Animals

Breeding season: throughout the year, particularly in autumn and spring. Females lay 500-700 pigmented eggs in a jelly mass, usually attached to submerged vegetation.

Generally roosts in caves, road culverts, stormwater drains and old mines. Southern colonies hibernate during the colder winter months in hibernation caves. During October-November, maternity caves are used. Single young are born in December-mid January.

Breeds September-December. Builds a bowl-shaped nest in dense foliage or creepers.

Eggs are held in a flattened circular egg sac made of papery white silk. The spiderlings do not disperse but stay and grow within the colony. They usually live for one or two seasons.

Breeding season: late summer and autumn. Females lay 80-150 pigmented eggs in moist leaf litter or within the bases of grass tussocks. The eggs stick together in clumps awaiting winter rainfall.

Oviparous (egg laying). Lay up to 6 eggs in a clutch.

Breeds August-January. Lays eggs in a eucalypt hollow, fence post or stump. Pairs mate for life. The female incubates the eggs, being regularly fed by the male.

Females mature in approximately four months and can live for 2-3 years. The smaller male matures in about 90 days and lives for 6-7 months. The round egg sacs are 1 cm wide, suspended within the web. They are woolly and white, turning brown over time. Each egg sac contains approximately 250 eggs. Spiderlings are cannibalistic and will eat unhatched eggs and other spiderlings.

Mainly nocturnal. During the day sleeps in dens, logs or other forms of shelter. Can breed from 1 year of age. Litters, averaging 4 cubs, are born during August and September, and emerge from the den in late spring. The cubs leave the family territory in late summer or autumn.

Breeds from July-December after rain. A tiny shallow cup nest made from grass is built on a horizontal branch or fork of a tree up to 20 m high.