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  • egg sack situation

    hi everyone. last month 13th of November i replaced an haplopelma lividum that i lost with another only to discover an egg sack in her hide. problem is i wasn't planning on breeding. i don't know how long she was in the shop before i got her and i cant understand why someone would breed from her then sell her on or give her away. not to sure just how long the sacks been in there as i only discovered it last night while doing a bit of maintenance.all i know is it took her a good couple of weeks to settle in properly. i don't know a thing about breeding but is it possible this could be a phantom egg sack or will there definitely be eggs inside i know this sounds a stupid question but if i don't ask i wont find out. then obviously comes the hard part of trying to get the egg sack out and i know this will be a major mission. someone point me in the right direction as this is a whole new ball game to me and no disrespect to her but why couldn't it have been my g rosa or one of the smithi's lol.

  • #2
    Hi,

    Well, my first guess would be a phantom sac. Indeed i think very unlikely someone would mate and then sell, and if they did they'd likely sell as advertized 'mated' for more value. It could be fertile if it was a wild caught/pre mated female, but i don't think any have been imported for a while (i could be very wrong there).
    But, whether fertile or infertile (phantom, as i expect), i'm not sure why you feel you have to do something? Many people myself included often leave [known fertile] eggsacs with the mother for full term, and you know its gone right when the tank fills up with spiderlings. Just make sure the small 'exits' to the tank are very small at time of dispersal, else you'll have live spiderlings roaming all up your wall like i once did. Normally though dispersal occurs several days after hatching. I think though, this is all likely speculation, as a phantom sac is most likely. There will most likely be eggs inside that, even if phantom, just those would be unfertilised so not turn into spiderlings. The mother will likely eat the eggsac if she determines its infertile or 'bad', so take back in the nutrients she invested. First step though, perhaps contact the seller and see if it was possibly already captive mated, or wild caught.
    British Tarantula Society
    My Lovely spiders:

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    • #3
      hi there stuart i got her from a local reptile shop and i don't think they would have a clue if she was wild caught or not as they seem more interested in the reptiles than the t's. also they had a mustard baboon labeled as a togo starburst. the reason i was going to try and remove the egg sack is because i thought that was the right thing to do to try and raise the young. like i said this is a whole new ball game to me. i read in a book i have that the spiderligs wouldn't survive if i didn't find them in time. so i guess i'll just leave them alone and deal with it if anything happens. thanks for your help stuart.

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      • #4
        Hi Vincent,

        What a coincidence! Mine dropped a sac yesterday!! Third year in a row!

        Just a word of advice, if you do decide to pull it off her, don't do it yet. You'll have to leave it with her for at least 2 - 3 weeks. I pulled one last year on day 30 that had 164 eggs! Unfortunately, only 112 made it to 2nd Instar. Good luck whatever you decide to do. If your unsure, just leave it with her, they are good mothers so I'm told.

        Jamie
        My Collection:

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        • #5
          Originally posted by vincent winyard View Post
          the reason i was going to try and remove the egg sack is because i thought that was the right thing to do to try and raise the young.
          Makes you wonder how they survived all these millions of years without us humans taking their egg sacs away and incubating them doesnt it

          Originally posted by vincent winyard View Post
          i read in a book i have that the spiderligs wouldn't survive if i didn't find them in time. .
          What book was this piece of sage advice in ?

          I would just leave her to get on with it.
          There is nothing like looking into a tub and seeing hundreds of little legs scurrying on, over and under an irate mother !!!

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          • #6
            hi there jamie. i will probably just leave her alone and see what happens and hopefully all goes well. i didn't plan on this happening so i think the best thing to do is leave her be then when the times right i'll try and get the babies out fingers crossed. thanks for your help jamie if all goes well i'll let you know.

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            • #7
              hi pete. your right in what your saying concerning taking the egg sacks and if i knew what i was doing and had the confidence to breed i would leave the sack with mum until the time comes to remove them. but why do enthusiast remove the egg sacks and after all said and done i have seen the sacks being taken many times on youtube. the book in question is called tarantula by jerry g walls. i am going to leave her with the egg sack and hopefully i wont muck it up if the eggs are fertile. i appreciate your help pete thanks.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by vincent winyard View Post
                why do enthusiast remove the egg sacks
                Because they have seen it on youtube ? (Seriously, not messing about)

                Originally posted by vincent winyard View Post
                and after all said and done i have seen the sacks being taken many times on youtube.
                There are many many people who really and honestly believe that if something is on the internet and especially if it is on youtube, that it just absolutely MUST be the correct thing to do. After all, it on the internet aint it, so it must be true !!!


                Originally posted by vincent winyard View Post
                the book in question is called tarantula by jerry g walls.
                I wouldnt let him clean my cockroach bin out, let alone advise anyone on how to care for a tarantula.

                He was the editor of a now defunct reptile magazine published by TFH (tropical fish hobbyist) and well known for writing a very large amount of very colourful and pretty useless books >>> LINK <<< with not a lot (if any) actual knowledge of the animals he wrote about.

                If I remember correctly, he really slated one of Andy Smiths Tarantula books in the reptile magazine he was in charge of and someone in the ATS (I think) wrote an article saying that jerry walls was basically a know nothing armchair expert and should stay away from things he knew nothing about . . .which described him exactly LOL

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                • #9
                  Pulling sacs depends on the situation as well. I had an OBT lay a sac after a pairing this summer that I wasn't really expecting anything to come out since the female was quite small but I had a large recently matured male that I didn't want to waste. Well, needless to say I received a sac from the pairing and had to pull it due to the desert like conditions the OBT is kept in and the large size of vent holes all around the cage I purchased it is housed in. The baby spiders would have had no problem getting out of the cage once mobile and I likely would not have ever known how many escaped. Not good to have loose OBTs in the house. I probably had an 85-90% hatch rate and ended up trading most for a large Haitian brown that I really like. I still have 6 from the sac and they are doing quite well.

                  With a cobalt blue and the likely moist conditions it is in I think keeping it with mom is OK. With a desert species I would likely recommend pulling them since its housing conditions are likely quite dry and could lead to desiccation.

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                  • #10
                    Egg sacs can be pulled for several reasons. There are pros and cons either way and in some situations, it is the correct decision.

                    Pulling an egg sac guarantees the mother will not eat it if she becomes distressed, some species being more prone than others. The last one I pulled had a large number of eggs inside. A couple of them had hatched into EWLS and had started feeding on the other eggs. I spread the eggs out in my incubator, preventing this from happening further. As Kevin said in the above post, there is also the risk of escapees due to large ventilation holes, particularly for species that have tiny spiderlings.

                    Obviously leaving the sac with it's mother is the more natural option and it should be encouraged, but I will be pulling my next one. My spider room is next to a bathroom which is being refitted in a couple of weeks. All the drilling and banging will no doubt disturb the mother and I don't want her to eat the sac.

                    Jamie
                    My Collection:

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                    • #11
                      many thanks to everyone for all your help and advise. there's plenty of different options for different t's there and at the end of the day how ever it's dealt with it must be right for the right reason for the individual tarantula and keeper thanks again everyone.

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