spider breeding

[xgrafcorex]

these are just grammostola rosea (the most common tarantula in the pet trade(the ones on indiana jones' back in raiders of the lost ark)) eitherway, it was my first attempt at tarantula breeding. the first pics are from a few weeks ago.

male, not too happy to be there

same guy, but found the entrance to the females cave

he wondered off a bit, but she came out

she did a little drumming, and he quickly responded

getting down!

 

[xgrafcorex]

pics from today...
strange pose from the male after being introduced to the same female's enclosure. she seemed to not be interested at all..i'm hoping this is a sign of her being good to go after the first round.

male on his way towards female #2

me with the male..first "large" tarantula i've held (before i had only let my little avicularia versicolor crawl around on my hand/arm)

spines on the legs of the male (not found on the females that i have)

 

[ArpeggioAngel]

As much as I am terrified of spiders...those are some pretty cool pictures!

 

[Scrub]

I can't see them.... Weird.
Anyone have any idea why?

Cheers,

 

[The Nothing]

g'luck on the breeding!

hope you have room for 3-400+ lil baby s'lings!

 

[xgrafcorex]

g'luck on the breeding!

hope you have room for 3-400+ lil baby s'lings!

hah yea..i'll have to put in an order at thornton plastics..

 

[diamondlil]

Excellent photos, thanks for sharing. How long 'til you get the eggs and slings?

 

[rushrulz]

Good lord. Why did I have porn music in my head while I was looking at those pictures?

Spiders Gone Wild!

 

[Taceas]

Very pretty male!

And here's to you getting enough slings to make you want to pull your hair out. :cheers:

All of my spiders are still juvi's. Maybe some day. =)

 

[xgrafcorex]

i'm not exactly sure ...but i guess it will take about 2 months or so..maybe 3. the last one i had that made an eggsac ate it. the second female i mated him with. she was wild caught as an adult female and laid a sac..but i disturbed her way too much and she ate it. i didn't know about leaving her alone to take care of the sac.

 

[connord94]

so how do you tell the difference btween male and female???

 

[xgrafcorex]

a mature male is easiest to identify because once they mature, most have a hook on each of the first pair of legs. also the little "leg" looking appendages on both sides of the mouth area called pedipalps have a bulb that is often described as looking like a boxing glove. another thing is that many mature males take on a different coloration.

before they mature is a little trickier. the best way is to wait for the spider to shed its skin. you have to look on the inside of the abdomen, close to where it connects to the carapace, between the front pair of book lungs. if there is a "flap" and these two (sometimes fused as one) sex organs that are only present in females. some males have something that resembles the female organs, but the flap (uterus externus) isn't there..

so if nothing is in this location, it is a male.

this is a gallery of the female sex organs. they are grouped by their genus in that list.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/the.tarantula.store/spermathecae gallery.htm

this is one of the best reads(that i know of) on sexing by just looking at your spider.
http://www.birdspiders.com/faq_sex.html