Not sure how common it with other widows, but the Australian redback male will pretty much shove his abdomen right into the females mouth parts while mating.
But that’s when it get’s really messed up … she won’t kill him right away and they will continue to mate while he’s getting his insides digested.
Respectfully, do you recall a source or reference? I’d personally like to know if this another one of those “take for granted” childhood facts
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/preymates/
That says nothing about captivity, though.
And no, widows spiders don’t always eat their mate, but it common in some species. And often the male is the one initiating it.
The male initiates being eaten?
So… they’re vore fetishists?
Not sure how common it with other widows, but the Australian redback male will pretty much shove his abdomen right into the females mouth parts while mating.
But that’s when it get’s really messed up … she won’t kill him right away and they will continue to mate while he’s getting his insides digested.
Seed and feed
Read the article again, it says this is not common to adequately fed females, nothing about captivity.