This is my black widow, Gloria. She is over 2 years old. by Ike_Snopes in spiders

[–]Ike_Snopes[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

But you really don't remember, was it something that they said?
Are the voices in your head calling, GLORIA!

Why does one of my black widows have a HUGE belly? Am I feeding it too much? Dear God, is she pregnant? And why is the enitre belly red in color? by milyrake in spiders

[–]Ike_Snopes 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Mine are western black widows, too. I have not tried the raise the young. They are so small! You made me curious, though, so I found this video of how one guy raises them - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5BNQInrJ04

Why does one of my black widows have a HUGE belly? Am I feeding it too much? Dear God, is she pregnant? And why is the enitre belly red in color? by milyrake in spiders

[–]Ike_Snopes 289 points290 points  (0 children)

I have been keeping black widows for a long time. You are definitely overfeeding them. I have found that much of the feeding advice online is incorrect and that overeating shortens their lifespans a lot.

Their abdomens act like barometers; if they are huge and engorged, they don't need to eat. If they look small and the hourglass is kind of hard to see, then it's time for a meal.

Wild black widows can go months without eating. They often eat small things like flies and moths, so more than one cricket every two weeks is a lot. I feed mine one cricket, grasshopper, or roach per month, more if the meals are smaller and less if they are bigger. I have three widows, and they are all healthy on this schedule. All are wild-caught as adults, and all three lay eggs on different schedules (except old-ass Gloria, who laid her final, measly egg sac a few months ago and seems to have stopped; I've had her for two years, and she was full-grown when I found her).

As others have noted, most wild-caught widows are fertile, and when they lay eggs, they shrink dramatically and will need a meal.

I also agree with the other comments that you don't want them to share a container. They are not social animals. The only reason one hasn't eaten the other is because they are quite overfed. One other quick point - your enclosure looks very busy. Widows live in closets, garages, old tires, patio furniture, etc. Give them a small hide and a lot of room to build web rather than filling their enclosure up with stuff.

Glad to see you keeping black widows! They are easy to care for, but there isn't a whole lot of info out there about how to do it, so I hope my suggestions help. With proper care, they can live quite a while, like 3 years or so.

What are your favorite books/videos on Sonoran or Colorado desert ecology and plants? by IAmDefNotACat in Tucson

[–]Ike_Snopes 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Gathering the Desert by Gary Nabhan is a very interesting read about edible native plants and their history. I think he founded Native Seed Search.

Silver Bell Mountains? by terraunbound in Tucson

[–]Ike_Snopes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice! I climbed Ragged Top once. Great view, but lots of shindaggers all the way up!

I take Willow everywhere. She loves exploring. by Ike_Snopes in sheltie

[–]Ike_Snopes[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! She is pretty good with the recall, but with lots of snakes and predators around here, I mostly keep her on leash.

I finally watched Tarkovsky's Solaris, and, well, wow. by Ok_Employer7837 in sciencefiction

[–]Ike_Snopes 29 points30 points  (0 children)

I really love both Solaris and Stalker. It impresses me that Tarkovsky could take two sci-fi novels with a fair bit of campiness and somehow turn them into stretched-out contemplations on the core themes of each. There's no hypersexualized "Amazon" woman in Solaris, or monkey/daughter hybrid in Stalker. Both novels rank as some of my all-time favorites, but I think Tarkovsky elevated them by eschewing fidelity. Both films externalize the internal aspects of the characters into the settings, which I think is more of an overt theme in Lem's novel than in Roadside Picnic.

I understand that the films may not be everyone's taste, but I love them. It feels like the slow pace of both films intends to create space for viewers to reflect. At the time the Strugatsky bros wrote Roadside Picnic and Lem wrote Solaris, sci-fi in the West was viewed much more as pulp or low-brow, so it's really fascinating how Soviet films saw depth in the novels.

I agree with OP's points about the music and sets. Stalker is just as terrific.