Egg sack advise , first time breeding

[Hydra]

Ok so I JUST joined up and wanted opinions on if I should let my arizona blonde female hatch the eggs herself or take the sack away and deal with it that way . I'll mention that she is not a first time mom and when I found her in the wild she actually had over a hundred babys all over her and was caring for them from what I saw and was passive to them so I feel like I can trust her with them. I ended up catching her a day or so later cuz a tirantula hawk found her and I had to gaurd her from it tell her babys left..... Was a pain in the butt... Anyway my male is breeding age and yup I love them both so I want thare babys as do a bunch of my friends and family so should I let her tend them or take the sack after a month ? I'm leaning towards letting her do it .

 

[WolfSpider]

Great save re. The tarantula hawk!! I am jealous that you can simply catch one in the wild.

Most people pull the egg sacs at varying intervals for 2 main reasons: those little EWLs and first instars are so small that they can easily fit through the holes of the enclosure. Secondly, it is nearly impossible to round up often hundreds of them if you want to either give them their own enclosure or sell them.

@Casey K. Give give you the best advice in the States. She has been breeding for over a decade.

 

[Hydra]

Great save re. The tarantula hawk!!

Ya I was visiting my aunt who has 11 acres in arazona and noticed the T's hole on a walk , saw this weard movement and was like what the ??? So I looked and was greeted by more babys than I can count ..... So cute ! I was in shock that I witnessed something so rare and special ! But then I heard a loud buzz and looked over to see the biggest T hawk I've ever seen ! And it was eyeing the new mom ! So I sat down next to her hole every sundown for 3 days until the babys all wandered off and the darn hawk was thare every day hopeing I be late I think .... I lured out super mom with some grass and put her in a critter carryer to the hawks dismay . Super mom is now safe and VERY we'll fed liveing in california with me , love that girl !

 

[Hydra]

And thanks I'll make sure to check out casey!

 

[Casey K.]

Ok so I JUST joined up and wanted opinions on if I should let my arizona blonde female hatch the eggs herself or take the sack away and deal with it that way . I'll mention that she is not a first time mom and when I found her in the wild she actually had over a hundred babys all over her and was caring for them from what I saw and was passive to them so I feel like I can trust her with them. I ended up catching her a day or so later cuz a tirantula hawk found her and I had to gaurd her from it tell her babys left..... Was a pain in the butt... Anyway my male is breeding age and yup I love them both so I want thare babys as do a bunch of my friends and family so should I let her tend them or take the sack after a month ? I'm leaning towards letting her do it .

When in captivity you should pull the sac at 30 days. Reason being, they are gonna be a pain to separate once they hatch out and they could possibly resort to cannibalism. At least you can separate them at first instar before this potentially happens. Also, there is always a possibility that mom could consume the sac. Some females do this when stressed out and others for no reason at all. Hope this helps. When you let them hatch with mom there are more risks involved vs. pulling the sac yourself to alleviate some of those risks.

 

[Hydra]

Ahhhh that makes sense . How do I go about opening the sack ? I didn't want to hurt the babys.

 

[Casey K.]

Carefully pinch one end of the sac and pick it up. I usually hold mine up to a light to make sure all the eggs are towards the bottom. Then you take a pair of scissors and carefully cut the tip off that you have pinched between your fingers. After that you should be able to see the eggs. Pour the eggs into an incubator. An incubator is usually homemade. The eggs will be in 4 stages:

Eggs- stage 1 (no legs present)

Eggs with legs- stage 2 (legs present but they look more like eggs with legs- as advertised- and can't really move around)

First instar- stage 3- this is the stage after eggs with legs and the babies can move around and is best to separate at this stage to avoid cannibalism.

Second instar- stage 4- this is the stage that some folks start separating them at. They will eat about 4-7 days after they reach this stage. Do not offer food before this stage.

You can use a coffee filter, rubber band and Mason jar/tall deli cup to make a homemade incubator. I lid mine off to keep fruit flies out of there because fruit flies will eat your eggs. Pictured below is my incubator. My babies are at first instar and darkening- a sign that they are getting ready to molt to second instar. I've already separated most of them. Those are the last few that need to be separated.

 

[Hydra]

Oh wow ! That's amazing looking ! Thay are so darn cute too ! So it's a humidity thing then by the look of it .... I think I can set up something similar I'm pretty crafty . Is the coffee filter moist at all or is it only the humidity rizeing up ? Also how much space is there between lid and floorspace ? 4-7 millimeters ? 1 centimeter?

 

[Casey K.]

Oh wow ! That's amazing looking ! Thay are so darn cute too ! So it's a humidity thing then by the look of it .... I think I can set up something similar I'm pretty crafty . Is the coffee filter moist at all or is it only the humidity rizeing up ? Also how much space is there between lid and floorspace ? 4-7 millimeters ? 1 centimeter?

The coffee filter stays dry at all times. It's the evaporation (humidity rising) that helps. There is about an inch between the floor of the coffee filter and the lid. You want to fill your deli cup/Mason jar at least halfway full of water.

 

[WolfSpider]

Casey, as usual your advice is golden! @Enn49 is there any way to place this thread to a more permanent and prominent position?

 

[Enn49]

Casey, as usual your advice is golden! @Enn49 is there any way to place this thread to a more permanent and prominent position?

I've made it a Sticky.

 

[Casey K.]

Casey, as usual your advice is golden! @Enn49 is there any way to place this thread to a more permanent and prominent position?

Thank you.

 

[Hydra]

Thank you Casey ! I look forward to seeing them grow up ! Well when she lays them that is

 

[Casey K.]

Thank you Casey ! I look forward to seeing them grow up ! Well when she lays them that is

You're welcome.

 

[SingaporeBlue]

Great save re. The tarantula hawk!! I am jealous that you can simply catch one in the wild.

Most people pull the egg sacs at varying intervals for 2 main reasons: those little EWLs and first instars are so small that they can easily fit through the holes of the enclosure. Secondly, it is nearly impossible to round up often hundreds of them if you want to either give them their own enclosure or sell them.

@Casey K. Give give you the best advice in the States. She has been breeding for over a decade.

Hi, new to Tarantula vocab lol. What are "instars" and "EWL's" and what is the difference?

 

[SingaporeBlue]

You're welcome.

Hi @Casey K. Im a very curious new guy to tarantulas and i wanted to know a little more about egg sacks and hatching. How long does it take on average for a female to lay an egg sack after mating? From laying the egg sack to hatching, how long on average does it take? Hopefully newbies like me in the future will find this post if they are curious about this too

 

[octanejunkie]

In my experience, a female will drop a sac between 30-60 days after successful insertion. Most breeders will pull the sac 30 days after they first notice it, or leave it with mom to hatch out.
Some mom's eat sacs unexpectedly, which is why breeders pull them and manually incubate to hatching.

The eggs develop into Eggs With Legs, EWLs, them into spiders over a series of transformations/stages, or instars,

Depending on the species, and conditions they are kept, the time between stages can be faster or slower until you have actual spiderlings.

 

[SingaporeBlue]

In my experience, a female will drop a sac between 30-60 days after successful insertion. Most breeders will pull the sac 30 days after they first notice it, or leave it with mom to hatch out.
Some mom's eat sacs unexpectedly, which is why breeders pull them and manually incubate to hatching.

The eggs develop into Eggs With Legs, EWLs, them into spiders over a series of transformations/stages, or instars,

Depending on the species, and conditions they are kept, the time between stages can be faster or slower until you have actual spiderlings.

Thank you for the clarification and definitions

 

[liquidfluidity]

Not sure if this is the right place for this but are these procedures applicable to true spiders also?

 

[Counselor]

This has all been most helpful. My daughter and I are first time breeders and after five months with no sack and resigning ourselves to thinking we had failed, we woke up this AM to a sack from our Versicolor. The last week or so has been interesting, and we were thinking we might actually get a sack. Now the dilemma is... well, waiting but after that, do we pull it after 30 days from when we found it, or wait a bit longer? We do not want slings lose in the enclosure nor do we want a significant challenge on our hands if we pull it too soon.

What we learn/gather from this experience will only improve what we do with our GBB who, if on the same timeline, should give us a sack in October. Thanks all for this thread and any advice.