Widow slings

Well... way to go necro on an old thread.

Just kidding. Pluto is your man here. He had a bunch of Latrodectus slings for a minute.

I might be wrong, but I think sometimes widows will lay infertile sacks.

Here's a link to his thread.

Hehe im no widow expert, in fact I sold them.. but what I do know is that they are very easy to raise.

Because they attack things several times their size. Their web is incredibly strong.

When you have a sac, you have several options. Or, you close it really really tight and the slings will feed on each other. THis way they will grow incredibly quick! Moulting several times a week. You will have a smaller number of spiders left and they will be even easier to feed.

The bad side of this is that, if there are males within that sac (like 1/50 is male or even slimmer chances) they will get eaten since they are much weaker than the females.

You can also provide a bigger enclosure and feed them fruitflies, so they dont prey on each other, leaving the males more likely alive, but its more work. You dont want any to get out, so I would only use tightly sealing tubs. Also, the substrate doesnt matter what it is. But you have to put straw or twigs in there for them to build their webs in.

Also, when you do this.. put the twigs in a way that they do not touch the lid or anywhere close. They will spin the lid too and hang upside down against the lid, which is very annoying.

Prefer to use glass, they cant climb it. This way everything is safe. I have to tel you, getting males and letting them survive is pretty hard.

GOod luck dude!

Thanks for the input! I've keep Widows before, and they've laid egg sack's, but I've never had any of the slings survive. I'm gonna put a little more effort into it this time.

Thanks again!

Streettrash wrote:

Well... way to go necro on an old thread.

Just kidding. Pluto is your man here. He had a bunch of Latrodectus slings for a minute.

I might be wrong, but I think sometimes widows will lay infertile sacks.

Here's a link to his thread.

egg sac hatched and I bet there were a 150 to 200 babies. She has since laid two more egg sac's, so I've decided to let them feed on each other and if the other sac's hatch out they will have more to eat. Once they get to be a little bigger I'll pick and choose.

Thats exactly what most does. Keeping all of them isnt doable..

You might have to keep in mind that having male widows is rare and they are much smaller so they will get eaten this way. You can all put them in a jar with lots of twigs. They will build their own webs once the population has been thinned out.

After that its good to see which ones you want and which ones you dont want. Good thinking
Keep in mind that they can mature within half a year

pluto, how big go they get when matured?

!d say a legspan from around 3-4cm for females (big ones).. body around 1cm
Males, dunno, 1-2?

Cheers

Adult Female:
Approximately 8-13 mm (~1/2 inch) in body length.
With legs extended, the female measures about 25-35 mm (1 inch - 1 1/2 inches).

Adult Male:
Approximately half the size of the female, around 4-6 mm (1/4 inch) in body length.
With legs extended, the male measures 12-18 mm (1/2 inch - 2/3 inch).