Latrodectus hesperus *PICS*

I just traded a P. boreus for a Latrodectus hesperus, or Western Widow. Will post pictures of her shortly. She is still sub-adult, but is close to molting out of the remainder of her patterns.

Hang tight...

oooh congrats...cant wait for the pics

So here she is. A couple enclosure shots as well. It feels good to have one of these again...

The enclosure is a little beta tank with some picture frame holders super glued to the sides, and a rubber band securing the lid. The fit is tight I assure you.



And here she is.



And here she is in the enclosure. She's already spinning web on the twigs.

around my house those are pests making their webs all around the bottom by our doors,garbage cans and anything solid that is close to a wall that sits there for more than a couple days.

they are very morbidly beautiful and elegant though.i feel bad i have to kill them when i find em.i always hope when i destroy a web the creator will move on to somewhere else.they usually do buuuut sometimes.

i like its lil setup i plan to use a betta keeper for something someday.
when i first looked at the frame holders i was like wtf but then you said rubber security band and it made sense.i hope for a hole in your skin the rubber band doesnt unadhere that glue.they leave some nasty reminders and a bad taste in your mouth.

Wow that's awesome I really want one

Best thing about them is that they actually dont bite, or even try. Only when squeeshed. So they are fairly safe to keep. Nice specimen.

yeep ive handled em alot since i was a child and never have been bit or any of my dogs or cats.
i was just trying to scare him.ruin all my fun.sheesh.

You're evil dude

Mitchell isnt easily scared by an arachnid though.

Indeed. I'm happy to have her even though they occur naturally here. My friend caught this one in his house. I used to keep them all the time.

That's awesome dude. Very nice.

so what happens if you get bitten then?

toilet breaks mostly with some sweat and heavy breathing, if you are super sensitive to them

is that all? hmmm im wanting one lo :)l

It does depend really. People have died from them, but much like scorpions, there are a number of factors. I'm no latrodectus expert though...

I still need a licence for one

According to the Australian Museum spider page, the number of human deaths from authentic spider bites of any kind in Australia since 1979 has been zero. A recent published medical study followed 750 genuine Australian spider bite cases with identified spiders over 27 months (1999-2001). Only 44 bites (6%, mostly redback spider bites) had significant effects. Only 6 redback bites and 1 Atrax bite were serious enough to need antivenom. In no case was there any sign of allergic response to spider venom, and I have only seen one such case in North America in 35 years.

Atrax robustus, the Sydney Funnelweb Spider, is often publicized as the "world's deadliest." Authentic medical information (click here for details) suggests otherwise. There have been no deaths (out of 30-40 bites per year) since antivenom was introduced in 1980. During the 53 year period 1927-1979 there were 13 or 14 known deaths, which would be a death rate of under 1%! Although one child died in 15 minutes, adult fatalities typically took 2-3 days. 90% of Atrax bites are judged not serious enough to need antivenom.

Most serious spider bites in Australia are from the Redback, Latrodectus hasselti, a close relative of American black widows with very similar venom and effects. The recent study mentioned above tallied 56 genuine redback bites. Only 37 (66%) had any serious effects, and only 6 (11%) were serious enough to need antivenom. There have been no redback-caused human deaths in several decades.

So lets say they are no friendly species concerning bites, but everything is overrated as far as bug venom goes.

Hmmm interesting Stuff

Good to know.

your making me want to go get a betta container and keep one myself.
i miss watching em wrap up dinner.

Yeah. A nice little bug burrito to suck the life out of. Pretty rad to watch. Grab one up!

She molted today. I can't see her little white striped any more, but she's still got some red spots on her back. WOO!

So she's getting adult then. Prolly next molt all will be blackish?

Think so. I don't believe these have any red on their back when they are adult.

No they re just big and black. Prolly the coolest around. Even thought they were the biggest. But I'm not sure.