My tegenaria female surprised me with an egg sac. I had returned home after a night out to dinner and a movie and noticed a uniquely angled and "softer" bit of silk in her cage, with her standing over it. I suspected it was something special but didn't really seriously think it was the base of an egg sac. I left my room, returned after about half an hour or so and she had already deposited her eggs and covered them in a light layer of silk, as seen here!
I decided to take photos as she progressed. I've never seen any spider build an egg sac before so I was extremely excited.
Nice and smooth covering, well after she " plucked and pulled" and fluffed the silk over the eggs, kind of how I saw a wolf spider in a video doing.
Gathering clumps of dirt and pine needles. I'm glad I had that in the bottom of her cage, I had no idea she's be using it.
She was very picky about the placement of the dirt and pine needles. She'd lug a chunk up onto the silk, stick it on, "glue" it down, grab another chunk and stick it on somewhere next to it, or where silk was showing. Then she'd amble back down or tug-o-war with some she found on her web, and then decide that a piece of dirt somewhere on the sac was not to her liking, yank it off and drop it down again. I have never seen a spider literally tugging with something before, I worried that it was "exhausting" and straining for her...and I imagine it probably was, as she died three days later.
But not before leaving me with this!
And for big clear photos of the momma spider, click this: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=166974
I decided to take photos as she progressed. I've never seen any spider build an egg sac before so I was extremely excited.
Nice and smooth covering, well after she " plucked and pulled" and fluffed the silk over the eggs, kind of how I saw a wolf spider in a video doing.
Gathering clumps of dirt and pine needles. I'm glad I had that in the bottom of her cage, I had no idea she's be using it.
She was very picky about the placement of the dirt and pine needles. She'd lug a chunk up onto the silk, stick it on, "glue" it down, grab another chunk and stick it on somewhere next to it, or where silk was showing. Then she'd amble back down or tug-o-war with some she found on her web, and then decide that a piece of dirt somewhere on the sac was not to her liking, yank it off and drop it down again. I have never seen a spider literally tugging with something before, I worried that it was "exhausting" and straining for her...and I imagine it probably was, as she died three days later.
But not before leaving me with this!
And for big clear photos of the momma spider, click this: http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/showthread.php?t=166974
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