I have two male Latrodectus left. Only two. Males are more fragile and die off more readily, and also, they’re so small compared to the females that I wasn’t confident that they were fully mature, so I held off and held off on bringing the sexes together, and I think some of the males died of frustration.

So only two masculine males with swollen dripping pedipalps. I finally got brave enough to release them into cages with two females, the mighty Guinevir and the devious secretive Morgan. They are huge.

They’d eaten well yesterday, and looked virtually spherical. I was cautious, and introduced the males into complex environment of the female’s lairs. They immediately scurried deep into the tangle of moss and silk, and I will have no idea if a successful mating has occurred until I see egg sacs.

If I see the males alive again in the next few days, I’ll mount a rescue mission and extract them so I can introduce them to some of the other females.

Let’s hope they succeed in their mission of boldly penetrating the secret spaces of these sex-starved females.