Perhaps, like me, you have been concerned about the fate of the Boys, the pair of Latrodectus males I introduced to the females yesterday. The first thing I did this morning was to check to see if they are still alive. They are!
They are hard to spot. I have a fairly messy environment for them to live in, with all that moss and sticks, and I’m realizing that that stripey zebra-like banding that young males have is actually good camouflage in a natural environment. But there they are, just hanging around, with (I hope) cocky grins on their faces because had a glorious experience with a lady…who let them live.
I’m going to leave them there for another day or two because I don’t actually know if they successfully mated yet, before I move them to take their chances with another female.
Oh what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to conceive
Good. I know you said you fed the females before putting the males in with them, but for some reason I had a sudden image of a fly maggot with the female on one end, the male on the other and both slurping up liquified goodness until they meet in the middle a la the spaghetti scene in Lady and the Tramp. I guess spiders don’t share their meals.