I've never actually kept an egg sac (I usually either bring them to my local pet shop or put it outside). Any advice for handling the egg sac / caring for the babies if I do? Also, how many fertile egg sacs can a female lay without a male? Her first couple definitely had babies in them, but this is like her fourth or fifth.

 

[Arachnoclown]

As long as she still has sperm she can drop many sacks. I haven't got more then 6 fertile ones in a row yet. They are way too small to separate. I remove the mom and let the slings go at it till I have 5 to 10 big ones left. This method is still probably more successful then in the wild.

 

[menavodi]

Awesome! I've never actually kept an egg sac (I usually either bring them to my local pet shop or put it outside). Any advice for handling the egg sac / caring for the babies if I do? Also, how many fertile egg sacs can a female lay without a male? Her first couple definitely had babies in them, but this is like her fourth or fifth.

The 20 egg sacks came from one breeding session. All 20 produced about 100 spiderlings. I separate the cocoons and when they hatch, I hang a squeezed cricket in with them. They all eat from it. You can see pretty early which are males or females.

 

[menavodi]

Awesome! I've never actually kept an egg sac (I usually either bring them to my local pet shop or put it outside). Any advice for handling the egg sac / caring for the babies if I do? Also, how many fertile egg sacs can a female lay without a male? Her first couple definitely had babies in them, but this is like her fourth or fifth.

This is how I feed mine a week after they hatch...

 

[menavodi]

This is when they first come out:

 

[menavodi]

...and here a mother with 2 cocoons!

 

[Sarah.Eileen]

This is when they first come out:
View attachment 54060

Holy spiders batman !! How awesome!

 

[Arachnoclown]

@menavodi too many little ones for me to separate my friend. Lol

 

[menavodi]

@menavodi too many little ones for me to separate my friend. Lol

I always wait a little while...to separate less than 50...

 

[menavodi]

You can’t beat those colors...