Latrodectus hasselti - Black widow spider

Hi guys,

I ve been surfing thru the exotic section of the forum and realise that there wasn't one for the all time fav exotic spider - Black widow spider. Tot it would be nice to have a topic on this specimen for my first topic in the forum . Hope you guys enjoy reading and cheers.. C&C are welcomed.

Black Widow Spiders are easy to keep in my own view.
Hardy, low maintenance, and cheap to feed ( crickets, mealworms, roaches etc ), to me, these are the perfect arachnid pets other than its medically significant neurotoxic venom .

But always keep in mind " DO NOT HANDLE BLACK WIDOWS! " as Bite could be fatal.

Currently i am keeping a few of the Latrodectus hasselti widow spider. The widow spiders (genus Latrodectus), are spiders that carry a neurotoxic venom which can cause a set of symptoms known as Latrodectism.

Like many spiders, widows have very poor vision, and they move with difficulty when not on their web. Widow spiders are large, strong-looking house spiders. The abdomen is dark and shiny, and has one or several red spots, either above or below.

The spots may take the form of an hourglass, or two triangles, point-to-point. Male widows, like most spider species, are much smaller than the females and may have a variety of streaks and spots on a browner, less globular abdomen. The males are generally less dangerous than the females of the same species. Widows tend to be non-aggressive, but will bite if the web is disturbed and the spider feels threatened.

Below is a general "guide" on how i keep them.

Latrodectus hasselti caresheet:

Enclosures: Clear plastic contianer with sercued cover / lids, completed with many micro holes or a good ventliation.
Habital : Dry
Temp.: 25 - 30°C
Humidity: 70 - 80 %
Water: None , water are taken from the food itself
Ground: Coco-fibre
Vegetation: Wooden sticks / plastic mesh
Feeding: Mealworms , crickets , roaches etc, once every 1- 2 week interval.

Some pictures of female widow spider
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Cheers and best regards

LEster

I like black widow but its too dangerous and no one sells here in the philippines. How can you separate the slings w/o touching them? I think the slings will try to escape when you open the lid of the enclosures. Very nice info sir

very informative sir

Tattoo wrote:

I like black widow but its too dangerous and no one sells here in the philippines. How can you separate the slings w/o touching them? I think the slings will try to escape when you open the lid of the enclosures. Very nice info sir

RVL Kennel wrote:

very informative sir

Hi sir tattoo & sir RVL kennel,

Thanks for the kind words. it always been my interest to study them .. LOL
As we all know, we heard how nasty this little spider can bring to oneself. a single bite is "bye bye " and stuff like that.

Maybe just to share more , recent observation from me, in spite the high venom inject from it's bite.
This spider is actually very shy IMO. Reteating away to a coner first whenever disturbed and only then till the last resort , it attack which mean only reasonable and logical.

I tried pro - voking it with a s/s tweezer a few time , to see it reaction. as mentioned, it reteat to it's hide .. and only after a few attempt it post it's strike pose to fence the tweezer ..

When feeding a live cricket . once the cover is open, it reteated to it's hide and curl its leg up too. The circket is drop into the container where it started to wonder around and still no action from the spider.

Secure the cover of the container and i waited .. the cricket finally got tangle in one of the web layed by the widow and started struggle.. at this very moment i expected the widow to pouce onto the cricket and deliver it deadly venom ... but no .. to my disappointment. instead, it started to spin more web around the cricket , more and more till the cricket could harldy move !!!

Only then it give its fatal bite on its prey. just one bite . within secs .. the cricket is stiff ... and that it . end of the whole espiode.. time is required to break down the "meat" of the cricket into liquid before the widow can slowly suck the juice out ... it took hours before only the exo skin of the cricket is left behind and discard away .

well .. the above is from my own observation ..

Removal of single specimen from container to another container or to shipping used container is easier as compared of transfering spidering from a commual container where the spiderings just hatched imo. Before the transfer is begin carried out, a big clean glass jar is needed as these spider are unable to climb on smooth surface. Empty the contents together with the spider into this big glass jar and slowly remove any debris or stick in the jar. After that is done , slowly quote the spider into the new contianer or shipping used container with the help of long sticks and long tweezer.

As for the removal of spidering , it is more tricky. i sort make a special enclosure for it. This special enclosure is made to house egg sac. i normally remove egg sac from female container and placed them in this enclosure. This enclosure has a small vertical opening size of the same diameter as my container used to house spidering. a long thin s/s metal rod at the other end of the enclosure. When the spidering hatched from the egg sac .. i uses the rod to quote the selected ones to the container . hence reducing escape to the min. but one bad point on the design of this method is that it is very time consuming and sometimes, not able to quote the selected on into the container

i am sorry for the lengthy reply.

cheers

Very nice and well explained. Longer explaination is much better than the short one

So it needs to put in a glass container and use a long rod. This is helpful. Thanks sir lester

Tattoo wrote:

Very nice and well explained. Longer explaination is much better than the short one

So it needs to put in a glass container and use a long rod. This is helpful. Thanks sir lester

You are very much welcome. i am glad i could be of help with regards to this specimen.

As for the glass jar, it did as a precaution to min the escape of the spider when i am transfer them for cleaning of the container. i have seen people holding the widow on youtubewith their bare hands and to be frank. lol .i am freak out and do not dare to touch it .

I do hope i could be of help in introducing this specimen and clarify myths of this pretty spider.

gusto ko rin sana yan nakakatakot nga lang


one bite

thanks for the helpful tips sir Lester stay safe..

s98432512 wrote:

Tattoo wrote:

Very nice and well explained. Longer explaination is much better than the short one

So it needs to put in a glass container and use a long rod. This is helpful. Thanks sir lester

You are very much welcome. i am glad i could be of help with regards to this specimen.

As for the glass jar, it did as a precaution to min the escape of the spider when i am transfer them for cleaning of the container. i have seen people holding the widow on youtubewith their bare hands and to be frank. lol .i am freak out and do not dare to touch it .

I do hope i could be of help in introducing this specimen and clarify myths of this pretty spider.

i also seEn soMEoNe hold that black widow. The doctor in venom e.r. in discovery chanNel and i was amazed when he touches it. I was freak out too and i dont know why the spider didnt bite him.

layzie12 wrote:

gusto ko rin sana yan nakakatakot nga lang


one bite

Hi sir layzie12 , i am sorry, i can't understand , can i request for a english version. thanks in advance

RVL Kennel wrote:

thanks for the helpful tips sir Lester stay safe..

you are welcome sir RVL kennel

Tattoo wrote:

s98432512 wrote:

Tattoo wrote:

Very nice and well explained. Longer explaination is much better than the short one

So it needs to put in a glass container and use a long rod. This is helpful. Thanks sir lester

You are very much welcome. i am glad i could be of help with regards to this specimen.

As for the glass jar, it did as a precaution to min the escape of the spider when i am transfer them for cleaning of the container. i have seen people holding the widow on youtubewith their bare hands and to be frank. lol .i am freak out and do not dare to touch it .

I do hope i could be of help in introducing this specimen and clarify myths of this pretty spider.

i also seEn soMEoNe hold that black widow. The doctor in venom e.r. in discovery chanNel and i was amazed when he touches it. I was freak out too and i dont know why the spider didnt bite him.

Hi sir tattoo,

yap.. i notice the way "they" hold the widow are from the back and limiting the movement . the fangs of the widow are faced the other way. well ... yes the fangs is the part that inject the deadly venom, so by avoiding that part . it should be consider " safe "
but i not taking chances . LOL...

it got me thinking some how .. just for discussion sake and i would like to hear some views on it.

What do you guys think are the differences in keeping a black widow spider and a deadly scorpion say the death stalker LQ ?

Alright .. so who is keen on keeping the widow now and willing to join me in this quest of venture ??? LOL

More pics to posion you guys mind and interest lol..
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


cheers

Best regards
Lester

Hahaha very nice question sir lester. HmMm... Scorpions are easy to handle than black widow.

firSt of all scorpions dont have web and cant climb plastics n they cant get out of the enclosure. 2nd separating the scorPling from the mom is easy. I only use scoop to separate them 1 by 1. In your own experience black widow needs to use steel rod to get them which is difficult to get it. Remember they use web to go to place to place. Spider is much risky, right?

the only thing which is the same with that two sp. is they are "deadly".

Tattoo wrote:

Hahaha very nice question sir lester. HmMm... Scorpions are easy to handle than black widow.

firSt of all scorpions dont have web and cant climb plastics n they cant get out of the enclosure. 2nd separating the scorPling from the mom is easy. I only use scoop to separate them 1 by 1. In your own experience black widow needs to use steel rod to get them which is difficult to get it. Remember they use web to go to place to place. Spider is much risky, right?

the only thing which is the same with that two sp. is they are "deadly".

hi sir tattoo,

LOL .. yes i totally have to agree with you . keeping scoprions and handling them is much easier as compared to web builders.
Man, i totally forgetten on the webs these little monster spin ... They are strong .. lol ..

i know of breeders who destroy the webs spin by the widow first before they start to transfer them.. as without the webs and the container surface are smooth. the widow spider are clumsy with their legs too..

I notice that too when they crawl in the surface, clumsy on the platform but fast in the web

Tattoo wrote:

I notice that too when they crawl in the surface, clumsy on the platform but fast in the web

yes i have totally agree with you ... when we are able to control the situlation by this mean.. the widow are actually quite "slow" on the smooth surface ..
therefore .. keeping of this specimen woul dnot be as risky as we tot if full precaution were taken care of.

super nice infos. . .

A picture of a eggsac from my female widow

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

s98432512 wrote:

layzie12 wrote:

gusto ko rin sana yan nakakatakot nga lang


one bite

Hi sir layzie12 , i am sorry, i can't understand , can i request for a english version. thanks in advance

RVL Kennel wrote:

thanks for the helpful tips sir Lester stay safe..

you are welcome sir RVL kennel

Tattoo wrote:

s98432512 wrote:

Tattoo wrote:

Very nice and well explained. Longer explaination is much better than the short one

So it needs to put in a glass container and use a long rod. This is helpful. Thanks sir lester

You are very much welcome. i am glad i could be of help with regards to this specimen.

As for the glass jar, it did as a precaution to min the escape of the spider when i am transfer them for cleaning of the container. i have seen people holding the widow on youtubewith their bare hands and to be frank. lol .i am freak out and do not dare to touch it .

I do hope i could be of help in introducing this specimen and clarify myths of this pretty spider.

i also seEn soMEoNe hold that black widow. The doctor in venom e.r. in discovery chanNel and i was amazed when he touches it. I was freak out too and i dont know why the spider didnt bite him.

Hi sir tattoo,

yap.. i notice the way "they" hold the widow are from the back and limiting the movement . the fangs of the widow are faced the other way. well ... yes the fangs is the part that inject the deadly venom, so by avoiding that part . it should be consider " safe "
but i not taking chances . LOL...

it got me thinking some how .. just for discussion sake and i would like to hear some views on it.

What do you guys think are the differences in keeping a black widow spider and a deadly scorpion say the death stalker LQ ?

Alright .. so who is keen on keeping the widow now and willing to join me in this quest of venture ??? LOL

More pics to posion you guys mind and interest lol..
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]


cheers

Best regards
Lester

i think they both need SAFETY FIRST!

GREAT INFO'S....I JUST HAD MY FIRST BLACK WIDOW....COOL...!!!!

I want a latrodectus too.