Oblivion's Bounty

Mr. Gone

Arachnosquire
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So tonight my wife (curiousme) and I get home, I come in first; and the first thing I do is peep down our pet-hole Oblivion's (Haplopelma sp. "vietnam", we think) burrow. I am quite shocked to see an eggsac!!!!!!:clap: Which makes sense now. For the past month, give or take a week, we haven't seen her at all. Normally she would sit at the top of her burrow (it goes straight down) almost every night. I figured she was molting, and was in fact checking for that when I looked. She hasn't molted yet in our care, but she is WC and we got her in early December. What do you think the chances are of it being fertile?

Earlier today, I was doing some routine maintenance on the plants in her tank (at least that gives you something to do with a pet hole LOL) and since we haven't seen her in a while, and she hasn't been drinking, and I hoped she was molting, I added some moisture down her burrow via dripping a very small amount of water a few drops at a time down a small tube that extends to the bottom of the tank, that I put there for that reason. I know now that she's moved up to keep the sac dry and I wish I wouldn't have humidified, but I had no idea, and it was minimal anyway. At least now I know what's been up.

Now my question is...what's next? We've read that if you're going to pull the sac, you should do it 30-40 days after she made it, but we don't really know when she made it. If she made it after she first went into seclusion, then its already been around a month. We tried candling it through the side of the glass, but couldn't tell what was going on.
 
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joshuai

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in a situation like that i would leave it til you see slings. just sling proof the cage bigtime so they wont be able to get out.
 

curiousme

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Well, since we posted last she has retreated into the burrow with the sac. Anybody have any idea how many eggs this species lays?
 

curiousme

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This is her enclosure, her burrow is on the right.


Here is one down the burrow of the sac, we were trying to keep the light minimal.



We also had a 2 week cold snap here that started right about the same time as she retreated. We previously thought that her seclusion had something to do with the cold snap. Now we understand that it could have signaled her to lay the sac.

We haven't fed her in about 6 weeks so she isn't starving or anything, but should we try and feed her, or would that be a bad idea?
 

Mr. Gone

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I'm thinking we'll definitely want to take the sack, given her tank has so many hiding places I can't imagine trying to catch all those little punks, and having any confidence that we got them all. What do you guys think?
 

BrynWilliams

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I might suggest contacting some of the successful breeders from the breeding reports section to see about whether or not to pull it.

That couldn't be a bad place to start in my opinion really.
 

curiousme

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I might suggest contacting some of the successful breeders from the breeding reports section to see about whether or not to pull it.

That couldn't be a bad place to start in my opinion really.
There were no breeding reports on Haplopelma sp. vietnam, we looked. So, we wouldn't know which breeders to try and contact.
 

BrynWilliams

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Could you possibly speak to any of the haplo breeders, they can't be that different to keep surely?
 

ExoticMangos

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If you decide to leave the sac inside the tank id take everything out of the tank besides the water dish. Id be easier to catch all those babies :}
 

curiousme

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If you decide to leave the sac inside the tank id take everything out of the tank besides the water dish. Id be easier to catch all those babies :}
Which is exactly why we'd rather take the sack. We just don't know how long to wait, because we don't know when she laid it, or if it is viable.
 

MizM

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1. No food while she has a sac. That will only stress her out and could cause her to eat the sac.
2. Haplopelma don't have overly large sacs. Probably 40-75.
3. If you are unsure of when to pull the sac completely, you can check it at weekly intervals. Using a pair of very long tweezers, pull the sac and carefully cut a small slit in it. If they haven't developed into "l'eggs" (eggs with legs) carefully stitch the hole closed with a needle and thread and replace it. This also could cause her to eat the sac however.

You could also remove her and the sac to an enclosure with very little substrate to facilitate easy capture of the newly hatched spiderlings.

Any disturbance could cause her to eat the sac though. If I was in the same predicament, I would pull the sac now and incubate it myself. Here is the best tutorial I've seen, of course by Rob!
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=144529&highlight=incubator

Best of luck and please keep us posted!
 

sparular

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When did she go into seclusion? If it was less than 40 days ago wait until 40 days past her retreat to pull the sac. If you pull the sac a little later than eggs with legs it's OK as long as they haven't broken free of the sac yet. I would assume she took some time to make the sac and maybe add 10 days ( so 40-50 days from her seclusion) then pull the sac and check. if they are still eggs, incubate them in a hammock until they emerge.
That's my recommendation.
Keith
 

curiousme

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1. No food while she has a sac. That will only stress her out and could cause her to eat the sac.
i thought i would clarify what we mean as feeding. She has sat up at the top of her burrow, without the sac and in hunting posture. We are able to drop a roach directly to her, so we would not be putting a few in to run around until they are eaten. Do you think with these circumstances that we should feed her, since that is what she is acting like she wants.

2. Haplopelma don't have overly large sacs. Probably 40-75.
3. If you are unsure of when to pull the sac completely, you can check it at weekly intervals. Using a pair of very long tweezers, pull the sac and carefully cut a small slit in it. If they haven't developed into "l'eggs" (eggs with legs) carefully stitch the hole closed with a needle and thread and replace it. This also could cause her to eat the sac however.
We tried to pull the sack yesterday since she brought it up to the top of the burrow again. All was going well until my husband(Mr. Gone) got a fraction of an inch away from it and she retreated, post haste. i hope next time we are successful.


You could also remove her and the sac to an enclosure with very little substrate to facilitate easy capture of the newly hatched spiderlings.
No thank you!! Digging her out would be quite an undertaking, not to mention being stressful for her!! With her temperament i prefer to have her in her burrow where she belongs!{D


Any disturbance could cause her to eat the sac though. If I was in the same predicament, I would pull the sac now and incubate it myself. Here is the best tutorial I've seen, of course by Rob!
http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=144529&highlight=incubator
We hope not to have to incubate, but if we are able to pull the sack, we won't be giving it back to her.

Best of luck and please keep us posted!
Thank you very much for answering our questions so concisely! We were actually hoping to hear from you, so thank you again!
 

MizM

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If she is actually eating, I don't see any reason not to feed her.

She sounds like a little pistol... and a good mama! It's going to be an adventure getting that sac from her!

If you can get a spatula underneath her while she's at the top of the burrow, you might be able to block her retreat back down. I've done this to transfer burrowing species.

Can't wait to hear what's in that sac!!
 

curiousme

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If she is actually eating, I don't see any reason not to feed her.
She hasn't eaten yet, but acts as though she is hungry.

She has been hanging out where we can see her this morning, but with her butt facing the entrance of the burrow and the egg sac in her front legs. We're keeping a close eye for another opportunity.
 

MizM

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She hasn't eaten yet, but acts as though she is hungry.

She has been hanging out where we can see her this morning, but with her butt facing the entrance of the burrow and the egg sac in her front legs. We're keeping a close eye for another opportunity.
If she hasn't eaten, I wouldn't bother to feed her then. She will be just fine without food until the sac is gone, at which time she will eat PLENTY!:D
 

curiousme

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just leave her b and proof the tank
Did you see the pics of the tank itself? We would have to take out all the plants that we have worked hard to get lush and healthy or they would be able to hide too easily. So, obviously we do not want to do that.:eek:
 

joshuai

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if you dont want to dig it out then you can try your luck snatching it from mommy in the entrance to her hole but they will probly hatch before you can pull that off so i would proof the tank just in case, beings how you dont know when it will hatch if you mess around to long and dont proof the tank they will be everywhere. and if you get it out before they hatch great but at least they wont get out in the mean time.
 

MizM

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Please read their posts carefully. They are trying to avoid ruining her habitat and are now attempting to pull the sac from her.
 
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