We discovered several silk covered spider egg sacks hanging from a web in the basement; each looked like a silk spider with eggs sacks at each leg joint. It was creepy. Did a female lay eggs in the body of a male or were these laid in a molt, and what kind of spider does this?

cag1970

I have researched a number of sites on this particular topic, and have not found any evidence of any spiders that purposely lay their eggs inside of a molt--that is, the old exoskeleton of a spider shed to allow the spider the form a new exoskeleton and continue to grow. Spiders do not, however, lay their eggs on or inside the bodies of other animals, including other spiders. Spiders create egg sacs that they may either hang or carry, in such a way as they are not destroyed by predators. Some spiders abandon the egg sacs and leave the spiderlings to hatch on their own, while other spiders stay with the sacs until the spiderlings hatch. A notable exception is the wolf spider, which carries its egg sacs as well as the hatched spiderlings. http://animals.howstuffworks.com/arachnids/spider9.htm Mar 28 09, 6:59 AM