So today has been a rollercoaster of a day for me as an arachno-parent. I'll start by saying that I found a P. audax not too long ago hanging out on my mailbox, while it was nearing freezing temps. Feeling bad for the spider, I figured I could give her a warm home through the winter and then release her in the spring. She had all the hallmarks of a female- large abdomen, small palps, correct color pattern, etc. She basically exemplified the female gestalt for P. audax.
Fast forward to a week ago, she had started to make a large web hammock and was spending a LOT of time in it. Not coming out for water or food, and it seemed like a bad sign to me. I read that females would do similar behavior when they were preparing an egg sac, but shining a light into the hammock only outlined her- no other objects in there.
Being frustrated, and scared as to why she wasn't eating, I coaxed her out this afternoon for a photoshoot. She was very keen to play on an aloe plant in the house, so I let her have her fun. She seemed to be in good spirits and lively, so I figured that everything must be alright.
After having her out and playing with her, I figured that I was in the clear to name her (I didn't want to get too attached and then she just die). I'm a big mythology fan, so I searched around for a good name for her. The deity Anansi stood out to me because he was a "trickster". I thought this was fitting of my spider, so I feminized the name to "Nancy". So now my beautiful spider had a name... great! Again, as soon as I returned her to her enclosure Nancy went straight to her hammock.
When I came home from dinner something strange was laying on the bottom of the enclosure...
It was a cap, and it was Nancy's! She had molted while I was at dinner! I hurriedly got a pair of tweezers and retrieved the molt debris, and soon located Nancy in the upper corner of her enclosure.
Nancy looked... buff... though. Her front legs were much longer, her abdomen had become much more svelte, and she had quite the pair of palps on her. The coloration on her was all wrong. Instead of coming out more vibrant she was pretty much all black and white save for a few patches of color on her chelicerae and abdomen. There was white on her palps... and that was not right.
(Crop of the head, still has liquid from the molt on its eyes)
Then it hit me - Nancy is a male P. audax. All this time when I thought she was making an egg sac, HE was just trying to molt.
Ah well, HE is pretty badass. I'm calling him Mr. Nancy :lol: This has also taught me that sexing spiderlings and juveniles isn't as cut and dry as I thought. Learning something new every day!
Fast forward to a week ago, she had started to make a large web hammock and was spending a LOT of time in it. Not coming out for water or food, and it seemed like a bad sign to me. I read that females would do similar behavior when they were preparing an egg sac, but shining a light into the hammock only outlined her- no other objects in there.
Being frustrated, and scared as to why she wasn't eating, I coaxed her out this afternoon for a photoshoot. She was very keen to play on an aloe plant in the house, so I let her have her fun. She seemed to be in good spirits and lively, so I figured that everything must be alright.
After having her out and playing with her, I figured that I was in the clear to name her (I didn't want to get too attached and then she just die). I'm a big mythology fan, so I searched around for a good name for her. The deity Anansi stood out to me because he was a "trickster". I thought this was fitting of my spider, so I feminized the name to "Nancy". So now my beautiful spider had a name... great! Again, as soon as I returned her to her enclosure Nancy went straight to her hammock.
When I came home from dinner something strange was laying on the bottom of the enclosure...
It was a cap, and it was Nancy's! She had molted while I was at dinner! I hurriedly got a pair of tweezers and retrieved the molt debris, and soon located Nancy in the upper corner of her enclosure.
Nancy looked... buff... though. Her front legs were much longer, her abdomen had become much more svelte, and she had quite the pair of palps on her. The coloration on her was all wrong. Instead of coming out more vibrant she was pretty much all black and white save for a few patches of color on her chelicerae and abdomen. There was white on her palps... and that was not right.
(Crop of the head, still has liquid from the molt on its eyes)
Then it hit me - Nancy is a male P. audax. All this time when I thought she was making an egg sac, HE was just trying to molt.
Ah well, HE is pretty badass. I'm calling him Mr. Nancy :lol: This has also taught me that sexing spiderlings and juveniles isn't as cut and dry as I thought. Learning something new every day!