My luck.

[conipto]

Well, a few weeks ago I found a mature male of some little house spider, and figured I woul dhang onto it incase I found a female that appeared to be the same. As luck would have it, I did.

I put the two together, and within minutes, they were mating. It was interesting to see it, the female sort of.. spread out.. her front I-III legs, while hanging upside down from her two IV legs. The male then came at her at a perpendicular angle, underside facing her fangs. After the mating was complete, he "pulled out" and ran off away from her. Hoping they might again, I left the male with the female, only to find him dead in the morning and a dried up husk - no big deal. Next day, I find another mature male, of the same species. Introduce him, they cohabitate for a few days, but no mating.

Today, there's an eggsac, about a week from the original viewed mating. Now that I'm about to have spider babies, I thought I'd find out what I'm mating here, and what's all over my house. Turns out, it's "Yellow Sac Spiders" (Cheiracanthium mildei) and they have necrotic venom :) While I'm not terribly bothered by sharing residence with these.. they can make for some nasty sores.. and I have a crapload in my apt. Anyone have any experience in keeping / being bitten by / raising slings of these?

Bill

[cacoseraph]

i kept C. inclusum or something like that for a while

i wouldn't be *too* worried about the venom

it doesn't ulcerate, so it would just be a bump that takes a longish time to heal

i raised some immatures i caught... all 3 molted out to males and then i moved and haven't caught any since

i handled them somewhat, even after i found out their dark (necrotizing) secret... never got bit that i was aware of from my pets, but i did find a suspicious bump on my leg i liked to believe was from a Sac kissing me :)

p.s. pretty cool looking little spiders, i think :)

[Venom]

Lol, nice to know what species you're surrounded by!


I've kept a number of C.inclusum as well as a couple that I think were the C. mildei. From what I've read our native inclusum is more potent than the introduced mildei, so while it might have some stinging and swelling, it isn't going to be as bad on the necrotic side. I've never kept a sling of these tho, but you could try tiny ants, pinheads, gnats for food. Just make sure the enclosure isn't too large, so they can find the prey items. Are you sure it's not inclusum though?

[conipto]

Being in the range for inclusum, that's probably actually what it is. I can't tell the two apart from pictures..

Bill

[cacoseraph]

i think i was going off range once i was pretty sure about family & genus

i'm just not good enough to be a Hair-Counter yet :)

[ilovebugs]

last year our house was infested with brown recluses.

they came from the woodshed/utility building. I caught/kept one till my mom found out and flushed it. I thought I was going to cry.

[Black Hawk]

that's sad, i feel for u dude :( :( :(