In the wild some species of Latrodectus have webs made to catch things walking along the ground. Not sure if it's true for this species as well, but it's web looks similar to the ones that do. There are lines attached to the ground that stick to the prey. When the prey struggles, the web breaks away from the ground and pulls the prey up into the air. The lines at the top aren't meant to be sticky. Instead the top webs are strong and have a lot of tension to help pull the prey up off the ground. You might have an easier time feeding them just by letting the roach wander around the bottom of the enclosure instead of placing it directly into her web.
Awe, she was probably really weak, hungry & dehydrated before you found her after making 3 eggs sacs & protecting them. Now that she ate a bit, I hope she gets stronger, eats more & gets to raise her babies until they are strong enough to venture off. Spider-mama stretch marks is the cutest way to look at her abdomen ❤ you should try putting a couple droplets of water on the enclosure or rocks, too 💦 just in case. Obviously, not too much Also, I love the plant/moss & Legos. Very cool. I wish someone would send me some candy & rockstars (no monsters, lol) 😅 cute ornaments. You have so many longtime fans, I remember fan mail from Kenya going years back. How awesome 👍🏻
Yeah when a widow apider looks like that, its because it is starving, when its healthy, it is rounder and not looking like it is shriveled up. Sometimes it can also mean that it is reaching at the end of its life stage.
I live in Canada, and find that in the fall, the widows and false widows tend to come in when I bring my plants in for the winter. They survive till Spring and then go back outside. Misting their webs will help them stay hydrated. They seem to appreciate it. I've had an orb weaver come in for the winter before too, and she lived for a year over my TV. Lol She didn't want to hang out in my garden for whatever reason.
It was having trouble webbing and catching prey because of the two missing back legs. They use the back legs to guide the web from the spineret to anchor points on prey and rocks.
Here in Los Angeles the invasive Brown Widow has largely displaced our native Western Black Widow population and we have them all over the side of my house. During the pandemic I caught a mature female (but left her egg sac) and kept her in an acrylic enclosure on my desk. I don't know if it's the same for the Mediterranean Black Widow (both are Latrodectus) but this spider would take a meal every night if I provided it. It was an eating machine (tho would discard meals half eaten as well). And because I overfed her she just kept making egg sacs for the entire 9 months I kept her and seemed in good health when I released her back on the side of my house.
This was so entertaining! It's always a pleasure to see your videos!! Much love from the u.s! You have come such a long way over the years, congratulations on your beautiful hobby and beautiful family! As always thank you for sharing! 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
The poor girl, she's missing some of the legs needed to wrap her pray. They don't grab their pray, they wrap them very quickly until it's safe for them to go in for the bite. They are not a strong spider even with all of their legs. She's doing really well for missing most of the tools she needs to safely capture her meals. I'm hoping she will survive and enjoy a nice retirement safely eating and basking in the lights in the Dark Den. She deserves it. 🙂
I love black widows. I used to find them all the time under the cushions of the chairs in my backyard as a kid. Like all the time. haha. Egg sacs and adult widows. I dont think they ever bothered me. They look awesome, and I know their venom will be good for something when used the right way. More research to be done.
In the US black widows create trap lines. They have a glob of glue at the bottom and it's under tension. when the prey gets stuck they end up yanking the line loose and it contracts pulling the prey up into the air. Black widows can't grab prey like a wolf spider they run around and wrap up the prey from above and then bites when it's safe. They really aren't strong.
When I moved across the country (Australia) at the beginning of last year, our removalists nearly had to stop for the day as the shipping container was full of Red-Backs haha I guess in Australia everything wants to kill or eat you.......
Thank you for the video, enjoyed watching. I hope she will continue to do Well and that she will live a while longer. Can't wait to see the babies hatch, are you going to put some screening over the Air holes so the little ones Can't get out ???
them being seasonal cause of the cold is 100% true petko i been keeping black widows for years i had a 3 year old female that passed away last year as long as you keep them warm the go pass there lifespan
The reason why she could not catch the second crushed roach was her missing back leg, the long leg she has opposite it. If you go back and watch your other spiders you will see they will wrap the prey with web first before delivering the finishing venomous bite. Going to be rough feeding your favorite black widow my friend since maybe it’s experiencing “Phantom Limb” like most things after body parts are removed.
You're gonna have issues when those slings start to hatch, as they can easily get out of the air holes of that enclosure. You might want to find a different enclosure for them. I've had black widows hatch in a completely sealed enclosure, a glass jar with a press fit lid, but some of those slings still managed to squeeze out of the tiny crack where the lid was. IDK how, but it was a mess trying to get that all sorted out.
do you ship to london Ontario Pekro ..love it i am so scared of black widows for sure ..make sure you never get a bite from one of those ..epic video thanks so very much P.s this was epic watch her wrap it up
That hust reminded me. Last year I was at a pumpkin farm place with a couple activities and I was checking out the mountain of corn kernels in a huge tire. On the side was a spider and I saw her shooting her web out at nothing.... till I came up. Then she kept trying to shoot it at me. I moved away so that way she wouldn't see me as a spot to make a home but she kept pointing herself at me and still trying to attach webs to me.... I miss that spider. Wish I could of taken her home with me
they use their back two long legs to wrap the webbing around prey. seems she struggles to throw her web, and you might have to pre kill her prey for a bit.
My 1st comment here I love your vids they are great and after watching my 1st I was a fan and hooked love your work keep it up!!! And I like you even more knowing you like legos as well!
I have two L. bishopi. I don't think they would ever catch anything in their webs if I didn't hand the roach to them. All widows seem to have flinsy webs.
Do all Mediterranean Black widows have the odd shaped abdomen? Or was it just since she laid eggs? In America the southern black widows usually have a pretty perfect round badunkadunk
im wanting to get a jumping spider but not sure how to get make sure how long their food will last. I'll need to read up some more on their care and what food they like to eat.
Man Petko, I can’t even imagine the insurance on your house with all those critters incase an enclosure smashes and they get out into the wild 😝 Love the spiders, love watching you, I wish I was as brave as you!!
Be careful with this sack, slings are really tiny and its around 100 in that thing, they can easy escape in tiny ventilation holes.Iwas bred steatoda paykulliana and slings was really tiny
