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Ok so the past few months my red haired rose has been buried in her den and for awhile I had no idea why, I bought her at the local petco and I had her for 3 month then when I moved into my new place she closed off each side of the her den and started to proceed to bury downward. Well not till recently that I came to see what was inside her den. she buried so far down that she came to the side of the glass wall. and when i peaked inside I saw a white nest about the size of 3 or 4 in". I asked petco and they said it was a nest.

so I have two questions here. One, what is the best way to get the spiderlings out of the cage without hurting them into sandwich sized containers?

two what would be the best way to feed the spiderlings and with what kind of food?

right now I plan on ten containers and spliting them up into equal amount in each container and having a heat lamp over all of them and some dirt and water in them all.

Is there anything I should know or do before, while, or after they are born and in the containers?

-Thanks

First of all, please don't ask PetCo for any more advice. They know nothing. Tarantulas don't have nests!

Can you see an eggsac? It will be silk white or it may had dirt imbedded on the outside of it. It'll be round and about the size of a golf ball. You must first be sure that there is actually an eggsac before you start worrying about spiderlings. It is possible that the spider just created a molt mat or it just wanted to burrow and make a cozy home.

Assuming it is an eggsac, you'll have somewhere between 100-300 babies. These will all need to be individually housed or they will eat each other. The most economical way to do this is to go buy 1 or 2 ounce solo cups, like what resturaunts put extra sauce in. You can get a bag of them pretty cheap form restaurant supply stores or online. The spiderlings will emerge (eggsacs don't 'hatch') from the sac aftre about 60 days, give or take. When they first emerge they will be a clearish yellowinh color and are 1st instars. They will not eat at this stage. After they molt one more time and become 2nd instar they will darken up, and start looking more like a fuzzy spider. Then they will eat. They can be fed, fruit flies, tiny pinhead crickets, or the legs off full grown crickets. They grow very very slowly, a solo cup will probably make a good home for about a year, possible more.

If the mother does have an eggsac, leave her along and do not disturb her. Don't try to feed her. You can pull the eggsac
out early if you want to fight her for it. This will prevent having to find all the spiderlings in her cage after they disperse, and prevent them from escaping. If you leave it wiht her, remove her before you try to rehouse the spiderlings. When you're ready to do that, all you need to do is put a tiny bit of substrate in the solo cup and use a paintbrush to gently nudge them into it. Punch a couple holes in the lid with a nail and close it up. Spiderlings need moisture, so give them a quick spray on the substrate. It should not be soaked, but it should always have a little wayer in it.

Hope this helps, if I missed anyhting let me know.
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KJ Vezino
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Yeah, sorry he said eggsac, second yeah there is a gold ball sized white silky ball in there. Only problem is she pretty much baricaded herself in her den with the sack. so i would have to destroy about 4 inches worth of substrate to get to either. I would either damage her or the sack by doing so cause its so deep. and to top it off i have a wooden shell you by at petco over the whole thing.

Should I be waiting for them to hatch and just let the mother go out herself? or should i really get her out of there? I am guessing she would induce a lot of stress if i tried getting her out before or after they come out of the sack.

What would you suggest the best way to go about this?

I can try to get some pictures up with my cell, they might help a little.

here is a picture that i had on my phone
I will try and take more later on today. This was taken about two weeks ago

here is a picture that i had on my phone
I will try and take more later on today. This was taken about two weeks ago

I would just leave her alone. Let her take care of the sac, she knows what she is doing. If you stress her by trying to dig her out, she may eat the sac. Do you have any idea when she made it?

It is not a problem if the sac hatches in her cage, just know it's going to be more difficult to get them out. She will need to be removed first, and that in itself may be a chore. She'll likely be defensive.

Don't go out and buy the supplies yet, her sac may be infertile, or she may decide to eat it if somehting isn't quite right in the cage. You can put the slings together for a brief period of time, before you pack them individually, but definitly they need to be seperate when they are 2nd instar. Just have a place lined up to go buy they stuff, so you can go right out if it is successful. Or buy it, and make sure you can return it if you don't need it.
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KJ Vezino
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Yeah well I did buy ten containers about sandwich sized. But I guess the smaller ones would be better. I don't think I need 300 of them. But anyways, I have no idea how long ago she laid them. She made her den about two or three months ago. I didn't even know what she was doing till about a week ago.

Ok so I think I have bad news. Either she moved the sack or she ate it cause I can't see it anymore through her little window. I think the problem was that she got scared of the light coming into her den from the window. Anyways I am kinda sad about it all if she did. I am hoping she will come out soon if she did, she is probably really hungry. She still looks pretty healthy although. Anyways I am hoping she still has her babies. I was looking forward to it. Thanks for all your help, lets just hope its not all for nothing.

So now i have good news, So it seems that she has moved the egg sack because now i have a few dozen spiderlings. At least that is how many i see so far. They might be still hatching though. They are soo cool. I can't wait to go home after work today and see them again.

So my question now is should i wait for the mother to let herself out with the spider lings or take them out by force destroying her den completely? It doesn't seem like I could get them out without hurting something though.

The mother looks like she is very active and healthy still though. She went over to the cage when i took this picture and was like " who the hell are you get away from my babies" kinda thing.

This image is a picture of the corner of the cage with the den. you can see the tarantula protecting her babies

I'd say you need to get them out ASAP! So long as you've got containers to put them in then do it. Like I said before, the mother will be very defensive. You'll need to get her out first. Carefully scoop her into a delicup or something and keep her out while you get the rest. Then yes, take whatever you need out to find all the babies. They will probably be able to escape her cage easily if you do not get them all. You don't really want loose baby tarantulas in your room do you?

Good Luck and Congrats!
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KJ Vezino
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See the only problem is that the mother baracaded herself inside her den and it might cave in on all of them or some of them if i remove the wooden shell. But It looked like she was protecting them when i was looking inside the den. But I guess i will try to go get some containers and get them out.

Ok well it took way longer than I excepted but I got all the spider lings out and into containers. the mom wasn't pleased and was very persistent on being with her egg sack. She has a very small abdomen but it doesn't look unhealthy like indentations or unusual curves, just small and oval. I will buy lots of huge crickets after work today and feed her everyday till she regains her shape. unless anybody else has any other ideas.

Thanks for all the help.

Sounds good. Good luck raising all those s'lings. By the way... how many did you get?
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KJ Vezino
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American Tarantula Society
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I don't know exactly what the experts would say, but I'd want to isolate the egg sac in a quart jar. And maybe some wet paper towel to give humidity, but not touch the wet paper with the egg sac. I've read that you can't multiply house them because they will eat each other. They eat pinhead crickets (I've read that). Taking care of spiderlings seems like a chore to me.

Roger