Mystery egg sac??

[Jess Marsh]

Hello,

I have a 2.5 year old female Avicularia versicolor who I have had since she was a small spiderling. A month ago she webbed herself into her web and hasnt come out since. I checked up on her today and she looked fine but had what looked like an egg sac with her, which she is carrying around in her pedipalps. She has definetly not mated with a male. Is this normal?? Does anyone know if it could be something other than an egg sac or if it is one if it could be viable (I have never heard of asexual reproduction in spiders so guess this is highly unlikely!?)? I have attached a pic.

Any advice would be great!

Cheers,

Jess

[Neil Richardson]

Got yourself a nice phantom eggsac there. It's not unheard of for females to just decide it's time for an eggsac, i've had them from avics and pokies so far.

It'll be a dud though, as you say no male has been involved.

On the plus side, it definately sexes her as female without the need for a skin

[Jess Marsh]

Cheers for that, I'll not be expecting lots of little ones appearing in the near future then!

I wonder how long she will keep hold of it for, shes carrying it around everywhere at the mo!

Jess

[Ray Hale]

Its not uncommen for tarantulas to produce phantom eggsacs. I had a Selenocosmia sp. that produced one every year like clockwork. She kept it for a while and then ate it.

Ray