Help with Dolomedes tenebrosus and her Eggsac!

R

RzezniksRunAway

Arachnobaron
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SO, the D. tenebrosus I was given was apparently gravid, and now I have a nice egg sac. Problem being she's in an Exoterra Nano, so the babies could waltz right out through the front air vents when they hatch. It's also got a styrofoam background, mushroom ledges, a log, leaf litter and generally is a mess of stuff. It's an awesome cage for her, but I will never, ever be able to safely remove all of the babies from it.

Should I pull her and put her into a maternity cage (simple, paper towel tube hide)

Pull her, pull the sac?

I don't want them hatching in her enclosure, but I don't want to put her in another enclosure with the sac and have her destroy it.

Help. =(
 
Dizzle

Dizzle

Arachnoknight
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I pretty much have the same situation so if anyone responds to the thread it would be really cool :)
RzezniksRunAway said:
SO, the D. tenebrosus I was given was apparently gravid, and now I have a nice egg sac. Problem being she's in an Exoterra Nano, so the babies could waltz right out through the front air vents when they hatch. It's also got a styrofoam background, mushroom ledges, a log, leaf litter and generally is a mess of stuff. It's an awesome cage for her, but I will never, ever be able to safely remove all of the babies from it.

Should I pull her and put her into a maternity cage (simple, paper towel tube hide)

Pull her, pull the sac?

I don't want them hatching in her enclosure, but I don't want to put her in another enclosure with the sac and have her destroy it.

Help. =(
Click to expand...
 
catfishrod69

catfishrod69

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Being tenebrosus are native to your area, and mine. You could do what i always do. I wait until the slings hatch out, then place the enclosure outside in a old barn, old garage, anything that will protect from rain and sunlight. Then just leave it there until the babies disperse. Once they are all gone, bring the enclosure and female back inside. I recently did this as my female dropped a enormous sac. Took roughly a week after the babies hatched. One day they were there, and the next they were all gone. And look forward to double and triple clutches. :)
 
Dizzle

Dizzle

Arachnoknight
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That's a cool idea, and hopefully the slings will survive out of the enclosure to prosper in my yard and devour all the annoying bloodsuckers!

catfishrod69 said:
Being tenebrosus are native to your area, and mine. You could do what i always do. I wait until the slings hatch out, then place the enclosure outside in a old barn, old garage, anything that will protect from rain and sunlight. Then just leave it there until the babies disperse. Once they are all gone, bring the enclosure and female back inside. I recently did this as my female dropped a enormous sac. Took roughly a week after the babies hatched. One day they were there, and the next they were all gone. And look forward to double and triple clutches. :)
Click to expand...
 
R

RzezniksRunAway

Arachnobaron
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=/ Hmm. I kinda want to save one or two to raise. What do you think about moving her/removing the sac?

Drizzle, they're so cute! How long did it take for them to emerge?
 
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jecraque

Arachnobaron
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It would be very difficult/stressful to remove the sac, I'd think. It takes a short while before they start dispersing, so you could either remove a couple of babies early on or catch them as they disperse. I have the same situation with Dolomedes albineus at the moment.

I'll likely just grab a few as they disperse and leave the container outside for the rest.
 
Dizzle

Dizzle

Arachnoknight
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Well mine was actually caught from the wild by my friend while he was camping on, I believe, Saturday. He doesn't keep spiders but often makes donations to the Dizzle wildlife fund in the form of wild-caught specimens :p
He caught two adult females, BIG!, one had an eggsac. They were in a large pretzel container with some soil and bark from sunday on and this morning I witnessed the emergence of the slings. So....without knowing exactly how long she had the sac, it was about 5 days with a sac in captivity until they came out.
Oh yeah I guess I kinda lied about being in the 'same' situation but the replies to your OP helped nonetheless. So thanks for making this thread!

RzezniksRunAway said:
=/ Hmm. I kinda want to save one or two to raise. What do you think about moving her/removing the sac?

Drizzle, they're so cute! How long did it take for them to emerge?
Click to expand...
 
R

RzezniksRunAway

Arachnobaron
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Haha. K. I'm gonna keep an eye on her. I'll probably put her enclosure into a larger tank that I can secure so I can snag a few babies before they disperse.

People always make donations to my wildlife fund in that form, as well. Just yesterday a friend posted a photo of a HUGE female Argiope aurantia with the caption "The kids caught this and wanted me to ask if you wanted it"

Of COURSE I do. Argiopes don't find our property very appealing, so I'm going to go out this weekend and get a giant shadowbox to create an enclosure for her. I've been wanting to keep one for a while now, and she'll probably get installed out on our porch after I watch her for a bit.
 
R

RzezniksRunAway

Arachnobaron
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I'm still waiting on them to emerge. Catfishrod, how long did yours take, approximately? I'm planning on turning a 10 gallon tank on end, setting the Nano in it, sealing the front up with something just as a back up in case I miss them emerging and come home to the house being infested with them. It would probably give my cats a heart attack.
 
catfishrod69

catfishrod69

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They take about 3 weeks to hatch out i figure. Once they hatch, they hang out in the nursery web about a week, then disperse.
 
Dizzle

Dizzle

Arachnoknight
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I ended up letting the mom and slings go free, could use some extra pest-protection around my yard. :) Anyone else still have any slings?
 
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