pitbulllady
07-25-2008, 12:20 AM
I'm happy to announce that the young female L. mactans mactans I discovered in the pantry last week is doing well, webbing up and now eating Leaf Hoppers and small K. hibernalis, which I raise as both pets and feeder spiders(the eight-legged equivalent of rats, lol). She behaves very nicely, moving down from the lid and hanging there in her web when I open her enclosure. Here's a pic of her I took this evening:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/pitbulllady/Spider%20and%20Other%20Arachnid%20Photos/DSCF6859.jpg
AND, while messing around with a set of vintage Studebaker wheel covers I had stored under the garage, I came across THIS big ole' Hoochie Mama:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/pitbulllady/Spider%20and%20Other%20Arachnid%20Photos/DSCF6856.jpg
She's one of the biggest Widows I've seen, and from the looks of her, I'll be getting an eggsac pretty soon!
Now, for the One That Got Away...and a question-I've never read anything to indicate that Latrodactus geometricus is found in South Carolina, so the only explanation as to what the one I found in the upper rafters of the car port where I keep my Studes is that she(or one of her immediate ancestors, probably in an eggsac)hitch-hiked up here from Florida under the body of a 1951 Studebaker Champion I had shipped up from that state. I'm 100% positive of the ID on that spider. She was even a bit larger than this latest Black Widow, and at first I thought she was a huge and odd-colored specimen of Parasteatoda tepidariorum, which are plentiful, even though she was easily three times the size of the largest House Spider I've ever seen. I got a twig and pursuaded her to move, so I could look at her underside, and sure enough, there was that unmistable "hourglass", though it was more orangish than bright red. As I was trying to get her into a container, though, she balled up and dropped to the leaf litter below, and even with a flashlight, I couldn't locate her and didn't want to trample around much in that area, for fear of squashing her underfoot. I'm hoping she will eventually climb back up to her web or perhaps start a new one nearby. She was a beauty; I really wish I'd just left her until daylight and just taken some pics instead of trying to capture her.
pitbulllady
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/pitbulllady/Spider%20and%20Other%20Arachnid%20Photos/DSCF6859.jpg
AND, while messing around with a set of vintage Studebaker wheel covers I had stored under the garage, I came across THIS big ole' Hoochie Mama:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v669/pitbulllady/Spider%20and%20Other%20Arachnid%20Photos/DSCF6856.jpg
She's one of the biggest Widows I've seen, and from the looks of her, I'll be getting an eggsac pretty soon!
Now, for the One That Got Away...and a question-I've never read anything to indicate that Latrodactus geometricus is found in South Carolina, so the only explanation as to what the one I found in the upper rafters of the car port where I keep my Studes is that she(or one of her immediate ancestors, probably in an eggsac)hitch-hiked up here from Florida under the body of a 1951 Studebaker Champion I had shipped up from that state. I'm 100% positive of the ID on that spider. She was even a bit larger than this latest Black Widow, and at first I thought she was a huge and odd-colored specimen of Parasteatoda tepidariorum, which are plentiful, even though she was easily three times the size of the largest House Spider I've ever seen. I got a twig and pursuaded her to move, so I could look at her underside, and sure enough, there was that unmistable "hourglass", though it was more orangish than bright red. As I was trying to get her into a container, though, she balled up and dropped to the leaf litter below, and even with a flashlight, I couldn't locate her and didn't want to trample around much in that area, for fear of squashing her underfoot. I'm hoping she will eventually climb back up to her web or perhaps start a new one nearby. She was a beauty; I really wish I'd just left her until daylight and just taken some pics instead of trying to capture her.
pitbulllady