G. rosea breeding questions

[Sheri]

Hi all,
I have done some research and thus far this is what I know, please correct anything you deem to be inaccurate:
1) Rosies are not as difficult to breed as previously thought, but it remains more simple to import them.
2) They should both be kept at higher temps, and in undisturbed, dark places before mating.
3) Rosies are apt to eating thier own eggsac. To minimize this ensure she is in a dark and undisturbed place until you pull the sac (if it arrives).
4) I will likely see an egg sac within 90 days of the mating if it were successful.
5) I should pull the sac between the 30 and 35th day.
6) They male should come to her to simulate natural conditions.

Questions:
1) How long after his ultimate molt will he "typically" build his sperm web? (He molted within the past 2 weeks)
2) They are currently in a "breeder" critter keeper. The female has the large side, and the male the small one. This way, when I decide to try it, I can remove the plexi-glass divider and hope for the best. Is this a good set-up and do you use these breeder tanks?
3) How large is the clutch from this species?

Thank you for sharing your information. I hope my questions don't seem too obvious.

 

[Immortal_sin]

some info

Hi all,
I have done some research and thus far this is what I know, please correct anything you deem to be inaccurate:
1) Rosies are not as difficult to breed as previously thought, but it remains more simple to import them.

not difficult to breed, but the female can be aggressive

2) They should both be kept at higher temps, and in undisturbed, dark places before mating.

I've never done that...probably doesn't matter..

3) Rosies are apt to eating thier own eggsac. To minimize this ensure she is in a dark and undisturbed place until you pull the sac (if it arrives).

definately!

4) I will likely see an egg sac within 90 days of the mating if it were successful.

there is no time limit...as long as she has not molted, she could make a sac...be it in 90 days, or 2 years

5) I should pull the sac between the 30 and 35th day.

I always do

6) They male should come to her to simulate natural conditions.

there has been some debate about that....but that method can work

Questions:
1) How long after his ultimate molt will he "typically" build his sperm web? (He molted within the past 2 weeks)

probably 2-4 weeks after the ultimate molt

2) They are currently in a "breeder" critter keeper. The female has the large side, and the male the small one. This way, when I decide to try it, I can remove the plexi-glass divider and hope for the best. Is this a good set-up and do you use these breeder tanks?

they will be able to sense each other, probably a good thing. Supervise mating, then separate them afterwards again

3) How large is the clutch from this species?

I haven't ever gotten that far, so I can't answer that!

Thank you for sharing your information. I hope my questions don't seem too obvious

 

[Botar]

3) How large is the clutch from this species?

My last G. rosea sac was 265 spiderlings and I didn't notice any unhatched eggs.

My personal beliefs on the matter, G. rosea are easy to breed, difficult to follow through to a hatch. I've bred this species four times now with 2 post breeding molts, one sac was being eaten and I was able to salvage around 50 eggs with about 40 hatching into spiderlings, and the last sac was a complete success, as mentioned above.

The real question is what on earth will you do with 265 G. rosea spiderlings? WC imported adults will sell for $10 at shows and the babies grow very slowly.

Botar

 

[Sheri]

I think my local stores would be happy to pay for captive breds, albeit, not much, and I could always trade. They sell for about $34.99 here, and there are never any local trade shows in exotics here. Also, I have an arachnologist friend from the university and I would give him some (personal and for the university) and I would give some to the Zoo. So, heopfully, I would be able to get rid of many, and anyone in Canada could have some if they would pay for the shipping.
So... I noticed he was drumming like crazy the other night (I think the hockey game I was watching may have excited him). So, I removed the divider but the activity sent them back to thiuer respective corners. I waited and wtached until the game was over and then I accidentally fell alseep! I awoke in a panic at 6 AM adn they had been alone together for 5 hours or so, unsupervised, but I was lucky enough to catch them in the act. As sso as he was done he went running for cover, and she gave chase. I distracted her, and got the divider back in no problem. He was no worse for wear, and she seems fine as well.
I think I will let them go at it again in a few days if I notice him drumming again. How many times do you let them mate before you isolate her and hope that she makes an egg sac?
This was my first breeding attempt, and it was awesome!
Thanks,
Sheri

 

[Peloquin]

Once should be enough but if the male is going nowhere let him do a sperm web and try him again, then repeat until (usually) the female is no longe interested.
My biggest clutch from a rose is 310 so think on getting approx 275 and you should be ok.
One thing to note though, I've never taken an egg sack from any female and only lost 1 (H.incei).
When you take a sack from the female, what does everyone do with it?

 

[Sheri]

One thing to note though, I've never taken an egg sack from any female and only lost 1 (H.incei).
When you take a sack from the female, what does everyone do with it?

So, if you never pull the sac, how do you collect the babies after they have hatched? And how do they not escape the enclosure?
After the sac is pulled, it is manually incubated. There is a sticky on how to do it.


Also, what happens if you pull the sac early (before 30 days)? Can you do this to avoid it being eaten?

 

[Peloquin]

What I've always done is leave the young until nymphs until they moult then collect the female. The s/lings wont wander far from the web so they dont usually cause a problem. L. parahybana can be a pain but that's just sheer numbers.
As for not escaping the enclosure, they could I suppose but they get checked a few times a day and as I said, the young dont stray too far from the webbing.
I dont think I've ever lost any by having them do a runner.

 

[Peloquin]

Hmmm, Just looked at the sticky, interesting, I'll give it a try as everyone seems to say it works but as I said, I've never had problems letting the mother look after it.

 

[Sheri]

UPDATE

My male bred with two females, and the first was was more receptive than the second. But on Saturday night he was eaten by the first female when I attempyed a third mating between them. I felt so bad for him, but hopefully, it will result in an egg sac. But the experience was awesome. I got to witness him making and using a sperm web, I saw tons of drumming, and got really good at separating them. So, now we keep our fingers crossed and hope his aim was true!

 

[Scylla]

I didn't breed my Rose, she was gravid when I got her. She ate like a horse for a week or two, then dug a burrow. A few days later I had an egg sac. I pulled the sac at 30 days. I scissored open the sac to see if they were alive, then placed it in the deli cup incubator as described in the sticky. That I placed in a real incubator and I kept the temp at 82. I had about 120 slings, no losses. May I suggest that you trade them off to a dealer before they become mobile and need to be kept individually? I've kept 11 of the slings, and feeding them, along with my others is time consuming. It was a great experience, though. Those little slings are a real wonder! Enjoy them!

 

[Sheri]

Wow, how lucky! So when exactly would I give them to a dealer? The only local dealer I don't think would be interested, but I have made contact (and am now friends with) the arachnologist from the University here and we would take many of them, additionally, I have talked with one of the pet stores I go to all the time and he is interested as well. He is very good about trying to buy captive bred, which is nice. I would like to keep some to rear individually, but I have a feeling she is not going to produce a viable sac anyway. How much could one expect to get in trade for 120 G. rosea slings?

 

[kosh]

When i bred mine i pulled the sac at about 30-35 days and they were eggs with legs. I kept them in an incubator setup at the same temp as the rest of the spiders (no special treatment) and I did not stir them as some people say to do. Once they moulted into second instar they all scattered all over the place when I opened the incubator to check on them after the moult. It was very tedious, time consuming work to separate them all once they scattered. I had a feeling they might disperse, so when I opened the incubator to check on them after moulting into second instar, i did so in one of those big rubbermaid storage containers so they wouldn't get far. I killed several slings in the process of separating them and I think that the 30-40 (didnt count them so not sure) slings i kept communally for a couple of weeks were cannibalizing but the final living count was 334. It was probably more like 350-360 before any deaths. There were no bad eggs and they were very difficult to get rid of. Nobody wants large numbers of little bitty rose hair slings that grow slower than molasses when larger juveniles and adults can be bought so cheaply. It amazes me that people even bother breeding these guys, other than the fact that the adults are so common and easy to breed, and I wonder when the line will be drawn (by people in the hobby) to get people to stop breeding these in excess? Nobody wants these little guys in the first place and it seems like there is a new rose hair breeding project being started on just this board alone every week.



P.S.
Sorry my post seems to have turned in to a rant of sorts. I originally intended to share my experience for informational purposes only. Forgive me, it's Monday after all.

 

[Sheri]

They will probably always be one of the most common first breeding projects. They are the least expensive (with exception of A. seemani), and most often adults when purchased. Also, I am not going to risk breeding pricier adults yet until I am more comfortable with the practise. Besides, the benefit is that if we do hang on to them for awhile, the trade should eventually be selling more captive breds than wild caught.

 

[kosh]

yeah, i suppose there may be some truth to that statement.....
They sure do grow slow though....
I kept 5 of the slings from my breeding and I think they have only moulted like once in the past 2-3 months......which is much slower than most of the rest of my slings with the exception of L. cristatus.....
Anyone raised G rosea from slings to adult? How long did it take?