Ceratogyrus brachycephalus

[Henry Kane]

Unsuccessfull

I paired a male loaned to me with my female on the last Sunday of November '03. Everything went fine and at least one insertion was observed. The pair was mated again the following weekend (early Dec.?) and again, an insertion was observed. Unfortunately the male took a clumsy step and the female immediately attacked and ate him.
In early January '04 I rehoused the female and she acclimated quite well, burrowed etc.. I believe I initially had her too cool (general temp in my bug room was 75-78 degrees) and after a few months passed I decided to get a heater for my bug room. (sorry, I don't remember exactly when I added the heater)
After I upped the general temp to mid 80's my female began to really fatten up and also started laying down a huge amount of silk. I took this as a good sign.
On Aug 10th, during maintenance I discovered she had made her sac. I initially thought she had made a bad sac as what she had constructed was more of a hammock style mat rather than the more spherical shaped sac. Fortunately (even though somewhat panicked) I did not disturb anything and after a few PM's sent out, I got some very helpful information. I learned that what I observed was the way Ceratogyrus normally construct their egg cases.
Once settled with this good news I isolated her enclosure from the rest of my collection and basically just let her be. Other than occasionally pouring a bit of water on the opposite end of her enclosure, I just left her alone and waited.
On Sept 5th (2 days before I was to pull the sac) I checked in on the female to see how she looked and like clockwork, she was right in the middle of eating it, at least that's what it looked like as she had it in her fangs and was standing up with it raised up off surface it originally rested on.
The next morning, I double checked just to be sure and there was no immediate evidence that a sac had ever existed at all.

Maybe next time.

Atrax

 

[Varden]

First attempt with this species

Temp is 80
Humidity is 60%
The male is on loan from DavidBeard


Although only having received the male yesterday, he has been warmed, fed and watered and, since I already knew he was loaded and ready to go, I decided to introduce him to my waiting lady.

"Prepare yourself," I told him. "You are much smaller than she is."

"I am Don Juan," he replied. "I am ready to perform."

So I opened up my girl's enclosure and placed him in on the edge of her massive web mat. Although she normally sits out in the open, at this point the feminine object of his affections was nestled inside her web hide, oblivious to all....right up until Don Juan tapped out his intentions and vibrated his first romantic shiver upon the silk threads of her abode. Any questions about whether there would be chemistry between them were set instantly to rest when she turned around, stuck her head out of her burrow door and drummed right back at him.

At least, they were laid to rest in regards to her. Our poor little male had an absolute heart attack when he caught a glimpse of just how big she truly was. He froze. He also pooped himself, which is quite frankly exactly what I would have done if a tarantula that much larger than myself stepped out in front of me. You could see it there, lurking in all eight of his wide little eyes, 'If I don't move, maybe she'll go away.'

After a good minute of drumming her most enticing 'Come hither' rhythm without receiving so much as a neurotic twitch in response from him, my girl lost patience and came all the way out of her web. A good 2 to 3 times larger than our little male, she beckoned again for him to come forward, but he was having no part of it. With a gulp and a strangled squeak of an expletive, he ran for his life. Off the web, up the side of the enclosure, and might have made it all the way to freedom if not for the cruel and callous wenchy who shut the lid.

I gave the male a minute or two to compose himself (actually, I was hoping he'd change his mind). All the while, my poor female was just a-drummin' her little legs off. But brachycephalus aren't yellowish for no reason. He clung to the lid, begging and pleading to be let out--he'd be a good boy, he'd clean his enclosure; I heard it all. It was time for cruel and callous wenchies to become even more cruel and callous. Opening the lid just enough to get him onto the end of my tongs, I then dropped him right smack down in front of her.

'Yea!' she cried, and flung her legs around him.

'**Insert long string of expletives here**,' the male cried back. But faced with a 'put-out or die' option, he chose his only sensible recourse. Two good inserts were witnessed before he jumped back into his running shoes. I'll give him time to gather his courage and build another sperm web before I introduce them again.