whats this??

[dan hewitt]

hi, my adult p fasciata hasnt been seen wandering round her tank for a few weeks now, and the enterance to her log tube has been webbed up. thinking this was moulting behaviour i left her be, but she only moulted a couple of months back so i wasnt expecting another so soon.
anyway, today curiosity got the better of me, i wanted to see if she was still alive, so i lifted the bottom of the cork tube up and i saw what looked like a large cotton wool ball, with her sitting over it. i took a couple of pics, not great but best i could get. anyone help as to what it is? im guessing an eggsac, but i perhaps incorrectly) thought they had to mate to have eggs?
if it is, and i know she hasnt been near a male in the 9 months ive had her, what happens? will she just give up on it, or will she keep guarding it?
here are a few pics, best i could get.



thanks
dan

[Mark Pennell]

Dan
Its an egg sac! pretty sure on that one, even if she was mated 9 months ago its more than likely not a ghost sac and has a chance of developing.

If she has never been mated then its a ghost or phantom egg sac. So it will be infertile and she will either discard it or eat it.


Best of luck

Mark

[Colin D Wilson]

Ray Gabriel wrote a short article for the BTS journal (20/4) and indicated that Theraphosids can produce a phantom egg sac even when un-mated.
He goes on to mention that it may be related to environmental conditions in captivity.

I would presume that if you leave it, and it IS phantom, she will continue to care for it as if it were fertile. you may wish to pull the egg sac but i would be inclined to leave it, i've heard of spiders producing fertile egg sacs several months after being with a male (not exactly sure what the figures are)

If you're a paid up member then you can download the journal from the BTS downloads area, if not then it's a good reason to join, there's plethora of information online in the journals.

[dan hewitt]

thanks for that. how long will it take before i know if its fertile or not? im not set up for loads of babies and im sure my mum would have a fit if i told her that there were babies on the way!!!
dan

[KJ Vezino]

... but she only moulted a couple of months

So she has molted in your care, and has not seen a male since, right?

Then there is no way that it could be fertile.

[dan hewitt]

thats right, she moulted a few months back and has been no where near a male since, unless my b smithii is a male and he popped in for a bit of naughtyness!!
so assuming its infertile, do i leave it and let her eat it in her own time or remove it to hurry things along. if i do that will it not have a stressful effect on her with her looking for the eggsac?
dan

[KJ Vezino]

I have no experience with this, but my vote would be to leave the sac with her. They expend quite a bit of energy in making an eggsac, and eventually she'll figure out they are not viable, and will eat it. When she does eat it, she'll be able to make up for some of the loss and recoup some of the energy.

[Stuart Collins]

at least now you can tell it is a female!