female laying eggs question

[hype1108]

I just had a female spider lay eggs on me out of surprise. I am trying to back track and see what male bred with her. I am having issues. If they laid today, can someone help me figure out when she locked up? or if I said that wrong please correct.

thanks
danny

[Don]

A female can retain sperm, so it would be difficult to count backwards and try to pinpoint the daddy. You should be able to tell depending upon the appearance of the babies. Also, it is possible for more than one male to be the daddy.

[Annarose15]

It doesn't matter when she locked with each male, all three could be the sire (retained sperm). You won't know until they pip.

Ha! Don beat me to it!

[hype1108]

ok i understand now. I didnt realize they can retain sperm. This is the first time I have randomly had eggs show up. She looked funny but wasnt ready for them to just appear. luckily I didnt turned my incubator off by accident two weeks ago when the other babies were done cooking. I guess the next 50-60 days will just have to build suspense.

[iCandiBallPythons]

It's hard to tell,I've had a female retain sperm over a year after I had stopped pairing her

[hype1108]

It's hard to tell,I've had a female retain sperm over a year after I had stopped pairing her

o wow. I didnt realize it could last that long. How come that happens? I am confused on why they retain it.